Tomorrow is a big day for small things. We’re all expecting Microsoft and the Surface team to finally announce a tablet to take on Apple’s iPad Mini and the Google Nexus 7. We’ve long heard about rumors of a Surface ‘Mini’, but tomorrow we’ll most likely finally get an announcement from Microsoft at a private press event in NYC. It’s not all Surface Mini though, we’ve heard rumors that the Surface Pro 3 will make a debut there as well. Details on what we know so far and when to tune in to catch our live blog.
Surface Mini
Rumors of a Surface Mini have been circulating for a very long time. Remember those rumors of a 7-inch gaming tablet from Xbox? Those rumors started way back in the summer of 2012. Those rumors slowly faded away after Microsoft announced the original Surface RT and Surface Pro that same summer. The rumor mill picked up again with talk of a Surface Mini slated for some time in 2014. Those rumors started when we learned that Microsoft was working on a 7-inch tablet for the next round of Surface products.
Set aside those hopes for a gaming, because tomorrow’s Surface Mini is likely to be positioned as a note-taking tablet with pen input. Details are still relatively scarce at the moment in terms of specs, but here’s what we know so far:
- 7 to 8-inch tablet
- Pen with Wacom digitizer or comparable technology
- ARM processor from Qualcomm, which means Windows 8.1 RT as the operating system
- June availability
And that’s all we really know about the Surface Mini at this point. 24 hours from now we’ll have the whole picture, but it’s pretty incredible that the Surface team has been able to keep the majority of the specs secret.
Surface Pro 3
It’s not all Surface Mini tomorrow and the Surface Pro 3 is going to make sure of it. While we’re sure the Surface Mini will be a great piece of technology for both consumption and productivity, the Surface Pro 3 is aimed squarely at being a machine to get work done.
The Surface Pro 3 isn’t just going to be the follow-up device to the Surface Pro 2, but will be an entirely new model. Here’s what we know about the Surface Pro 3 (from Daniel’s scoop over the weekend):
- Larger screened device, possibly 12-inches
- Smaller bezel
- New Type and Touch covers available in black, purple, cyan and red
- Various configurations with Intel i3, Intel i5 and Intel i7 processors
Again, it’s remarkable that the Surface team has kept this device secret as well. Specs like battery life, weight, resolution, screen dimensions and more are unknown. Do tell us what you want to see with the Surface Pro 3 below in the comments.
Surface Event
The event is happening tomorrow morning in NYC. That’s of course useless since we’re all spread out over the world. To be precise, it’s happening at 11 AM ET in New York City. You can get your local time by going to timeanddate.com or checking out a few locations with their local time below:
- New York City – 11:00 AM
- Chicago – 10:00 AM
- Los Angeles/Seattle – 8:00 AM
- London – 4:00 PM
- New Delhi – 10:30 PM
- Beijing – 11:00 PM
- Sydney – 1:00AM (May 21)
You can’t attend, but you can watch the event live at the Microsoft News Center (opens in new tab). We’ll also have Daniel Rubino and Mark Guim at the event doing a liveblog and getting hands-on photos and videos of the announced devices. Like usual, we’ll have our liveblog streaming the presentation so you can watch live, view photos from the event and join the community conversation.
Surface Tweetup (Meet Daniel Rubino and Mark Guim!)
In NYC? Some heavyweights that cover Microsoft will be doing a public meet-up after the Surface event finishes. You’ll meet bloggers and journalists like Mary Jo Foley (@maryjofoley), Paul Thurrott (@thurrott), Brad Sams (@bdsams), Ed Bott (@edbott) and more. Of course you’ll also get to meet our very own Daniel Rubino (@daniel_rubino) and Mark Guim (@markguim) at the event.
There’s going to be booze, food and a lot of folks talking about technology at this event. It’s free and open to the public. Anyone in NYC is encouraged to go and say hi!
It’ll take place at Rattle N Hum (rattlenhumbarnyc.com) on 14 East 33rd Street in New York City. Party kicks off at 3 PM local time and will probably go for a few hours until 7 PM. Are you planning on attending? Let us know in the comments below!
Tomorrow is sharping up to be a very busy and fun day. Have any questions or requests for tomorrow’s coverage? Now is your chance to let us know what you want. We can't wait to bring you all the info on the newest Surface devices!
