Microsoft Surface Pro to Be Released February 9 with $899 Price Tag

lilo777 said:

It's a hybrid device. The fact that it may be compromised as a tablet and as a laptop does not mean that it's not a great device. It's a new device category. In many ways, laptops can be considered as compromised desktops but that does not mean that they are not worthy devices to have.

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The question is: what does it do better?

Is it a better tablet? No.

Is it a better laptop? No.

Laptops are better at being portable, so they are better than Desktops in this fashion. Is the sales pitch for Surface is that you don't have to carry an iPad mini along with your MacBook Air? Is carrying less things the sales pitch? Is that worth it for the compromise?

Netbooks did nothing better other than building the Cellular data connection into a cheap laptop. Because of this they had no repeat buyers. I don't think the Surface has enough "better" to overcome its compromise. If it could be easily used in its lap, then it would be "better" at something -- but it seems to me the Microsoft OEM's have spent more time thinking about that extremely common use case than Microsoft has.

MacRumorUser said:

Anandtech chart is flawed....

Why the comparison with the iPad only ? Surely a fairer comparison would be between the surface pro and the MacBook Air 11" stock.


MBA
11-inch : 64GB
1.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
Turbo Boost up to 2.6GHz
4GB memory
64GB flash storage1
Intel HD Graphics 4000
1376x768 Resolution

$999.00


SurfacePro
10.1"
Dual Core i5 processor
4GB memory
64GB flash storage
Intel HD Graphics 4000
1920x1080

Touch Cover & Surface Pen accessories included.

$899

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According to Engadget, the $899 64GB unit does not come with the Touch Cover. That's an extra $120 or $130 depending if you choose the Touch or Type cover. Link

It's heavy, it's thick and its pricey--I'm skeptical that this tablet is going to take off except for some niche market users. As others have stated, at that price the average person is better off with an ultrabook -- that has an included keyboard.

ValSalva said:

This is going to be a huge success for Microsoft. I predict Microsoft will sell thousands and thousands of these.

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I see what you did there.

AppleScruff1 said:

Does the MBA have cellular?

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The MacBook Air is 30$ cheaper, has an actual hinge so that you can rest it on your lap comfortably. This is a 1028$ Ultrabook with all the disadvantages of a tablet... and yet none of its advantages (that battery will get pounded for 1).

Performance questions also remain due to the form factor vs the MacBook Air's and other Ultrabook's form factors.

No really, any comparison to Ultrabook is daft, the Ultrabooks win hands down. I think "Pro" tablets aren't really interesting devices at all.

Sacird said:

Yeah never get that analogy. A MBA/pad for 1k which is like the Lenovo Yoga would be pretty sweet though. Their current 1k offering at the big A is very LOL. 11 inch whatever that crap is....

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When Apple makes a product like the Surface it will be revolutionary. Then they will sue Microsoft for copying them. Even though Microsoft made it first.

MacRumorUser said:

[looks at users sig]

Yet you could justify the cost of a rMBP

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Sure. I use my rMBP for work.

Not sure how this compares to a not paying too much for a tablet?

Windows 8 can run on 4GB of RAM, color me skeptical.

inlinevolvo said:

My point is I shouldn't need a touch input to use a desktop. It does not make sense for a desktop environment. I tried to get away from metro but the OS would keep sucking me back in. For example I opened up outlook, which the OS transferred me to classic view to use. Ok, great. Then I double clicked an mp3 file I downloaded to the desktop to listen to it. Well, the OS took me out of classic view into a full screen metro view of this lone song. Completely disrupting my work. Now, I had to navigate back. See, win 8 would be great and work like any other version of the recent offerings, if metro could be turned off.

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Yeah, the fact MS defaults a bunch of files to their Metro apps is sort of annoying. PDF files and audio/video/pictures being the worst of it.

The nice thing is it is possible to get away from Metro save for the Start screen (which I actually grew to like). These days, the only time I'm forced into Metro is when I want to tweak my Start screen colors.

The bad thing is it does take a little bit of tweaking to get it done. Setting file associations is easy enough, but it would've been nice if MS did partition things a little better. Like they'd give you the option to choose if the machine you're installing 8 on was a tablet, desktop, laptop with a touch screen, ect, and would sort things accordingly from there.

Basically, my whole opinion of Win8 is that it isn't nearly as bad as people make it out to be. There are things I like in it better than any previous versions of Windows.

...but it could use some work.

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ifij775 said:

Windows 8 can run on 4GB of RAM, color me skeptical.

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It can run under a gig. Windows actually uses less ram than OSX these days.

Renzatic said:

You think I would've learned by now...

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Patience my friend. Rome wasn't built in a day either.

AppleScruff1 said:

When Apple makes a product like the Surface it will be revolutionary. Then they will sue Microsoft for copying them. Even though Microsoft made it first.

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If you ask me, it will be the same useless PITA as the Surface, but then again, I'm not too thrilled about the iPad either or any tablet, so I might not be quite the reference in that domain.

convergent said:

Agree with this too... Microsoft has been dancing around in the mobile space since the Windows CE days and has yet to really hit a home run. Apple danced for 5 minutes before their first home run, and continue to keep hitting them. I seriously doubt this new Microsoft product is destined for the hall of fame because its going to have too narrow of an audience that it appeals to. Much of the Microsoft audience is hooked on "cheap".

