Sized Up: Surface 3, Surface 2 and Surface Pro 3

Last week, Microsoft announced the latest addition to the Surface family, the Surface 3. While the device will not go on-sale until early May, I was sent a device for review.

Ahead of my review that will go live later this month, I will cover each new component in detail to help you gain new insight into the Surface 3 much like I did with the Surface Pro 3.

Up first is the new size of the device. The surface 3 has a new 10.8in display which means that it is larger than the outgoing Surface 2 but is smaller than the pricier Surface Pro 3. You can take a look at the gallery below to see how the tablet sizes up to its predecessors.

The Surface 3 is slightly slimmer than the Surface 2, 8.7mm vs 8.9mm, while the Pro 3 sizes in at 9.1mm. Compared to the Pro 3 you can tell a difference in the size but next to the Surface 2, it feels the same.

Surprisingly, the Surface 3, despite the larger screen size, does weigh less than the Surface 2, 1.37 lbs (622g) vs1.49 lbs (676 g) with the Pro 3 topping the scales at 1.76lbs (800g). The lighter weight and larger screen size plays to the advantage of the Surface 3 and it's a bit of a mind trick as your eyeballs say it should weigh more but in reality, the larger device weighs less.

The biggest difference from a size perspective when compared to the Surface 2 is the aspect ratio for the device. Being that it is 3:2 whereas the Surface 2 is 16:9, you can use the Surface 3 much easier in portrait orientation and Microsoft has even shown this off a few times.

Hopefully these images will give you a better perspective of the actual size of the device. If you have any other questions about the tablet, let me know in the comments below or you can ask on Twitter as well.