Microsoft Cuts the Price of the Surface Pro Again

[JMcEntegart]

Microsoft cuts the price of the Surface Pro by a further $100 following release of newer model.

Microsoft Cuts the Price of the Surface Pro Again : Read more

 

[stevejnb]

Heh, it was $150 off the previously cut price at Future Shop/Best Buy (Canada) as of Monday. Got one for my girlfriend for Christmas as of Tuesday... Monday they had lots, by Tuesday morning only two Best Buy's in my city (Calgary) had any left. I reserved one at 10 AM and they said they had six left. By the time I got there at twelve, the one I had reserved was the last one - possibly in the whole city.

At that price, these things sell like they're going out of style... Which, I guess, they are. I wouldn't expect to find them at this reduced price for long. Frankly, while I like the Surface Pro 2's updates, I don't find any to be game changing ones, so costing several hundred dollars less makes the original Surface Pro well worth it.

 

[Guest]

So basically this just lowers the overall value of these devices and I pity anyone who paid full price for one. A fire sale is just around the corner and many of us know it already. Microsoft Is NOT smart enough to recognize this is a failure and move on. Make a affordable tablet, make a traditional OS for the PC and stop doing what is not successful on any measurement. Just imagine if Microsoft would put a full Windows 8 OS on a $500 tablet that could run software and apps? No, instead it makes some sort of hybrid that neither works as a tablet or notebook well enough and is over priced.

 

[stevejnb]

Jesscott, just the other weekend I got my mom a last year's model of the Lenovo Yoga at a $200 discount - a fire-sale clearing out old stock. This isn't exactly just MS that does this - several companies are.

The Surface Pro was a good product when they released it in... January, was it? Heck, a great product - an ultrabook hardware, tablet form factor. Of the people I know who have them, their assessment is almost entirely positive. Go on to Amazon and read the Surface Pro reviews - very, very positive. With how much people love to crap on MS for things that other companies get a free pass on, if people are largely saying positive things about a product MS puts out, it *has* to be pretty damned good.

Even here at Tom's, the general word I see going around is "That's a slick unit - I'd get one for a second if the price wasn't so high" or the praise of a happy user. Say what you will about MS as a whole, but they got something right with the Surface Pro.

 

[sjwpwrpro2]

I just got one at the $699 price here in California, it was the last one they had. They had a bunch last week so everyone was just waiting. The only thing that I like about the newer one is the battery life I get about 5 hours out of this one with light usage. Other than that I wish that I had got me one I purchased this one for the wife and I think that I like more than she does. We had a android tablet first and this thing is not even in the same ballpark in terms of performance and usability. We both love it and when I have the money I might get me one of the new ones.

 

[robochump]

Why would anyone pay full price for the Surface Pro 2? Just wait for discounts.

 

[stevejnb]

Why would anyone pay full price for the Surface Pro 2? Just wait for discounts.

Because they want one now and don't want to wait 10 months? For a lot of people, the price difference is a fraction of a day's wages and, frankly, it ain't worth the wait to get a product you want.

 

[ddpruitt]

Laptop $400, Android Tablet $200. More power more life and more use for less.

I seriously don't see why anyone would pay $500 plus for something that has less power than an entry level laptop and worse battery life than a table. It's suppose to be the best of both worlds but it seems to be coming off as the worst of both worlds.

 

[teh_chem]

Other than backlit keyboards and an extended battery cover, there's so little functional difference between the Pro and Pro2, if I were in the market to buy a Pro2, I'd just get the Pro at the nice discounted price.

I really wish proper keyboard docks would come out for any of the Surface tablets, ala the ASUS Transformer sort--though I hate ASUS' TF keyboards, they're all far too compact with poor design. I don't know why MS didn't release docks with the next revision of the Surface. The kickstand is more of an afterthought than a good product design IMHO.

 

[JD88]

Biggest problem with the first Gen Surface pro is Battery life. It's also a little on the thick side. It's an awkward laptop and a chunky tablet. What does it do well?

