Electronics, Windows 8 | featured news

I was pretty excited when the Surface Pro arrived about ten days ago, so I could test it ahead of its release on February 9th.  Finally, a tablet that’s also a laptop that also runs a mature operating system (Windows 8) and lets me use all the PC software I know and love. This is the machine I’ve been waiting for.

Most televisions and all MacBooks still lack a touch screen. When will this change? When will all displays be converted to touch screens? It could take some time. While the PC industry has embraced Windows 8 with a wide variety of touch screen devices (including laptops and desktops), some manufacturers are reluctant to enter the realm.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer can't afford to be wrong about Windows 8. On Thursday in New York, Microsoft unveiled a dramatic overhaul of its ubiquitous Windows operating system. It will go on sale Friday, fused into more than 1,000 PCs and other devices. If it flops, the failure will reinforce perceptions that Microsoft is falling behind competitors such as Apple, Google and Amazon as its stranglehold on personal computers becomes less relevant in an era of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) hints at Windows RT tablet prices and their release dates. Another one of Redmond's mammoth blog posts is getting the reading-between-the-lines-analysis treatment today, as the company announces more details of Windows 8-on-ARM PCs.

As Microsoft announces a new tablet, technology experts offer their first impressions of the device, as well as insights into what the product could mean for Microsoft and its rivals. The BBC has compiled a round-up of what some of them are saying.

In its biggest-ever push into the hardware business, Microsoft unveiled a tablet computer called Surface that is designed to challenge Apple’s iPad. At an event here, the company showed off the device, which is about the same weight and thickness as an iPad, with a 10.6-inch screen. The tablet has a built-in “kickstand” that will allow users to prop it up for watching movies, and a detachable cover that will serve double duty as a keyboard.

Microsoft is expected to make a "major" announcement Monday. Speculation about the Los Angeles media event is that the company plans to unveil either a tablet computer or a system that uses an upcoming version of Windows to help people access TV shows and movies across a range of devices.

The device, running a new version of the Windows operating system, would be the first computer of the company’s own design — and would be aimed squarely at Apple’s iPad.

Oops! Nokia will launch a Windows 8-based tablet in June 2012, according to Paul Amsellen, the company’s general manager in France. He disclosed the tidbit in an interview with Les Echos; The Verge picked up on the news.