Interesting Information On New Surface Devices From Reddit AmA, Surface 2 LTE Version Coming And More

Reading time icon 6 min. read


Readers help support MSPoweruser. When you make a purchase using links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Tooltip Icon

Read the affiliate disclosure page to find out how can you help MSPoweruser effortlessly and without spending any money. Read more

Microsoft Surface team today did a Reddit AmA on new Surface devices. I’ve collected some interesting information from the whole discussion. Read it through below.

  • This is Pete K – Program Manager on Surface – the docking station comes with a power supply that will charge your Surface Pro/Surface Pro 2.  It does slide open and close to hold your Surface Pro.
  • Pre-order tomorrow 9/24, available on 10/22.
  • Can the whole new touch cover be used for gestures or just the non key area? – You bet.  the entire key area is live!  You can use it for select gestures….. some pretty cool ones.
  • Will the new Surface accessories (such as the power cover and dock) work on the older Surface RT and Surface Pro tablets? – Yes.
  • Touch Cover/Type Cover compatibility with older Surface devices – Absolutely.   Both the Type Cover 2 and Touch Cover 2 are compatible with all Surface products.  Power Cover will work with all Surface devices except Surface RT.  The increase in sensors does make typing more accurate, including when you type between keys.  I hope you enjoy it.
  • How will you compete against dominant iPad – This is Julie. We’ll compete by appealing to people who have both a laptop and iPad in their bag today.
  •  Is the SSD in the Surface Pro 2 a PCIe SSD drive? – No, it’s not PCIe, it’s MSATA.  In fact, it’s low-power MSATA for even better battery life.
  • What kind of performance can I expect to see on the dock’s output for dual displays? Also, can I expect to keep the internal display powered on as well? –  The Surface Pro 2 will support dual external display at 2560×1600 along with the internal display.  The DisplayPort 1.2 on the Surface Pro 2 will allow for daisy chaining on to 2 monitors.
  • Hi Panos, Unfortunately you recently lost around 900M on Surface. Is there a large reason as to why the price couldn’t be lowered as I’m sure if it was a little cheaper (perhaps $399 instead of $499 for a limited time) you would have a significant amount more of sales. – Hi there. The price for Surface 2 is $449 not $499 and comes w/ 200GB of SkyDrive for two yrs and 1 year of free Skype international calling and Wifi. Of course it has Office too. We think it’s a great value when you consider all we packed into the product. we will continue to sell Surface RT for $349 though.
  • The first Surface RT was a 5 point multitouch display.  Is this changed on the Surface 2? – No.
  • Does the Power Cover have backlight? – No.
  • Touch Cover 2/Type Cover 2 colors – That is correct.  There are 4 colors for Type Cover 2, and Touch Cover 1 is in black.  However, generation 1 Touch Covers will stay in market for $79 and continue to offer a selection of colors.
  • Please tell me that the power connector is easier to connect in these 2nd gen Surfaces. ? – Hey, This is Ralf Groene here… The answer is yes 🙂  We spent a lot of time redesigning the profile of the connector, the part that you hold with your fingers. We designed it so it is much easier to position and insert it. We also redesigned the LED on the connector such that you can see its indicator from every angle.
  • Will the surface 1 pens and chargers still work with the surface 2? – Yes. Capacitive passive pens that worked on Surface RT will work on Surface 2. The active pen on Pro will work on Pro2. The chargers work across the whole product line, gen 1 and gen 2!
  • Hi,  Does the Pro 2 support Intel WiDi? or any other wireless display functions? – It supports Miracast.
  • Will the Surface 2 come in black as well as silver? – Nope. Only Silver!
  • Can we expect multiple colours for the tablets themselves in the future? – I love colors!  We have a great roadmap ahead, but the new Magnesium color is pretty cool, and we hope you like it.
  • Why was LTE not included on neither Surface nor Surface Pro? – We didn’t talk about it today, but Surface 2 will be launching an awesome LTE SKU early next year!
  • Speakers/Audio on new Surface devices – Steve Masters – Surface PM: Yes, the speakers in both Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 have been upgraded to new speakers.  Both Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 have Dolby processing built-in to enhance the audio experience
  • New Arc Mouse Surface Edition works via Bluetooth as opposed to nano receiver in the existing models.
  • It would be nice to have a caps lock indicator – There is on the new Touch Cover 2 and Type Cover 2.
  • How does the power cover gets charged? – The Surface device routes power to the Power Cover from the power adapter.  Circuitry in the device can charge both the battery in Power Cover and the battery in the device simultaneously.
  • Do the new keyboard covers’ touchpads support “Precision Touchpad” functionality that I’ve heard about in Windows 8.1? – Yes.
  • Which Intel HD model is in the Surface Pro 2? – Intel HD Graphics 4400.
  • I just boxed my Surface RT up to have the logo and peeling paint fixed. Has this been addressed in the Surface 2? – Hi there, Ralf here. You must have bought one of the very early units. We saw a problem with the first batches of Surface RT. This problem is ABSOLUTELY fixed with Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 We spent a ton of time with our material science team to develop a brand new, super sturdy finish.
  • Does the new Surface Pro support connected standby? – Surface Team – TimH – Surface Pro and Surface Pro 2 do not support connected standby.
  • Does the connectors (USBs, Ethernet, Audio) of the Dockingstation share the Bandwidth of one USB 3.0 Port of the Pro / Pro2? What speeds can we expect from the Ethernet-Port? – Hi This is Pete K from the Surface Team: Ethernet is 10/100. USB 3.0 is the main connection to the Dock. We have a separate USB3.0 in the Dock.
  • Usable storage –  Several questions on usable storage. For North America: Surface 2: 32 GB – 18 GB free / 64 GB 47 free Surface Pro 2: 64GB 37 free / 128GB, 97 free . Free up additional space by creating USB recovery key.
  • What kind of wifi-N? Is it 5 ghz wifi N? MIMO 2×2? 4×4? – 802.11 a/g/n 2×2 MIMO special diversity streams.
  • You can charge Surface Pro 2 and Power Cover from totally empty in 3 hrs.
  • Power Cover will be recognized as second battery in Windows

Read part 2 here.

More about the topics: microsoft, Pro 2, Surface 2, surface pro

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *