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The Microsoft logo is seen at their offices in Bucharest March 20, 2013. Reuters/Bogdan Cristel

Microsoft unveiled its Surface Pro 3 tablet early this week. The tablet is already being touted as an all-in-all device. Although designated as a tablet, the Surface Pro 3 can easily be called as a replacement for laptop. The display is quite big; in addition the tablet provides support to external keyboard, and stylus/pen for taking notes, among others.

If the user requirement is watching a movie or a YouTube video, the Surface Pro 3 works like a tablet. It doubles as a laptop or a PC when a user has to get some serious presentation done with charts and bar graphs.

In a nutshell, the Surface Pro 3 can easily give competition to a Windows 8 desktop/laptop machine. As Mashable puts it funnily, "Perhaps Surface Pro 3 is a laptop in tablet's clothing."

Here is a set of aspects collated by Mashable that elevates this tablet from the rest.

Optimized Screen

The users who are used to touch-based devices cannot escape the parallax effect. This effect occurs because of the multiple layers of the display required to facilitate modern touch screen. Apparently, the tech giant has been working on reducing the parallax effect on tablets for some time now.

The new Surface Pro 3 comes with only two layers of screen; the LCD and the ultra-thin optical glass on top of it to reduce the effect. Microsoft is quite cautious in letting the details out. The only information available for general public is that the optical glass is coated with 'indium tin oxide or ITO.' This enables the touch friendliness, says Microsoft Scientist Steven Bathiche.

Multipurpose Charger

Microsoft's propriety charger that comes with Surface Pro 3 is quite efficient relative to previous models. Instead of the stark magnetic connector seen in the earlier Surface models, this charger comes enclosed in a magnetized slot. The same slot also acts as a data port.

Upon connecting the Surface tablet to a docking station, the dock's data ports can be connected to the Surface Pro 3 via the multi-purpose charging port. Moreover, the docking station can be purchased at US$199.99.

Hyper-Sensitive Stylus/Pen

The optional stylus or pen that comes with the Surface Pro 3 tablet can be used to make notes, doodle, and bring back the tablet alive with a button press. In addition, the stylus works wonder for those interested in drawing serious pictures and diagrams.

According to Mashable, the Bluetooth pen/stylus emits an electrostatic field and hence it is always in active mode. This aspect of the pen lets the user to levitate the pen over the screen and can control the cursor without the need to make the pen contact the screen. Also, the stylus is touted to understand 256 levels of pressure sensitivity.

External Ethernet Jack as a Silver Lining

Although the Surface Pro 3 supports Wi-Fi connectivity, it does not support LTE connectivity. Nevertheless, Microsoft is selling an external Ethernet Jack for US$39.99, which can be inserted into the tablet's USB port.

It is worth noting that, Microsoft introduced an LTE version of Surface 2 recently, hence it is safe to say that the company might introduce a LTE model of Surface Pro 3 in the near future. However, there is no official confirmation from Microsoft at this point in time.

General Design and Feature Aesthetics

The tablet comes with a whopping 2,160 x 1,440 pixels high-resolution display. This elevates the drawing, watching and playing experience to a whole new level. The Surface Pro 3 houses the stereo speakers on the front of the tablet that is well blended with the surface.

Microsoft's decision to go with only a 5 MP camera unit proves that the company is targeting the professional/business users who are looking for an alternative to the traditional laptops. Nevertheless, the camera has the capability to shoot 1080p video.