Well folks we can all finally take off our collective rumor hats as the much discussed Microsoft press conference has concluded. Boy were they not kidding when they said it’d be big.

Microsoft historically known as a software provider who licenses out it’s platform to OEM’s has reveled a first party tablet called The Surface.

The Surface will come in two varieties one for Windows RT (Arm based processor) and a Windows 8 Pro (Intel Ivy Bridge processors) with only a small difference in thickness, weight and storage capacities as a difference. The Surface RT features 10.6″ ClearType HD display, 9.33mm thick, weighs 676g and comes in capacities of 32 and 64GB. The Surface for Windows 8 Pro has a 10.6 ClearType Full HD display, 13.5mm thick, weighs 903g, and capacities of 64 and 128 GB.

Aside from this being a first party hardware product the other big surprise is the sleek design of the product. It’s telling when you look at pictures of the product and think to yourself, “This can’t be designed by Microsoft”, but according to the presentation they seem to have grasped that form and function need to work together and the product looks the part. The integrated kickstand could have come off as gimmicky but its built-in such a way that it feels perfectly natural. And that cover the fact that it’s a Multi-touch keyboard is one of those things that seems obvious but its done to a seemingly high level of finish and in a clever way.

  

 

In to be expected fashion no release date or pricing was discussed but we’ll be sure to keep you guys updated with any further news to come.