Microsoft Surface Pricing Goes Toe-to-Toe With Apple iPad

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Microsoft Surface Pricing Goes Toe-to-Toe With Apple iPad

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday October 16, 2012 @05:43AM from the because-high-prices-drive-adoption dept.

Nerval's Lobster writes "Microsoft has finally revealed the pricing of its upcoming Surface tablet to a small group of journalists, including Time's Harry McCracken, who wrote in an Oct. 16 posting that the device's 32GB version will retail for $499 (or $599 with the flexible keyboard cover) and the 64GB one for $699 (cover included). Preorders will apparently begin by midday Oct. 16. Microsoft unveiled Surface over the summer but kept the pricing a secret until now. That information vacuum led some to hope against hope that Microsoft would attempt something radical and price Surface extraordinarily low—$199, perhaps—in an attempt to undercut Apple's iPad. While that didn't happen, Surface at least matches its biggest rival's low- and high-end price points. The WiFi-only, 16GB version of the iPad retails for $499, while the WiFi-only, 64GB version costs $699 (iPads with a cellular connection cost a bit more)." A related article at BGR explains why the Surface is Microsoft's latest attempt to re-invent itself.

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Merry Christmas! by Just+Some+Guy · 2012-10-16 05:46 · Score: 4, Funny

Somewhere, a kid has been begging and pleading to get an iPad for Christmas.
Somewhere, a parent is thrilled to find that Microsoft's iPads are on sale for $100 off.
One day, both of them will relate the story to their therapists.

--
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
1. Re:Merry Christmas! by Jeremiah+Cornelius · 2012-10-16 05:56 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Surface is the new Zune!
  "LONG LIVE ZUNE!" :-)
  Just saying this has me bursting into laughter.
  
  --
  "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
  Never been known to fail..."
2. Re:Merry Christmas! by Bill+Dimm · 2012-10-16 06:12 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  That kid is Eric Cartman (audio is NSFW).
3. Re:Merry Christmas! by HaZardman27 · 2012-10-16 06:35 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  it already works in Windows Phone
  And I'm sure both users have given it great reviews.
  
  --
  Apparently wizard is not a legitimate career path, so I chose programmer instead.
4. Re:Merry Christmas! by jedidiah · 2012-10-16 06:44 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Ours is collecting dust (iPad). The smaller tablets are more than adequate. They are functionally equivalent while being much more mobile. The eBook vendors were all onto something when they chose that size for their devices.
  
  --
  A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
5. Re:Merry Christmas! by samkass · 2012-10-16 07:27 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Somewhere, a parent is thrilled to find that Microsoft's iPads are on sale for $100 off.
  Microsoft's tablet has the screen fidelity of an iPad 2 at the price of an iPad 2, and it only took them an extra 1.5 years to come out with it. Here's a hint to the parents: Apple still sells iPad 2s. Just buy one of those.
  
  --
  E pluribus unum
Ok...I'm waiting for the punch line... by cayenne8 · 2012-10-16 05:46 · Score: 4, Funny

...including Time's Harry McCracken...
Who's his co-workers?
Jack Mehoff?
Chuck Roast?
Phil Magroin?
Seymour Butz?

--
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
1. Re:Ok...I'm waiting for the punch line... by AioKits · 2012-10-16 06:01 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  How did you get the names of four of my eight bosses?!
  
  --
  "Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted." -Groucho Marx
2. Re:Ok...I'm waiting for the punch line... by Richard+Pounder · 2012-10-16 06:28 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I dont get it..
Awesome! by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · 2012-10-16 05:46 · Score: 4, Insightful

I've always wanted to pay over $100 for the pure pleasure of typing on one of those rubbery keypads with a lot of squish and almost no travel!
1. Re:Awesome! by FreakyGeeky · 2012-10-16 05:57 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Using your eyes, look at the surface keyboard. Notice how thin it is. How much travel could there possibly be?
2. Re:Awesome! by Sponge+Bath · 2012-10-16 06:12 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Microsoft will get the most traction with Windows 8 on laptops and desktops with touch screen displays augmenting a normal keyboard. After using tablets for a while, I've recently felt the urge in some circumstances to reach up from the keyboard to swipe or pinch the display while using my laptop and desktop. Apple may have to play catch up, if touch displays become common outside the tablet format.
3. Re:Awesome! by toriver · 2012-10-16 06:13 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Nah, the thousands that used Sinclair ZX-81, Atari 400 or 600, Tandy TRS-80 or SpectraVideo... the early one with such a keyboard... can flex treir skills again :)
4. Re:Awesome! by Jeremiah+Cornelius · 2012-10-16 06:24 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Just bring the Surface adaptor for your trusty IBM 42H1292 Model-M 101-key!
  SPROIIIING!
  
