Thinner, Fanless Microsoft Surface Pro 4 On Release Date Tipped: Pros and Cons To Consider
Aside from the assumption that Windows 10 is part of the Surface Pro 4 release date package, Microsoft is rumoured too to deliver notable upgrades, hardware-wise, with the upcoming tablet. A leak coming from China indicates that the Surface Pro 3 follow up is fanless and thinner.
According to WinBeta, a Pro 4 prototype that 36KR.com from China first picked up showed that the flagship tablet from Microsoft had undergone a major hardware facelift. The device profile is thinner but not necessarily lighter and the one thing that really differentiates the SP4 from the SP3 is the lack of cooling fan inside.
In a separate report, Windows Central stumbled upon the same leak and the tech blog site seconded the claim that that Pro 4 logic board will get unboxed fanless. There are other key changes but overall, the SP4 will reflect the build and finish first seen with the SP3 – screen size, port configurations, accessories compatibility and battery rating including.
Rumoured bump ups and their impacts
One welcome upgrade, WinBeta noted, is that instead of Intel Core M, the Pro 4 main engine is a fifth generation Intel Broadwell chip. This would mean that the device will pack more power, which translates also to intensive heat generation.
Now if the fanless design is already written in stone, then overheating could be one of the problems that Pro 4 users will have to deal with. To address this issue, the SP4 prototype appears to be dotted by small holes to allow some heat to escape.
But the workaround could prove insufficient. The heat inside of the Broadwell-powered Pro 4 may be just too much that current prototype simply amounts to a great deal of technical challenge, Windows Central said.
What is more likely, the same report said, is the use of extra-small and virtually noiseless fans inside of the SP4 that Microsoft boldly packages into a fanless system. This theory is being offered by experts from AnandTech, Windows Central said.
As for the slimmed down overall build, the downside to this is the provision of the same battery found in the Pro 3. Not really an upgrade but Microsoft seems to mitigate the ill-effects by extending the SP3 display resolution to the SP4. And it looked like too that the screen size is capped to 12-inch diagonally, belying earlier claims that a 14-inch version could be introduced as well.
The purpose of the cutting corners, it seemed, is to ensure that SP4 users will enjoy powerful mobile computing with assured longer hours than before. Additional consolation is the is the prettier Windows system fonts that Windows Central system will look gorgeous enough even if the SP4 will indeed end up mirroring the SP3’s 1440p display resolution at pixel density of 216 pixels per inch or ppi.
Rumours are rife that the Surface Pro 4 is among the devices, if the not the first, to showcase the killer features stuffed by Microsoft with the Windows 10 release date this 2015. That likely will occur shortly after July, which is the rumoured touchdown moment of the redesigned operating system.
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