With the annual Consumer Electronics Show right around the corner and the industry’s marketing efforts going into overdrive, what is it that we will likely see next week?

It’s a safe bet that if will be a week of opposites.

From hardware going to both larger and smaller designs, Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) G-Sync versus AMD (NYSE: AMD) FreeSync, small displays with massive resolution, and gaming notebooks of both massive and diminutive sizes.

Small form factor hardware as is one of the fastest growing areas in the hardware segment, and no doubt there will be a lot of it on display at CES.  With hardware becoming so powerful and small we are seeing a lot of really powerful builds that can be done.  With even MATX X99 boards we are seeing that there is a move toward making things small and potent.  On the other side there is a lot of huge pieces of hardware showing up on the market, namely 4K and ultra wide monitors.  They are becoming even more prolific and the ultra wide monitors are drawing a lot of interest from gamers and power users who were once planning on going for a 4K monitor or two.  There will be a lot of talk this CES about AMD’s FreeSync for enthusiast gaming monitors as it is the newcomer challenging Nvidia’s established G-Sync.  FreeSync will draw the attention of monitor manufacturers since it is less costly to implement and license than the G-Sync solution.  The LG 34UM67 will be a curved ultra wide monitor that will feature AMD’s FreeSync, and should definitely steal a lot of the spotlight next week.

The mobile computing segment is also something to watch next week as we will see a lot of small notebooks with very high resolution displays.  It is easy to say that there will be a number of notebook models that will feature 3K and 4K screens, even at the 15.6-inch sizes.  There will also be a movement with ultraportable gaming notebooks of small size that can be docked with a desktop graphics card for superior gaming ability while at a desk.  With the shrinking of parts that make up computers we will be seeing a drastic reduction in size and weight of these ulta portable notebooks.  Not only will they be smaller but they will be potent and even come equipped with quad-core Intel i7 processors and decent graphics.  On the other hand you will also see that there is a move to the opposite extreme as there will be new 18″ gaming notebooks that will be the true embodiment of the “desktop replacement” name.  Some of these huge notebooks will even sport gaming grade mechanical keyboards featuring Cherry MX Brown switches.

Be sure to check back throughout next week as CES 2015 kicks off in Las Vegas.

The post PC Enthusiats: What Can We Expect to See at CES 2015? appeared first on VR World.

Razer, a a gaming peripheral company, has just unveiled its newest computer bag.  The Razer Tactical Bag is a backpack that is built from military-grade materials ensuring the durability to stand up to the abuse that gamers can dish out.  The Razer Tactical Bag is currently available from Razer’s online store for $159.99 and will start to ship on December 12th.

Razer a leader in gaming peripherals just announced today that its newest computer bag for gamers is now available for order from its online store.  The new Tactical Bag is made of military grade materials that should help to give it the durability for whatever that gamers can dish out.  The majority of the bag is from high grade 1680D ballistic nylon, it is a larger pile nylon which results in more of a raised surface because 1680D is a larger yarn.  The 1680D is also a heavy fabric that has a much higher abrasion resistance than yarns of smaller deniers.  This is good for bags that are meant to protect what is inside and that won’t be worn all day, such as a computer bag. The multiple compartment design should help to make things stored in the bag much easier to get at and will make packing up all of a gamer’s gear a breeze.  The  design also incorporates a rain poncho for the bag that will protect it from the weather, though using it when around a lot of people may also help to keep people out of the bag.

The post Razer Introduces New Tactical Bag appeared first on VR World.

With the holidays approaching fast and the sales that come with it many people will be getting new notebooks this holiday season.  Researching what the best notebooks out there are takes time and we though we could help out by giving you our choices in five different categories of notebooks.  They are gaming, ultraportable, Chromebook, business, and Apple MacBook.  With the latest computer parts in these notebooks it will be certain that they will be able to earn there keep for quite some time.  There are many things to consider when looking for a notebook and budget is a big one.  Most of these choices are going to be in the higher end range since they perform better.

