Microsoft discounts Surface Pro by $100 during August

Scorpus

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microsoft surface pro tablet windows 8 price cut discount microsoft surface

Microsoft has cut the price of their Surface Pro tablet by $100 in some territories until August 29th, following on from the heavy cuts the Surface RT sustained last month. The roughly 10% price cut affects both the 64 GB and 128 GB models of the Surface Pro, although at this stage the deal is only available in the United States, Canada, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

This leaves prospective Surface buyers in Europe and other parts of the world, who started seeing the Surface Pro in stores in late May, with the original tablet pricing. The $100 discount brings the tablet to $799 for the 64 GB model and $899 for the 128 GB model in the United States, with retailers applying the cuts alongside the Microsoft Store.

Touch/Type Covers are not included with the purchase, and will still cost an additional $119-$129.

The Surface Pro price cuts come after Microsoft revealed a $900 million write-down from lower than expected sales of their Windows RT Surface model, and revenue of just $853 million from both Surface models. Despite the issues Microsoft is having with Surface revenue, the company is still expected to release a refreshed line-up of Surface tablets later this year; the Surface RT will likely be refreshed with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, while the Surface Pro 2 is likely going to get Intel Haswell internals.

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Still too high! Those who paid those SRP and MSRP prices should have hold back until MS dropped the prices down to normal rate. Wait for it to be $349 with the touch keyboard. If you think that's too low thing again!
 
Apple sold 14.6 million iPads in the last quarter.
This is certainly good news for Apple. So good, in fact, that it sees no reason to change.
Henry Ford certainly did not change car models: "People can have the Model T in any color - so long as it's black."
Nor was IBM in a hurry to shift gears from its hot-selling Selectric Typewriters.
Ditto for Kodak, that never even dreamed of leaving its lucrative film business.
Exactly how does one argue against present success -- the good and plenty that?s here and now?
Apple investors certainly see no need for concern. And didn't someone say technology stopped evolving after Steve Jobs?
 
Apple sold 14.6 million iPads in the last quarter.
This is certainly good news for Apple. So good, in fact, that it sees no reason to change.
Henry Ford certainly did not change car models: "People can have the Model T in any color - so long as it's black."
Nor was IBM in a hurry to shift gears from its hot-selling Selectric Typewriters.
Ditto for Kodak, that never even dreamed of leaving its lucrative film business.
Exactly how does one argue against present success -- the good and plenty that?s here and now?
Apple investors certainly see no need for concern. And didn't someone say technology stopped evolving after Steve Jobs?

This seems to be going off topic. Are you suggesting that MS is pursuing the correct path or they have ended up in a cul de sac? As this price cut does not include the UK it is of no value to me. In fact it is likely to increase my resistance to the Surface Pro as I would think we are being ripped off by MS.
 
They are cutting 100$ and it's still just 10% of the price.. what the hell MS do you really think people will pay that much just to have windows on the tablet?
 
MS needs to fix 2 fatal flaws to turn the Windows 8 mess around:

1) The user should NEVER have had to know what an ARM processor is, Windows RT should be scrapped. Windows 8 should still have the runtime underneath (and should be enhanced) so that all future Windows applications are easily run on multiple chips, but for the forseeable future MS is simply stuck with Intel in their tablets, to keep compatibility. Make it work.

2) One size fits all apps and OS interfaces make no one happy. The OS and apps need to be reworked to support three possible views: SMALL (phone), MEDIUM (tablet), and LARGE (pc monitor). LARGE view OS and apps would have a similar feel to the touch-centric MEDIUM and SMALL views, but be designed to be mouse/stylus driven (yes, they are still useful). No separate desktop schizophrenic OS interface crap... simply one mouse-driven system for PCs that has alternate touch elements incorporated where it makes sense. On a tablet, old PC apps would simply default to LARGE view (requiring a stylus or mouse to properly navigate) running in the MEDIUM view tablet OS.

P.S. Scrolling left and right with a mouse is murder on people's wrists. Just saying.
 
1) The user should NEVER have had to know what an ARM processor is, Windows RT should be scrapped. Windows 8 should still have the runtime underneath (and should be enhanced) so that all future Windows applications are easily run on multiple chips
Thats just great, lets forget about the concept behind the very name of ARM.
All spelled out ARM stands for "Advanced (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) Machine". Including x86 or x86-64(x64) instruction set in ARM OS, would go against the very nature of ARM based computing.
 
Just think, if Microsoft hadn't spent all that money on lame advertising they could be selling these for 1/2 the price and maybe making some headway towards Win8 acceptance.

But even then, paying $450 (plus the keyboard cost) for something I don't want still isn't going to happen.
 
When the price comes down to 3-4 hundred I'll buy one.. Whenever I see this I can't help but theink about the stupid commercials with peple dancing on on tables. MS is losing it.
 
