The new Surface 3, the affordable tablet/laptop hybrid just announced today, proves it. Rather than the dumbed-down version of Microsoft's operating system that its predecessors ran, it's been imbued with full-fledged Windows 8.1 (with a free Windows 10 upgrade coming as soon as Microsoft can release it), thanks to Intel's new x86-based Atom X7 processor. For $499, you can get the same lovely design from the Surface Pro 3, only in a smaller, less powerful package. And you can still get up to ten hours of battery life. So why would you want—hell, why would Microsoft even make—something less?

A device like the Surface 3 simply wasn't possible a year or two ago: there wasn't a CPU fast enough and efficient enough to run in a fanless device for longer than about 20 minutes. Advancements from Microsoft and Intel, though, mean that's no longer the case.