Microsoft Surface Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 23, 2012 9:01 PM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Microsoft
- Mobile
- Surface
- Windows RT
Display: Not Retina, But Still Good
Surface features a 10.6 inch, 1366 x 768 16:9 display. The physical size is a bit unusual, although the display resolution is something we’ve seen used in affordable notebooks for years now. We already know why Microsoft picked the display size (to enable better multitasking and make for a good keyboard size), but is there room for a flagship tablet with only a 1366 x 768 display resolution?
Microsoft’s response to the resolution question is that more pixels isn’t necessarily better, and that there are a number of other factors that are just as important. It also is quick to point out that a significantly higher resolution display would have increased memory bandwidth requirements, decreased UI frame rate and required a larger battery. As NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 only has a single channel LPDDR2 memory interface, driving a 2048 x 1536 panel and maintaining Microsoft’s UI performance requirements was out of the question. Apple ran into the same issue and ended up building the A5X SoC with an insanely wide memory interface to deal with it. Down the road I’d expect the memory bandwidth problem to get solved, but that still leaves a power consumption issue. Apple moved to a 42.5Wh battery in the 3rd generation iPad, a 37% capacity increase compared to the 31Wh unit in Surface. Enabling a similar panel would have pushed size and weight of Surface more than Microsoft would have liked.
Given those constraints Microsoft chose a different route with Surface. Rather than focus on pixel density it focused on improving contrast and reducing glare. Surface laminates the cover glass and LCD panel together, removing an annoying air gap that’s responsible for some reflections/glare and a reduction in brightness. Apple’s recently announced 8th generation iMac does something similar, as do a lot of high end smartphones, but Surface is among the first to do so with a ~10-inch LCD. The effect is noticeable in a contrived photo but it also results in a display that’s not half bad to look at.
With the exception of text on web pages, the lower resolution Surface display isn’t overly bothersome. I would like something a bit higher resolution although I don’t know that matching Apple’s pixel density is absolutely necessary if Microsoft can deliver elsewhere.
Apple doesn’t just rely on resolution to sell the iPad’s Retina Display, it also happens to do quite well at accurately representing colors. I put Surface through AnandTech Senior Display Editor, Chris Heinonen’s excellent tablet/smartphone analysis workflow to see how well it did:
| CalMAN Display Comparison | ||||||
| Apple iPad (3rd gen) | Apple iPad 2 | ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity | Microsoft Surface | |||
| Grayscale 200 nits Avg dE2000 | 3.7333 | 1.3826 | 3.9881 | 3.6769 | ||
| CCT Avg (K) | 6857K | 6632K | 6632K | 6407K | ||
| Saturation Sweep Avg dE2000 | 3.193 | 6.8404 | 6.8404 | 7.3617 | ||
| GMB Colorchecker Avg dE2000 | 3.0698 | 3.8957 | 4.4177 | 5.3057 | ||
Saturation
Gamut
GMB Color Checker
Grayscale accuracy is slightly better on Surface compared to the iPad, however the rest of the accuracy metrics show Apple’s tablet ahead of Surface.
This isn’t to say that Surface’s display is bad, in fact I think it’s quite good and I’d argue that it was never a problem in my testing, but it’s definitely not the best on the market today. I’m also not sure how much of this has to do with Microsoft’s panel selection vs. software calibration. None of my calibration tools work under Windows RT so I couldn’t really tell you.
I did reach out to Microsoft and they did say that some of my values in the charts below looked a little off. I’ll be rerunning data on another Surface sample as soon as I get a chance to.
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tipoo - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
AFAIK they built it ground up in their existing hardware division.shompa - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
The rumour is that Steve Jobs ghost work at MSFT.Press, that are "Apple" nerds have been to MSFT labs and looked at their stuff. They have amazing laptops, computers and other stuff that they would buy direct. And these are people who are fanatical about beautiful design, liberal arts and that stuff should work.
The sad thing for MSFT is all the politics. They have great products in their labs and cant release them because it makes OEM angry. Surface is for example a compromise. The 600 dollar price is ONLY because of OEM. MSFT cant price Surface aggressive since OEM would stop building RT stuff.
And that is a huge threat to Windows. Surface was rumoured to cost 199 dollars. HP/Dell and other OEMs have started to look for alternative to windows (Unified Android). Valve have ported steam to Linux(and later Android).
That is probably the feature.
MSFT continues with their new integrated approach. Same as Apple.
OEMs will start to use "open"/fragmented Linux/Android.
kyuu - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
Except not, since the only OEM who can make a profit on Android is Samsung.Stas - Monday, November 5, 2012 - link
You're delusional, if you think an open source platform can become dominant in the computer market.ol1bit - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
One word describes Microsoft and all their ideas.... LATE.They had a good lead in the smartphone arena and gave up. They couldn't see what the next big thing was going to be. iPhone took off, then Goggle really jumped on Android, pushed changes at a blistering pace. Microsoft lost the phone race...So go keep Nokia alive and try to catch up, doubt they will.
Tablet are the same way. Market already lost. A gazillion apps for both iPad and Android Tablets.
Everything MS does is 2 steps behind. I know they hope to catch up, but I have 3 Android devices, and Love it. All my apps carry from device to device as it should. Goggle keeps pumping out great enhancements, same with Apple.
Oh well.
sunflowerfly - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
"Tablet are the same way. Market already lost. A gazillion apps for both iPad and Android Tablets."Actually Android has very few tablet apps. I believe Microsoft will take over and become the number 2 tablet within a year. Google is giving away tablets at cost because the public is not buying them (not that a few million sold to geeks is a bad gig).
PubFiction - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
people said the same thing about netbooks when they were all launching with linux, what you forget is that yes MS is late but they have won even though they were late to many parties. Vertical integration and supply chain control are huge factors. To most people office cost $100 and any of these devices shipping with free office means it is $100 cheaper. Now you get vertical integration, MS is going to leverage office to muscle into the tablet space, and what is so nice is that rather than just sit on office / windows and let that win the game they are actually going a little above and beyond by bringing the surface keyboard to the market and bringing out what is mostly a high quality well built device.DukeN - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
How the fuck is Microsoft late wrt to ideas?Microsoft had a tablet OS out about 10 years ago, couldn't execute it with their partners so it languished.
Maybe they can't execute but they definitely aren't LATE.
xSauronx - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
Last year work gave us all ipad2 32gb units as part of the christmas bonus. i dont love ios, and prefer android for a phone and tablet, but i understand why people like it, and it was definitely a great tablet. sold it for an android, however.id love to get one of these this year...i'd be very interested in trying one out for a week. hopefully there will be apps a plenty for this, or at least a good ecosystem for the full windows 8 tablets in the future. i could see me moving away from android for this...maybe
OVerLoRDI - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
I really am impressed with this offering from MS. As a long time PC user and one who types a lot, tablets were absolutely out of the question for me, typing on glass has and always will be a fail.That being said, I don't love it enough to pony up that much money.
I'm also curious to see how Win8 works on smartphones, it seems like it could be a great OS.