Surface (2012 tablet)

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Surface
The original Surface RT with Touch Cover attached
DeveloperMicrosoft
Product familyMicrosoft Surface
TypeHybrid tablet
Release dateOctober 26, 2012
DiscontinuedJuly 18, 2013[1]
Operating systemWindows RT 8
Upgradable to Windows RT 8.1
System on a chipNvidia Tegra 3
Memory2 GB
Storage32/64 GB
microSDXC card slot
SoundStereo speakers
InputTwo 720p HD LifeCams, front and rear facing
Two Microphones, headset jack, Ambient Light
Accelerometers
Gyroscope
Compass
ConnectivityWi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n)
Bluetooth 4.0
USB 2.0
HD video out (micro-HDMI)
PowerBuilt-in rechargeable Li-Po 31.5 Wh
24 W power supply
Online servicesWindows Store, OneDrive, Outlook.com, Microsoft Account, Xbox Music, Xbox Live
Dimensions10.81 inches (27.5 cm) (width)
6.77 inches (17.2 cm) (height)
0.37 inches (9.4 mm) (depth)
Weight1.5 pounds (680 g)
PredecessorMicrosoft Tablet PC
SuccessorSurface 2
This article is part of a series on
Microsoft Surface

Models

Accessories

The first-generation Surface (launched as Surface with Windows RT,[2] later marketed as Surface RT)[3] is a hybrid tablet computer developed and manufactured by Microsoft. Announced in June 2012, it was released in October 2012, and was the first personal computer designed in-house by Microsoft.

Positioned as a competitor to Apple's iPad line, Surface included several distinctive features, including a folding kickstand which allowed the tablet to stand at an angle, and the availability of optional attachable protective covers incorporating a keyboard. Surface served as the launch device for Windows RT, a limited version of Windows 8 designed for devices based on ARM architecture, with the ability to run only Metro-style Windows applications developed for it and distributed through the Windows Store.

Surface was met with mixed reviews. Although praised for its hardware design, accessories, and aspects of its operating system, criticism was directed towards the performance of the device, as well as the limitations of the Windows RT operating system and its application ecosystem. Sales of the Surface were poor, with Microsoft cutting its price worldwide and taking a US$990 million loss in July 2013 as a result. It was succeeded by the Surface 2 in 2013, with the newer Windows RT 8.1, which was also made available for the original Surface. Support for the OS ended on January 10, 2023.[4]

History

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The device was announced at a press-only event in Los Angeles and was the first PC which Microsoft had designed and manufactured in-house.[5] The Surface only supports WiFi for wireless connectivity, with no cellular variant. The tablet went on sale in eight countries - Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The Surface Pro was launched later.[6]

Features

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Hardware

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The Surface tablet has a display of 1366x768 pixels on a five-point multi-touch touchscreen with Gorilla Glass 2 (LTL106AL01). The device measures 10.81 by 6.77 by 0.37 inches (27.46 cm × 17.20 cm × 0.94 cm) and is made from magnesium. The kickstand, USB port, and a magnetic keyboard interface give the Surface ability to add a wireless mouse, external keyboard, or a thumb drive. There is also a slot for a microSD card to add up to 200 GB.

Technical Specifications[7][8]
Processor Nvidia Tegra 3 T30
Graphics Geforce ULP
RAM 2 GB
Internal Storage 32/64 GB
Display Size 10.6in ClearType HD Display
Aspect Ratio 16:9
Resolution 1366x768
Touch 5-point Multi-touch
Exterior Height 6.77in
Width 10.81in
Depth 0.37in
Weight 1.5lbs
Casing VaporMg
Color Dark Titanium
Cameras Front 720p 1.2 MP
Rear
Audio Speaker Stereo
Microphone 2
Sensors Ambient light
Accelerometer
Gyroscope
Magnetometer
Ports USB-A 2.0
microSDXC card slot
3.5mm audio socket
MicroHDMI
Cover port
Wireless Wi-fi 802.11a/b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.0
Battery 31.5Wh

Software

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Main articles: Windows 8 and Windows RT

Surface runs Windows RT, which is preloaded with Windows Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Sports, News, Travel, Finance, Camera, Weather, Reader, SkyDrive, Store, Photos, Skype (no longer supported), Maps, Games, Messaging, Bing, Desktop, and Xbox Music and Xbox Video Windows Store applications, and supports Microsoft Office Home and Student 2013 RT, which includes Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote within the Desktop application. Windows RT only allows installing Windows Store applications. Windows RT is compiled entirely for the ARM instruction set architecture.