About the only hope this has is for Microsoft to come out with an absolutely amazing version of MS Office that is better than sliced bread on this device.

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Probably right. Leverage has always been the name of the game for Microsoft. It's what they know and do best; if they can leverage Office somehow they might have a chance with Surface. The irony of this product, if you can call it that, is Microsoft is now trying to duplicate Apple's end-to-end strategy, the one they mocked for decades. At the same time they have the OEM balancing act. They are really trying to dive into a pail of water from ten stories up. They might eventually do it, but expect some splats in between.

phillipduran said:

We could start with the Price.

Does anyone have anything else they would like to add to the list?

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Is the MBA bargain priced?

899??? Why? they cant sell it at 499? how the hell are they going to sell it at 899........

ItsWelshy said:

And both of them will fly out the door.

Does it have a fan? Please tell me it has a fan...

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I think it's got 2 of them that "you can barely hear". I read that on Engadget, so not sure if having 2 fans is true.

AppleScruff1 said:

You're joking, right?

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No. Look at the price for iPads, iPhone, etc... Especially look at the price of products with a cellular plan. Apple could theoretically sell it for more, and still keep a profitable margin. They don't have to because they'll make more money if they sell if for a cheaper price, and get their customers to buy apps from their ecosystem.

The Amazon Kindle Fire is a prime example of this. Amazon is aggressively pricing it's tables, and losing money on it, but they are doing it so people will buy into their app ecosystem.

wingsabre said:

Well Apple partly subsidizes their iPads because they make 30% off of every app purchases in the app store. This is still technically Microsoft's first computer ever, and they don't have the high volume production like Apple to help reduce the cost.

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Apple DOESN'T subsidize their iPads, each one has alot of profit built into the price, it doesn't require any subsidization to sell at the current list price.

KnightWRX said:

If you ask me, it will be the same useless PITA as the Surface, but then again, I'm not too thrilled about the iPad either or any tablet, so I might not be quite the reference in that domain.

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It depends on what you are doing and what your preferences are. The iPad is nice to use for many things. The touch interface is quite appropriate for many tasks, IMO. Ditto for the Surface. I think that for the way many people actually use a computer, ie, internet, email, facebook, etc, the tablets are good. I also think that Windows 8 on a tablet is an excellent alternative to iOS, much better than Android, IMO.

JarScott said:

Can't help thinking Microsoft are being greedy with THIS Surface too. It's barely better than the iPad 4 when you compare the specs.

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Agreed. I am not sure why people keep comparing this to a laptop like the Macbook Air etc...

It is just a beefed up tablet in my opinion.

Already have a Surface Pro +

It has a Grandfathered Unlimited AT&T Dataplan, $30/mo LTE.
Full Windows 8 Pro + Media Center
Quad-Core 3.2GHz (able to go to 4GHz)
8GB RAM
4-TB of storage
10hr Battery
Has the best Stylus invented.
Has the form factor and weight of an iPad 3.
Comes in a nifty app called Splashtop Remote.
Why would I want anything else?

AppleScruff1 said:

Does the MBA have cellular?

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nope, but it should

Renzatic said:

It can run under a gig. Windows actually uses less ram than OSX these days.

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OK, does Windows 8 run *well* with any apps under 4GB of RAM?
I seem to be buying more and more RAM upto Windows 7, and now the whole memory usage problem is moot?

actionjunky said:

This is the typical specmanship games from Microsoft. I could care less about the specifications beyond storage capacity. Either it performs well, or it doesn't. The user experience is a combination of hardware and software working together.

Here we have an i5 processor, much more RAM and full operating system. I seriously doubt the battery life will be exceptional. Apple has been successful because they realize that different tools are needed for different jobs. If I need immediate access to information, I have the phone.

For heavier web-surfing, reading, and research, there is the iPad.

For graphic intensive applications and reporting, there is the laptop. The iPad 3 has never failed to respond almost instantaneously. Microsoft is trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist.

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Yeah and apple are masters of selling you stuff that you didn't need before but making you believe that you need it. Such as the tablet market. We were doing fine for over 30 years with computers and laptops and for 5 years with smartphones and now suddenly we need to browse the web on the couch when either a laptop or smartphone would suffice

Renzatic said:

Basically, my whole opinion of Win8 is that it isn't nearly as bad as people make it out to be. There are things I like in it better than any previous versions of Windows.

...but it could use some work.

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Isn't that always the case for Windows? The third release (Windows 8 Service Pack 2?) will resolve most of the issues.

I didn't even mind Vista terribly by the time Service Pack 1 came out, by SP2 it was finally a step up from XP.

B

wingsabre said:

No. Look at the price for iPads, iPhone, etc... Especially look at the price of products with a cellular plan. Apple could theoretically sell it for more, and still keep a profitable margin. They don't have to because they'll make more money if they sell if for a cheaper price, and get their customers to buy apps from their ecosystem.

The Amazon Kindle Fire is a prime example of this. Amazon is aggressively pricing it's tables, and losing money on it, but they are doing it so people will buy into their app ecosystem.

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You honestly think that Apple is taking a hit on profits with their iPad pricing?