Microsoft Surface Prices Revealed?

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DigiTimes, citing anonymous "industry sources," claims that Microsoft's new surface tablets will be $599 and $799. Ugh. I think if Microsoft is serious about taking on Apple, the pricing better be $399 and $599.

The sources also estimated the end-market price of the Windows 8 Pro-based Surface tablet PC with Ivy Bridge processor to be at least above US$799, while the Windows RT-based model, featuring Nvidia's Tegra 3, will be priced above US$599.
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That's cheap for the i5 IB ULV model. At least $200 of that goes into Intel's pockets.

That price for the RT model is laughable, though. At least the x86-based one makes a bit of sense but the ARM based WinRT? No applications and no legacy at twice the price of an Android tablet.
 
Industry analyste make basic guesses and member of hard could have made, great news.
 
Microsoft should take a peek at Amazon. Sell the tablet for a loss and recoup all lost profits with the software.
 
Higher specs, sure. But, it has to compete. Ferrari has better specs than a Ford, but you don't see them taking Ford's market share.

Microsoft can't sell this in the high end market, they need to target the iPad marketplace with iPad pricing. Otherwise, I'll pass. I wanted one so bad, too.
 
If I can get a Pro for $799, I'll do that. If it's nearly a grand, I don't see myself bothering.
 
$799 is the perfect price for the pro, hell it's better than I imagined it would be. They could stand to knock 50-100 off the RT model though if they're going to compete in the ARM space.
 
everyone was pricing the pro at or above $1000 so i see this as pretty good news for that model. no idea what the point of winRT is yet, or how its going to do, but i see $600 as being about $200 too high for just another tablet on ARM with nothing useful other than office.
 
That's actually cheaper then I expected. Anyone thinking that Microsoft is going to put out a sub $500 tablet is crazy - they're competing on quality with the market leader Apple, not on price with market failure Android. The $599 price for the RT is fair and about what I expected. If the Pro version is $799 or even $899 then Microsoft will have a major win - I'd expected Microsoft was going to try and squeeze down to the magic $999 price point.

Let's face it, in terms of the cost of the parts Microsoft is going to sell an ultrabook with a touch screen, touch keyboard accessory and use a fancy material case all for less then a sticker laden, bloatware loaded plastic box from Dell or HP. And that Microsoft licence ain't what's making the difference (Dell famously charged more for Linux machines because they where actually making money loading computers with Windows thanks to the bloatware kickbacks).
 
Darth Millennial said:
Why is $599 high when it comes with 32GB of memory and the iPad 32GB is $599?:confused:
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This.

Come on guys, I know just as much as you that ANY ARM based tablet isn't worth $600...but it is comparible to Apples offering with the same amount of storage. Granted, it may not be as thin, powerful, or have a higher resolution...but this IS Microsoft here...

As far as the actual PC version tablet, if the price and specs are right (how much RAM, GPU used, etc) then I would LOVE to get one, especially for drawing and the sort on the go. If its closer to $1000 range not so much...already have a decent tablet now.
 
dagamer34 said:
Shh... people might find out their argument lacks logic!
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No, people realize it will take incentive to make people NOT buy an iPad. Equal price is a bad start.

the Pro version is an excellent price though. Easily see that beauty welling at 800.
 
I think realistically, it should be cheaper than a high end iPad.

I think perfect pricing would be around $450 -$500 for lower end and for the pro around $650-$700.
 
It doesn't appear that MS wants to compete with Apple's iPad, they're trying to make a business tablet that's in a pad form.

I would expect this thing to cost more since it has higher specs and a full OS rather than a pod/pad/phone's OS.
 
provoko said:
It doesn't appear that MS wants to compete with Apple's iPad, they're trying to make a business tablet that's in a pad form.

