Samsung’s 40-inch SUR40 for Microsoft Surface tablet on pre-order
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Samsung’s SUR40 for Microsoft Surface: Table, tablet, or maybe both?
Well, it surely isn’t very mobile, but it is on pre-order in 23 countries, including the U.S.
The 40-inch touchscreen device, as the name implies, runs Microsoft’s Surface software, which is most often found in Surface tables inside Microsoft Stores. The New York Times has done some experimenting with an older version of Microsoft’s Surface technology too.
Microsoft and Samsung also showed off the SUR40, which has a 4-inch-thick display, at the Consumer Electronics Show in January and now you can buy one too -- if you’ve got the cash.
So, how much will it cost and when will it ship?
Samsung and Microsoft officials weren’t available to answer those questions Thursday morning, but the SUR40 will sell for about $7,600 according to the website SlashGear, or about $8,400 according to TechCrunch. Mashable reports that the SUR40 could sell for between $10,000 and $15,000.
We’ll let you know when we hear from Samsung or Microsoft to clarify the pricing details, but obviously the SUR40 isn’t meant to compete with Apple’s iPad on price or size.
[Updated 11:59 a.m.: Jason Redmond, a Samsung spokesman, clarified the pricing and shipping details for the Technology blog in an email, saying:
Pricing is $8,400 USD for just the display unit and $9,049 with the legs as shown in the photo. It is sold without the legs for customers who are building a tabletop or display furniture around the SUR40. We will start shipping to customers in early January, not long after CES.]
The target here is educational institutions and businesses such as retail, healthcare, hospitality and even the financial industry and ‘other commercial business environments to help deliver interactive digital content, drive sales, showcase brands, and increase customer satisfaction and loyalty,’ said Somanna Palacanda, the director of Microsoft’s Surface team, in a statement.
The SUR40, which can be laid horizontal and on legs (like a table) or mounted on walls and other upright surfaces, uses what the two tech giants call PixelSense, which ‘allows an LCD display to recognize fingers, hands, and objects placed on the screen, including more than 50 simultaneous touch points,’ according to a Microsoft statement. ‘With PixelSense, pixels in the display see what’s touching the screen and that information is immediately processed and interpreted.’
And yes, the SUR40 does have an app for Microsoft’s Bing search engine and a built-in Web browser.
Want to see the SUR40 in action? Take a look at the Microsoft-produced video below.
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-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles