Microsoft May Release Budget Surface To Compete With iPad Mini 4

Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4 is set to be released during the summer. However, a lot of people still want to know what happened to the Surface Mini that was supposed to be released last year. It appears that it might actually see the light of day, but in a different form. Digital Journal reports the good news about the Microsoft Surface.

“Microsoft is reporting to be building a new variant of its popular Surface Pro 3 tablet that will be a lower-end replacement to the Windows RT Surface 2 of September 2013. The new tablet will run full Windows though and is designed to fill a range gap. It is said to have an Intel Atom or Core M processor that should allow adequate power for most tasks while making a long battery life possible. The processor can also be kept cool easily so the new Surface will be able to use a fanless design.”

Many people believe this will actually be the Surface Mini that was supposed to be released in conjunction with the Surface Pro 3 last June. It was hyped up as a digital notepad replacement. However, people were disappointed that it ran Windows RT instead of a full desktop version of Windows. It looks like that is about to change. This is great news for people who want a Surface tablet, but don’t want to pay $1,000 when they really don’t need a laptop or desktop replacement.

Microsoft’s budget Surface will not be a competitor to the upcoming iPad Pro, but rather to the updated iPad Mini 4. According to the Christian Post, we could see the new iPad Mini in the next month or so. The site uses other sources to conclude that we could see an unveiling of the iPad Mini 4 as soon as April. According to Venture Capital Post, the iPad Mini 4 will produce the specs people originally expected from the iPad Mini 3.

“The iPad Mini 4 is said to live up to the supposedly [sic] specs for the iPad Mini 3. Recalling the speculation last year, the iPad Mini 3 was expected to run on an A8 processor, however, it had stuck to its predecessor’s A7 processor and adding only a Touch ID feature. The iPad Mini 4 is expected to run on an A8 processor, the same processor that the iPhone 6 runs with. It will feature an 802.11 AC connectivity.”

Microsoft’s budget Surface could easily outsell the iPad Mini 4 since it will run a full desktop operating system. However, the iPad Mini 4 also has the “Apple” brand, meaning people may buy it no matter how good or bad it is. Would you buy a smaller and less powerful Surface tablet? Let us know in the comments section.

[Photo Credit: Daryl Deino]