Microsoft expected to improve display on Surface 2 tablet

The next generation of the Surface RT tablet is expected to finally join the high-resolution club.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor

Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.

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Brooke Crothers

Sept. 17, 2013 9:24 p.m. PT

2 min read

Surface RT.Microsoft is set to announce new Surface products on Monday. Microsoft

The next version of Microsoft's Surface RT is expected to finally go high-resolution, according to DisplaySearch, making it more competitive with Android and Apple offerings.

"What we're seeing is that it's 1,920x1,080," Richard Shim, an analyst at DisplaySearch, told CNET.

This echoes earlier reports that cite a "full HD" display.

Other rumored specs, first reported at NeoWin.net, include an Nvidia Tegra 4 processor -- matching Android tablets like the new Asus Transformer Pad -- two-step style kickstand, Windows RT 8.1, and possibly 4GB of memory.

In the past, Microsoft has characterized Surface RT as a pure tablet play, while the Surface Pro leans more toward a PC.

The Pro already boasts a 1,920x,1,080 display. But all of those pixels are pushed around by an Intel Ivy Bridge processor's graphics engine.

The Tegra 3 chip on the first-generation Surface RT isn't as capable as Intel's chip. So, Surface RT to date has been saddled with a standard 1,366x768 resolution on a 10.6-inch display. A faster Tegra 4 chip, however, should be up to the task.

Even at this higher resolution -- with a projected pixel density of a little over 200 pixels per inch -- a gen 2 Surface RT wouldn't match that of high-profile tablets in the 10-inch class market, like the iPad 4 and Google Nexus 10. They have pixel densities of 264 and 300 pixels per inch, respectively.

Microsoft will host an event on Monday during which new Surface products are expected to be rolled out.

The price on the Surface RT tablet was cut by $150 to $349 back in July due to lackluster sales.

The company declined to comment.