Here's the problem with that argument: for $999 you can GET a "whole computer": the MacBook Air 11" w/128GB SSD standard.
√ 9 hours of battery life (leave adapter in the bag)
√ light, thin, rugged form factor with a real keyboard
√ Runs all the big-boy apps
For the slight hits of a screen w/lower pixel density, .15" of thickness and about six ounces more in weight you get a robust ACTUAL LAPTOP that you can use ON YOUR LAP. No need for spending more on a keyboard cover, either.
Then again it doesn't have a kickstand. Oh wait--it doesn't NEED one.
Apple has these markets dialed in pretty well. iPads are primarily for media consumption, but can certainly be dual-tasked to be productive. Laptops are productive, but can certainly be dual-tasked for media consumption. While there is ample crossover, form and function should follow primary utility of a product's design. The Surface line to me looks like a mish-mash of trying to make one device do it all. And it probably DOES it all in a clumsy, brutish way, but that's a tough sell vs. Apple's more elegant offerings. Consumers now expect thin, thin, thin, and day-long battery life. Plug-it-in-to-do-real-work is a rough sell, and if any company dares to offer a tablet that costs substantially MORE than an iPad, it had better be absolutely stunning. I think the market thus far has declared the Surface line less than "stunning."
The fact that .15" is the difference in thickness between the Surface Pro 2 (no keyboard cover) and the Macbook Air 11" (w/screen, closed), at least to me, is pretty damning. With a cover in place, aren't they roughly the same thickness? Wouldn't most people, therefore, want aluminum construction and protection of a conventional laptop design rather than a tablet with a flimsy plastic tack-on? For a "productivity first" machine?
Retina displays are dazzling, but for non-graphic-design business productivity they aren't that great an enhancement, IMHO. So the Surface Pro 2's 1080p display fires up more pixels than the 11" Air's (1366 x 768), but does that really matter when writing a report or crunching numbers in a spreadsheet?
If you HAVE to have 1080p for 1080p's sake, Amazon will sell you a Kindle Fire HD for $230.