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Surface 2
Microsoft is said to be working on a successor to the Surface 2, but the Surface 3 won't be hobbled by Windows RT this time around.
The Surface 2 launched back in 2013 as Microsoft's second-generation affordable tablet. It never got a successor to sit alongside last year's all-singing Surface Pro 3.
According to a new WinBeta report, Microsoft hasn't ditched the plain old Surface range. In fact, it plans to launch a third Surface device soon.
The big news here, however, is that the new Surface will not run Windows RT. Microsoft's stripped-down version of Windows 8 always seemed ill-conceived, limiting the OS where it mattered - app support.
Apparently, the Surface 3 will rectify this by running on full Windows - a first for a non-Pro Surface. Perhaps unusually, the Surface 3 will be launched ahead of Windows 10, which means that it will come with Windows 8.1 preinstalled instead.
Read More: Apple MacBook (2015) vs Microsoft Surface Pro 3
Those familiar with Windows 8.1's inner workings will have realised that it doesn't work on the ARM mobile chips that have powered both iterations of the Surface to date.
Sure enough, the report claims that the Surface 3 (or whatever it turns out to be called) will run on either an Intel Atom or Intel Core M processor.
The report reckons that we could see the new Surface tablet at Microsoft's Build 2015 conference, which takes place from April 29 to May 1.