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Surface Pro Tablet Price: Expensive at $899? Perhaps Not

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http://www.thevarguy.com – At first glance the Microsoft Surface tablet running Windows 8 Pro looks expensive: A 64 GB version will cost $899 and the 128 GB version will be $999. (Microsoft — NASDAQ: MSFT — announced pricing yesterday.) Critics may say you can buy a full-blown PC or laptop at that price. But that’s exactly the point: Surface Pro is a full-blown computer that doubles as a tablet. And The VAR Guy remains intrigued. First, a confession: The VAR Guy wishes Microsoft had a Windows 8 Pro tablet that was more in the $599 to $699 price range. The current Windows RT Surface tablet, starting at (IT news)

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Submitted by niaobid on 11/30/2012

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Surface Pro and Surface RT are not gunning to be the industry’s dominant tablets, according to Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer. Those comments have drawn fire from some critics. But can’t anyone read between the lines anymore?

The gap between a full-fledged PC and a touchscreen tablet has finally found a bridge in the Microsoft Surface Pro. The Windows 8 device will be available for purchase on February 9, but we got a sneak peek with the Surface Pro and took it for a test spin in the Fly Or Die studios. So what’s the verdict?

As Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) begins to expand Surface RT and Surface Pro availability, critics continue to wonder how well the tablets are actually selling. The VAR Guy’s response: Sit tight, folks. To use an American baseball metaphor, we’re only in the second-inning of a nine-inning ballgame. Here’s why. Admittedly, the first inning wasn’t very pretty.

The Microsoft Surface RT is a PC. It’s not a mobile device and it’s not a tablet, it’s a PC. And Microsoft’s first self-branded computer. It is, in short, the physical incarnation of Microsoft’s Windows 8. The expectations and competition for the Surface are daunting.

Less than six weeks from debuting the Surface tablet, Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) first branded hardware device ever, chief executive Steve Ballmer still is eerily tight-lipped on the vendor’s pricing, marketing and distribution plans. In an interview with the Seattle Times, Ballmer called 2012 “the most epic year” in Microsoft history — referring to the plethora of updates and services

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) might be planning to sell its Surface for Windows RT tablet for $199, a staggeringly low price to potentially counter Google Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire tablets. Is Microsoft ready to make some Surface tablets loss leaders, figuring to make up the shortfall on application and media sales, according to a published report?

  If you haven’t been living under a rock for the past few days, you’re probably well-aware of the upcoming Microsoft Surface tablet. Dubbed as one of the saviors for Microsoft’s rapidly degrading brand, the Surface tablet has already been identified as the true iPad and Android tablet challenger.

It’s about damn time. Microsoft announced the Surface product family on June 18th. After eight months of waiting, Microsoft announced that on February 9, the fully-capable, Windows 8-packing, Intel-powered, actually-really-novel Surface 8 Pro will finally hit stores in the U.S. and Canada. The Surface Pro is the big daddy in the Surface family.

Four months after Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) displayed its upcoming Surface tablet, the software-turned-hardware maker released details on the device’s pricing scheme, with the basic 32GB version starting at $499, a similar configuration bundled with a touch cover priced at $599 and, at the high-end, a 64GB model priced at $699. Surface will be available Oct.