  --
  "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
  Never been known to fail..."
5. Re:Awesome! by MachineShedFred · 2012-10-16 06:41 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Do you really think that buried somewhere inside the prototype development labs at Cupertino that they haven't put a touchscreen on a MacBook at one point or another? There's a long history of Apple prototypes that get built and never shipped, because of various reasons.
  
  --
  Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
6. Re:Awesome! by MachineShedFred · 2012-10-16 07:28 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Oh, you mean just like the Lenovo X230 Tablet that's on my desk? Or maybe the X220 Tablet right next to it? Or the X201 Tablet or X200 Tablet in our lab? Or maybe the X61 tablet right next to those? Where did I say that no one has done this before? I'm saying that the above post is ridiculous to think that Apple never thought of a touchscreen notebook before, and would have a huge research gulf to cross in order to "catch up".
  They probably just didn't think it would be a model that would actually sell, and looking at the rest of the convertible touchscreen notebook market, I'd say that they were right.
  
  --
  Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
7. Re:Awesome! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-16 07:29 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  After tapping on glass, it's bound to feel like a significant improvement...
  If you have Android there are competing virtual keyboards (including e.g. Swype) and you'll find they can be much better than normal alphabetic keyboard layout. In fact once you get used to them they are faster and more practical than a portable keyboard too.
  I adherer! it's do easy yup type by swirling your honey I can't inside going back to topping on flags.
  -sent from my nexus
FAIL ! by VonSkippy · 2012-10-16 05:50 · Score: 5, Insightful

When your competitor has OWNED the market for several years, you don't MATCH their price, you blow it away.
Who would be dumb enough to pay the same price as a 3rd generation device to guinea pig a 1st gen device from a company that is known to suck at first releases?
And then there's Google's tablet for a dainty $199/$249
Microsoft really does suck at new things.
1. Re:FAIL ! by Spy+Handler · 2012-10-16 06:10 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Microsoft doesn't like price wars. I suspect Gates and Ballmer feel it's beneath them. Plus they're used to decades of charging monopoly prices on Windows and Office.
  I walked into a Microsoft Store the other day and looked around. Everything there was priced the same or higher than at Fry's or Target.... even though the place was mostly empty and it seemed like they badly need more traffic in the store.
2. Re:FAIL ! by Missing.Matter · 2012-10-16 06:12 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  They undercut the iPad price by $100. Surface starts at 32GB for $499 (and includes Office). The equivalent iPad costs $599 (Or $689 if you want to add in an office suite and a couple of USB/SD/HDMI port adapters for a level comparison). Besides, even if the Surface isn't the cheapest windows tablet, other manufacturers like Dell can step right in and make a $399 tablet.
  
  It's strange, Slashdot blasts Microsoft for entering the hardware space saying they're going to screw over their partners, and then when they don't completely screw over their partners by drastically undercutting the entire market, they get blasted on Slashdot again.
3. Re:FAIL ! by JDG1980 · 2012-10-16 07:01 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  If they are keeping the Tegra3 and 2GB of memory, which I've read of before, the MS tablets have some advantages over the iPad3.
  The Surface will only have a 1280x720 display, compared to the iPad's 2048x1536 – and the Surface actually has a *larger* screen. That's a huge difference, apparent at first glance – anyone with 20/20 eyesight can see the massive advantage of the iPad 3 over a low-DPI tablet. In contrast, the processor and RAM advantages of the Surface are buried in a spec sheet and will not even be noticed by most prospective buyers (who, remember, aren't all geeks and in many cases wouldn't know what Tegra 3 even meant.) Besides, who knows if some of that extra capacity is necessary just to run WinRT? There's no telling if it is as streamlined as Android and iOS – they may have had to throw hardware at it just to get it up to par.
Too little, too late by coinreturn · 2012-10-16 05:52 · Score: 4, Insightful