Gaming Notebook: MSI Computer GT72  Dominator Pro with GTX 980M – $2,299

This gaming notebook is the top of the line from MSI, and it does not disappoint.  Equipped with Intel i7-4710HQ, 16GB of DDR3-1600, a 128GB SSD, and a Nvidia GTX 980M 8GB, this will tear through any recent and upcoming game.  The best thing about the GT72 Dominator Pro is that MSI has taken steps to ensure that you can update the graphics down the line when new and better GPUs come out.  This means that the investment made in this computer will last a lot longer than comparable notebooks that are stuck with their graphics for the life of the product. If you are wanting some more speed from the notebook then throw in four identical M.2 SSDs inside and put them in RAID 0 for read/write speeds of up to 1600MB/s.  From experience with MSI’s SuperRAID as it is called I can attest to how massive of an improvement that speeds like this can be, it makes using the notebook just so much more enjoyable.  You can even attach three monitors to the notebook with two mini-displayport and one HDMI outputs.  The keyboard feels like no other notebook keyboard and is made by the gaming company SteelSeries. Bottom line is that if this is in your budget and you are a gamer or even a power user, I have little doubt that you will love this notebook.

Apple Notebook: 15″ 2.5GHz MacBook Pro with Retina display – $2,374.99

There is no denying it, Apple makes good notebooks and they are arguably the best notebooks for running Windows on as well.  The Retina display will allow for better multi-tasking with various windows as the resolution gives lots of screen real estate.  The Retina display will be great for those who edit photos or video as the display will reproduce colors very well. The construction of the MacBook Pro is amazing and the fit and finish are things that other companies could learn a thing or two from.  The choice with the 2.5GHz Intel i7 was made for what would be the most capable and powerful option with a reasonable price.  At Apple you can customize the MacBook Pro with up to a 1TB SSD and a 2.8GHz Intel i7.

Ultraportable Notebook: Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro – $1,382.99

The 2-in-1 Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro is the latest model in the Yoga line and features an amazing watchband style hinge.  The hinge is made up of hundreds of individual pieces that allows the notebook to flex like no other and fold to use it in different positions.  The screen is a high resolution (3200×1800) IPS touchscreen that will reproduce colors very well and look much better than lower quality panels.  If needing something very light, portable, and a long battery life then this notebook should be on your list of ones to check out.  The stylish Yoga 3 Pro is one of the most stunning designs out now and is powered by the brand new Intel Core M processor.

 Chromebook – Toshiba Chromebook 2 1080p $329.99

Chromebooks are a new breed of notebook, and people are really loving them.  Chromebooks generally are affordable, light, and have long battery life making it an easy choice for those who need something portable.  The best thing about this model is likely the 1080p IPS panel that will look much better than panels that are in other models.  Powering the notebook is an Intel Celeron processor, and while not very powerful it will get the job done and sip power giving longer battery life.  The battery should be good for up to 8 hours and 45 minutes.  The audio has been fine-tuned by Skullcandy meaning that it should deliver much nicer sound than the standard Chromebook.  This will be useful if you enjoy listening to streaming music while you surf the web or do work.  The 802.11ac Wi-Fi is blazing fast and will allow you to get better coverage over other Chromebooks.

Business Notebook: Lenovo X1 Carbon – $1,619

When looking for a business notebook it is wise to choose something that is portable and light so you can easily get work done no matter where you are working.  The X1 Carbon also offers great battery life allowing up to 9 hours from a single charge.  Lenovo is the the most used PC maker for businesses and they sure do know what they are doing with its lineup that is geared for productivity.  The keyboard is surprisingly good and has back-lighting making it easier to get work done while on that red-eye to an important meeting or at home in the evening.  The integrated fingerprint reader should help simplify secure login by allowing you to simply swipe a finger over it.  When it comes to a business notebook, choosing Lenovo is a wise choice that millions have made before.

The post Top Five Notebooks of 2014 appeared first on VR World.

If you Google Tech 21, you’ll find two very different companies, both involved in mobile devices, both of interest to techies. One was a case vendor at Pepcom. The other is a sound producing company. One surrounds your iPhone with energy absorbing guards. The other exudes musical energy from a portable amp.

Tech 21 USA, the sound-based company, has a longer history than Tech21 Impactology, the smartphone related company. They are referred to respectively as Tech 21 and Tech21 in this article.

Tech 21’s portable Flying Rig 5 has a genuine SansAmp, a reverb, a delay, and a power boost.

We learned of Tech21’s amazing mobile device protection at Pepcom 2014

Tech 21 Founder Andrew Barta just celebrated his musical company’s 25th anniversary. He pioneered the direct recording movement and created an entirely new category of signal processing. The SansAmp tube amplifier emulator was revolutionary. It enabled musicians to “dial in monster tones and patch them directly to a studio mixer or stage PA.” The 100 percent analog SansAmp delivered huge sound from a pocket-sized pedal.

