Microsoft Surface Pro to Be Released February 9 with $899 Price Tag

Skip win 8, it's pretty much a usability nightmare.

Anandtech chart is flawed....

Why the comparison with the iPad only ? Surely a fairer comparison would be between the surface pro and the MacBook Air 11" stock.


MBA
11-inch : 64GB
1.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
Turbo Boost up to 2.6GHz
4GB memory
64GB flash storage1
Intel HD Graphics 4000
1376x768 Resolution

$999.00


SurfacePro
10.1"
Dual Core i5 processor
4GB memory
64GB flash storage
Intel HD Graphics 4000
1920x1080

Surface Pen accessories included.

$899

Touch Cover additionally $119

Total cost of Surface pro including Touch Cover = $1018

I'd be interested in knowing the expected battery life. With a Core i5 and a smaller battery than an iPad, it can't be great.

If they keep throwing things against the wall one of them might even stick.

The more appropriate price comparison here is to the MacBook Air (and Touch Cover or Type Cover keyboard needs to be included in that price comparison). From the early reviews I have read, Surface continues to be a compromised tablet and a compromised "ultrabook".

As a tablet it is heavy and much of the software is not optimized for touch.

As an ultrabook it cannot be comfortably used in your lap and the keyboard and trackpad are not as good as the MacBook Air.

I think the Windows 8 OEM's have better answers for the "convertible tablet/ultrabook" category than Microsoft does.

EDIT: According to Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/Press/2013/Jan13/01-22SurfaceFamilyPR.aspx), the Type Cover is NOT included in the $899 price. They refer to it as optional in a caption for a picture, and when listing what is included, they omit it. So the Surface Pro price (with keyboard) is $1028 versus the MacBook Air at $999. If you are in the market for a convertible Windows 8 machine, I would look to one of the Microsoft OEM's that at least gives you an actual full-blown UltraBook that can be used in your lap, but can also serve as a compromised tablet like the Surface Pro. There is no sense on compromising both the laptop and tablet experience in a convertible laptop.

They are high.