I swung by the local Best Buy to do a little window-shopping and stumbled upon the Microsoft Surface 3. It was a display unit for the 64GB version of the Surface 3, and it looked good.
As appearance goes, the Surface 3 looks and feels a lot like the Surface 2. You do have the obvious difference with the charging ports, but screen size, weight, thickness and the screen quality all seem in the same ballpark.
While handling the Surface 3 in a Best Buy is not the best way to spend hands-on time with a new device, I was impressed with the new device. The Surface 3 isn't blazingly fast but noticeably quicker than the Surface 2. The Atom processor has a bit more spunk than the Tegra processors of the Surface 2.
Granted, the Atom processor isn't on the same level as the iCore processors of the Surface Pro series but for the more economically priced Surface 3 it seems to perform rather nicely.
I would have liked to have seen how the model with 4GB of RAM performed, but the Surface 3 with 2GB's of RAM is a noticeable step up from the Surface 2 (in more ways than one). Speaking of, you can read our spec showdown between the Surface 2 and Surface 3 to get a better idea of what has changed. Also, don't forget to read yesterday's AMA with the Surface team about the new Surface 3 to learn some other facts about the new hybrid device.
According to the sales crew, the Surface 3 should be available on display at all the Best Buy locations but you will need to go online at BestBuy.com to pre-order the device. Let us know in the comments what you think of the Surface 3 if you have the opportunity to find one at your local Best Buy.
