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Microsoft Cuts Surface Pro Price By $100

SmartAboutThings writes "After discounting the Surface RT tablet worldwide by 30 percent, Microsoft is now cutting the price of its Surface Pro tablet by one hundred dollars. Steve Ballmer himself has recently declared that he was unhappy with the number of tablets Microsoft has managed to sell. The price cut offer is valid between August 4th and August 29th. It might continue or stop, according to the supply. The price cut is applicable to Surface Pro 64 GB & 128 GB models."

23 of 341 comments (clear)

  1. Not enough by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Sorry but that's not enough- not nearly enough.

    Perhaps if they were between $350 and $550?

    Otherwise, I can have a 10" tablet for $300 (or much less) or I can have a laptop for $450 (or much less).

    The touch is okay but the price point isn't right.

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
    1. Re:Not enough by ericloewe · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The price cut lets it undercut every direct competitor by 100 bucks. This thing doesn't compete against a puny ARM tablet or even a puny $450 laptop. It competes against ultrabooks and especially ultrabook-tablet hybrids (Samsung Ativ Smart PC Pro, Sony Vaio Duo...).

      It has its niche - less money for the same product is always better, but it's by no means overpriced.

    2. Re:Not enough by David+Gerard · · Score: 5, Funny

      If you never want to run apps on it, ever, then Windows 8 is apparently a nice interface for touch.

      --
      http://rocknerd.co.uk
    3. Re:Not enough by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      It competes against ultrabooks

      Sure. it just doesn't compete successfully, that's all.

    4. Re:Not enough by icebike · · Score: 5, Informative

      If you never want to run apps on it, ever, then Windows 8 is apparently a nice interface for touch.

      That is pretty true of Surface 8 RT (although there are quite a few apps for it).

      But Surface 8 Pro is a full fledged 64bit Windows (wintel) device that will run just about anything your desktop machine will run, and the performance is pretty amazing. Beats the hell out of my Android 10 inch tablet in terms of speed and responsiveness. It really is pretty nice hardware.

      For my day job, (where I have to do Windows Development) I've had to travel with a monster laptop, but I've now got everything on a 128Gig Pro 8 with and additional 64gig MircroSD card for storage, and the click keyboard.
      I have all my source code, compilers, linkers, IDEs and a complete replication of my work environment on the device.
      I can even run VMware on it. Linux in virtual machines for supporting my other customers.

      Yes, run time is not that great (although its way more than the 4 hours claimed because its battery saving strategy is very good).
      Yes, Its heavier than my Android tablet, but nowhere near as heavy as even a small laptop).
      And, IMHO, the touch interface is less than inspiring, but I spend most of my time working in an a software development environment (desktop) anyway do I don't notice.

      Expensive! That's the only serious complaint. But as a business tax write-off, it didn't hurt much.

      Hate on RT as you will, but Pro is a good product, and a pretty high price.

      --
      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    5. Re:Not enough by rsilvergun · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It also competes favorably with hand warmers. Seriously. These things get hot. At least the one I played with did.

      --
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    6. Re:Not enough by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I get that.

      But the sales are so low that there is no way 100 bucks is going to kickstart them.

      What is it- like 150,000 total units sold world wide with a 20% return rate?

      With 4,000,000 units unsold?

      $100 bucks isn't enough.

      I'm not bashing or hating on Microsoft. I'm just stating reality.

      The "puny" units being sold for $450 are as powerful as my "top of the line unit" bought just a few years ago.

      Sure-- some power junkies might even need (not just want) the surface- but it's exceptional overkill for most people. They don't need the extra power so they are not going to pay for it. Very similar to the "lisa" mistake Apple made decades ago.

      Perhaps they'll cut $100 now, then another $100 in October and another $100 in December-- trying to find the price point where the product starts selling. But every month they put off price cuts just means the technological advantage of the surface machines is decaying relative to other machines.

      --
      She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
    7. Re:Not enough by ozmanjusri · · Score: 5, Informative

      Bahahahahahaaha

      Yeah, Icebike is a MS promoter from a long way back.

