Microsoft plans to conquer the tablet world with its Surface Pro 3. It comes at a time when the tablet sector is doing far from ok. Best Buy CEO announced recently that tablets sales are ‘crashing’. It is no wonder, because the 5 to 6 inches smartphones already dominate the gadget market, rendering the 7 to 8 inches tablets needles. Surface Pro 3 is not an ordinary tablet, though. First, this is a 12 inches device. Secondly, under its hood lies a much stronger engine.

Practically Surface Pro 3 is a slim PC. And this is what Microsoft wants to sell, a full-fledged desktop PC experience. To be fair, Surface Pro 3 competes with Apple MacBook Air, as Microsoft clearly demonstrates through a special offer. If you are interested in the Surface Pro 3 and own a MacBook Air, you can trade it in and receive $650 as a credit for your Microsoft tablet PC. The offer was announced last month, according to PCmag.

Microsoft Surface Pro 3 was launched in May with an i5 processor. From now on, there are other options available. Microsoft translated its whole range of ‘i’ processors to the tablet PC, conveying the company’s trust in the latest range of mobile devices.

Surface Pro 3 docking station available soon

You can buy the Surface Pro 3 only in the U.S. and Canada for the moment. The tablet is available both on Microsoft’s website, as well as in brick and mortar stores like Best Buy, Staples and Tiger Direct.

The first Surface Pro 3 version released in May sported an i5 processor and two storage options. The 128 Gb one sells for $999, while the 256 Gb for $1299.

The new i3 version will be the most accessible one, at only $799 for the 64 GB version. As we migrate to the cloud, this sounds less and less like a bad option. The top i7 option comes with a 512 GB SSD, but with a price to match its specs, $1949.

Microsoft Surface Pro 3 sports an impressive 2.160 by 1.440 display. A docking station with multiple USB ports and a mini display port will be available starting with August 15 for $200. No accessories are offered with the tablet, so you will have to buy them separately and the first one will be the $130 Type Cover.