Surface All-In-One desktop PC to be unveiled by Microsoft on 26 October

Want a new Surface Book or Surface Pro 4, or even the long-rumoured Surface Phone? Have a PC instead

Microsoft won't be releasing a new Surface Book or Surface Pro 4 this year, or even releasing the long-rumoured Surface smartphone.

However, it is planning to launch... a Surface PC.

The company will debut the Surface All-In-One at an event on 26 October. The "elegant" device has been designed to fit in with a living room, but remains almost as mysterious as the Surface Phone.

We do know that Microsoft is testing three possible configurations, including a 21in model with a Full HD display, along with 24in and 27in models with 4K screens.

Microsoft will also use the event to unveil a Surface-branded keyboard and mouse, both of which will continue the vision for Windows 10. A second major OS update (Redstone 2) will follow in 2017, which is likely to feed into the future of the Xbox.

It was widely believed that the Surface Book or Surface Pro 4 will be refreshed before the year is out, but sources familiar with Microsoft's plans have played down such reports, so we'll have to wait a little longer.

Here's everything else we know about the forthcoming devices, including the expected release date, price and specs.

Surface Pro 5 release date, specs and price rumours

Surface Book 2
The second generation of Microsoft's laptop is likely to ditch the hinge gap, run Intel's latest Kaby Lake CPUs and support resolutions of up to 4K.

Specs
Details are thin on the ground at this time, but we hear mutterings that Microsoft might have changed the design of the hinge mechanism that separates the two parts.

The much-maligned Fulcrum hinge gave the laptop its unusual shape when closed. We noted in our original Surface Book review that this gap between the screen and keyboard became a haven for dirt, dust and debris.

We also questioned whether the Surface Book suffered from structural weaknesses owing to the weight imbalance between the top and bottom sections.

It's been said that the Surface Book 2 might adopt a more traditional laptop design by making the display and keyboard flush when closed. We're not sure what this would mean for the fulcrum hinge, but we'll update this article as soon as we hear more.

Much like the forthcoming Surface Pro 5, the Surface Book 2 will use Intel's seventh-generation Kaby Lake processors.

In addition to expected improvements in power efficiency, Kaby Lake will bring support for USB 3.1 and new graphics capabilities including 4K and 3D.

Release date
Microsoft is due to follow the Redstone 1 Anniversary Update with Redstone 2 sometime in the spring next year.

As we said in our Surface Pro 5 rumours round-up, Microsoft will hold off on any significant hardware launch until the next major Windows 10 update has been released. The Surface Book 2 is expected to tie into those Redstone 2 release plans.

This photo taken at Microsoft's Building 88 in Redmond appears to hint at the existence of three Surface devices for 2017.

Price
The Surface Book was always a luxury bit of kit. At the time of release the base Intel Core i5 model with 128GB of storage and 8GB of RAM started at £1,299. This rose to a gargantuan £2,649 for i7, 1TB of storage, 16GB of RAM and discrete graphics. It's safe to say we can expect a similar story with the new Surface Book SKUs.

UK buyers had to wait a while to get hold of the 1TB/16GB model, but we hope that Microsoft will make the increased capacity available at launch this time around.