Microsoft shifted its focus when it introduced the Surface Pro 3 last year to target both the iPad and the MacBook, but today the company announced a more consumer level iPad-like version of its tablet simply called the Surface 3 with the same $499 starting price as the iPad Air 2.
Google also unveiled a collection of new competitively priced hardware including new Chromebooks and a Chromebit HDMI running Chrome OS for under $100 …
While the Surface Pro 3 features Core i3, i5, and i7 processors like the MacBook notebook line and a similarly sized 12-inch display, the non-Pro Surface 3 tablet sports a smaller 10.8-inch display closer in size to the iPad Air 2’s 9.7-inch screen. Microsoft’s new consumer tablet runs Windows 8.1 with Windows 10 planned in the future for free and includes “a full-size USB 3.0 port, a Mini DisplayPort and a microSD™ card reader.”
The new Chromebooks are priced super aggressively at just $149 from brands Haier and Hisense. As we mentioned in our ‘10 reasons why Apple is to blame for the decline of iPad sales‘ feature, Google’s affordable Chromebooks have proven serious competition for Apple’s iPad in the education space.
As for the new Chromebit device, Asus will ship the first HDMI stick running Chrome OS, Google’s cloud-based app operating system, later this summer. The Chromebit stick will connect to existing desktop computers to provide the Chrome OS experience with a focus on upgrading education and business computers to Google’s solution.
You can read the complete details of the latest Google Chromebooks and the new Chromebit device on 9to5Google.
