Surface Pro prices announced, $899 and $999, keyboard covers NOT included.

These prices seem to be getting a lukewarm reception, following what are said to be poor sales of Surface RT tablets.

Now, this may be the coup de grace:


http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/29/3...attery-life-rt

An estimated 4-hour battery life for the Surface Pros.

That's really expensive. :eek:

According to the Guardian Taiwan's DigiTimes have claimed that MS has halved the number of Surfaces that they have ordered for this year.

Also from that article according to Asus's chief finance officer David Chang I was at an Asus demonstration of their hardware running W8 including a tablet earlier in the week and asked how popular it had been with consumers they'd been showing it off to. The person I was talking to mentioned that it appeared to have Marmite reactions people either loved it or hated it and there wasn't much in between. However when I asked which way it was leaning he said it wasn't possible to comment on that officially.

I then asked if he had any personal opinions on W8 and he said that it seemed alright, whereupon I mentioned the issues I had with it. He then asked me if having multiple programmes open on screen at once was normal and I said yes, and he said "Oh I wouldn't know I haven't used a windows computer in years.":eek::rolleyes: I couldn't get out of him which OS he used but when I said I won't be upgrading just yet as I wasn't a fan of Win 8 with the current GUI for a lap/desktop and my Playbook is fine as a tablet, he indicated I was part of the larger group who didn't like it.

PC Magazine is also saying orders have been cut in half, and adding it may move the pro price downward before they launch it

Facing lackluster demand for its new Surface RT tablets, Microsoft has reportedly slashed 2012 orders from its Asian manufacturers from 4 million to 2 million units.

The reportedly sluggish start for Microsoft's first ARM-based tablet might prompt it to lower the price of the Intel-based Surface Pro due out in January, according to DigiTimes. Citing unnamed supply chain sources, the paper said Friday that Surface RT orders have been halved through the end of December.


They are also saying this may force them to release the pro earlier than planned

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2412729,00.asp

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Im surprised they've sold as many as they have. I've always thought the Surface was as much to give other MS hardware manufacturers a kick in the *** as any serious attempt to sell them in significant numbers.

I'm surprised as well since they can only be bought at the online Microsoft store or in physical Microsoft stores (of which there are only a "handfull"). This means you really need to be aware of the Surface's existence.

I myself am enjoying my Surface RT tremendously (it has the full MS Office, can connect all my USB devices without any hickups, that touch cover keyboard is truly a work of genius). Haven't touched my laptop since I got my Surface RT almost 2 months ago. :D

With the incredible ad campaign, the placement in so many TV shows, the billboards, posters, ads, commercials, etc I would think you would have to be dead to not be interested (not to mention the press)

There are other ways to get them, Amazon has them by one vendor, etc

Oprah was giving it props from her iPad. That should have helped them to sell a few.

Played with the Samsung ATIV 700T yesterday. This is the kind of tablet that Microsoft should've aimed for.

Gosh is MSFT really going to tank out? I can't believe this is happening. Maybe they got too ahead of themselves. They should really stop following what others have already perfected and get in the business of being innovative again. How about creating a "virtual keyboard" where a usb sensor can sense your hand movements and create text from that?

Like this?

http://www.marcofolio.net/images/sto...keyboard_2.jpg

They (will) have the Surface Pro... No?

I don't think they followed anyone. They went further ("full" OS on a tablet instead of "phone" OS on a tablet)...

A virtual keyboard looks like the most uncomfortable keyboard. You will constantly have to look at the virtual keyboard in order to see where your fingers are (at least with typing on a touch screen you can see both your fingers as well as what you're typing).
On the Surface Touch cover you can actually feel where the keys are so you don't have to look at the Touch cover when typing.

Fail... More gimmick than useful...

IIRC, the screen specs on the Surface Pro is still a dreadful 720p.

Edited to add: Nevermind. It will have a 1080p screen.

Actually types very well even if not really suitable for propper touch typing.