– Best of Two Worlds

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When  on the go there are a few options in regard to how you can get those much needed last minute bits of work done.

Tablets are great because of their portability and their ability to hop on the internet and grab what you need quickly and easily.  Intuitive layout easy touch screen controls its all there.  But the keyboard.  Sure an on screen keyboard works for short blurbs or sentences here and there but a long document or huge complex spreadsheet will have to wait until you can actually type at a keyboard.  So a laptop has remained the dominant traveling workers piece of tech.  But Microsoft and Intel have come together to bring about the Surface Pro line of tablet-laptop hybrids.  These machines are built and look like a tablet but also work on a windows operating system and feature a fold up keyboard case which makes computing on the go fast, easy and portable.

We were given the opportunity to try out the Surface Pro 2 which is while not the Pro 3 which was released very recently still a great machine.

Here are some of the specs for whats under the hood:

Hardware
Height 10.81 inches
Width 6.81 inches
Thickness .53 inches
Weight 2 pounds
Color Black
Speakers Stereo

Display
Screen size (diagonal) 10.6 inches
Technology LCD

Resolution (X) 1920 px
Resolution (Y) 1080 px
PPI 207.82
Touchscreen type Capacitive
Multitouch Yes
Software
Operating system Windows 8
Launch OS version 8.1
Processor
CPU brand Intel
CPU family Haswell
CPU model Core i5-4200U
Clock speed 1.6 GHz
Cores 2
GPU
Brand Intel
Model HD Graphics 4400
Memory
RAM size 4 GB
RAM type DDR3
Storage
Internal size 512 GB, 256 GB, 128 GB, 64 GB
External storage Yes
External storage support microSD
Connectivity
Wi-Fi Yes
Wi-Fi support 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b, 802.11a
Bluetooth Yes
Bluetooth version 4.0
Front Camera
Video resolution 720p
Rear Camera
Video resolution 720p
Ports
Video out Yes
Headphone 3.5mm
Data connections Proprietary, USB 3.0, Mini DisplayPort
Sensors
Sensors Ambient Light, Gyroscope, Compass / Magnetometer, Accelerometer
Battery
Capacity 48 Wh

The machine is fast and easy to use for both those used to a tablet and those used to a PC.  There is a bit of a learning curve because you can switch between tablet view and PC view, but once you learn all the ins and outs its a breeze to get to what you want, when you want it.

Also available is the Touch Cover 2 which is one part tablet cover, one part lite keyboard.  This keyboard is not a full size keyboard is quite usable for people with most hand sizes.  The other form of input comes in a rechargeable Bluetooth pointer pen, which is a dream to interface with everything.  When combining the keyboard and the touch pen the machine flies through even your most complex actions in no time.  The machine retails for $449 and is available now.  The Touch Cover 2 retails for $119.99 and is well worth the investment if getting the Surface Pro 2.

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