Finally, they enter the ballgame, just as Apple is set to debut the iPad Mini. Good luck with that, Microsoft.
1. Re:Too little, too late by localman57 · 2012-10-16 05:58 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  You're right, when it comes to the consumer market. But Microsoft is still firmly entrenched in business. I predict large corporations will eat up Microsoft's new tablet.
  Yeah. Microsoft is like RIM. Entrenched in business. They have nothing to worry about from Apple.
2. Re:Too little, too late by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · 2012-10-16 05:58 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  They definitely will love the groundbreaking "no, you cannot bind it to a domain or control it with AD policies, not even with the purchase of some CAL or extra license" feature...
3. Re:Too little, too late by jimmyfrank · 2012-10-16 06:06 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  I agree, unless Apple starts making a C# clone along with a super kickass IDE and all the other goodies that go along with the .NET stack.
4. Re:Too little, too late by Jeremiah+Cornelius · 2012-10-16 06:08 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  You want to wear the CONE OF SHAME in a meeting? Bring a Surface. :-)
  Why should the Blackberry users hog all the ignominy?
  
  --
  "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
  Never been known to fail..."
5. Re:Too little, too late by Flipao · 2012-10-16 06:20 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  You're right, when it comes to the consumer market. But Microsoft is still firmly entrenched in business. I predict large corporations will eat up Microsoft's new tablet.
  Yeah. Microsoft is like RIM. Entrenched in business. They have nothing to worry about from Apple.
  Right now MS Office compatibility, lack of mouse support and USB host file access on an iPad are the only things stopping me from taking away the laptops from our sales force, so for now they're getting both a laptop and an iPad. They're all leaving their laptops at home and using them at the end of the day.
  
  Apple have every chance to kill Microsoft if they so choose, they just don't know it yet.
6. Re:Too little, too late by MightyMartian · 2012-10-16 07:04 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Perhaps this post was post-dated from 2008 or 2009. iOS (and Android) devices are all over the place in the enterprise market. We do a lot of government contract work, and we had a big two day seminar that was about half bureaucrats and half contractors like myself. I'd say about 2/3s of the contractors had iPhones and Androids, and about half the government workers were on iPhones, which also tells me that Blackberry's penetration is slowly winding down. Plenty of Windows notebooks, but also many Macbooks, and the only tablets I saw were iPads.
  The only chance Microsoft has is trying to grab on to the fading Blackberry market, but so far as I can tell iOS and Android are both making pretty deep inroads in the enterprise market. What's more, it's not as if Windows 8 RT actually offers any substantial benefits so far as enterprise integration. iOS's email and calendaring works pretty well integrating with Exchange, and Androids is almost as good. Since enterprise is not going to have any particularly ability to integrate Windows 8 smart devices into AD networks, where exactly is the enterprise advantage here?
  
  --
  The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Time to pick one up! by Billly+Gates · 2012-10-16 05:54 · Score: 5, Funny

With the Metro interface we all love so much here on slashdot and of course being forced to use this wonderful browser!'
What is there not to love?

--
http://saveie6.com/
Squirt by vlm · 2012-10-16 05:55 · Score: 5, Funny

How does this tablet Zune squirt? Is it available in brown?

--
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
Come on Apple haters... by Lumpy · 2012-10-16 06:07 · Score: 4, Funny

Start your bitching about how Microsoft is gouging for the extra SSD storage. ZOMG $100 for another 32 gig, I can buy 32 gig sd cards for $19.00! What a ripoff! ZOMG!

--
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Re:There is no travel at all on Touch Cover. by Tapewolf · 2012-10-16 06:07 · Score: 4, Funny

Read the specs. The Touch cover has no travel, it has no keyswitches that move to activate.
It is a flat piece of plastic with touchscreen like capacitive sensors, similar to a smartphone/tablet screen.
So they've made something even worse than the Sinclair ZX80 keyboard...?
Who will find out none of their Win7 software runs by guidryp · 2012-10-16 06:09 · Score: 5, Interesting

targeting the existing 1.3 billion Windows users.
I wonder how many Windows users will mistakenly buy a Surface tablet expecting it to run their "Windows" application/gaming software.
Re:There is no travel at all on Touch Cover. by ByOhTek · 2012-10-16 06:12 · Score: 5, Funny

I think the only useful question remaining then is...
Will it blend?

--
Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
Re:Warning Goatse Link by rtfa-troll · 2012-10-16 06:15 · Score: 3, Funny

Mod parent down.
God; I was afraid it was a link to a browser exploit that would automatically add you to the queue to get a surface. After thinking that Goatse seems quite innocent.