Their Fly Rig 5 is an amp emulator, speaker, and mic simulator with the functionality of a full pedalboard, without the crackling patch cables, dying batteries, and ground loops. It weighs just over 18 ounces, is less than 12 inches long, fits into a guitar case, and sells for $249. Perfect for a musician on the road.

Barta’s proprietary technology stands alone in the analog arena. He says of his analog choice versus digital options: “Overall, I think analog is much warmer, more organic, and more responsive. There’s also the issue of clarity. At extreme settings, digital tends to produce more artifacts (garbles) and unnatural noise in the background.”

Tech 21 products have been associated with famous musicians such as Michael Anthony of Van Halen, Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, Bruce Bouton with Garth Brooks, Matt Cameron of Pearl Jam, Jeff Campbell with Sting, and Kurt Cobain, Nirvana.

The similarly named companies issue from different continents. The origin of Tech 21 USA is obvious, proudly subtitled “Designed and Manufactured in the USA.” Tech21 Impactology is located on the River Thames in London. Tech21 also has a long history. Back 19 years ago, Jason Roberts developed an aluminum cage in which a laptop was suspended to prevent impacts. His research progressed to scientifically tested, shock-absorbing polymers for mobile devices.

The technology behind both companies is impressive. Tech 21 emphasizes bypass design for sound production while. Tech21 emphasizes chemistry for mobile device protection. Tech21 uses a combination of materials for their Impact Shield screen protectors and their slim cases for phones and tablets.

Tech21 offers shell and band protection for a variety of devices.

BulletShield is a BASF impact absorbing polymer used in the Impact Shield, similar to that used in bullet proof glass. D30 is a smart, shock absorbing dilatant material whose molecules lock together upon impact, causing the material to absorb and dissipate energy, reducing the damaging force transmitted to your device.

At Pepcom, BSN* learned of the Evo Mesh protective casings for the iPhone 6 from Tech21’s Jason Dollery.

Polycarbonate is a group of thermoplastic polymers that are molded under high heat temperatures and can be cut to match any design. FlexShock is a cutting edge hybrid material that can be molded via the injection process to fit the contours of a device’s shape. Additionally, it is ultra thin, reducing the bulk surrounding your device. You’ll find it in Tech21’s MacBook series. The final ingredient in the Tech21 mix is Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU). This plastic is elastic, flexible, and abrasive resistance to impact, weather, tear, oil and grease.

At Pepcom, we were given a demonstration of how this amazing fluid material when pulled out of the pot and wrapped around the rep’s finger immediately protected it from the impact of a hammer. Gotta get some of this stuff for your carpenter friends.

Whether you are a musician or a mobile device collector, Tech 21 and Tech21 both have useful products you should consider. A demonstration of D30 and a demonstration of Fly Rig 5 by Andrew Barta himself are both on YouTube.

The post Tech 21 and Tech21 Deliver Mobile Sound and Device Protection appeared first on VR World.

Hewlett Packard (NYSE:HPQ) just announced the brand new Omen gaming notebook, and has its sights set squarely on the Razer Blade notebook.  The premium Omen has the specs that should put it on the short list for the next notebook of many gamers.

The 15″ notebooks is only 19.9mm thick and 4.68lbs, making it one svelt notebook that is more than capable of running the latest games.  With HP naming the notebook “Omen”, it is clearly trying to revive some of the feelings that a PC enthusiast has for Voodoo.  Back in 2006 HP bought up the Canadian boutique gaming computer company Voodoo PC.  Voodoo PC was well known for its gorgeous high end custom creations that were the envy (also a Voodoo PC product name) for so many enthusiasts, and they still are.  One of the most beloved products they had was the Omen, a beautiful gaming desktop computer.  Unfortunately HP killed the brand, but started using the term Voodoo DNA to help market its higher end products that were geared toward gaming.  With logo of the old Voodoo PC as the wallpaper of the marketing shots of the Omen notebook on its site, there is little doubt that they are appealing to those who still love the old brand.

The Omen Notebook is packing the latest Intel i7 4710HQ giving it a fairly powerful processor for most tasks users will have.  The Nvidia GeForce GTX 860M that comes in the notebook is available with either 2GB or 4GB of video memory is also using Nvidia’s latest Maxwell architecture, even though it isn’t part of Nvidia’s most recent GTX 900 series of GPUs, which would be real cutting edge.

