Windows 8.1 and Surface 2: You. El Reg. A few experts. Chatting LIVE - Register
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By the end of next Tuesday – 29 October – Microsoft will have played all its Christmas cards.
Two new Surface slabs will have officially launched and Windows 8.1 will be working its way through shops, PC makers and download servers.
Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 will bring new chips and graphics processors to make things faster; 10 hours battery life – honestly, this time Microsoft says; up to 512Gb storage; and a slimmed-down shape.
Windows 8.1 brings back both the Start button and the Classic desktop that Microsoft murdered a year ago in Windows 8.
Redmond wants its share of the massive tablet market, sales of which, analyst IDC reckons, will be bigger than the sales of PCs this Christmas for the first time ever.
Problem is, while the usual gadget titles wet their pants on Surface features, there's hardly any in stock to move the market even in the US – while Androids are piling up and Apple will likely pull something big out of Santa's sack.
As for the PC business upon which Windows 8.1 will be relying, that's in its sixth successive quarterly decline.
Join All-About-Microsoft's Mary Jo Foley, ITWriting's Tim Anderson (who reviewed Windows 8.1 for us (here) and Reg software editor Gavin Clarke fresh from the Surface 2 launches for a Surface 2 and Windows 8.1 Live Chat.
Up for discussion:
- Have you downloaded Windows 8.1 or bought a new machine, or have you bought or pre-ordered a Surface 2 (a rebranded ARM-based Surface RT) or a Surface Pro (Intel)?
- Are you excited or already experiencing buyer's regret?
- Should Microsoft be worried about its future and what comes next?
- What are the new features in Windows 8.1 and the Surface 2s the rest of us should be looking out for?
- Is an iPad still the best bet, or should I get an Android tab for Christmas?
We'll be talking about all this and more, in a Live Chat right here in this window below from 2pm UK time (6am Pacific, 9am Eastern) on 23 October. As ever, you can register below to be reminded when the time comes...
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