Microsoft has launched its new line of tablets as the software giant looks to take on Apple in the lucrative tablet market.
The move marks Microsoft’s first entry into the PC hardware market, and the tablet prices start at £399.
The Surface tablets feature a foldout keyboard built into the case, and run on Window RT and uses chips made by Nvidia, based on the designs of British company Arm Holdings.
It is designed to be cheaper and offer longer battery life than products using x86 chips that run the full Windows 8 system.
Windows RT devices can only install third-party software from Microsoft’s own Windows Store.
Although they do offer a traditional desktop mode, the only programs that can be run under it are Microsoft’s Office 2013 suite and a limited number of the firm’s other products.
Although Microsoft has not disclosed sales figures, it said that pre-orders of the 32GB version of the Surface – which costs £399 – had “temporarily sold out” in the US, Canada, France, Germany and the UK within a day of going on sale.
A £559 64GB version remains on offer.
Early reviews of the device have been mixed, praising the hardware but criticising a lack of software.
Until more third-party apps are developed for the touch-interface mode, users face a significantly smaller selection of software than they would on traditional Windows devices and tablets powered by Apple’s iOS or Google’s Android operating systems.
Microsoft intends to launch an Intel-based version of the Surface offering the full Windows 8 system in January.
Watch a BBC video review of the Surface tablet below.
