Items tagged with Surface
In Microsoft's FY19 Q2 earnings release the company reported a strong end to 2018 with significant double-digit increases in both its revenue and operating income. Several aspects of Microsoft's business contributed to these increases, but the lions share of the growth was contributed by its Azure business. In a year-over-year look into Microsoft's Azure business, Q4 2018 revenue showed an uptick of 74% over the same time period in 2017. Cloud services in general appear to have performed quite well for Microsoft, and its Chief Financial Officer said that commercial cloud services experienced a 48% growth in revenue that contributed to $9.0 billion to the company's total revenue for the quarter....
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Tech journalist and author Brad Sams has published a book called "Beneath A Surface" which chronicles what Microsoft went through to bring the Surface line of products to market. Inside the book are some interesting claims about the future of Surface devices that would mark a big change for Microsoft. The biggest bombshell in the book is that Sams claims Microsoft and Intel are at odds with each other with Microsoft unhappy about the massive delays in the rollout of 10nm processors. While the 10nm chips are delayed, Microsoft has flatly denied that its 10nm process is dead despite some rumors claiming it was. Sams claims that Microsoft is unhappy enough with things at Intel that it is considering...
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Microsoft has an idea for a hinged Surface device with dual screens that was seen in patent drawings back in July. This device would go a long way towards giving users more screen space while maintaining a portable form factor. This week a new patent application has surfaced, and that it gives us another glimpse at what Microsoft is cooking up for its hinged, dual-screen device. The device would have a hinge in the center covered with a flexible display across the two sections of the machine; the hinge looks similar to what Microsoft is using for the Surface Book. Patent drawings show the device has features like a bezel and a camera inside that give it some smartphone-like components, blurring...
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There's some big news in the latest round of PC shipment numbers that are coming from Gartner and IDC. Although the firms use differing tracking methods, both show that Lenovo has regained its spot as the world’s top-selling PC vendor for the third quarter. According to Gartner, overall global PC sales rose just 0.1 percent year-over-year to 67.2 million. On the global stage, Lenovo was the top performer, showing a 10.7 percent increase YoY to 15.8 million units shipped. Hewlett-Packard was in second place with 14.6 million units (6.2 percent YoY increase), while Dell sat in third place with 10.7 million units (5.3 percent increase YoY). Apple actually posted an 8.5 percent decline...
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We've seen patent drawings, we've seen renders based on those drawings, and we've heard plenty of inside information coming out of Redmond with regards to a dual-screen Surface device. Codenamed Andromeda, the device is supposed to truly bring a full Windows 10 experience into a foldable form-factor that can fit into your pocket. In an interview with The Verge, Panay said that there needs to be a market for such a device, and that Microsoft is working on the feasibility of bringing it to production. “It’s absolutely my baby,” said Panay. “We will invent and we will create when products are right. We can’t bring new categories into the...
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Microsoft launched a program back in August 2017r called Surface Plus that allowed consumers to lease a Surface device with a 0% interest payment plan. One of the coolest things about the Surface Plus plan was that it allowed you to pay all 24 months of payments and keep the device or you could give it back to Microsoft in good working order in 18 months and upgrade to a new device. It sounded like a good deal for lots of people wanting an expensive Surface device without needing to shell out big money and then be stuck with a machine that was obsolete. If you have been thinking about trying it out, you have waited too long. Microsoft has quietly announced that it has decided to end the Surface...
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The rumor refuses to die is that Microsoft is building a dual-screen Surface device of some sort, a second coming of the ill-fated Courier that was first reported in 2008 and cancelled two years later. Like the Courier, the new Surface device (codenamed Adromeda) would feature a pair of touchscreens in book-like orientation. But is it real? Yet another patent filing suggests it is at least being considered. Microsoft has applied for several patents related to this mystery device. One of the newly discovered ones references "three-way video calling on hinged multi-screen device." It was actually filed a little over a year ago, on June 20, 2017, but was published more recently on July 3, 2018....
