Snippet: Can the Surface Pro 3 Steal the MacBook Air’s Crown? ☇

Dieter Bohn for The Verge:

When it was first pulled out of a paper envelope in 2008, the original MacBook Air felt like a product from the future. The first few versions turned out to be a little too delicate and slow, but beginning in 2010 the machine really began to hit its stride. Its nearly perfect combination of battery life, speed, durability, and thinness made it the de-facto workhorse for those aforementioned tech journalists and millions of other consumers. It became the default idea for a futuristic, powerful laptop. And that’s precisely why Microsoft is dead set on unseating it, if only as a symbol of innovation.

I’m really enjoying this hungrier Microsoft. The Surface Pro 3 seems like the best iteration of a product that isn’t bad, but nobody seems to be buying. I think it is a bit strange that since the first two Surface models targeted the iPad, the current one (no non-Pro version?) is targeting laptops, notably the MacBook Air. It seems that since the original tablet strategy didn’t work, the company regrouped and decided to move the product upmarket. At the same time, it looks like, they realized that a smaller Surface had less of a chance of selling. It’ll be interesting to see how the public really responds to this, since the Surface Pro 3 is hitting a similar price range as Apple’s MacBook line, but probably appealing more to PC buyers, many of which expect cheaper machines.