8GB of DDR3 is standard, but it has the option to be bumped up to 16GB which will definitely allow this notebook to perform a lot of multitasking or memory intensive operations.  There are options as well to bump up the standard SSD from 128GB to either 256GB or 512GB.  The specifications on the page for the Omen say that the keyboard has a RGB backlit keyboard that has been tuned for gaming.  This should allow users to customize the color of the LEDs in the notebook since it does use RGB leds.  The specs put it in line for competing with the Razer Blade notebook, although the Omen only has a 15.6″ 1920 x 1080 touch screen.  This is definitely the point where the Omen will fall short since it likely has a TN panel giving a worse color gamut and resolution that the Blade’s 14′ 3200 x 1800 IPS touchscreen.  Though in many cases having a panel with that high of a resolution will not make a difference in most tasks since DPI scaling will need to be cranked up.

Overall, this looks like it could be a winner for HP, as the Omen has a starting price of $1499 for the 15t version.

The post The New HP Omen Conjures Some Voodoo appeared first on VR World.

Today, Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) reported its earnings for the third quarter of 2014.

Intel’s expected consensus earnings were $0.65 per share, while the company reported an EPS of $0.66  on record $14.6 billion  in revenue. As a whole Intel reported $3.3 billion in profit on $14.6 billion in revenue. It also generated approximately $5.7 billion in cash from operations and paid back $1.1 billion in the form of dividends to investors for the quarter while using $4.2 billion to repurchase 122 million shares of stock. This is very likely thanks to the strength of the PC market recently in North America and Europe. Intel’s earnings for the quarter were up nearly 20% quarter over quarter and their revenue was up 5% quarter over quarter. When you look at the same time a year ago, Intel’s profit was up 12% and revenue was up 8%.

For Intel’s business divisions, Intel once again saw a mixed bag of results. Its PC Client Group saw revenue grow to $9.2 billion, up 6% sequentially and 9% year over year. Its Data Center Group also saw sizable improvement, growing to $3.7 billion from growth of 5% sequentially and 16% year over year (showing Intel’s renewed server growth). The IoT Group saw revenue of $530 million, down 2% sequentially and up 14% year over year. As far as the mobile efforts go, its Mobile and Communications group saw revenues of only $1 million, consistent with Intel’s expectations. Lastly, software and services operating group also saw revenues of $558 million, up 2% year over year and sequentially.

What will it take for Intel to compete in mobile?

Intel is still struggling to compete in the mobile space, continuing to take heavy losses of over $1 billion (now at $3 billion this year alone) and having very few design wins to show for. It’s very likely going to consider their upcoming Broadwell chips as part of their mobile push, but the truth is that those chips are still going into laptops and high-end tablets rather than smartphones and affordable tablets where the real volumes lie. The new Core M processors are showing some serious promise, but they are still too expensive to put into a smartphone or tablet even though their power consumption is impressively low thanks to the new 14nm process. But they still need to find a way to make themselves relevant in smartphones and tablets, especially when you consider how much money they’re spending to keep that division going.

There is one seriously troubling business metric here that Intel is clearly trying to hide. That’s the Mobile and Communications Group. It reported a minuscule $1 million in revenue for a division that last quarter reported $51 million in revenue, that’s a reduction of around 98% quarter over quarter. And when you look at 2Q 2014 against the previous quarter (1Q 2014) their Mobile and Communications Group was already down 67 percent sequentially and down 83 percent year-over-year. What’s even crazier is that if you look at the Mobile and Communications Group revenues for the 1Q 2014, the company was already having a hard time while earning $156 million in revenue. During 1Q 2014, Intel reported $156 million in revenue which was already down 52% sequentially and down 61% year over year. Intel has successfully eviscerated their entire mobile division to effectively nothing, Investors are absolutely going to demand that Intel abandon their mobile push because it clearly isn’t working and its costing the company billions of dollars per year to run, essentially, into the ground.

Intel also recently announced its new Core i7 5960X along with a full line of Haswell-E based performance processors for the X99 motherboard platform, which now uses DDR4 instead of DDR3. However, this launch came at the tail end of 3Q 2014, and very likely won’t affect Intel’s sales as much as it will in 4Q 2013. It also launched the accompanying Xeon E5 v3 family of server processors, also based on Haswell-E and also running DDR4 shortly after the announcement of the Intel Core i7 Extreme processor. Both lines bring valuable advancements to Intel’s own server and high performance desktop lines, where the company is strongest.

