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News Microsoft Surface Pro launching on the 23rd of May

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Gareth Halfacree, 16 May 2013.

  1. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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  2. ChaosDefinesOrder

    ChaosDefinesOrder Vapourmodder

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    That's actually cheaper than I was expecting it to be; I was fully expecting a launch price of £1000+ for the 128GB model...
     
  3. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    Yeah, when I wrote up the "soon to launch" story I'd stated that, while a fair conversion would see it fetch £700-800, I wouldn't have been surprised to see a symbol-swap that meant it hit the market at £899-999. That said, there's not a great deal of point in having a Surface Pro over a rival Windows 8 tablet if you're not going to have a Touch Cover or Type Cover, so you need to mentally add £100 to the cost for that.
     
  4. rollo

    rollo Modder

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    Too little to late for uk market. Surface pro 2 should launch by September/ October makes it a difficult sell.
     
  5. [-Stash-]

    [-Stash-] What's a Dremel?

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    Completely agree. And hopefully Surface Pro 2 will have somewhat improved battery life. Not that Surface Pro was bad, it was just "laptop" good, not "tablet" good.
     
  6. rocknroll237

    rocknroll237 What's a Dremel?

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    "keyboard-cum-cover"

    Didn't know these existed...
     
  7. Cei

    Cei pew pew pew

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    "Surface Pro will launch on the 23rd of May in the same two flavours as in the use: a 64GB 'entry-level' model"

    In the use? I assume you mean USA?


    To be honest, Microsoft should have just accepted the delay and waited for Haswell to land, boosting their GPU performance. As is, they're launching at a point where the hardware will be no longer cutting edge within a matter of weeks - pretty poor timing!

    Plus, they really do need a 256GB option.
     
  8. RichCreedy

    RichCreedy Hey What Who

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    where did the date come from, as I was talking to Microsoft staff today, and was told the date hasn't been released yet, only that it is coming this month.
     
  9. cnyrsitizin

    cnyrsitizin What's a Dremel?

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    What I can't understand is the assumption by Microsoft that they are selling premium products. Where is the retina quality display, the aluminium casing etc.. The RT was underpowered in the tablet market and the Pro is meh and too late.
     
  10. Nexxo

    Nexxo * Prefab Sprout – The King of Rock 'n' Roll

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    The RT has exactly the same CPU as most Android tablets, so how is it underpowered?

    As for aluminium casing, the Surface family has a magnesium casing. For those who slept through physics class, it's like aluminium, only lighter, stronger and posher.
     
  11. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    Yes. Yes, I do; fixed, ta!
    Direct from Microsoft, in the form of a press release. If you're curious, the full release can be read on the company's small business site - for some reason, it hasn't made it through to the Press Centre yet.
     
  12. rollo

    rollo Modder

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    As I've said and wondered before, I don't think the uk will see a surface rt2 sales have been poor of the device world wide and the Zune had better sales in the USA and never saw a uk release.

    The surface pro is late and haswell is due for those that want one they will know haswell is due just don't see it been a big hit in uk markets till it becomes haswell ill be a buyer then myself.

    Wether the surface rt is underpowered or not is Irelivent its not sold and has probably not even broke even. Wether we will see a second version is highly questionable.
     
  13. Nexxo

    Nexxo * Prefab Sprout – The King of Rock 'n' Roll

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    First, the Surface RT and Pro have barely been launched on the world stage so it is waaayyy too early to comment on their sales. Compared to the iPad and Android tablets it has been spectacularly hard to get hold of a Surface device.

    So it all depends on what Microsoft's long game is. Many people speculate that Microsoft does not really see the Surface as a main source of income but a market catalyst (a bit like Google sees Google Glass and the Pixel Chromebook). Keep in mind that the Google ChromeBook is selling even worse than the Surface RT. That does not stop Acer and Samsung from cranking out new models.

    The Zune's demise was purely a product of Microsoft's poor business strategy. It seems to have spent the last decade deciding on what it wants to be while Apple and Google forged ahead with a clear focus. The price of being a big company with lots of subdivisions which were left to develop tribalism for too long, I guess. Hopefully Julie Larson-Green does a Steve Jobs and slams down some dictatorship on their asses.
     
    Last edited: 18 May 2013
  14. Dr Evil

    Dr Evil What's a Dremel?

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    @ Gareth: Yep looks like you won! Name your charity?

    Hopefully a SurfacePro with Haswell won't be too far off

    Best,

    Evil
     
  15. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    You're a gent: I nominate the Centre for Computing History - they're moving to a new location, and need to raise a whole mess of cash to set everything up.
     
  16. Dr Evil

    Dr Evil What's a Dremel?

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    Donation made
    Confirmation number: 20H11436RB346243H.

    Cheers,

    Evil
     

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