 

[sean1357]

I don't mind about the price. I thought MS should do something about the weight. It's still damn heavy same with the first generation. Did MS learning anything?... I don't want to hold heavy tablet in my bed while reading something... I give credit to Apple because they did reduce the weight by 30% than original iPad.... I have my brother works at MS Surface group (manager role), but I still like iPad Air...

 

[back_by_demand]

JD88, seriously? What do you think it can do well, based on the copious benchmarks that have been pushed out. I don't mind people picking actual flaws like a lower battery life, but actively ignoring the things it beats everyone out of the ballpark with is just ignorance.

 

[JD88]

JD88, seriously? What do you think it can do well, based on the copious benchmarks that have been pushed out. I don't mind people picking actual flaws like a lower battery life, but actively ignoring the things it beats everyone out of the ballpark with is just ignorance.

Well as others have mentioned here, it is awful heavy to be using in a lot of situations where a tablet shines such as laying down reading or watching videos. Battery life is also crap compared to most tablets.

As a laptop, it can't really be used on a lap because it requires a flat surface to use the keyboard. As a hybrid, the click in keyboards are a much better design because they can be locked in place to create a true clamshell. The touch/type cover design just doesn't make sense in that respect. It's not really any more portable than most of the smaller Utrabooks either.

The only thing it really does well is provide mid-range laptop performance in a tablet form factor. I'm curious what applications would take advantage of that though. Gaming? Nope, need a keyboard and mouse. Photo editing? Maybe but could be hard on a touch screen alone.

Wouldn't someone be much better off with a $600 thin notebook with a slightly larger screen and similar or better specs specs and something like a Nexus 7 for tablet use?

Much thinner and lighter models using Bay Trail and a clamshell keyboard dock would seem to make a lot more sense for a Windows Tablet. What could you do on this in tablet mode that you couldn't accomplish with a Bay Trail based unit?

 

[back_by_demand]

JD88, seriously? What do you think it can do well, based on the copious benchmarks that have been pushed out. I don't mind people picking actual flaws like a lower battery life, but actively ignoring the things it beats everyone out of the ballpark with is just ignorance.

Well as others have mentioned here, it is awful heavy to be using in a lot of situations where a tablet shines such as laying down reading or watching videos. Battery life is also crap compared to most tablets.

As a laptop, it can't really be used on a lap because it requires a flat surface to use the keyboard. As a hybrid, the click in keyboards are a much better design because they can be locked in place to create a true clamshell. The touch/type cover design just doesn't make sense in that respect. It's not really any more portable than most of the smaller Utrabooks either.

The only thing it really does well is provide mid-range laptop performance in a tablet form factor. I'm curious what applications would take advantage of that though. Gaming? Nope, need a keyboard and mouse. Photo editing? Maybe but could be hard on a touch screen alone.

Wouldn't someone be much better off with a $600 thin notebook with a slightly larger screen and similar or better specs specs and something like a Nexus 7 for tablet use?

Much thinner and lighter models using Bay Trail and a clamshell keyboard dock would seem to make a lot more sense for a Windows Tablet. What could you do on this in tablet mode that you couldn't accomplish with a Bay Trail based unit?

Panos used it on his lap at the demo, I thought it was a bit staged so I tried myself with a colleagues unit and its pretty good. The screen is pretty good, not as good as a Shield but still one of the best. Weight is subjective, my personal opinion is that if a Surface 'fatigues' a user after holding it then they need to work out a bit more, it's a tablet, not an anvil. And as far as gaming, I agree that a mouse can help with control, but for playability about a third of my Steam collection works on a Surface Pro, the Surface Pro 2 will add to that. So far, if I resort to tired car analogies, it is comparing a Ferrari to a Prius, ok it's heavier, bigger and has shitty gas mileage - but it is still a Ferrari and will burn the Prius at the lights

 

[Rhinofart]

I've with Steve on that. I have the Surface Pro, and an iPad 4. I pick the Surface Pro for anything. Full fledged OS, small formfactor, ultra portable. It's friggin' awesome. The iPad has officially been relegated to be my 2nd Ableton controler only. Sure I paid full price for it back in April, but I don't care. I've enjoyed this thing for the past several months, and what's a couple hundred bucks for all that time spent with it?

