Speaker 1: Microsoft is having a live stream press event on October 12th. Frankly, it's just in time for this start of the holiday season. So what are we gonna see there? My guess is obviously updates to the surface line. So what is the surface line? That's Microsoft's family of high end PCs. They actually, uh, look really good, high quality, good design. It's really one of the few really comprehensive computer lines on the window side that really feels like Apple's MacBook line and that everything kind of fits together into a family and makes sense because [00:00:30] Microsoft makes both the software, the operating system windows and the hardware for these, they control two thirds of the ecosystem there. Not the gist, but that helps 'em make a very, uh, well integrated product and that's one of the reasons I like the surfaces so much overall. So there are a bunch of different surfaces.
Speaker 1: There are laptops, there are tablets, there are desktops, They're all at uh, different levels of updatedness. Some have been updated recently, some are really out of date. So looking at that information and the history of these surface line over the last [00:01:00] 10 years, uh, you get a pretty good idea of what they might have at this event. It's also interesting because this is the 10th anniversary of the surface line, uh, 2022. It started way back in 2012 with the original surface, which ran Windows rt. Now the flagship is the Surface Pro. That is a Windows tablet that is paired with a clip on magnetic keyboard that turns it into a very laptop like device. It's really the best example I've seen of taking a tablet and adding [00:01:30] a clip on keyboard. It's really the gold standard. My big problem with it is, as much as I like it, Microsoft insists on selling it separately.
Speaker 1: If you buy a Surface Pro, you just get the tablet, you have gotta buy the keyboard separately. It's 130 to 150 bucks depending on the, the color and the size and the style. And for something that you really need in order to get the most out of the product, that's a pretty expensive add up. My other issue with the Surface Pro line is that the design has not really changed much in the last several years. It's fine, but so many other PC makers have really stepped up their designs. [00:02:00] I would love to see this get some sort of more modern feeling overhaul. Now if we do see a new surface approach, probably gonna be called the Surface Pro Nine because the last one from about a year ago was the Surface Pro Eight. What's gonna be different in a Surface Pro Nine at the very least probably, uh, new cpu, 12th generation Intel chips.
Speaker 1: Maybe they'll fold the arm version into this and you'll be able to get either an Intel version or an arm version. Previously there was a separate product called the Surface Pro X that was almost exactly the same except it had arm tips in [00:02:30] it. Uh, there's certainly a reasonable chance they'll fold those two product lines in together. There's also a cheaper version of the Surface tablet. It's called the Surface Go. The last version of that came out about a year ago. It's smaller, only cost about $400, but again, they make you buy that keyboard separately and that's another a hundred bucks. And when you're buying a $400 device, adding a hundred dollars is a much bigger deal than if you're buying a thousand dollars or $1,200 device. Uh, on the inexpensive side, you can also get these Surface Laptop Go, which is their inexpensive smaller screen clamshell [00:03:00] laptop.
Speaker 1: That actually got updated in June of 2022. So I don't think we'll see any updates there. That's still a pretty new product, about $600 and frankly a really nice budget laptop. The bigger version of that, the Surface laptop, uh, that's a little bit more than a year old in its latest iteration. It's a really nice 13 inch class laptop. It's really one of my favorites if you're looking for something that has, uh, that high end MacBook look and feel, but runs Windows. The other thing I really like about the Surface laptop line is that it's often on sale. [00:03:30] If you go to the Microsoft store online, uh, I've seen some really good discounts on it. So going into the holiday season, if you wait for the right time, you can probably get a nice premium surface laptop at a really good price. Interestingly, the two most innovative surface products are the two that are the most out of date.
Speaker 1: There's the Surface Book that is another two in one device, uh, but it's much more heavy duty in the big keyboard base. It's got a GPU and it's got an extra battery. So it's a rare two in one that, uh, has the value for gamers and for [00:04:00] content creators. The last version of that came out in 2020. Are we gonna to see an updated version? It's always been an expensive product that was kind of heavy, kind of clunky, but I really appreciate how inventive it is. I think historically my favorite surface was the Surface Studio. That's an all in one desktop and I really like that it's got a big touchscreen that you can tilt down like a drafting table. So it's great for drawing, great for art. We have not seen a new version of that since 2018 and if we got a new surface studio, I would be very excited [00:04:30] about that. I'm not sure just how likely that is. I think it's most likely we'll get a new Surface Pro and maybe one or two of the other models that are a year or so out of date. Uh, we're gonna have to come back together again on October 12th to find out.
