MSFT Surface "Laptop"??

Microsoft has doubled down on the strategy to push its in-house Surface as a 2-in-1 device that does duty as laptop or tablet, serving not consumers but business customers.

Rather than dive into the consumer market with a smaller-screen Surface, as most expected, Microsoft instead rolled out the Surface Pro 3, a third-generation convertible, or 2-in-1, that starts as a tablet, but with the addition of an optional keyboard, ends as a lightweight notebook.

That strategy, which was muddied when the company first launched the Surface line in 2012 -- Microsoft actually debuted its pure-tablet play, the Surface RT, first -- has been clarified. Today, Microsoft aimed the Surface squarely -- almost exclusively -- at commercial customers, those in business or heavily tilted toward productivity.

The laptop mode of the Surface Pro 3 got the bulk of the attention from Microsoft's Panos Panay, the executive who leads the Surface team. "You've been told to buy a tablet, but you know you need a laptop," said Panay. "This is the tablet that can replace your laptop."