A major update to Windows RT was launched on October 17, 2013, called Windows RT 8.1. This update brought many improvements to the Surface, such as an overhauled Mail app, more Bing apps like Reading List, and OneDrive (updated from SkyDrive). It also brought support for larger tiles, a help and tips app, Internet Explorer 11, Outlook 2013 RT, changes to PC Settings, lock screen photo slideshow, infinitely re-sizable apps, a Start button, and speed improvements. Later, an update to Windows RT 8.1, dubbed Windows RT 8.1 Update[9] added a search button to the Start Screen, as well as the taskbar on the Modern UI, and a title bar for Modern UI apps.

Accessories

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Surface launched with two accessories, the Type Cover and the Touch Cover. The Touch Cover came in white, black, magenta, red, and cyan, while the Type Cover came in black. Limited edition Touch Covers were released featuring laser-etched artwork on the back. The Touch and Type Covers double as keyboards and magnetically attach to the Surface's "accessory spine".

Later, adapters for micro-HDMI to HDMI [10] and VGA were released.

Configurations

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Surface RT Configurations[8]
Price Tier (USD) CPU Integrated GPU RAM Internal Storage Accessories
$499 Nvidia Tegra 3 Geforce ULP 2 GB 32 GB -
$599 Black Touch Cover
$699 64 GB

Reception

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CNET praised the design of Surface, noting that it " Looked practical without being cold, and just feels like a high-quality device that Microsoft cut few corners to make." The kickstand was also praised for its feel and quality, while both the kickstand and the keyboard cover accessories were also noted for having a "satisfying" clicking sound when engaged or attached. The covers were deemed "essential to getting the complete Surface experience", with the touch cover praised for having a more "spacious" typing area than other tablet keyboard attachments, and for being usable after getting used to its soft feel. The Type Cover was recommended over the Touch Cover due to its higher quality and more conventional key design. Surface's display was praised for its larger size and widescreen aspect ratio over the iPad line but panned for having "muted" color reproduction. While the touchscreen-oriented aspects of the Windows 8 interface were praised for being "elegant", albeit harder to learn than Android or iOS, the Windows RT operating system was criticized for still requiring the use of the mouse-oriented desktop interface to access some applications and settings not accessible from within the "Metro" shell, and for its poor application ecosystem, with Windows Store's state on-launch compared to "a ghost town after the apocalypse." The poor performance of the Surface, especially in comparison to other Tegra 3-based tablets, also led to disapproval. In conclusion, it was felt that "paired with a keyboard cover, the Surface is an excellent Office productivity tool (the best in tablet form) and if your entertainment needs don't go far beyond movies, TV shows, music, and the occasional simple game, you're covered there as well", but that assuming Windows Store would eventually improve its application selection, "both it and the Surface's wonky performance keep a useful productivity device from reaching true tablet greatness."[11]

Sales of the Surface and other Windows RT devices were poor; in July 2013, Microsoft reported a loss of US$900 million due to lackluster sales of the Surface, and cut its price by 30% worldwide.[12][13][14][15][16] Microsoft's price cut did result in a slight increase of market share for the device; by late-August 2013, usage data from the advertising network AdDuplex (which provides advertising services within Windows Store apps) revealed that Surface's share had increased from 6.2 to 9.8%.[17]

Timeline

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Timeline of Surface devices
<timeline>

DateFormat=mm/dd/yyyy Define $start = 10/01/2012 Define $now = 06/20/2026 Define $later = 07/20/2027 Period = from:$start till:$later Define $skip = at:end # Force a blank line Define $dayunknown = 15 # what day to use if it's actually not known ImageSize= width:800 height:auto barincrement:36 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:5 left:20 bottom:95 top:5

