At 622 grams it's only slightly heavier than the 10.1-inch T100 Chi (570 grams), which isn't surprising given its larger dimensions. The Surface 3 isn't quite the Surface Mini that you may have been holding out for over the past 18 months (it's more of a mini-me), but it's the closest Microsoft has come yet to making a truly portable tablet that feels like a laptop replacement. Gabe Carey has also contributed to this review That's quite a saving for a device that goes toe-to-toe with the Surface 3 in most departments. It starts at a more palatable £399 (around US$604, or AUS$774) for the base model, which comes with 32GB of storage and 2GB of DDR3 RAM. Unlike the Surface 3, the T100 Chi throws the keyboard part and a battery-powered (but not quite as good) stylus into the cost. One of the devices going head-to-head with the Surface 3 is the Asus T100 Chi, which features a slightly smaller 10.1-inch display and comes with an Intel Atom Bay Trail CPU. Don’t expect to edit 4K movies, play games at peak graphics settings or produce elaborate vector designs on it. Ultimately, the Surface 3 continues to position itself as a tablet that can replace your laptop, but power-hungry PC users should note that it's all about price, battery life, portability and quiet operation this time around.

That goes without mentioning Intel’s newer Core m3 CPUs that have all but replaced Atom chips at this point. It was the first Cherry Trail processor to feature in a tablet, but despite being faster than Intel's previous Bay Trail Atom chip, it's a step back from the more powerful Core-series i3, i5 and i7 processors used in the Surface Pro 3. On the inside, Microsoft has opted for an Intel Cherry Trail Atom CPU, which is passively cooled and allows the device to run silently in the absence of a fan while generating barely any heat.

One of the main differences between the Surface 3 and the Surface Pro 3 isn't visible from the outside. It can run any Windows program out there (within reason) and is ready for a free upgrade to Windows 10 as well as all of its subsequent updates. Despite the lack of a Pro moniker, and the fact that it bears more than a passing resemblance to the Surface 2 (it's almost exactly the same size and weight), the Surface 3 has killed off Windows RT and instead comes with Windows 8.1 installed.

Microsoft surface 3 review