Microsoft Surface Pro 3: Visual Tour

Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 combines laptop-worthy power with sleek industrial design. Take a closer look at the tablet and get our early hands-on impressions.

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Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 represents almost everything good about earlier Surfaces, with very little of the bad. The new model boasts previous Pros' laptop-worthy horsepower but replaces their heft and clunkiness with an ultrathin, feather-light body reminiscent of the ARM-powered Surface 2. It boasts a bigger screen, but, thanks to a new shape, it's also easier to hold than earlier models, which felt awkwardly tall and narrow in portrait mode. The new device also offers better battery life than any of its Surface siblings, and its pen and Touch Cover keyboards are the best Microsoft has yet built.

Does that mean the Surface line has finally come into its own? After only a day with a demo unit, it's premature to label the Pro 3 a winner without further testing. We'll publish a full review soon, but in the meantime, here are some of the design cues and new features that immediately stand out.

The screen The Surface Pro 3's 12-inch, 2160x1440-pixel screen is gorgeous, with vivid colors and excellent contrast. The touchscreen offers 10-finger multi-touch support and extremely responsive operations. Thanks to its uncommon 4:3 aspect ratio and light weight, the new Surface handles better in portrait mode than its 16:9 predecessors, despite being larger. Holding the device is somewhat like holding a legal pad.

The Surface Pro Pen The Surface Pro Pen doesn't quite replicate a paper-and-ink experience, but it comes closer than any stylus I've ever seen.

[The Surface Pro 3 isn't perfect for everyone. Read Microsoft Surface Pro 3: What's Missing.]

Microsoft replaced the Wacom technology in the Surface Pro 2's pen with N-trig gear -- and it makes a difference. Sensitive to 256 degrees of pressure, the pen is smooth and responsive. It might become even better, too, after Microsoft releases a planned calibration tool that will let you tune the pen's pressure sensitivity to your preference.

It's also well integrated with the OS and hardware. If the tablet is sleeping, the user can begin scribbling a note just by clicking the button at the top of the pen; doing so wakes the Surface straight into OneNote, allowing you to jump into a note without authenticating (and potentially causing you to forget what you intended to write). Speaking of buttons, the pen includes two more along its barrel. They replicate mouse functions, allowing users to select and move around onscreen files and objects.

The tablet's optical layers are also extremely thin, which helps minimize any distracting displacements, or parallax effects, between the pen's tip, and the digital line it's drawing.

Full-friction kickstand The original Surface Pro's fixed-position kickstand made it almost impossible to use in one's lap. The Surface Pro 2's two-step version was a tremendous improvement -- but still

Michael Endler joined InformationWeek as an associate editor in 2012. He previously worked in talent representation in the entertainment industry, as a freelance copywriter and photojournalist, and as a teacher. Michael earned a BA in English from Stanford University in 2005 ... View Full Bio