Colors = 

    id:rtodd        value:rgb(0.65,0.95,0.99)    Legend:Surface_RT
    id:rteven       value:rgb(0.81,0.98,1)
    id:goodd             value:rgb(0.78,0.82,1)       Legend:Surface_Go
    id:goeven            value:rgb(0.88,0.91,1)
    id:goplus            value:rgb(0.93,0.95,1)

    id:proodd            value:rgb(0.75,0.86,1)       Legend:Surface_Pro
    id:proeven           value:rgb(0.86,0.92,1)
    id:proplus           value:rgb(0.81,0.89,0.99)
    id:xodd              value:rgb(0.87,0.84,1)       Legend:Surface_Pro_X
    id:xeven             value:rgb(0.93,0.91,1)

    id:bookodd           value:rgb(1,0.79,0.79)       Legend:Surface_Book
    id:bookeven          value:rgb(1,0.89,0.89)

    id:laptopodd         value:rgb(1,0.84,0.67)       Legend:Surface_Laptop_1
    id:laptopeven        value:rgb(1,0.93,0.84)
    id:laptopgoodd       value:rgb(0.99,0.90,0.54)    Legend:Surface_Laptop_Go
    id:laptopgoeven      value:rgb(1,0.95,0.78)

    id:laptopstudioodd   value:rgb(0.85,0.98,0.62)    Legend:Surface_Laptop_Studio
    id:laptopstudioeven  value:rgb(0.93,0.99,0.80)
    id:laptopseodd       value:rgb(0.73,0.97,0.82)    Legend:Surface_Laptop_SE
    id:laptopseeven      value:rgb(1,0.95,0.78)

    id:hubodd            value:rgb(0.8,0.84,0.88)     Legend:Surface_Hub
    id:hubeven           value:rgb(0.89,0.91,0.94)
    id:studioodd         value:rgb(0.98,0.81,0.91)    Legend:Surface_Studio
    id:studioeven        value:rgb(0.99,0.91,0.95)
    id:studioplus        value:rgb(0.99,0.95,0.97)
    id:duoodd            value:rgb(0.85,0.85,0.85)    Legend:Surface_Duo
    id:duoeven           value:rgb(0.92,0.92,0.92)

    id:bg                value:gray(1)
    id:lightline         value:gray(0.9)
    id:lighttext         value:gray(0.7)
    id:current           value:gray(0.95)             Legend:Still_produced

BackgroundColors = canvas:bg ScaleMajor = gridcolor:lighttext unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/2013 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightline unit:month increment:3 start:10/01/2012 Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:1

BarData = 

 barset:rt
 barset:go
 barset:pro
 barset:prox
 barset:pro12
 barset:bookstudio
 barset:laptop
 barset:laptoparm
 barset:laptop13
 barset:laptopgo
 barset:laptopse
 barset:hub
 barset:studio
 barset:duo

PlotData = 

 width:18 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s

 barset:rt
   color:rtodd              from:10/26/2012 till:07/18/2013 text:"RT"
 barset:break
   color:rteven             from:10/22/2013 till:01/27/2015 text:"2"
 barset:break
   color:rtodd              from:05/05/2015 till:12/31/2016 text:"3"

 barset:go 
   color:goodd              from:07/10/2018 till:05/21/2020 text:"Go"
 barset:break
   color:goeven             from:05/21/2020 till:09/22/2021 text:"Go 2"
 barset:break
   color:goodd              from:09/22/2021 till:09/21/2023 text:"Go 3"
 barset:break
   color:goeven             from:09/21/2023 till:$now       text:"Go 4"
 barset:break
   color:current            from:$now till:end



 barset:pro
   color:proodd             from:02/09/2013 till:10/18/2013 text:"Pro"
 barset:break
   color:proeven            from:10/22/2013 till:06/16/2014 text:"Pro 2"
 barset:break
   color:proodd             from:06/20/2014 till:01/01/2017 text:"Pro 3"
 barset:break
   color:proeven            from:10/26/2015 till:01/01/2018 text:"Pro 4"
 barset:break
   color:proodd             from:06/15/2017 till:10/16/2018 text:"Pro (2017)"
 barset:break
   color:proeven            from:10/16/2018 till:10/22/2019 text:"Pro 6"
 barset:break
   color:proodd             from:10/22/2019 till:01/12/2021 text:"Pro 7"
 barset:break
   color:proplus            from:01/12/2021 till:09/22/2021 text:"Pro 7+"
 barset:break
   color:proeven            from:09/22/2021 till:10/12/2022 text:"Pro 8"
 barset:break
   color:proodd             from:10/12/2022 till:03/21/2024 text:"Pro 9"
 barset:break
   color:proeven            from:03/21/2024 till:02/18/2025 text:"Pro 10"
 barset:break
   color:proodd             from:02/18/2025 till:$now       text:"Pro (11th) (x64)"
 barset:break
   color:current            from:$now till:end