Thats just great, lets forget about the concept behind the very name of ARM.
All spelled out ARM stands for "Advanced (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) Machine". Including x86 or x86-64(x64) instruction set in ARM OS, would go against the very nature of ARM based computing.
Basically what he was saying was that if a user cant tell the difference between a $400 tablet and a $800 tablet (the ARM and x86 tablets in this case) they figure, why not buy the $400 one? the average joe doesnt even know what ARM or x86 are, and they dont know the pros/cons of each. That is why the pro isnt selling well.
 
Here we go again. What is it with your comments of "make it $300 and I'll have a look"??? What quality 10inch tablet in the world costs that much??

Once again, people not understanding the purpose of the device.. to make it easy: think Ultrabook with Touch, without the attached keyboard.
 
Well, they arent, but im under the impression that the RT is not doing quite as bad as the pro, could be wrong.

On that note, it probably would have been smarter for MS to release the RT first for a year or 2 as a test, then the pro if it sold well, or vice versa.
 
Ultrabook without attached keyboard with mediocre specs
And on that note, I coulda sworn that something WITHOUT the materials needed to build a keyboard would make it, you know, cheaper than something with a keyboard.

But apparently no one uses logic anymore
 
Ultrabook without attached keyboard with mediocre specs
And on that note, I coulda sworn that something WITHOUT the materials needed to build a keyboard would make it, you know, cheaper than something with a keyboard.

But apparently no one uses logic anymore

Logic: oh man, $900 for this Ultrabook (plus more) is FREAKING INSANE. I'd never spend more than $300 on it, cos I can get this single-core Atom genericBrandHere netbook for $320!


...Apparently.
 
I don't even know what that makes the cost of the Windows 8 Pro tablet or the Windows RT tablet but I honestly don't care.
If/when I decide to buy a 10" tablet it will be the Google Nexus 10. It seems to be best overall bang for the buck. I'll run my Windows apps at home on my desktop PC where I actually need to run them.
 
Why are the PC Tablet Digitizer Pens so expensive from $30, $40, $50 and upwards. I did find one for $17 bucks from IBM. I need one for my Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit Dual Core Tablet. For some odd reason you need these pens.

Again all these tablets are expensive for Windows 7 and 8. They're more aimed for business professional who wants the full PC in a tablet. Windows 8 Surface was more aim for home users as well as business but than again pricing is harsh. Today you can get Windows 7 tablet dual core either Atom or i5. 9-7-inch to 12.1-inch. Those are not cheap.

MS bank a lot into the RT and Pro and the profit margins returns are so low.

If you want to create and perform tasks then you need a real tablet. If you don't want to create and just have a fun tablet then Android kicks into play.
 
Logic: oh man, $900 for this Ultrabook (plus more) is FREAKING INSANE. I'd never spend more than $300 on it, cos I can get this single-core Atom genericBrandHere netbook for $320!


...Apparently.
First of all, when I suggested $300, I was exaggerating to some degree. Im sorry if you didnt catch that.

Secondly, the point I was trying to make was this, that there are plenty of touchscreen ultrabooks around with built in keyboards (which likely work better than a touch sensitive keyboard I might add) with similar if not better specs than the surface for the same price range. Why should one pay more simply because the tablet DOESNT come with keyboard, just doesnt make sense-especially when there are convertible tablets on the market.

And because I dont thrive upon making people angry (I guess I came off ruder than I tried to originally, and if thats the case, I apologize) I am removing myself from this thread now.
 
That's tough. yes, technically, given that Surface pro really is a laptop disguised as a tablet. but people who are willing to spend that much on a tablet tend to buy an ipad. that leaves microsoft with laptop shoppers, who end up ultimately buying an laptop. they're in a tough place. I can see surface RT becoming more a direct competition with ipad if they can penetrate the market with really low price. but if they keep on marketing the Surface Pro as a tablet, no one will buy it at that kind of price. if they can split the two and better distinguish the two (RT/Pro) as tablet vs laptop, they'll have a better chance.
 
"Here we go again. What is it with your comments of "make it $300 and I'll have a look"??? What quality 10inch tablet in the world costs that much??"

Samsung makes a couple of them.
 
I'll confess and admit I do really like the Surface Pro, but for that price it needs to come with the keyboard/track pad. Not only that but I would like a proper docking station so I can make this the primary PC for all my techs. This thing is powerful enough to be my desktop PC and have that amazing luxury of being my tablet at the same time. But no docking station really makes it a sloppy compromise.

I for one don't think the price is "ridiculous" as people claim. This device has a lot of benefit in the IT community, those of us who could appreciate a full blown PC in the package of a tablet. Unfortunately it is a small market and will never catch the mainstream tablet market. Even if it was $50 it would never outpace mainstream tablets. Your average person doesn't want a full Windows OS tablet. I however, do.
 
Scrape the rt and make it $499 with keyboard. Or just fail. Your choice. We all know what they will choose because its Microsoft!
 
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