--
=~ s,(.*),<sarcasm>$1</sarcasm>,g if any_point_you_wish();
"This is not a secondary business like Xbox..." by Jeremiah+Cornelius · 2012-10-16 06:17 · Score: 5, Insightful

"...or an ill-conceived also-ran like the Zune."
No. It is a delusional, strategic blunder.

--
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
1. Re:"This is not a secondary business like Xbox..." by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-16 06:50 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  I find it interesting that every post you've ever made is singing the praises of Microsoft, Windows, and closely-aligned vendors like Nokia. I also appreciate your consistent message that the world is ready for Microsoft's new Enterprise-friendly offerings.
  Fess up: does it at least pay well?
2. Re:"This is not a secondary business like Xbox..." by hazydave · 2012-10-16 07:17 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  This is the Windows RT device. It's for consumers. No Domains. Not for Enterprise.
  
  --
  -Dave Haynie
3. Re:"This is not a secondary business like Xbox..." by atlasdropperofworlds · 2012-10-16 07:19 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  More like they tolerate it. There are some niches, like airline pilots, who actually gain a real, tangible benefit from a compact, touchscreen computer, because it replaces their flight manuals. At the moment, the iPad is fitting that bill. In the future, we should expect (and hope) that there are alternatives.
4. Re:"This is not a secondary business like Xbox..." by hazydave · 2012-10-16 07:26 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  If Microsoft is really transitioning away from making all its money on Windows licensing (and the follow-ons), why not release it to the largest market for mobile devices? Ballmer just said that Microsoft's a Devices and Services company, so it's possible stand-alone software isn't seen as such a big deal anymore, despite it currently being almost all of the income.
  Microsoft has a long term question to answer here. If they're phenomenally successful with the Surface itself, iOS and Android will matter less, but so will OEM sales of the OS... in fact, they may get to a point where that stops altogether. And that could be their choice, or it could be like the HD-DVD market that MS did with Toshiba, where the hardware pricing didn't leave any room for other companies to sell hardware. Microsoft is matching Apple and the Android folks here, but other Windows RT companies are at a $75-$100 disadvantage.
  And if they're not successful with Surface, will they even be successful with Windows on mobile devices? Keep in mind, Lotus and WordPerfect were once the reigning kinds of Office Automation. They lost that largely by being late to the WIMP party, and allowing Microosoft to claim that ground. I don't really know for a fact that Microsoft is doing Office for either iOS or Android (yeah, seen the rumors), but by claiming those platforms, they're ensuring that Office remains viable in that market. Leaving 97% of the mobile market (and 16% of all consumer personal computing, but growing FAST) without Office is a great way to make people stop caring about it.
  
  --
  -Dave Haynie
5. Re:"This is not a secondary business like Xbox..." by Jeremiah+Cornelius · 2012-10-16 07:38 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Surface? It's Unpossible. A turd. On a silver platter.
  I watched the entire Zune BS from inside MS - and predicted the entire trajectory of the "chase Apple, xerox their market" strategy.
  Have you been into a "Microsoft Store"? It's like the Bizarro World, from Superman Comics.
  This is phase two, of the Bizarro strategy: Now that they have a consumer store, they will produce a product to sell in it.
  
  --
  "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
  Never been known to fail..."
6. Re:"This is not a secondary business like Xbox..." by rtfa-troll · 2012-10-16 07:45 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Microsoft is developing Office for iPad and Android. Honestly, I don't understand why they're doing it for Android. Maybe it was part of their cross-license agreement with Samsung?
  Many people think that Microsoft makes almost all their money on Windows. However this is not true. in the last three years to July, "the Business group has been Microsoft's top money-maker in 10 out of 13 quarters" . Everywhere else; in development tools, with partners, with games and in anything they can get publicity or perception from Microsoft can afford to sacrifice other things. With the Office Division, Microsoft's future and money is available.
  Releasing for Android is a clear statement that Microsoft do not believe in the Windows 8 strategy themselves. Microsoft know that Android is the most likely dominant operating system of the future and the know that they must be visible there or they risk one of the better alternatives becoming more popular than Office. In the end, Windows will be sacrificed to save the company.
  The high price of these tablets for a much worse specification than an iPad is also a statement. Windows will not die. Just as people are using VMS today, Windows will be with us in ten years time. However it will gradually become irrelevant for normal people and prices will be ramped up. They will squeeze every last little extra drop of blood out of customers with CIOs so incompetent that they have almost total lock in.
  