      I prefer the Australian Financial Review's version:

      Microsoft slashes Surface prices (for unlucky few)

      Microsoft has slashed the price of its ill-starred Surface Pro tablet in countries around the world. But, in a lucky escape, the discounts don’t apply here in Australia.

      Prices for the Surface Pro tumbled in the US, Canada, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan over the weekend. In the US, it’s now listed as “Starting at $799”, $US100 cheaper than it was a few days ago.

      Meanwhile here in Australia, the Surface Pro still starts at $999, just like always. Fingers crossed the discounting doesn’t spread down here, otherwise people might be tempted to buy one, which wouldn’t be a good idea. Not just yet, anyway.

      http://www.afr.com/f/free/technology/digitallife/microsoft_slashes_surface_prices_MjgML0oVz8scIMOLdJ78LL

      --
      "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
    8. Re:Not enough by icebike · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't work for, or get paid by MS, I work for a small software development company that delivers systems designed to run mostly on windows, some Linux as well.

      I've seen my mod trail, and as fast as someone knocks it down others kick it back up.

      By the way, I've been accused of being a shill for Apple, Ubuntu, Google, HTC, VMware, OpenSuse, KDE, Foxit, Chrysler, Garmin, Samsung, Motorola, Microsoft, Intel, and Starbucks, to name just a few. If I got a pay check from all of them I could quit my job.

      I'm sorry you don't like seeing positive posts about things you have CLEARLY never laid fingers upon, but that's YOUR problem, not mine.

      I've been looking for a substitute for my monster Dell (oops, yup, must be a shill for them too, right?) laptop for years. Its heavy to drag around on business trips. Its battery life is way worse. I spent 25 minutes at a Microsoft Kiosk on the Surface Pro, (after having read up on it for a month). The guy let me download my compilers (not Microsoft products) and some free source code off the web and actually run some compilations. He let me install OfficeLibre (yup, shilling for this rat bastards as well), open some documents, update and save them to his device. (He didn't even complain that I wouldn't consider MS Office, although there was a bundle for that). He didn't care what I did to the machine, he had a fast wipe capability at the kiosk. I walked away. Had a Widmer Hef, (shill !) and thought it over.

      Finished the brew, walked back and slapped down my Visa (shill). Done, and Done.

      I like it. You don't have to. But grow the fuck up, and learn to see that everyone who disagrees with you is not being paid to do so.

      --
      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    9. Re:Not enough by ozmanjusri · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Yea everyone knows a Nexus 7 beats a core i5! AMIRITE?

      It does if your goals are to have a handheld tablet which runs cool, has great battery life, plenty of touch-optimised apps and low OS maintenance requirements.

      And that's the problem with both the Surfaces.

      The RT is late to the party with several irritations and nothing better to offer than the other tablet OSs, not to mention a lot less apps available. The Pro brings the same old Windows benefits, complexity and issues every other Windows machine brings, but also puts nothing new on the table. Technically there's lots of click-click cleverness and interface bling, but neither enables users to do anything new or better than what's already available.

      Microsoft has been trying to do tablets for longer than most companies - I even still have a Compaq Concerto with Pen Windows on it - but they've never managed to give the actual users of the hardware any tangible benefit for the cost or complexity. For users, it's not so much "Where do you want to go today?" as a bewildered "Well, what can I do with this thing now?"

      --
      "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
    10. Re:Not enough by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yes.

      http://techrights.org/2011/12/26/microsoft-and-nokia-astroturf/

      âoeWaggener Edstrom explains its âoePerception Managementâ services,â notes Homer, who quotes: âoeUncontrolled buzz can dramatically change perceptions of your brand. [...] The Narrative Network mines online dialogue and traditional media, even foreign language media, for mentions of your brand, your company, your key executives and your competitors. Then using a social networking algorithm, it associates what they say about your brand. [...] While we monitor your narrative network over time, or before and after a product launch or PR announcement, we will find new branches of a story [graphic flashes the phrase "Negative PR"]. This allows us to measure effectiveness of the PR messaging, and insert new messages or themes into your brand storyline, and deploy the right resources to keep the story on message, or adjust tactics to manage perceptions.â

      --
      She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
    11. Re:Not enough by OneAhead · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Wouldn't a good shill be defined as someone who's able to convince people he's not a shill? :)

  2. Pity it doesn't work as a peripheral... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    At that price, the Surface Pro is more or less even with the Wacom stylus-input displays (of similar size, larger ones are substantially more expensive) that don't have a computer attached to them...

