Surface Pro 64GB model only has 23GB of usable storage

[ugahairydawgs]

Why even bother releasing a 64GB model if it's almost 2/3 full out of the box?

http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/29/s...pro-hdd-space/

[aerok]

Originally Posted by ugahairydawgs

Why even bother releasing a 64GB model if it's almost 2/3 full out of the box?

http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/29/s...pro-hdd-space/

Because 23GB might be enough for some people?

[xraydoc]

While I'm not defending an OS that requires 41GB of space in its base, factory image, it's much like Apple's 64GB MacBook Air -- it doesn't actually ship with 64GB of free space either.

But yes, 41GB down the drain is pretty ridiculous.

[ugahairydawgs]

Originally Posted by aerok

Because 23GB might be enough for some people?

Maybe so, but that's a heck of a price tag for that much storage.

[roxxette]

It comes with software pre-installed including the office suite so maybe that have something to do ? I know you can delete all of those things.

[mrsir2009]

I wonder what all that space is actually taken up by, and if you can delete most of it?

[Fernandez21]

41 gb is a lot. Windows 7 on my MacBook takes up only 24gb. Is windows 8 that bloated?

[sarcosis]

Originally Posted by Fernandez21

41 gb is a lot. Windows 7 on my MacBook takes up only 24gb. Is windows 8 that bloated?

The space is the OS + Baked in Apps + Recovery. Windows 8 I believe is a bit leaner than Windows 7 as a whole, but it's all the extra stuff they put on the drive that eats the space.

[Michael Goff]

Originally Posted by Fernandez21

41 gb is a lot. Windows 7 on my MacBook takes up only 24gb. Is windows 8 that bloated?

I have about 33GB used on my MBA with Windows 8. That's with all of their apps, a couple of others, and a lot of things on the desktop (3 alternative web browsers, libre office 4.0, trillian, thunderbird).

I guess it's the recovery partition.

[MuffCabbage]

The extra probably ~10gb is the recovery which can be deleted if you want. You just want a backup first.

Sent from my HTC6990LVW using Board Express

[Liquorpuki]

Originally Posted by roxxette

It comes with software pre-installed including the office suite so maybe that have something to do ? I know you can delete all of those things.

No Office suite on the Pro, you have to buy it

Anyone know if there's a size difference between the Pro and Consumer versions of Win 8?

[MuffCabbage]

Originally Posted by Liquorpuki

No Office suite on the Pro, you have to buy it

Anyone know if there's a size difference between the Pro and Consumer versions of Win 8?

There is a trial copy of Office 365 installed though.

[silentbob007]

There's also SD card access, so that helps.

[Irishman]

Originally Posted by ugahairydawgs

Why even bother releasing a 64GB model if it's almost 2/3 full out of the box?

http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/29/s...pro-hdd-space/

Is that counting Office, or will installing Office consume even more space??

[Xiroteus]

Ouch, I thought it would take up around 20GB, it will have to hit 256GB to really get some space. I imagine a fair bit can be deleted.

[ChrisTX]

Originally Posted by aerok

Because 23GB might be enough for some people?

But it's deceptive, and dishonest to advertised a professional product as containing 64gb of space when it clearly does not.

[mrsir2009]

Originally Posted by ChrisTX

But it's deceptive, and dishonest to advertised a professional product as containing 64gb of space when it clearly does not.

It wouldn't be advertised as having 64GB of space - It'd be advertised as having a 64GB SSD drive. I mean, no device has exactly as much usable space as their is drive space. iDevices still have a fairly significant chunk cut off the drive space for the OS. But of course, I do agree that the amount taken up by the "OS" in this case is insane.

[jeremiah256]

Originally Posted by aerok

Because 23GB might be enough for some people?

Acceptable if the customer has bought a 32GB version of a tablet but from a 64 GB version? Not good.

[Xiroteus]

There likely has to be a point where it does become deceptive, 23GB of 64GB is bad, using 10GB would be bad enough.

[bookwormsy]

Originally Posted by mrsir2009

It wouldn't be advertised as having 64GB of space - It'd be advertised as having a 64GB SSD drive. I mean, no device has exactly as much usable space as their is drive space. iDevices still have a fairly significant chunk cut off the drive space for the OS. But of course, I do agree that the amount taken up by the "OS" in this case is insane.

But nothing else makes up 2/3 of the free space. If you buy a 32gb iPhone, you expect the get roughly 32gb. And you do: you get 29ish. A consumer expecting 64 and seeing 23 would probably be a little mad.

[mrsir2009]

Originally Posted by bookwormsy

But nothing else makes up 2/3 of the free space. If you buy a 32gb iPhone, you expect the get roughly 32gb. And you do: you get 29ish. A consumer expecting 64 and seeing 23 would probably be a little mad.

Yeah, I think there'd be MS Office along with a ton of other apps pre-installed. I mean, something has to fill it.

[jav6454]

Originally Posted by bookwormsy

But nothing else makes up 2/3 of the free space. If you buy a 32gb iPhone, you expect the get roughly 32gb. And you do: you get 29ish. A consumer expecting 64 and seeing 23 would probably be a little mad.

Except due to the way drives and flash are partitioned, you won't get 32GB, you get the actual 29GB it comes out. After Apple partitions this into the System and User partitions. The user is where everything (apps,music and movies) live and System/Root is where the OS lives.

However, yes, your point on expecting something higher than 23GB is true. People have gotten used to Apple's method of having the vast majority of space available to them. So having a tablet with less than half the advertised space being able to be used is maddening to say the least. Just goes to show, that while Windows 8 is a nice tablet OS, a desktop OS ported into the tablet space is not the answer. Don't get me wrong, Win8 is nice.

[Tubamajuba]

You want a full PC experience? You'll pay with a full SSD.

I'm sure the people that insist on having every feature of their desktop or laptop crammed into a small tablet really won't mind this lack of storage; they'll just point to the fact that they can have external storage attached to the Surface Pro.

Even if it seems kind of ridiculous... to each their own.

[BHP41]

Another fail by Microsoft. Win8 is worse than vista. That's saying something. A shell over 7 to try and copy Apples ecosystem. They could have done better.

[jeremiah256]

Originally Posted by jav6454

Just goes to show, that while Windows 8 is a nice tablet OS, a desktop OS ported into the tablet space is not the answer. Don't get me wrong, Win8 is nice.

You bring up a good point: It can be argued that for both Google and Apple, their mobile OS is more or becoming more important than their desktop OS. Microsoft seems to be coming from the opposite direction. This hasn't worked out well for them in the past and I'm not sure they have much time to adapt. Especially with how Samsung, the face of Android, is exploding.