The thing to remember is that you don't have to have the latest greatest thing. In worlds where a Surface Pro 3 was coming out now, and worlds where that wasn't happening, your Surface Pro 2 would still be able to do the same things. The presence of something newer doesn't need to diminish your existing possessions.

Its really not unreal -- there's new computer hardware coming out all the time. Its been true for decades that hardware you buy today isn't going to be top of the line in 6 months. But what's going to be available in six months doesn't do you any good today, either.

Got an SP2 at launch, and it has served me well. Will skip this upgrade, but it's pretty tempting with the new form factor (aspect ratio, thickness, screensize). Calibrating the digitizer for accuracy in corners is a struggle on SP2, and although I remain skeptical about N-trig, I'm optimistic that it is something they've had to notice/address when changing vendors, but losing pressure levels is kind of a bummer. The type cover touchpad update would also be a significant change, because v1&2 are borderline unusable touchpads. That is one of the primary reasons for me to holdoff on charge cover; great idea, but it took too long to ship and I'd be willingly paying for the same bad touchpad as my typecover. They would've sold far more charge covers if the touchpad was an improvement over typepad2.

I'm glad that Microsoft is committed to this offering. However, my thought process to rationalize holding off on a preorder as follows:

1) I would likely try to sell my SP2 for some amount, and my loss/cost-of-use might be significant since form factor is changing. Alternatively, if I stay the course, I might be able to pick up SP/SP2 docks & accessories from SP3 early adopters on the cheap, holiday discounts, or inventory clearance.

2) haswell has been great, but even with all the advantages of SP3, I can't justify the cost of #1 without some iGPU spec bump. MS has the $ and will likely want to ship a broadwell model eventually even if SP3 doesn't sell like hotcakes. Probably a 2015 ordeal though since holiday will be reserved for discounts & bundles.

3) SP2 got a haswell slight spec bump after launch, due to inventory I suppose, so I feel somewhat burned. Irrational, I know, but I need to acknowledge it.

4) same CPU generation, same battery, bigger screen, no chargecover -- SP2 battery life for my usage was good, but unless reviews prove otherwise, I've no reason to think SP3 will have a better battery life.

5) SP2 works well. Microsoft should have sales penalized for shipping the slate & typepad separately, if it is going for "laptop". An expected retina refresh to the ultraportable macbook line will likely be priced comparably or less than SP3 w/ typecover so marketing will have fun with that.

As with anything tech related, your machine is outdated the day you buy it.

Having said that, it doesn't mean your Surface Pro 2 is useless. It's still a great device with power to spare... for most people.

Ha I am on my first gen Surface, still within its original warranty and there is already two versions out. A a techie it sure is a bummer since I want the latest and the greatest. However, it still doesn't undermine the usefulness of the current one. I regularly use it, it gets the job done and I am happy with it. I will keep using it until it dies out or needs a replacement. Hey atleast by then we might have ultra thin i20 with 1 week of battery life (hopefully).

It isn't all that outdated, and it isn't anything we haven't already run into with phones. The latest $600-800 iPhone is routinely outdated every, what, 18 months?

I do feel your pain a little though, I bought a Moto G just before they added the SD card slot & 4G. You've just got to come to terms with the fact that device lifetime is longer than the product cycle.

Yeah, looks like Surface follows a 8-9 month cycle. I bought SP2 right when it came out and then they bumped the processor by a little a month later.

I wanted to buy a Surface Pro 2 but the model I wanted has been out of stock at the Microsoft Store for a few weeks now.