    Unless the pen input is totally gimped, this seems like it would be a serious competitor to those for everyone except people whose photoshopping is serious enough that the Surface's specs can't handle it. Especially if your demands are at all mobile, it's hard to justify buying the Wacom when you could get the screen and stylus input with the laptop thrown in for free. It's a pity that the Surface can't act as a monitor/input device (optionally, while charging at your desk, for example, it could go from a waste of space to an extra monitor) for more powerful computers.

    1. Re:Pity it doesn't work as a peripheral... by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 4, Funny

      It's a pity that the Surface can't act as a monitor/input device

      . . . why can't it . . . albeit, with a hard hack . . . ?

      When the price goes down to $99.95, I might buy one as a monitor for my Raspberry Pi.

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  3. Nice but not quite nice enough by bloodhawk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The Surface Pro is actually a really nice device. But at it's price point why would you get it over similar devices that have the haswell chips in them or the devices from Lenovo/Asus/Acer/Sony which each have differing advantages ranging from lighter, longer battery life, better screens or more powerful. I like the device but if you want a windows device their are better value/performance options.

  4. Again... by djupedal · · Score: 4, Funny

    Not interested. Won't buy it. No use for it. Wouldn't take one as a door prize if was bacon wrapped, dipped in milk chocolate and came with a free weekend on Martha's Vineyard with Warren Buffet's Gold Card. I'm confident that even if they were pulled back and sent to the crusher, the crusher wouldn't want them either. Ballmer isn't going to learn until losses like this start coming out of his lily white hide. Let the lesson begin...

  5. Still useless by girlintraining · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Quick question:

    I have a pile of bricks for sale. You're building a wood house. If I cut the price of the pile of bricks, does that make you more interested in buying them?

    Of course not; You still have no use for a pile of bricks.

    --
    #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    1. Re:Still useless by Trepidity · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Well, I could use them for a faux-brick facade or something. How cheap are those bricks again?

  6. Re:Excellent by ericloewe · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Little third-party developer support? You must live in some fantasy world where Windows 95-Windows 8 never existed. A tablet that runs every 32-bit (and 64-bit) application ever written for the world's most popular OS since the mid-90's does not have "little third party developer support".

  7. "Unhappy" is the new strategy? by bogaboga · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Steve Ballmer himself has recently declared that he was unhappy with the number of tablets Microsoft has managed to sell.

    Can someone please pass the message on to Steve Ballmer that being unhappy isn't a strategy for business growth?

  8. Re:How will it all end? by 0123456 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Where do you expect this Windows 8 and Surface fiasco will ultimately take Microsoft? What will happen?

    Windows 9 will be 'The best Windows ever! Now with NEW mouse and Start Menu support!'

  9. Re:Excellent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Little third-party developer support? You must live in some fantasy world where Windows 95-Windows 8 never existed.

    You've clearly never used one if you think that Windows software is mostly practical on a tablet. If it was then there wouldn't have been any need to develop Metro. Of course, you can use it as a half-assed laptop, but an actual laptop would be cheaper and better so why bother?

  10. Re:Excellent by Bert64 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There is an entire world of people who still don't understand that Surface Pro is radically different than RT.

    And the reason for that is misleading marketing... MS are so obsessed with the idea of forcing the windows brand everywhere that they are blind to the fact that this brand is poisonous on mobile devices. Windows is not a desirable brand, its something people put up with because they have no other choice in many cases, it's highly detrimental in a market where users realise they do have choice.
    The only thing it has going for it is compatibility, and yet they dilute the brand with incompatible products, which again turns customers away.

    --
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