Microsoft has confirmed prices for its Surface Pro tablet. People can expect orders and shipping for the Windows 8 flagship device to begin January 2013.
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Although Microsoft saw a strong user uptake of its earlier release, the Surface RT tablet, it did not go over with the public as well as expected, with many users citing build quality issues for the watered down Windows OS the product offered.
Microsoft will be hoping users are far more receptive to the Surface Pro as the purest experience of Windows 8 currently available, after all, Microsoft had touted the OS as strongest expression of a touch-centric UI.
So what does Pro have that RT does not? First of all, an inflated price tag with the baseline 64GB variant of the Surface Pro going for US$899 as opposed to US$699 for the RT version. The surface Pro lineup doesn’t tap out at 64GB, there’s also a 128GB version that’s set to retail for US$999.
The reason for the larger storage capacity option according to Microsoft is the fact that the software on the Surface Pro requires more memory to run. We just hope that this does not hamper the performance of the baseline model.
The Surface Pro also features a 10.6-inch full HD display supported by an Intel Core i5 processor integrated with HD Graphics 4000 and 4GB RAM. With Microsoft reporting uptake of Windows 8 across platforms being less than projected, the Surface Pro’s performance, or lack thereof, may give Windows 8 the shot in the arm it needs or deepen the growing discontent among users.