I would expect this thing to cost more since it has higher specs and a full OS rather than a pod/pad/phone's OS.
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windows rt isnt a full os. its the metro stuff only. no desktop

the pro model sports an i5 and a full desktop os for 800. thats a great price.
 
christianw said:
windows rt isnt a full os. its the metro stuff only. no desktop

the pro model sports an i5 and a full desktop os for 800. thats a great price.
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exactly. no one will pay the same amount for the RT as an ipad. the ipad has a better screen, better battery life, thousands more apps, is thinner, lighter, more hip, and possibly faster. im not seeing the advantage of this other than the digitizer or whatever and office/microsoft affiliation. the pro on the other hand looks like a great buy.

also, does anyone know or suspect whether the smart cover or whatever its called will be included in the price? i was assuming they would be separately sold at ~100 but someone above commented that youre getting a full keyboard for this price or something so im not sure.
 
ekuest said:
exactly. no one will pay the same amount for the RT as an ipad. the ipad has a better screen, better battery life, thousands more apps, is thinner, lighter, more hip, and possibly faster. im not seeing the advantage of this other than the digitizer or whatever and office/microsoft affiliation. the pro on the other hand looks like a great buy.

also, does anyone know or suspect whether the smart cover or whatever its called will be included in the price? i was assuming they would be separately sold at ~100 but someone above commented that youre getting a full keyboard for this price or something so im not sure.
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I think you get the cheaper keyboard rather than the higher end one.

The Win8 Pro version makes more sense considering the price and specs, but the winRT Surface is standard laptop 1366x768 resolution at 16:9 and uses ARM and lacks everything x86 except Office Student edition and you can only access that via the cloud. So while you can make a case for the Surface Pro and its seemingly inflated price due to x86 legacy support, the winRT Surface version lacks compared to Android or iOS app stores and image quality and it's also more expensive.
 
Saweet.. I will totally look forward to the inevitable failure and firesale of these too!
 
$799 is a little high (not interested in the ARM version), but it's still cheaper than an Ultrabook, and more versatile and practical than any other tablet out there.
 
JoeUser said:
This.

Come on guys, I know just as much as you that ANY ARM based tablet isn't worth $600...but it is comparible to Apples offering with the same amount of storage. Granted, it may not be as thin, powerful, or have a higher resolution...but this IS Microsoft here...

As far as the actual PC version tablet, if the price and specs are right (how much RAM, GPU used, etc) then I would LOVE to get one, especially for drawing and the sort on the go. If its closer to $1000 range not so much...already have a decent tablet now.
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In terms of price you guys are right they can be the same but M$ won't be successful if it goes that route. Reason being, the iPad currently has something like 3/4 of the tablet market, and the iPad has almost all of the public's mindshare. If M$ wants to compete with a mature product that has the best selection of applications it has to do something to even out that disadvantage. It has be better than comparable if it wants to succeed.
 
Steve said:
DigiTimes, citing anonymous "industry sources," claims that Microsoft's new surface tablets will be $599 and $799. Ugh. I think if Microsoft is serious about taking on Apple, the pricing better be $399 and $599.
Click to expand...

Sounds like this will be as successful as the Zune then.
 
If it's superior then they might get away with a higher price. They look awesome. X86 flavor for me, please. My UX31 cost $1100. If I can get something close to it in an x86 tablet thingy like they are showing, then under $1K is awsome.
 
XacTactX said:
In terms of price you guys are right they can be the same but M$ won't be successful if it goes that route. Reason being, the iPad currently has something like 3/4 of the tablet market, and the iPad has almost all of the public's mindshare. If M$ wants to compete with a mature product that has the best selection of applications it has to do something to even out that disadvantage. It has be better than comparable if it wants to succeed.
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Please tell me how the iPad app selection will surpass that on the x86 variant of the MSFT device.

Want to run VLC? Install it. No grovelling before appstore gods or waiting for ports that might get rejected.

I don't give a rip about the ARM stuff.
 
The Pro would be a great value at $799. I will most certainly buy that. But $599 is too much for the ARM variant. I was expecting the ARM version to run $399. Granted, the fact that Office 15 is included raises its value by $100.
 
needs a cheaper 16gb model.

I bet MS is holding the price so that it doesn't appear too cheap compared to apple.

Nvidia can't seem to catch a break. Their tegra3 didn't power any hot-selling tablets, and now MS is pricing their tablet out of people's budgets.
 
