Surface Pro pricing revealed: $899

[franYo]

MS revealed pricing and availability for the Pro version of their Surface tablet:

$899 for the 64GB version
$999 for the 128GB version

This does not include the covers.

Availability: January

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33642_7...rice-tag-$899/

[Ti-Ron]

Hoo dman, that is expensive!!!! Hope the thing if fully loaded and have a long battery life!

[ucfgrad93]

Wow, that is pretty expensive. I don't think they will sell too good at those prices.

[Quexos]

Count me out. I definitely have better things to do with my hard earned cash.

[charmian]

The Surface Pro is like an ultrabook, and this is a pretty standard ultrabook price. I don't think it's overpriced for what it delivers; personally though, I don't need an i5 chip or specs quite as high as what they've got.

[tubemonkey]

Not surprised one bit.

[Mike L]

I don't think it's all that expensive. The point about the Pro is that it's competing with netbooks and lightweight laptops. It can serve as a proper Windows-based computer, can be used as part of the corporate infrastructure, and can provide access to the entire third-party application market. It's not like the $499 Surface RT, which is essentially an iPad competitor.

Mike

[Apache]

Can you game on it?
Apache

[wodin]

As I said in the Surface RT thread, I preordered a Dell Latitude 10, It runs Win 8 Pro, has a Clovertrail chip, 2 GB RAM, 64 GB SSD, 10.1 inch screen. Bare bones it comes in at $649; another fifty bucks for the Wacom pen, and $80 for the BT keyboard/folio. (lesee… figger figger) Why, that’s almost eight hun! Throw in the docking station for another hundred and the Surface Pro doesn’t seem so spendy after all.

What prevents me from cancelling the Dell order and picking up a Surface Pro is the abysmal battery life it takes to run that Core-i5 chip. Microsoft said expect about half of what a Surface RT gets.

[Penforhire]

The value of this depends on some things yet to be reviewed. How good is the pressure-sensitive touch screen? Have you priced a Wacom Cintiq lately?

Also, how good is the battery life? How snappy is the system (I read the CPU is an Intel i5 that is yet to be detailed!)?

It does feel expensive but too many unknowns to say for sure.

[Quexos]

At that con price you better be able to. But I have avoided all the tablets so far so I don't plan to fall for this one.

Originally Posted by Apache

Can you game on it?
Apache

[BWinmill]

There are other things to keep in mind: it seems as though these are more geared towards corporate clients, which means they are willing to pay more. Costs are usually higher in the beginning because early adopters are willing to pay more. Costs are usually higher in the beginning to recoup R&D costs. Costs are usually higher in the beginning since higher margins are a big part of the reason why companies introduce new products.

Now if something like this still costs $900 two years from now, I would agree that it is overpriced. For the time being though, being first in line has its price.

[Kali Yuga]

Wow. Are people really going to shell that out for a Surface tablet?

Originally Posted by Penforhire

Have you priced a Wacom Cintiq lately?

$2000 for a 22-inch high-definition display with 2048 pressure levels.

Tablets may be sufficient for some illustration purposes, but you can't compare any tablet PC to a Cintiq. It's like comparing a Casio Exilim camera to a Leica M9.

[injapan]

wow expensive! another nail in the Microsoft's ______?

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by Mike L

I don't think it's all that expensive. The point about the Pro is that it's competing with netbooks and lightweight laptops. It can serve as a proper Windows-based computer, can be used as part of the corporate infrastructure, and can provide access to the entire third-party application market. It's not like the $499 Surface RT, which is essentially an iPad competitor.

Mike

The first part I definitely agree with. A full Windows 8 Pro tablet at $899 is actually quite cheap. Comparing a Win Pro tablet to a mobile OS tablet is like comparing a truck to a bicycle. Get real people, you should measure the price against what they offer. "Anything above $300.- is way overpriced" makes no sense for something like the Surface Pro. You get what you pay for, if a simple tablet does the job then you shouldn't get a Surface Pro. The Surface Pro is for those who want one device to do virtually everything. It is a great feat packing all that power into such a small package. Consider that most advanced phones cost 500-800 off contract and you realize what a bargain this is.

But the Surface RT is definitely not positioned as an iPad competitor, it is positioned to do 90% of what a real laptop can do. MS office, you can just plug in USB key boards and mice, even USB wireless ones. Real side-by-side multitasking. Make no mistake, it is a real PC. A great choice, for many, not all (gamers, graphic artists, CAD users, etc should stay away). If all your needs are covered by what it can do it is a much better choice than the Pro -- lighter, longer battery life and much cheaper. Especially when you figure the price of MS Office into the equation.

As for games -- you can just use the wireless controllers from an Xbox.

Looks like mobile OS tablets will have go the way of e-ink readers --- as they have already started to --- becoming so cheap ($100-200) that they are almost disposable.