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It seems as though many enthusiasts have Andromeda fever. And by Andromeda, we mean Microsoft's supposed upcoming ARM-powered dual-screen Surface device. Andromeda has been rumored for quite some time, and Surface Chief Panos Panay even fueled the rumormill with a cryptic tweet late last month. However, enthusiasts also know that Microsoft is prone to cancelling projects -- ahem, Courier -- which has sparked some to even file petitions urging the company to spare Andromeda. A new insider report suggests that Andromeda has [thankfully] not been canceled, but that the project is getting a major overhaul before its eventual release. "At this time, the software and hardware...
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In this latest episode of HotHardware's Two And A Half Geeks, Marco, Chris, and Dave chat about what's new with Intel's seriously fast Optane memory, the Monster 32-Core Threadripper that's inbound, Corsair's swank K70 RGB and Strafe RGB MK.2 mechanical keyboards, Microsoft's Surface GO tablet, Intel's Core i7-8086K anniversary chip, and Cooler Master's Pay-It-Forward PC Master Race gaming rig giveaway system that we want to build! Show Notes: 03:25 - Intel Optane Memory Update: Making Hard Drives Perform Like Fast SSDs 13:29 - Corsair K70 RGB MK.2 And Strafe RGB MK.2 Gaming Keyboards Review: Killer Decks 24:48 - Microsoft Unveils Surface Go 10-Inch Tablet Starting At $399, Fanless And Light...
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Well, that escalated quickly. Just this morning, we learned that Microsoft's new entry-level Surface tablet would debut this Friday. However, we're now getting official word from Microsoft about an upcoming Surface device -- its first official confirmation to date about the tablet. The tweet includes an image of the current family of Surface devices: the Surface Pro, Surface Book 2, Surface Studio and Surface Laptop. All of the devices have July 10th listed on the lock screen along with a time of 6:00 PST. That leads us to believe that Microsoft plans to announce the devices at an event tomorrow at around 9AM EST. As for the previous report which indicated at date of July 13th; it's...
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Excitement is building for a new dual screen mobile device that hasn’t even been announced yet. We’re of course talking about Microsoft’s Andromeda, which has been rumored for months, and even recently was teased by Surface Chief Panos Panay. However, this is Microsoft we’re talking about; which means that Andromeda could find itself on the chopping block at any moment despite promise in the mobile sector. That was the fate that befell Microsoft’s Courier dual-screen tablet concept (and the Surface Mini) and enthusiasts don’t want the same fate for Andromeda. As a result, some have taken to creating petitions to save Andromeda. Zachary...
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Microsoft is in the midst of refreshing its Surface hardware family for 2019, and one of the rumors going around is that the Surface team is working on a dual-screen device codenamed Andromeda. In the wake of these rumors, some unofficial renders have started appearing on the web, showing what Andromeda could possibly look like. The newest batch of renders are particularly intriguing, as they show how the dual-screen gadget could approach both gaming and productivity chores. David Breyer (@D_Breyer), a "designer at heart," posted the first set of renders last December, saying they were based on the latest patent filings. In a new batch of renders, he depicts the dual-screen gadget being used...
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Remember the Courier concept from many moons ago? Many were disappointed when Microsoft decided not to proceed with that innovative design concept, but the company apparently never gave up on the idea of a dual screen mobile device. Microsoft is rumored to be working on a new dual screen device under the codename Andromeda, and Surface chief Panos Panay lent some credence to those reports with a tweet this week. In the tweet, Panay shows an image of what appears to be two displays side-by-side in a "book-style" picture frame format. Given the text of the tweet, the displays are manufactured by LG Display, which is a common supplier of panels for smartphones, tablets, notebooks, and monitors...
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Things have been relatively quiet so far in 2018 on the Surface hardware front. There was a bevy of activity last year with the launch of the Surface Laptop, the fifth-generation Surface Pro and the Surface Book 2. Now, according to a new report, Microsoft is gearing up for another flurry of new hardware devices in 2019. The reporting comes courtesy of Thurrott, which says that three new devices are in the works. The first of these new Surface hardware products is codenamed Libra, and will be a low-cost tablet that will slot in below the Surface Pro. The Surface Pro starts at $799 (Intel Core m3, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD), so it’s possible that pricing for this device entry-level Surface...
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