Microsoft Surface RT for... $199?

OK, i've been trolled.... gah, I'm horrible at spotting the trolls before I waste time trying to use reason and facts
 
brucedeluxe169 said:
OK, i've been trolled.... gah, I'm horrible at spotting the trolls before I waste time trying to use reason and facts
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I was feeling the same way by the patronizing "linux" talk in a thread about Windows 8 tablets, :p.
 
Talking about Surface, Steve said, “I think we have a very competitive product from the features perspective”. Talking about the tablet market from a pricing point of view, He thinks that from “$300 to about $700 or $800″ is the sweet spot and when cheaper tablets are made, they do less, they look less good and they are chintzier.

His comments about tablets make us think that Microsoft is looking to offer the very best tablet at each price point and obviously the ‘very best’ tablet will come with a higher price. This falsifies the rumors of Surface RT being $199.
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Source: Guru3d.com

Q: The iPad has the largest share of the tablet market, but its soft spot, it seems to me, is the price.With the Surface, are you planning to compete with the iPad on price or on features?

A: We haven't announced pricing. I think we have a very competitive product from the features perspective. ...
I think most people would tell you that the iPad is not a superexpensive device. ... (When) people offer cheaper, they do less. They look less good, they're chintzier, they're cheaper.
If you say to somebody, would you use one of the 7-inch tablets, would somebody ever use a Kindle (Kindle Fire, $199) to do their homework? The answer is no; you never would. It's just not a good enough product. It doesn't mean you might not read a book on it....
If you look at the bulk of the PC market, it would run between, say, probably $300 to about $700 or $800. That's the sweet spot.
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Source: Seattle Times.com
 
Quote from a ZDNet article I read:
We're just about a month away from the day the Surface RT -- the version that runs on an ARM chip but that won't run existing third-party Windows software -- will debut.
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While this isn't news to anyone who has been following WinRT / SurfaceRT, I did just realize something I overlooked....Codecs for media files.
For whatever reason, I just don't like VLC player, so I install the popular "K-Lite Codec Pack" so I can play all my video files without issue. Which leads me to this... What can be done for WinRT ???
If codecs can not be installed in WinRT, then I would have no choice but to wait for Surface Pro, unless VLC gets ported to WinRT.
 
E^vol said:
Quote from a ZDNet article I read:

While this isn't news to anyone who has been following WinRT / SurfaceRT, I did just realize something I overlooked....Codecs for media files.
For whatever reason, I just don't like VLC player, so I install the popular "K-Lite Codec Pack" so I can play all my video files without issue. Which leads me to this... What can be done for WinRT ???
If codecs can not be installed in WinRT, then I would have no choice but to wait for Surface Pro, unless VLC gets ported to WinRT.
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Yes. Media playback support is one of the big questions remaining and I'm not sure we're going to get an answer until WinRT tablets are available.

I'd be interested in seeing if 10bit/Hi10P video decoding will be possible on WinRT.
 
Ravynmagi said:
If the Acer, ASUS, Samsung, Microsoft, tablets are all the same price, I know Acer would be the last one I'd consider.
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Yep. Samsung & MS branded ones would be my first pick.
We already have a tablet, but I would definitely consider buying another if this $199 price were indeed true.
 
J Macker said:
Yep. Samsung & MS branded ones would be my first pick.
We already have a tablet, but I would definitely consider buying another if this $199 price were indeed true.
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There's no way any of these WinRT tablets are going to be $199. MS already stated they're not competing with the "value" brand tablets like the Nexus 7, Kindle, Nook, etc.

I think optimistically we can expect $299 as the absolute low end and realistically $399 as the starting price.

More likely, we'll probably see the ThinkPad 2, Asus Vivo, Samsung Ativ, etc WinRT tablets bundled with a keyboard for $599 and without for $499. $399 for a low end low memory model (16gb possible 32gb).

For a Windows 8 Pro model, I'd say we're looking at $699 without a keyboard and $799 with a keyboard.

This is all speculation of course and we'll find out soon enough. The end of the month will reveal the pricing model to expect from Windows 8.

EDIT: Stumbled across pricing for the Asus tablets while looking into this a little further.
http://news.yahoo.com/asus-aims-high-windows-8-tablet-pricing-002502809.html

Dock - $199
Asus Vivo Win RT with 10.1" LCD and Tegra 3 - $599
Asos Vivo Win RT with 11.6" LCD and Atom - $799
 
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E^vol said:
And that's no doubt the lesser equipped model (memory wise).
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I dont think any of the pro models will cost less than 1200 thats not equipped with an atom processor. The Ativ Smart PC Pro is 1200, the Vaio Duo 11 is probably 1300, and the others are unannounced but it seems to be the consensus that $1200 will get you an i5, 128gb ssd, 4gb ram and a 1080p screen. I am ok with that price, as I think atom processors are just crap for what I need to do with these hybrids.
 
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