Microsoft hit the road this week, taking its latest offering down the Pacific coast from Washington to Los Angeles.

But it wasn't pushing its latest version of Windows or an Xbox games console – it has created its own computer.

It's a big departure for the company which has built its fortune on licensing software to other manufacturers, but it's also a sign of the times – over the past five years Microsoft has lost significant market share to Apple, a company that prides itself on the seamless integration of hardware and software.

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