Pricing for Microsoft Surface Tablets and Covers Revealed

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[citation][nom]esrever[/nom]depends on the work you do. 32gb is more than enough for most work. Unless you are dealing with multimedia, you shouldn't need more than 10 gb of workspace.[/citation]

Think about programs as well, right now my work machine has a total of 11GB of software installed (which is not much) Add Windows 8 which will take up about 8GB. There goes 19GB right there, leaving you a whopping 13GB for your files if you buy the 32GB Slate. Then you need to consider Outlook emails, etc. It's pretty easy to fill up a drive of that size quickly.

This is not enough storage for most users. Also, I can only imagine these things getting sluggish with a drive that is near capacity.
 
When the rumored price was $199 loaded, I decided to buy one for everyone as stocking stuffers.
When Microsoft said $300 up was the "sweet spot" for RT tablets, I considered trying ONE in a month or two. At 500+ ... not a chance! Even at $199, I would be hesitant to buy version 1.0 of anything! (again).
For $350 I just bought a useful Samsung Windows 7 notebook with a $15 W8 downgrade? offer instead of a surface.
 
[citation][nom]jackbling[/nom]If the pro is sub 800, it can still do well; microsoft should consider some type of subsidy to price the pro near the 700 mark.The synergy between tablet and home OS is a good selling point, as long as the buy-in isnt too steep.[/citation]

but if they do this... they will make it impossible for anyone else to make a windows tablet, since they need to pay for windows which is an extra 120 bucks.
 
if you look at Microsoft website the surface tablets come with a black touch cover.. options to get white touch cover for 119.99 or for the surface type cover 129.99.

So if you angry that it doesnt come with a cover hope that calms you down a bit
 
Even though our dollar is stronger than the US Dollar we are paying a higher price for the surface Tablet - base model is $559.00 and with a cover keyboard $679.00 - also the $679.00 only lets you get the black cover - you have to pay extra for another keyboard if you want it in a different colour. I really don't know what Microsoft was thinking. I am also disappointed it can only be purchased online not at my local retailer.
 
[citation][nom]vidfreek[/nom]Yeah I'm not sure about going for one of these, so many great Android tablets out there for less money, MS coming out with a tablet like this at the price point of an Ipad? Not a huge fan of Apple but I think the Ipad will win out, me I'll stick with my Asus TF300 which has been great and cost me $120 less than this would have[/citation]
Sorry, but "great"and "android tablet" DO NOT belong in the same sentence. They're all pretty lacklustre.
 
[citation][nom]zybch[/nom]Sorry, but "great"and "android tablet" DO NOT belong in the same sentence. They're all pretty lacklustre.[/citation]
You are really missing out then. I would absolutely say my Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 has been great. If it weren't for a handful of x86 applications I need to use from time to time (OpenCanvas probably the most important) it would completely replace my Motion Computing tablet. If the Surface RT ran x86 applications I would be far more interested in it, and if it supported domain join we'd be evaluating them at work. Too little, too expensive, too late.
 
[citation][nom]LORD_ORION[/nom]The number of windows developers that left to program iOS is staggering. (because they can actually make money doing this)[/citation]
Lol. Real software developers earn a salary and work on the product that their company makes and have no choice in what platform they work on.

Also, have you ever looked at the salaries offered by these companies churning out iOS and Android titles? I spent the first half of 2012 looking for a better job and interviewed at several of these places, including two of the biggest iOS developers in the US. Every single one of these jobs would have been a substantial pay cut, and I wasn't making that much to begin with. Ended up taking a totally unexpected offer when they offered me more than my previous annual salary as a signing bonus developing, guess what, Windows software.

Windows is alive and well. Only a moron would say something that's maintained a 90%+ market share of a multibillion dollar industry for almost two decades isn't relevant.
 
[citation][nom]willard[/nom]Windows is alive and well. Only a moron would say something that's maintained a 90%+ market share of a multibillion dollar industry for almost two decades isn't relevant.[/citation]

true, but 90+% of which market? the traditional desktop/laptop OS market, which many analysts will tell you is a dying market. I love my tower that I built myself, as I'm sure do many other Tom's users. the same with all the laptop users out there. but the truth is, there's a huge chunk of Windows' 90% market share that can be replaced entirely with iOS and the iPad. Am I an apple fanboi? no, most definitely not, but this is just the sad truth atm. both Intel and Microsoft and many other companies in the industry realizes this, hell, it's a huge part of why Microsoft created the Surface and Win8 to begin with.

I've said this elsewhere and I'll say it again, "at this price point, the surface cannot stand up to the iPad in the current consumer market, and that is fail on M$'s part"
 
This product is DEAD before hitting the market. The price for the whole thing should be the type cover price is, which is $130.

Microsoft got confused and thought they were Apple.
 
[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]Quietly released the amount of RAM too...http://www.microsoft.com/Surface/e [...] ifications[/citation]
Looking at those specs, $500 isn't bad at all.
 