  --
  =~ s,(.*),<sarcasm>$1</sarcasm>,g if any_point_you_wish();
7. Re:"This is not a secondary business like Xbox..." by Dahamma · 2012-10-16 08:10 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Come on, Slashdot is brimming with Linux and Apple fanboys. It can't be *that* surprising that there is at least one Microsoft fanboy who reads the site, as well...
8. Re:"This is not a secondary business like Xbox..." by jbolden · 2012-10-16 08:30 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  1) /. ers are paranoid about paid shills. I've been here well over a decade and and a rather frequent poster and well I still get accused of being a paid shill because I think Microsoft is going the right thing with Windows 8.
  2) That being said there are accounts that never post. And then post some sort of bland non technical pro Microsoft message. I've seen ACs identify them look at their history and they are right.
  I've asked the people who make these sorts of posts, but they never respond. So maybe I'm catching the paranoia but I do think there are some rather odd paid pro Microsoft posters.
9. Re:"This is not a secondary business like Xbox..." by rahvin112 · 2012-10-16 08:31 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  It wouldn't be surprising if there was a comment on anything OTHER than Microsoft. One of the key aspects of a paid shill account is that everything they post is only about the thing they are being paid to post. See all those Linux and Apple fanboi's actually post on other topics occasionally while still maintaining their rabid posting on their chosen fanboi topic.
10. Re:"This is not a secondary business like Xbox..." by jbolden · 2012-10-16 08:42 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Like it or not, for all it's faults, the iPad is the best enterprise tablet (in that enterprises actually use it).
  I think the iPad is a terrible enterprise tablet. Ultimately as an enterprise vendor because the people buying the devices are not the people using the devices you have a conflict of interest. You inevitably have to ask the question who are customers, the end users or the people who purchase the devices. Microsoft's focus on the consumer dropped off drastically once they were able to be an enterprise OS and replace: IBM, Unisys and DEC. They choose bosses over workers, made a ton of money doing it but ultimately created a situation where most people's day to experience with Microsoft's OS and software is negative. People think Microsoft is a less capable system than it is because they use a less capable version.
  Apple conversely has as far as enterprise so far mostly sided with users over IT management. They have been reluctant to add IT features that make the devices easier to manage, that is easier to disable consumer oriented features. Apple wants to be high margin unique vendor and they know enterprise while currently desperate for a phone and tablet solutions provider will quickly demand multiple suppliers to give them pricing leverage. So their consumer orientation is unlikely to change unless market conditions change substantially.
  Someone is going to have to own the enterprise space. RIM and Microsoft are far better choices than Apple but both at least today have inferior product eco-systems.
11. Re:"This is not a secondary business like Xbox..." by hairyfeet · 2012-10-16 08:48 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Dahamma did you click on his UID? I thought the same thing but spending a little more time and reading the posts...he's too "on message" for that. Fanbois will defend their positions but they do so with emotion, not by hammering a bullet point like this guy is, he just keeps yammering about the enterprise, while obviously knowing fuck all about the enterprise or he'd know the iPad is the hip toy for the PHBs, that it...well it smells like he's reading from a script. And considering how much cash MSFT is investing into this launch and how sites like /. hammered Vista before launch? I'd say erring on the side of caution would be wise.
  Seriously dude, click his UID and read. He hammers MeeGo, Apple, Android, and its on and on about Lumia (which has already failed once which he refuses to acknowledge) and Surface, I mean there is ZERO variation, not a single post that isn't on message for Nokia or MSFT. Hell he even sings the praises of Windows on ARM which i have yet to find a real person that thinks calling an OS that won't run Windows x86 Windows is a great idea, but he thinks its perfect.....yeah something does stink here.
  
  --
  ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
12. Re:"This is not a secondary business like Xbox..." by NatasRevol · 2012-10-16 10:28 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Also, here's an Android 4 tablet with similar specs, but better screen (1900x1200) than SurfaceRT for $500.
  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230481&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-NA-_-NA
  
  --
  There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
13. Re:"This is not a secondary business like Xbox..." by Tough+Love · 2012-10-16 11:00 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  I still get accused of being a paid shill because I think Microsoft is going the right thing with Windows 8.
  I happen to agree with you on this point, because the right thing for Microsoft to do is to destroy itself as quickly as possible.
  
