$499 Microsoft Surface 3 Tablet Set For May

(RTTNews) - Software giant Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) on Tuesday unveiled Surface 3, the thinnest, lightest and a more affordable version of its tablet, which is ideal for students, schools and businesses.

The Surface 3, which has a 10.8-inch 1920x1280 resolution multi-touch display, is powered by the new quad-core Intel Atom x7 processor. It is designed to maximize efficiency with up to 10 hours of video-playback battery life. The device is 8.7 mm thick and weighs 1.37 pounds.

The Surface 3 has two 1080p HD cameras - a rear-facing 8 megapixel auto-focus camera and a 3.5 megapixel front-facing camera.

A 4G LTE-ready version, Surface 3 (4G LTE), will also be available.

Surface 3 and Surface 3 (4G LTE) come with full Windows 8.1 and can be upgraded to Windows 10 for free when available. They also come complete with a one-year subscription of Microsoft Office 365 Personal, including Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, plus OneDrive cloud storage.

"Surface 3 brings what customers love about Surface Pro 3 to more people, delivering the premium design and productivity of Surface in a more affordable device," said Panos Panay, corporate vice president, Microsoft Surface. "We've taken everything we learned making Surface Pro 3 and poured that innovation into this newest Surface. It's beautiful, versatile, powerful and productive, and our customers are going to love what it lets them do."

Starting at just $499, Surface 3 is available for pre-order starting Tuesday and will go on sale in stores starting May 5. The company will offer Surface 3 (4G LTE) through T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless in the U.S. later this year.