With the amount of people blindly supporting Surface RT tablet, even when (1) the price is high, for a tablet has no huge selection of applications, which is exactly the same as HP WebOS tablet or Blackberry Playbook, or even in a way, the original Samsung Galaxy Tab 7", out of which 2 have failed miserably. (2) No one has really even tried out the tablet in any meaningful way, so no one really knows whether the gadget has any glitches, or easy to handle, or battery life or whatever. In fact, such comments are all over the internet at the moment in various website. Seems to me many are PR people from MS trying to deflate the genuine concerns from many and to entice people to pre-ordering the tablets blindly. In my opinion, if many people actually pre-order and find many faults with the tablet later, it will simply backfire on MS.
 
Seeing that the ipad 3 is priced at over $600 in my country, if we get the same prices ($600 with the cover) for the RT version, then the Win RT Surface wins. Why? Office, and no we don't get student discounts and all here. Plus, it'll be the same price as the ipad 3 WITH the cover.

However, i think that the $500 should have included the cover, and 100-120 for the cover is absurd, i mean you get a top-of-the-line mechanical keyboard in that much.

As for the Pro, at $800 is perhaps priced pretty well. Specs are just badass, plus it has pen input.

Does the RT have pen input? Also, the RT uses a proprietary "HD display" port, whose connector has to bought separately. That kind of destroys its value, since the Surface Pro uses DisplayPort.

Also, the RT model has USB 2.0 whereas the Pro has 3.0.

Honestly, the RT is good with the cover at $500. Otherwise i smell fail now.
 
The way MS is pricing the Surface RT tablet now, it will be safe to say that the Surface Pro is likely to be $1200 instead of $800 that most people want. Why? Because MS is trying to avoid undercutting their vendor partner, which is evident by the pricing of RT tablet. And the average pricing for Windows 8 tablets from most vendors are somewhere around $1000 to $1200. So Surface Pro = $1200, at the very minimum.
 
[citation][nom]droidmaster[/nom]The way MS is pricing the Surface RT tablet now, it will be safe to say that the Surface Pro is likely to be $1200 instead of $800 that most people want. Why? Because MS is trying to avoid undercutting their vendor partner, which is evident by the pricing of RT tablet. And the average pricing for Windows 8 tablets from most vendors are somewhere around $1000 to $1200. So Surface Pro = $1200, at the very minimum.[/citation]
Yeah but why wouldn't someone just buy a hybrid ultrabook at that price?
 
[citation][nom]eodeo[/nom]for an atom based tablet 500$ might have been a bit steep. for arm based tablet- who are they kidding with it...[/citation]
Well, isn't the ARM based ipad even more expensive and less functional?
 
[citation][nom]ojas[/nom]Well, isn't the ARM based ipad even more expensive and less functional?[/citation]

Apple mediocrity wasn't topic of the original post... Sad to see M$ doing the same.

"Don’t argue with idiots because they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience."

Apple has dragged MS to their level, and will beat them with experience.

Closed system like a gaming console, ipad, or an ARM based win8, depends on software to distinguish itself from an expensive calculator. Correct me if I'm wrong, but not a single x86 app will work on arm win8 unless specifically rewritten.
 
[citation][nom]eodeo[/nom]Apple mediocrity wasn't topic of the original post... Sad to see M$ doing the same. "Don’t argue with idiots because they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience."Apple has dragged MS to their level, and will beat them with experience.Closed system like a gaming console, ipad, or an ARM based win8, depends on software to distinguish itself from an expensive calculator. Correct me if I'm wrong, but not a single x86 app will work on arm win8 unless specifically rewritten.[/citation]
True in some ways...and no, you're not wrong at all. But i expect them to be ported very rapidly. Of course it's an expectation, doesn't mean it'll happen...but see...if i was given a choice, i'd pick up a surface RT over an ipad any day. But then i don't need a billion apps, nor do i use itunes. Whatever's on the surface would suffice for me.

I mean, i can get a 32GB surface for the same or less than a 16GB ipad 3 (this would be country specific though), with the cover. It has a stand too, which is convenient. i can expend the memory as much as i like, which i can't do with an ipad. I'll need to buy a external display output cable for both. Surface will work with thousands of USB devices out of the box. I don't game on mobile devices anyway, so it doesn't really affect me at all, the lack of games. Plus i believe Bluetooth file sharing exists, unlike Apple. No NFC, no GPS. Apple's wifi tablets don't have them either.

But would i buy one? Probably not. But that's because i'm more interested in the pro version. Would i want one for my family to use? Yes, it's perfect for that.

But dragging MS to Apple's level...yes and no. I mean, MS has become a hardware-and-software/services company. And MS already did this with their xbox, and maybe even zune (never had one so i don't really know).

I see this as their own strategy with an Apple mix. Might turn out good, I'm willing to give them a chance.

To be honest, if they'd include the touch cover and Surface RT 32GB + the video out connector for $550 globally, it would have been fantastic. The problem is, i don't think i have anything of this quality to compare against at the same price point except the ipad and Galaxy Tab.

Win 8 on the desktop might still fail, though.
 
You're probably right, if I were to get an ipad like device it surely wouldnt be an ipad. Would I pick arm win8 over android? Maybe.

The thing is though, I wont. I dont care for limited, expensive toys. My phone does all that in a toy like fashion when I'm on the go. If I can sit down (when in a bus for example) I'll take out my atom based 10" win7 laptop and do whatever I like in programs I chose.

Would I like more speed? Yes.

[citation][nom]ojas[/nom]Yeah but why wouldn't someone just buy a hybrid ultrabook at that price?[/citation]
 
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