  --
  When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
I just crossed the Surface off my Xmas list. by xxxJonBoyxxx · 2012-10-16 06:23 · Score: 4, Interesting

This Christmas I was hoping to get a Nexus 7 for my son and the Surface for my wife. At around $200 each, they'd be pricey but possible gifts. Now, cross off the Surface - may check in with the Kindle Fire 2 instead.
You might not be able to install SW on the microSD by guidryp · 2012-10-16 06:25 · Score: 3, Interesting

Note that it does have an microSD card slot. With that in mind, the point of the 64 Gb version eludes me completely.
Since this is a walled garden system, you might not be able to install software on the microSD storage.
Re:Not Exactly The Same As An iPad by JDG1980 · 2012-10-16 06:41 · Score: 5, Informative

I will probably buy one of these. They run Windows. They have a USB port. They will run a piece of software I want to run that will not run on IOS or Android, although it also has a version for OS-X.
No, they won't!
Windows RT is *not* Windows. It's a new operating system for ARM processors that is designed to look and feel like Windows, and shares some of the original code base. It has no backwards compatibility with existing Windows applications. Just in case I didn't make that clear, it will *NOT* run *ANY* existing desktop Windows applications. In fact, you can't even recompile or write new desktop application for WinRT. There is a desktop, but it's only allowed to run a few programs, such as Microsoft Office. (Why the FTC is letting them get away with that blatantly anti-competitive decision is beyond me.) Oh, and WinRT can't join domains either, so businesses won't be interested in using it.
If you want to run existing Windows software, you'll have to wait for the x86-based Surface *Pro*, which will set you back nearly a thousand bucks. *That* will indeed be basically a PC in a tablet form factor, and compatible with the usual Windows ecosystem stuff.
Microsoft is setting itself up for a massive backlash with this device. If Slashdot readers are thinking this way ("it's Windows, it will run my software") then how many ordinary users will make the same mistake? They will not be well disposed towards Microsoft products after that experience, I guarantee you.
I really don't get it by dell623 · 2012-10-16 07:01 · Score: 3, Insightful

The hardware design looks amazing, and would be very welcome when all non Apple hardware tends to be awful, with some notable exceptions like Asus.
The rest I don't understand. $500 and no retina/high ppi display? A 16:9 ratio on a device that is supposed to be meant for productivity? 10.1" is really pushing it for productivity, the wide narrow screen would just kill it. No stylus support. $100 buys you a crap keyboard - at least Asus docks include a big battery.
The Windows 8 tablets looks nicer but then the pricing gets ridiculous.
This is what I was afraid of.... by erp_consultant · 2012-10-16 07:14 · Score: 5, Interesting

I had high hopes for the Surface...if only to keep Apple and Google and Amazon honest. But the $499 price is a complete non-starter. First of all, if you want the cover/keyboard you have to fork over an additional $100. Seems a little steep to me. $50 is more like it. Secondly, when you buy one of the other tablets you're buying into a vast ecosystem of apps. Microsoft? They have relatively little to offer. Sure they have Office but this is supposed to be a consumer tablet, not a corporate tablet.
Unless you are just a huge Microsoft fan to begin with I don't see any compelling reason to buy one of these. You can get an iPad with vastly more apps to choose from. You can buy an Android tablet for much the same reason, and cheaper to boot. You can buy an Amazon tablet for half the price and, if you have a Prime membership, access to tons of movies TV and books.
I was hoping that MS would price it at $399, including keyboard/cover. That would give them a fighting chance against the other guys. Even if they have to sell it at a loss at least they can get them in peoples hands and give developers an audience to write for. As it stands now, this will be Touchpad II.
Re:Microsoft advantage and disadvantage by NatasRevol · 2012-10-16 08:27 · Score: 5, Informative

SurfaceRT has things that your company won't like.
1. No AD.
2. No GPOs.
3. No backwards compatibility.
4. Limited email functionality.
http://techpinions.com/windows-8-tablets-and-email-a-disaster-in-the-making/10360
5. Slightly limited Office functionality. (Scroll down a ways, they buried it)
http://blogs.office.com/b/office-next/archive/2012/09/13/building-office-for-windows-rt.aspx

--
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
No, it doesn't by TheNinjaroach · 2012-10-16 09:26 · Score: 4, Informative

and 2.5 it lets you use your old applications
You absolutely cannot use your old applications on the Windows RT ARM-based device.

--
I went to eat some animal crackers and the box said, "Do not eat if seal is broken." I opened the box and sure enough..