Intel also guided for the 4Q of 2014, stating that it expects to once again have record revenues to the tune of $14.7 billion, plus or minus $500 million and that they expect gross margin to go down to 64% from 65%. They expect R&D to increase a bit from $4.8 billion to $4.9 billion, even though the previous quarter was $4.9 billion, so it isn’t really much of a change.
Q4 2014. Intel was trading up 2% during regular hours and is now trading up around 2% in after hours trading.

The post Intel Beats Estimates, Reports Strong Q3 2014 Earnings appeared first on VR World.

After Nvidia launched the GeForce GTX 980 based on the company’s latest Maxwell architecture, it was merely a matter of time until they also allowed Maxwell to trickle down into gaming laptops. This obviously brought about the announcement of today’s GTX 980M and GTX 970M mobile gaming GPUs. Do keep in mind, that Maxwell was actually first introduced in the GTX 800M series, but only in the low-end and midrange while the high-end remained Kepler-based (GTX 880M).

The added efficiency of the GTX 900 series does in fact mean that this new crop of mobile GPUs in laptops will get not only deliver significantly better performance but also better battery life. While we haven’t quite yet had a chance to test any of the new Maxwell-based GTX 900M series GPUs, but it is worth noting that the GTX 980 desktop GPU improved performance by about 100% over the previous generation and at the same time reduced power by 20%. So, when we look at these new GTX 980M and GTX 970M there are a lot of pretty amazing expectations for these new GPUs. As a result, Nvidia is slowly closing the gap between desktop and mobile GPU performance t the point where the GTX 980M is around 80% the performance of its desktop counterpart.

Nvidia has also baked in a lot of awesome mobile gaming features into the GTX 980M and GTX 970M. One of the most important features of these new GTX 900M series GPUs has to be the ability to increase gaming battery life while on battery and to not automatically throttle down the GPU to the point of being unplayable on battery. Not just that, but they also have the ability to do essentially all of the things that the desktop GPUs can do, which include the Shadowplay, Game Stream, DSR and MFAA. MFAA allows for a higher quality image at essentially no performance penalty, allowing gamers to run games at higher settings without taking the performance or battery life hits they would normally expect.

Most gamers want performance improvements, and those are coming too, just like they did in the desktop GPU. Most GTX 980M and GTX 970M laptops will see approximately 100% better performance than their Kepler-based counterparts. In mobile, this is huge because now Nvidia can implement frame rate targets to improve battery life and give you the same or better gaming experience at possibly double the battery life.

Unsurprisingly, a multitude of new laptops were announced today in conjunction with the new GTX 980M and GTX 970M GPUs. Some of the most notable vendors include ASUS, MSI, Maingear, Origin PC, Digital Storm, Gigabyte and Clevo. I would also very likely expect to see a new Razer Blade based upon these new GPUs, but nothing has been announced quite yet. They will probably save that for the 2015 Razer Blade, which may give prospective buyers of the Razer blade a reason to wait for the 2015 model.

EVO15-S-09S

Above is Origin’s EVO 15-S with the GTX 970M inside.

Origin PC Eon15-s-v3

Here you also have the Origin PC EON15-S  with the GTX 980M

MSI GT72 with GTX 980M

Above we have the MSI GT72 2QE Dominator Pro with the GTX 980M as well.

Last but not least is Maingear’s Nomad 17 gaming notebook.

The post Maingear, Origin, MSI and Digital Storm Add GTX 980M & 970M appeared first on VR World.

Today I’m taking a look at the STM Bags Impulse Medium Laptop Backpack.

The backpack is designed to fit up to a 15” laptop. The full specifications are below:

• Material: 300D velocity poly
• Lining: 200D water resistant polyester (Laptop Section: 200g brushed nylex)
• Device Space: 9.8 x 14.3 x 0.9 in / 24.9 x 36.4 x 2.4 cm
• Outer Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.9 x 5.5 in / 49 x 33 x 14 cm
• Capacity: 1220.5 cu in / 20 L
• Weight: 2.2 lb / 1 kg

The Impulse Medium comes in grey and black, our review unit was the black model.

The backpack has a relatively slim profile despite being able to fit such a large capacity. In the back, there is a large zipper section that has a laptop section built into it. The middle zipper section also has a generous amount of space that fits a variety of things. The front zipper section has smaller sections for holding pens, pencils, phones, and other smaller objects, as well as a primary section for carrying possibly a notebook or some other relatively slim but tall and wide objects. Finally, there is a bottom zipper on the front of the backpack that is ideal for chargers or possibly a glasses case.

