Microsoft's Surface Tablet Listed for $1003 After Conversion
Revealed last month during a special press conference in Los Angeles, Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky said the x86-based Surface tablet would feature a 22-nm Intel Ivy Bridge chip, Windows 8 Pro, a thickness of 13.5-mm, a weight of 1.9 pounds, USB 3.0 support, and either 64 GB or 128 GB of storage. The ARM-based Surface tablet would be powered by SoCs supplied by ARM partners and feature Windows RT, a thickness of 9.3-mm, a weight of 1.5 pounds, and either 32 GB or 64 GB of storage.
According to the company, both will feature a vapor-deposited (PVD) magnesium case, a built-in kickstand, and a 10.6-inch ClearType HD "Full HD" display. They'll also have optional Touch and Type keyboard covers while the Intel-based version will also sport additional digital ink support through a pen that magnetizes to the body of the tablet.
What Microsoft didn't reveal was the suggested retail pricing of the tablets and when they would actually be available on the market. Just recently reports indicated that the Windows RT tablet will be available for purchase when Windows 8 hits retail shelves in late October.
If the 32 GB version of the Windows RT-based Surface tablet will reside around $1K USD mark, Microsoft may have a tough time competing against current ultrabooks which sport a lower pricetag. It will even roughly cost 50-percent more than the current 32 GB iPad 3 with a Retina display. Then again, that price point could include the keyboard cover -- the tablet itself may eventually reside within the iPad 3 range.
Oh wait...
Oh wait...
if you buy into the whole post pc crap, a 1000$ tablet that is basically a laptop without a keyboard, isn't unreasonable.
apple sells a tablet for screwing around on for what, 600 or is it 700$, for the base unit,
looking at it that way, its like you are paying 300$ more for a full computer functionality, minus the (high graphics) gaming side.
I have been watching the under $100.00 Android tablets. They are not there yet, but some people are giving them good reviews. They are getting a lot more good reviews now than they did even 6 months ago. In another 6 months, maybe someone will be making one that will get even more good reviews than the current crop. If so, then who will pay $1000.00 for the Surface?
How much ultrabook would $1,000 buy?
It will buy this. http://store.apple.com/us/configure/MD223LL/A
The base unit is $499, or $399 for the iPad 2. iOS may not be your cup of tea, and that's fine. But it isn't as expensive as you have posted is all.
"Paul Paliath from Techie Buzz - He has a statement from Webhallen that the prices are incorrect and merely placeholder for future orders. :-
“Our customers are very interested in pre-ordering these products, so we have set a high preliminary pricing for the line-up so that they may be able to pre-order them.
Just to clarify, we have not received any pricing from Microsoft regarding MRSP or purchasing net cost, and any people who have booked the Surface at this high price will of course have their order adjusted before any product is shipped. So we’re not going to overcharge anyone for being an early adopter.”
And that is using an Ivy Bridge processor not an ARM processor that is going to be incompatible with most current x86 based software. With Windows 7/8 installed you can run everything on the PC side for the most part.
You can alternatively find a non Apple Ultrabook for about the same price with again a processor that will run all your current software.
I hope for MS this is a price difference caused by the conversion and higher price conversion - They will have a hard time competing with the iPad's ecosystem otherwise.
Take into consideration this may be a high priced pre-order (like iPhone, iPad unofficial pre-orders that mark up the price so you can be 'first in line').
Then again, it could be spot on - and Microsoft's plan could be to compete with similar Apple offerings. Considering that the x86 surface is more or less a touch ultrabook or a high end x86 tablet with built in keyboard.
I'm willing to keep an open mind to this product, same as I've kept an open mind to offers from other manufacturers. I'd suggest other people keep an open mind too (AMD vs nVidia, Apple vs MS, Acer vs ASUS, etc.). I don't think it does anyone any good to write things off before they hit retail and wait for reviews from Anandtech, Tomshardware, X-bit, etc. rather than "Well, I've seen 'X' feature in pictures, and I'm on the internet a lot and can say that it's crap. I know how to google stuff, so I'm pretty much an expert on all things tech."
Though at $1000 it's definitely not what I'm looking for. At $800-$850, I could see buying one and using it for work and light home use.
The problem is that it's neither a good laptop replacement nor a good tablet.
It sucks as a laptop because it only has a 10" display and no real keyboard. It's a glorified netbook for 3-4 times the price of a netbook.
It sucks as a tablet because it's
- Heavy (40% heavier than a regular 10" tablet. That's a big issue for a handheld device)
- Only 5-6 hours of web surfing before battery runs flat (based on 11" ultrabooks with same specs. 42Wh battery according to MS), when ARM based tablets give you 10 hours of battery life watching movies.
- More than twice price of a regular tablet.
You pay all that money to get a bad tablet that's only advantage is being able to run desktop software on a 10" touchscreen. Not a good deal!
As a fully functional Windows computer, I don't see many people dropping like $600 for Photoshop or Illustrator to use it on a 10" screen and a crippled ULV processor.
Microsoft didn't want to brag about battery life, so that's probably not going to be great either. I guess we'll find out in five months or so.
With the Surface Pro, Microsoft is making the same mistake they made with the original Tablet PC. A tablet is not a PC, not many people want it to be a PC, which is proven by the commercial failure of every tablet/laptop hybrid and the success of iPad and similar dumbed down devices.
As for Surface RT, it'll have 1366x768, relatively few apps, Tegra 3 (which Nexus 7 has), and it'll be as expensive as the new iPad and most expensive Android tablets.
But if Microsoft can make most PC users buy tablet apps in their app store, then they'll do fine.
What I'm really interested in is the ARM-based tablets. Isn't it clear that uber CPU processing power is an over-valued property when discussing tablets?
This story is posted in the news section, and there is no truth to the price points. As has been stated already the price info was just a random ass guess, a very high one at that. How is someones uninformed guess news??
-CB
It's a guesstimate but a pretty credible one. Look at the prices of Ultrabooks with similar specs. Add 1080p on a smaller screen (higher PPI), add touchscreen, add non-standard design, and you're looking at a price around $1000 at least. Microsoft clearly doesn't intend to compete on price, even apps in the Windows store start at 50% higher than apps on iOS. That's because they're basically done with the PC, they want what Apple has - a walled garden and a core of die hard fanboys (you know who you are) with lots of disposable income.