We get the sense Microsoft wants to distance itself from the original Surface RT. After taking a $900 million hit on unsold inventory, the company held a press eventwhere it saved the Surface 2 for last and billed it as a major redesign. “Surface 2 is not subtle, but a revamp,” Surface GM Panos Panay said that day. “It is not the simple changes that everybody wants, but it’s the changes people need.” Those changes include a thinner, lighter body; a sharper 1080p screen; a faster Tegra 4 processor with twice the RAM; an improved webcam that fares better in low light; and a dual-stage kickstand that makes it more comfortable to use in the lap. It evenlooks different: The Surface now comes in silver, not black, so that you’ll never mistake it for the original.

If you need even more evidence that Microsoft is embarrassed by the first Surface, consider this: The new version doesn’t…