 

[jn77]

Here is the thing, They could put an I7 Extreme and 64gb of ram and a 4TB Hard drive in the surface tablet....... I won't pay more than $499 for a tablet if it had a 16 core processor in it.

At that point My Alienware M17x or Clevo or Sager Performance laptop is a better deal. Give me the best you can at a $499.99 price point for a tablet and I will consider it, anything more and I will take the laptop.

 

[g-unit1111]

I've with Steve on that. I have the Surface Pro, and an iPad 4. I pick the Surface Pro for anything. Full fledged OS, small formfactor, ultra portable. It's friggin' awesome. The iPad has officially been relegated to be my 2nd Ableton controler only. Sure I paid full price for it back in April, but I don't care. I've enjoyed this thing for the past several months, and what's a couple hundred bucks for all that time spent with it?

Yeah I'm in the market for a new tablet. I'm heavily debating between getting a Surface Pro or an iPad Air. Both are about the same price. I had a Surface RT for a couple of days and while I really liked it, I found the RT version of Windows 8 was just too freaking limiting to what it could do. The Surface Pro runs full Windows 8 and has the hardware to match. I'm leaning more toward the Surface Pro than I am the iPad Air.

 

[poseidon7902]

Are people really comparing a full fledge tablet pc to the iPad air?

 

[g-unit1111]

Are people really comparing a full fledge tablet pc to the iPad air?

Oh no, in terms of hardware the Surface Pro wins every single time.

 

[antilycus]

The keyboard S U C K S hard.

 

[back_by_demand]

The keyboard S U C K S hard.

Touch keyboard yes, Type keyboard no, you either haven't used one and are trolling hard or have spent too much time using a real cherry mx keyboard and have no idea about comparing ultrabook or laptop keyboard

 

[JD88]

Also gotta remember the type keyboard adds an extra $120 to the price. Battery cover another $200? Is Microsoft insane? Even with the price drop, the cost of this thing is still $800-900 if you want an attachable keyboard.

Margins must be sky high on these things, but then again MS has admitted to wanting to be Apple.

 

[back_by_demand]

Also gotta remember the type keyboard adds an extra $120 to the price. Battery cover another $200? Is Microsoft insane? Even with the price drop, the cost of this thing is still $800-900 if you want an attachable keyboard.

Margins must be sky high on these things, but then again MS has admitted to wanting to be Apple.

The best keyboard for an iPad is the Logitech one, almost the same price and not as good, thicker and heavier. Ultrabooks that have the keyboard built in can cost as much as if not more than a Surface and Touch keyboard. So why is the cost acceptable for them but not for MS?

 

[g-unit1111]

The keyboard S U C K S hard.

Touch keyboard yes, Type keyboard no, you either haven't used one and are trolling hard or have spent too much time using a real cherry mx keyboard and have no idea about comparing ultrabook or laptop keyboard

I agree that the touch keyboard sucks, it feels like you're typing on a piece of cardboard. I'm leaning more toward getting a Surface Pro and I'm definitely planning to get the type keyboard.

The best keyboard for an iPad is the Logitech one, almost the same price and not as good, thicker and heavier. Ultrabooks that have the keyboard built in can cost as much as if not more than a Surface and Touch keyboard. So why is the cost acceptable for them but not for MS?

I have that same keyboard, it's great and it's well worth the cost.

 

[back_by_demand]

The keyboard S U C K S hard.

Touch keyboard yes, Type keyboard no, you either haven't used one and are trolling hard or have spent too much time using a real cherry mx keyboard and have no idea about comparing ultrabook or laptop keyboard

I agree that the touch keyboard sucks, it feels like you're typing on a piece of cardboard. I'm leaning more toward getting a Surface Pro and I'm definitely planning to get the type keyboard.

The best keyboard for an iPad is the Logitech one, almost the same price and not as good, thicker and heavier. Ultrabooks that have the keyboard built in can cost as much as if not more than a Surface and Touch keyboard. So why is the cost acceptable for them but not for MS?

I have that same keyboard, it's great and it's well worth the cost.

I have used both, the Logitech one is pretty good, but personal preference is the Type, both for comfort and convenience of not having to charge a second device