Is Microsoft trying to become Apple? I mean, aside from pushing tablets... They're steadfastly ignoring the majority of people who detest Windows 8, and are telling us that we'll like it anyway. Now they're pricing tablets out of the competition.

One problem, Microsoft... you aren't Apple. You don't have the same raving lunatics who'll buy your stuff no matter what (AKA Apple fanatics). You don't have the same fanbase, and you certainly don't have the same charisma. Steve Ballmer is a utter douche and nothing MS puts out(or doesn't put out) will change that.

In short, you'll fail.
 
I would get the Pro at $799.

I have the Transformer Prime. Will not be getting anymore ARM tablets in the foreseeable future as they are more toy than computer to me... wish I didn't buy it :(
 
IRSmurf said:
The Pro would be a great value at $799. I will most certainly buy that. But $599 is too much for the ARM variant. I was expecting the ARM version to run $399. Granted, the fact that Office 15 is included raises its value by $100.
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Microsoft isn't trying to make a killing with these, there's a lot of legal and business implications here. If they sold these under cost every government, Amazon, Apple and Google, HP, Dell, you name it would be using them for anti-trust issues and everything else they could throw at them.

I really didn't expect that these devices would be anything but on the high side. The base model RT at 32GB would be the same price as an iPad. Not going to sell a lot at that price and that's fine, it gives OEMs something to do.

But that Pro version, base $799? Really folks, that's about $100 less than I would have expected at the minimum and it mean that OEMs would probably have devices even cheaper then that. If these prices are correct we could be looking at Ivy Bridge tablet with 1080P screens in the neighborhood of $700 to $800 will solid specs. At the bottom that's almost the same as the average selling price of the iPad which is close to $700. Hmmm.....

I never expected a lot out of RT unless the prices start at $300 which might be tough, but $700 Ivy Bridge devices, assuming good battery life, say 6 to 8 hours? Could be very interesting.
 
McTurkey said:
$799 is a little high (not interested in the ARM version), but it's still cheaper than an Ultrabook, and more versatile and practical than any other tablet out there.
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Cheaper Ultrabooks are coming. The Asus S46 14-inch Ultrabook will start at $599.

The average Windows notebook sells for about $500. I doubt many consumers will pay more than that for a tablet. Most of those who would, already own an iPad.
 
Cobalt35 said:
Is Microsoft trying to become Apple? I mean, aside from pushing tablets... They're steadfastly ignoring the majority of people who detest Windows 8, and are telling us that we'll like it anyway. Now they're pricing tablets out of the competition.
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The RT device is priced high but if $800 is the base price for the Pro, honestly that's an very good price point. Especially when you consider that Microsoft probably isn't trying to sell a lot of these, They are only going to be available through Microsoft Stores and their online store. I would expect these devices to be priced a bit higher than comparable machines from their OEMs, which is why I think the $800 Pro is actually shocking. That's imply sub-$800 IB Windows 8 tablets, which is the price point at which these things become extremely interesting because they become a very good value proposition for someone who wants a tablet and a laptop. Getting a decent laptop and tablet for $800 isn't necessarily easy unless you go low on one of them or something like a Fire is all you want out of tablet.
 
JoeUser said:
This.

Come on guys, I know just as much as you that ANY ARM based tablet isn't worth $600...but it is comparible to Apples offering with the same amount of storage. Granted, it may not be as thin, powerful, or have a higher resolution...but this IS Microsoft here...
Click to expand...

..and to finish the sentence, at least you're not a hipster that pays the same price for a lesser product.

:p
 
BladeVenom said:
Cheaper Ultrabooks are coming. The Asus S46 14-inch Ultrabook will start at $599.

The average Windows notebook sells for about $500. I doubt many consumers will pay more than that for a tablet. Most of those who would, already own an iPad.
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If you look at it from the propsotion of a device that can work like a tablet, a laptop or even a full PC, $800 is a competitive price.

Plus, with tablet sales expected to triple in the next three years, I don't think most people who would by this would already have an iPad. Even Apple will tell you that most people that will buy a tablet in the next three years don't have one today.
 
799l.jpg

At $799, still going to be a hard sell against cheap laptops for the average consumers.
 
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