Both sides of the backpack have water bottle holders that allow for relatively large bottle sizes, but do a good job keeping them snug.

Moving to the back, the Impulse Medium has sectioned padding that is very soft, but allows the user’s back to breathe while wearing the backpack. The straps are also well padded and are quite comfortable. They also have an adjustable clip that can be moved up and down or shortened and adds extra support for extended periods of covering. The clip also works to hold the backpack onto other objects, such as on a rolling suitcase handle as shown in this stock image:

The backpack feels well-built and I’ve had no issues so far. It currently retails for $100. While on the pricey side, the backpack is quite nice, seems solid, and is definitely higher end than most backpacks in lower price brackets. If you’re willing to spend the money, the STM Bags Impulse Medium Laptop Backpack is a good choice.

The post Review: STM Bags Impulse Medium Laptop Backpack appeared first on VR World.

Our buddies over at Origin PC are having a pretty sweet Back to School deal, depending on which product you buy from them. If you’re in the market for a sweet gaming desktop or a high-end EON gaming notebook from them, then you can expect to get a free upgrade to a 240 GB SSD from VisionTek as well as a free copy of Watch Dogs. Or, if you’re in the market for something like their EVO15-S gaming laptop, then you can get free ground shipping across the US, a free 2 year part replacement warranty (standard is one year), and a free copy of Watch Dogs. However, it appears that their 2 year warranty that they’re including here does not include the cost of shipping or labor for the laptop, so it may not actually be as good of a warranty as it may seem.

Back 2 School Origin PC

We’ll be watching out for other good Back to School deals for you guys as they start to heat up, leading to the beginning of the school year. We’re already working on some guides for the best laptops, desktops, smartphones, and tablets for this back to school season so that you’ve got most of your decisions covered. But as of right now, Origin PC is the only company that’s launched their back to school deals so far. And while the 2 year part replacement warranty may not seem so great, most gaming laptops dong really last that long to begin with and any repairs are mostly going to be the cost of parts and not really labor. That’s primarily because replacement parts for most laptops are incredibly expensive and usually drive people towards just buying a new laptop. But even with that caveat, the Origin PC desktop and EON Laptop deal isn’t a bad one because they’re basically throwing in a free SSD and game which is actually worth about what they say it is.

The post Origin PC Offers $200 Back to School Deals appeared first on VR World.

You heard it right, Microsoft is paying Macbook Air users up to $650 to swap their Macbook Air for a Microsoft Surface Pro 3. This offer is designed to give Apple users cold hard cash to upgrade their 11 or 13″ low-resolution Macbook Air laptops for Microsoft Surface Pro 3’s. If you look at the specs of the Surface Pro 3, it does look much more attractive than the Macbook Air on paper with a higher resolution touch display, active pen, and optional keyboard. However, if you know the resale prices of most Apple products a Macbook Air could probably still fetch north of $650 if its anywhere near 2 years old or younger, so Microsoft is likely targeting an older Macbook Air crowd that is likely experiencing some of the aging issues that most laptops experience. Not to mention, they are probably trying to target the people looking for a more ‘modern’ and unique device.

There are a lot of differences between the Surface Pro 3 and the Macbook air, but the ultimate result is that Microsoft is clearly aiming for a demographic that can afford a Macbook Air and wants to pull them towards their premium offering, the Surface Pro 3. Now, I don’t really know if this strategy is going to necessarily work, but there’s a good chance that a lot of people that have Macbook Airs that were on the fence about it will probably give it a try and likely not take as big of a risk paying full price for a Surface Pro 3. The nice thing about the Surface Pro 3 is that its very thin and very light and it enables some use cases that the Macbook Air simply can’t because of the way that it is designed. Frankly, I’m still a bit surprised that Apple hasn’t released any touch laptops or desktops while their competitors have tons of them (albeit most of them not very good).

As it stands right now, The Surface Pro 3 is one of the premier Windows 8.1 devices out there today and if there’s a device that might entice someone to switch to Windows, the Surface Pro 3 is probably it. And yes, it does start at $799, but as of right now you can only buy the i5 version of the Surface Pro 3, which starts at $999 and has only 128 GB of SSD space. If you want to go cheaper, you will have to wait and if you want to get an i7 (just a beefed up i5 with higher clocks) then you will also have to wait.

The post Microsoft is Paying $650 for Macbook Air Users to Buy a Surface Pro 3 appeared first on VR World.