 barset:prox
   color:xodd               from:11/05/2019 till:10/13/2020 text:"Pro X"
 barset:break
   color:xeven              from:10/13/2020 till:10/12/2022 text:"Pro X SQ2"

 barset:break
   color:proodd             from:10/12/2022 till:06/18/2024 text:"Pro 9 (ARM)"
 barset:break
   color:proeven            from:06/18/2024 till:$now       text:"Pro (11th) (ARM)"
 barset:break
   color:current            from:$now till:end

 barset:pro12
   color:proodd             from:05/25/2025 till:$now       text:"Pro 12" (ARM)"
 barset:break
   color:current            from:$now till:end



 barset:bookstudio
   color:bookodd            from:10/26/2015 till:10/17/2017 text:"Book"
 barset:break
   color:bookeven           from:10/17/2017 till:05/21/2020 text:"Book 2"
 barset:break
   color:bookodd            from:05/21/2020 till:09/22/2021 text:"Book 3"
   $skip

 barset:break
   color:laptopstudioodd    from:09/22/2021 till:09/21/2023 text:"Laptop Studio"
 barset:break
   color:laptopstudioeven   from:09/21/2023 till:09/20/2025 text:"Laptop Studio 2"

 barset:laptop
   color:laptopodd          from:06/15/2017 till:10/16/2018 text:"Laptop"
 barset:break
   color:laptopeven         from:10/16/2018 till:10/22/2019 text:"Laptop 2"
 barset:break
   color:laptopodd          from:10/22/2019 till:04/13/2021 text:"Laptop 3"
 barset:break
   color:laptopeven         from:04/13/2021 till:10/12/2022 text:"Laptop 4"
 barset:break
   color:laptopodd          from:10/12/2022 till:03/21/2024 text:"Laptop 5
 barset:break
   color:laptopeven         from:03/21/2024 till:01/30/2025 text:"Laptop 6
 barset:break
   color:laptopodd          from:01/30/2025 till:$now       text:"Laptop 7 (x64)  
 barset:break
   color:current            from:$now till:end

 barset:laptoparm
   color:laptopodd          from:06/18/2024 till:$now       text:"Laptop 7 (ARM)
 barset:break
   color:current            from:$now till:end

 barset:laptop13
   color:laptopodd          from:05/20/2025 till:$now       text:"Laptop 13" (ARM)
 barset:break
   color:current            from:$now till:end

 barset:laptopgo
   color:laptopgoodd        from:10/01/2020 till:06/01/2022 text:"Laptop Go"
 barset:break
   color:laptopgoeven       from:06/01/2022 till:09/21/2023 text:"Laptop Go 2"
 barset:break
   color:laptopgoodd        from:09/21/2023 till:$now       text:"Laptop Go 3"
 barset:break
   color:current            from:$now till:end



 barset:laptopse
   color:laptopseodd        from:11/09/2021 till:$now       text:"Laptop SE"
 barset:break
   color:current            from:$now till:end
   $skip

 barset:studio
   color:studioodd          from:12/15/2016 till:10/16/2018 text:"Studio"
 barset:break
   color:studioeven         from:10/16/2018 till:10/12/2022 text:"Studio 2"
 barset:break
   color:studioodd          from:10/12/2022 till:12/31/2024 text:"Studio 2+

 barset:hub
   color:hubodd             from:07/01/2015 till:06/18/2019 text:"Hub"
 barset:break
   color:hubeven            from:06/18/2019 till:09/21/2023 text:"Hub 2S"
 barset:break
   color:hubodd             from:09/21/2023 till:$now       text:"Hub 3"
 barset:break
   color:current            from:$now till:end

barset:duo
   color:duoodd             from:09/10/2020 till:09/22/2021 text:"Duo"
barset:break
   color:duoeven            from:09/22/2021 till:09/22/2023 text:"Duo 2"
   $skip

</timeline>

References

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Official website

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