Microsoft Surface 2 - Tablets - CNET Reviews

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CNET Editors' Take September 23, 2013 8:00 AM PDT

Microsoft's Surface tablet was supposed to usher in a new generation of Windows RT products, targeted to compete more with iOS and Android tablets than full-featured laptops. The lukewarm reception Windows RT received meant that we've seen very few RT products since, and the Surface tablet itself was outshone by the superior Surface Pro, a slightly heftier version that ran full Windows 8 with an Intel Core i5 CPU.

Hands on with the Microsoft Surface 2 (pictures)

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Both halves of the Surface line have been refreshed just in time for the 2013 holiday season, but it's the Surface 2, still running Windows RT, that has undergone a more complete makeover.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)
This updated Windows RT version of the Microsoft Surface features a slightly slimmer body, an updated 1.7GHz Nvidia Tegra 4 processor (as first reported by CNET), and a higher-resolution screen than the original Surface. Both the Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 share the same 1,920x1,080-pixel-resolution screen now, and it's been color-tuned for greater accuracy. Surface 2 also has improved front and rear cameras (3.5MP front, 5.0MP rear) for Skype and other Webcam use.

While the Windows 8 Surface Pro 2 still comes in a slatelike black, the Windows RT Surface 2 is now a lighter color, more of a silver/magnesium (and the bodies of both are made of mostly magnesium).