Microsoft Surface Pro Availability Date Revealed, Plus New Surface RT Model

News
By Kevin Parrish
published

Microsoft's Intel-based Surface Pro arrives in early February along with a few new accessories and a new Windows RT SKU.

Microsoft confirmed on Tuesday that its Surface Pro tablet will be available for purchase on February 9, 2013, in the United States and Canada at all Microsoft retail stores, microsoftstore.com, Staples and Best Buy in the U.S., as well as from a number of locations in Canada.

Packed with an Intel Core i5 CPU and Windows 8 Pro (nope, none of that ARM-based RT stuff here), it will have a starting price of $899 USD and arrive in 64 GB and 128 GB flavors. A Surface pen with Palm Block technology, designed specifically to work with Surface to let customers edit, collaborate and get things done, is included with Surface Windows 8 Pro.

"The response to Surface has been exciting to see,” said Panos Panay, general manager, Microsoft Surface. "We’re thrilled to continue growing the Surface family with the availability of Surface Windows 8 Pro on Feb. 9 and by increasing the number of places customers can experience Surface firsthand."

In addition to releasing Surface Pro in the coming weeks, the company has also made available Surface RT in 13 additional markets worldwide. Even more, a new 64 GB standalone version for $599 USD will be made available soon and will come with a free Cover of your choice.

In addition to the Surface tablets, a Surface Edition of Microsoft's Wedge Touch Mouse, costing $69.99 USD, will be expanded into additional markets in the coming weeks. There are also three new limited editions of Microsoft's Touch Cover in red, magenta and cyan (seen above) that will soon be launched at an estimated retail price of $129.99 USD each.

"Each design is different and allows customers additional personalization options beyond the various colors of Touch Cover that are already available," Panay said in his blog on Tuesday. "These limited edition Touch Covers will be available for purchase on Feb. 9 in the 8 markets in which Surface is currently sold, with additional markets to follow in the coming weeks."

Panay goes into greater detail about all the products listed here in his Tuesday update, located here.

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Kevin Parrish
23 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Frustrating that there is still no mention of the model of the Core i5. Either it will be disappointing or something that isn't available on the open market yet. I hope it is the later, but fear it is the former.
    Reply
  • Jerky_san
    I hope they put a GSM or CDMA antenna in the thing.. why have a tablet like this if it doesn't have some sort of nice connectivity..
    Reply
  • Niva
    Well I for once am really interested in Surface Pro. I'm looking for the reviews and especially from fellow artists who want to use this for digital art/painting with the pen.
    Reply
  • Cryio
    mVenymFrustrating that there is still no mention of the model of the Core i5. Either it will be disappointing or something that isn't available on the open market yet. I hope it is the later, but fear it is the former.
    It most certainly is a Dual-Core design without hyperthreading, based on Ivy Bridge, running like 1.7-2.0 GHz. Good enough for a tablet.
    Reply
  • tpi2007
    The 64 GB Windows RT version with a Touch Cover already included is a smart move, making the device more appealing, all the while not lowering the price of the base model. This last fact is not good for consumers, but is good for Microsoft's competition, since they wouldn't be too pleased if MS undercut them on the more affordable devices.

    Part of the talk though is just unashamed PR BS. It's amazing how Microsoft thinks that they can somehow bend reality to fit their agenda. This paragraph alone is just amazing:

    "The response to Surface has been exciting to see,” said Panos Panay, general manager, Microsoft Surface. "We’re thrilled to continue growing the Surface family with the availability of Surface Windows 8 Pro on Feb. 9 and by increasing the number of places customers can experience Surface firsthand."

    The response has been exciting ? Well, if you consider the people that actually bought the device and select those that are happy. In all other respects, the market response is all but great. Initial order of 4 million units cut in half, and then only around half of that amount sold, even though they started selling the RT in major retail outlets before the holiday season.

    Also, wasn't Surface Pro supposed to be available on the 26 th of January ? They now just say 9th of February as if it's all going according to plan ?

    Edit: Yes, as I suspected, it is late. Here: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/01/later-than-planned-surface-pro-coming-february-to-us-and-canada-only/
    Reply
  • BringMeAnother
    I'm really interested in this, but I can't shake the feeling that it will be made completely obsolete 5 month later with the release of the Haswell CPUs which, if more efficient, will allow longer battery life with less weight.
    Reply
  • vmem
    BringMeAnotherI'm really interested in this, but I can't shake the feeling that it will be made completely obsolete 5 month later with the release of the Haswell CPUs which, if more efficient, will allow longer battery life with less weight.
    Haswell tablets won't happen until much later this year, a Haswell Surface pro 2, if it happens, will likely be released just before the holidays 2013. this is because the Haswell chips released in June will be the laptop and desktop models, the ultra low voltage models ideal for tablet construction are typically last to come as they usually come out after Intel has had time to refine and tune each process.

    That said, ultra low voltage haswell chips will definately be much more power efficient than Ivy, and will likely render this gen of surface devices very obsolete as they'll probably have a nice 8-10hr battery life like any half decent tablet should
    Reply
  • They need to add 3G/4G support so they can partner with carriers to subsidize the price with 2 year contracts that would make those tablets fly of the shelves.
    Reply
  • linkgx1
    I dunno. Seems pricey still. Gaming is pretty much out of the question on it. I'm just wondering if it's fast enough to do everything I need.
    Reply
  • bourgeoisdude
    linkgx1I dunno. Seems pricey still. Gaming is pretty much out of the question on it. I'm just wondering if it's fast enough to do everything I need.
    The gaming part depends. Intel HD 4000 will play some games surprisingly well. I helped my brother build a PC that didn't have a good enough PSU for his new graphics card so we stuck with integrated for a bit. Mass Effect 3 ran surprisingly well, and Diablo 3 was also playable at lower settings. Some games are out of the question though (like BF3).
    Reply