[Hitch]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

There's lots of marketing here in Germany as well.
So far, it solely has been about Surface RT.
I see posters at most central trainstations, for example.

Maybe, there's simply no benefit in buying from Saturn or Media Markt?
You can see Surface RT in lots of stores. You can check it out "everywhere".
And then order directly from Microsoft.

The only sales figure I've seen was: "€ 1.4 million Surfaces globally (RT and Pro, where available)" ca. 6 weeks ago.
That's really extremely low.
And some manufacturers, I think Acer upfront, openly stated to leave the RT market due to lack of demand.

Although I really like my Surface RT, I have to admit: Why go for a "stripped down" OS, if you can have a full blown Windows 8 tablet (Samsung, Dell, HP, ...) for the same price?
To me, as an early adopter, Surface RT was/is quite compelling.
And I don't want to have a fan (as in cooling) on my tablet. But then you only have to go for an ATOM processor instead of i3/i5.
Surface RT certainly is a workable and fun solution. But if I look at the "mass market", there's not enough games and stuff.

So I simply hope, low sales figures of Surface RT are no indicator for the same with Surface Pro.
I think, Surface Pro deserves some praise. I use mine more and more often. Yes, it gets warm. But so does my MacBook Air. Yes, sometimes I can hear the fan. Again, same on MacBook Air.

I've read an article, listing some high end games that can be played on Surface Pro by reducing some effects:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasoneva...gelizing-this/
They call them "AAA Games".
The author stated, Microsoft aggressively should market that. I agree. I've briefly played toy soldiers and some other titles from Microsoft Studios. Quite impressive. I've seen some high end titles on iPad and Android as well, but I think this is another league.
Imagine: The marketing capabilities of Apple, the budget Microsoft definitely still has and the technical specs of Surface Pro. It should sell like hell...
Let's hope for the best. It's only in our (the customers) best interest to have a wide choices of OSs. And of all my tablets, Surface Pro and Latitude 10 leave the most choices of software for me.
Where else could you install Bluestacks and emulate Android? Where else could you install another OS within a virtual machine?

Hi, mgmueller:

I've been avidly interested in obtaining the Pro since the RT arrived on the scene; I'm a power user of productivity tools, particularly in Microsoft and other business applications. I use a ton of SAS (Software as Service) like TeamworksPM, Freshbooks, Desk (from Salesforce), etc. You seem to really like yours, warmness aside. But you also said that for now, you prefer your Dell Latitude, is that right? I'm dying for a Win8 laptop-tablet that isn't for "consumers of content," but for "creators of content," in that iPads, etc, are primarily for people who consume the content provided (I have one; I know that I just don't find it usable for any real work) on the Net, Games, movies, etc. I mean, I wear through keyboards every six months, so I need a box that is sturdy.

I still have but really can't use an old IBM ThinkPad...top of the line at the time, but like all things, it's like, 108 in dog-years, and it's married to XP. My desktop is a pretty mighty Win7 machine, and I've been lusting after the Pro since it was announced. I know a lot of people bought Acer Win8 boxes, but as you can see, I tend to keep my hardware a long time. (Don't see any need whatsoever to buy "the next cool thing." I just want my stuff to WORK.) Overall, how happy are you with that Pro box? And besides warmth, and a bit of weight, any other real drawbacks? I don't "game," so truly couldn't care less about that bit.

Hitch