{"id":4471,"date":"2014-01-08T12:30:31","date_gmt":"2014-01-08T17:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=4471"},"modified":"2014-01-08T12:30:31","modified_gmt":"2014-01-08T17:30:31","slug":"microsoft-quietly-bumps-surface-pro-2-processor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/01\/08\/microsoft-quietly-bumps-surface-pro-2-processor\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft quietly bumps Surface Pro 2 processor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When we reviewed Microsoft&#8217;s Surface Pro 2, we found that it packed all the performance punch of a laptop computer thanks to its Intel i5-4200U processor running at 1.6-2.6 GHz.<\/p>\n<p>That strength has become even stronger, with CNET reporting that at least some new Surface Pro 2 systems are being equipped with the Intel i5-4300U, running at 1.9-2.9 GHz. The new CPU also increases the top clockspeed of the integrated GPU, capping it at 1.1GHz instead of 1.0GHz.<\/p>\n<p>OEMs swapping out components in their systems isn&#8217;t uncommon, with disks, LCD panels, wireless chipsets, and more all being substituted from time to time to cut costs or smooth out supply line anomalies. This practice was reflected in Microsoft&#8217;s official statement about the change: &#8220;Microsoft routinely makes small changes to internal components over the lifetime of a product, based on numerous factors including supply chain partnerships, availability, and value for our customers.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Supply chain issues seem a plausible reason for the change; Intel advertises the same price for both processors ($281), and their thermal constraints are identical, so if the faster part happens to be easier to get a hold of, it makes sense to use it rather than stick with the slower one.<\/p>\n<p>Swapping out a CPU, however, is still a bit surprising. While OEMs rarely bother to include trivia such as who makes their RAM or the flash chips in their SSDs, they do still generally make a point of describing the processors that power their systems. The processor to a great extent defines the system\\&#8217;s performance, and if you\\&#8217;re doing heavy work on a Surface Pro 2, this is a significant update.<\/p>\n<p>The spec page for Surface Pro 2, however, remains non-committal, stating merely that the tablet uses a 4th generation Intel Core i5. This gives the wiggle room for the upgrade; it also means that the company could safely return to the slower 4200U in the future if it made sense.<\/p>\n<p>via <a href=\"http:\/\/arstechnica.com\/gadgets\/2014\/01\/microsoft-quietly-bumps-surface-pro-2-processor\/\" target=\"_blank\">Microsoft quietly bumps Surface Pro 2 processor | Ars Technica<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When we reviewed Microsoft&#8217;s Surface Pro 2, we found that it packed all the performance punch of a laptop computer [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,5,11],"tags":[1055],"class_list":["post-4471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hardware","category-microsoft","category-windows","tag-surface-pro-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-1a7","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5864,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/07\/01\/some-surface-pro-3-users-complain-of-wi-fi-woes-after-first-day-firmware-update\/","url_meta":{"origin":4471,"position":0},"title":"Some Surface Pro 3 users complain of Wi-Fi woes after first-day firmware update","author":"NCCT","date":"July 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Ten days after launch, Microsoft is still trying to squash the bugs in its Surface Pro 3 tablet. As Ed Bott at ZDNet reports, some users have been complaining of connectivity problems over 802.11ac Wi-Fi networks. Complaints have also popped up on Microsoft's support forums, with users noting slower\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hardware&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hardware","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/hardware\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6660,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/10\/17\/microsoft-rolls-out-surface-2-firmware-updates-promises-wi-fi-update-for-surface-pro-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":4471,"position":1},"title":"Microsoft rolls out Surface 2 firmware updates, promises Wi-Fi update for Surface Pro 3","author":"NCCT","date":"October 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Microsoft may well be close to launching a new version of its Windows RT tablet, but it's continuing to roll out improvements to its current one in the meantime. The company has today begun pushing out a bunch of firmware updates for the Surface 2, bringing a range of fixes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hardware&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hardware","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/hardware\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6348,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/09\/03\/oops-microsoft-accidentally-teases-windows-9-coming-soon-on-social-media\/","url_meta":{"origin":4471,"position":2},"title":"Oops! Microsoft accidentally teases Windows 9 &#8216;coming soon&#8217; on social media","author":"NCCT","date":"September 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Microsoft's internal censors seem to be sleeping on the job this year. In June, the Surface Pro 3 manual included several references to a small-screen Surface Mini despite the fact that a small-screen Surface Mini was never actually released. And now, as rumors of Windows 9 swirl, Microsoft China\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Microsoft&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2953,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2013\/07\/15\/microsoft-surface-rt-gets-150-price-cut-worldwide\/","url_meta":{"origin":4471,"position":3},"title":"Microsoft Surface RT gets $150 price cut worldwide","author":"NCCT","date":"July 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Update: Microsoft has made the Surface RT price cuts official. The base 32GB model is now $350, the 64GB variant will be $450, and either of them with an included Touch Cover will be $450 and $550 respectively. The new prices are in effect at retail stores worldwide as well\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Microsoft&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3006,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2013\/07\/24\/long-life-no-cooling-fans-intels-4-5w-core-processors-could-blur-the-pctablet-line\/","url_meta":{"origin":4471,"position":4},"title":"Long life, no cooling fans: Intel&#039;s 4.5W Core processors could blur the PC\/tablet line","author":"NCCT","date":"July 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Windows tablets hold within them an implicit promise: To deliver the full Windows 8 experience in a svelte tablet form factor. Unfortunately, the ambitions of Microsoft and its partners have thus far exceeded reality, largely due to processor power issues. Even the lowest of low-wattage Ultrabook chips simply sip too\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hardware&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hardware","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/hardware\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9341,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2018\/05\/20\/this-week-in-tech-667-give-me-your-history-hat\/","url_meta":{"origin":4471,"position":5},"title":"This Week in Tech 667: Give Me your History Hat","author":"NCCT","date":"May 20, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/1aKshseSHiQ Microsoft's new Surface Hub 2. Google Duplex freaks everyone out. GDPR shouldn't freak people out - unless you work in adtech. Fortnite is coming to Android. Apple caves in to China again, pays some Irish taxes, and goes shopping for a new campus. Washington D.C is full of Stingray\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Microsoft&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/1aKshseSHiQ\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4471\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}