It's official, the Microsoft Surface is going to be huge competition for Apple's iPad and iMac. Without the touch or type keyboard and running Windows 8 RT, the new Microsoft Surface will cost £399; an iPad matching, Mac beating price.That is the basic version, if you want Windows 8 Pro it comes with a stylus and the tablet itself is slightly thicker. That price hasn't been announced yet.
The stylus isn't a normal stylus though because the Surface's screen is made for both touch and stylus and it can tell which one is which. This means you can write with your stylus and even if the side of your palm is leaning on the screen it won't affect what you are doing with the stylus.
The outer shell of all the versions of the Surface are made from a strong titanium. To prove the strength, an employee at Microsoft even strapped some wheels to the bottom and used it as a skateboard. They also did the standard drop test, which it passed.
At the moment Microsoft is taking a leaf out of Apple's book for connectors, instead of having loads of ports on the side of the Surface for different things such as VGA, HD connector and extra power supply they have one port that works for all. You just need to buy the right adapter cable. At the moment all the adaptors are around £30, so I'd say that pretty reasonably.
If you want to buy one of the uniquely thin touch keyboard that will set you back £99 however for that you get to pick from one of the 5 colours. It is really light and 3.25mm thick. It also comes with all the Windows 8 keys like the home button, options and settings.
If you don't like the sound of not being able to push down on keys you can get the slightly more expensive type cover. This has exactly the same features apart from the keys are physical.
For a full list of Microsoft's Hardware, which is compatible with Surface, look here: Windows 8 Hardware
Mad Marketing
Rumours say that Microsoft has spent $1 billion on advertising for Windows 8 and so far they've released a few adverts. Some really weird like the one for Surface (below) and more normal adverts showing off some of the amazing Windows 8 features.