The Microsoft Surface event is nearing its date, with an October 2 launch event scheduled in New York City. Now, a recent leak claims to offer insight into the overall configurations and details about two of the upcoming Surface devices, including the Microsoft Surface Pro 7, and the Surface Laptop 3. If these leaks are to be believed, then Microsoft is set to introduce new, budget variants of the Surface Pro 7 tablet-hybrid, beginning with a 10th generation Intel Core i3 variant.
In the purported configurations of the Microsoft Surface Pro 7, the variants mentioned include two top variants powered by 10th generation Core i7 processor, 16GB memory and an option for 256GB and 512GB of SSD storage. There is also a mid variant in the list of SKUs, featuring 10th generation Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB memory and either 128GB or 256B SSD-based storage. The fifth variant is said to be the base configuration of the upcoming Surface Pro 7, with a 10th generation Core i3 processor, 4GB memory and 128GB SSD.
We expect the processors to be sourced from Intel's 14nm Comet Lake 10th generation processor SKUs, and not the 10nm Ice Lake ones. The 10nm Ice Lake processors are reserved for high performance devices, while processors such as the Intel Core i3-10110Y, which is believed to be the processor powering the upcoming Surface Pro 7's base variant, offer distinct power consumption advantages to maximise battery life. That said, the base variant will likely be reserved for budget markets, and be best suited for lightweight tasks such as online document editing, regular email tasks and video conferencing, and not be ideal for multitasking situations.
It will also be important to see whether all processor SKUs fall in the Intel 10th generation Y-series of processors, in which case the new Surface Pro 7 will only support up to LPDDR3 memory standards. This would count as a significant con for the device, affecting its overall future-proofing potential, which is particularly important seeing that Microsoft's Surface line of devices are not particularly inexpensive.
In terms of the Surface Laptop 3, the leak states that while the existing 13.52-inch Surface Laptop may not be upgraded, Microsoft might introduce a new, 15-inch Surface Laptop featuring a new design, updated ports and more. A design upgrade is also on the cards for the Surface Pro lineup, which is yet to incorporate the increasingly adopted USB-C ports. Reports suggest that Microsoft may ditch its proprietary charging connector for USB-C based charging, and reports across the internet suggest that the base variant of the Surface Pro 7 may begin at as less as around $600 (~Rs 45,000).
Comments
0 comment