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Microsoft has revealed that the 128GB Surface Pro will ship with just 83GB of usable storage space. No word yet on how much space the 64GB version will arrive with but if the same 45GB is unavailable from the get-go, Microsoft may have a tough time convincing buyers to invest in a premium tablet with just 19GB of storage.
Redmond has yet to update their Surface storage FAQ to reflect Surface Pro figures. Instead, the company made the storage size admission to Softpedia in a recent statement, according to the publication. Microsoft is quick to point out, however, that Surface Pro tablets will come with a USB 3.0 port to connect external storage devices, a microSDXC card slot and 7GB of free space with SkyDrive.
You’d be correct in thinking this all sounds a bit familiar as Microsoft addressed similar issues late last year with Surface for Windows RT tablets. It was revealed at that time that 32GB versions of the tablet would only arrive with 16GB of usable disk space while the higher capacity 64GB model would have just 46GB of usable space on tap.
Microsoft is set to launch the new slates on February 9 starting at just $899. Surface Pro will come pre-installed with a full version of Windows 8 Pro as well as a beefier third generation Intel Core i5 Processor with Intel HD Graphics 4000 and 4GB of RAM. Surface with Windows RT utilizes a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 chip with just 2GB of system memory.
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Microsoft Surface
The Microsoft Surface features a 10.6-inch Gorilla Glass display and a vapor-deposited magnesium chassis, the Surface runs a Core i5 Ivy Bridge processor and the latter packing an ARM-based Nvidia chip. The Touch Cover measures 3mm thick and has a multitouch keyboard as well as a trackpad, with a Touch Cover, the Surface measures just shy of half an inch.
Microsoft Surface RT
The Microsoft Surface RT is powered by a quad-core Nvidia Tegra processor, 2GB of memory, a 1,366x768 wide-screen display, and Windows RT. Other features include a USB 2.0 port, HDMI-out, and a vapor-deposited magnesium chassis.
Apple iPad (4th-gen)
The 4th generation iPad sports a beefier A6X processor for double the CPU and graphics performance (versus iPad 3), an improved FaceTime camera that supports 720p resolution, the new Lightning connector, 802.11a/b/g/n dual-band Wi-Fi and the same image signal processor found in the iPhone 5.
39 Reviews
Price: $499.00
User Comments: 34
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Well from the side view it kinda looks like it might have a spare memory slot. I would guess windows expects its customers to add extra memory.
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Rippleman said:
Damn, 45 gigs... what do you supposed could be in there?
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Big deal... anytime a tablet has a MicroSD slot AND a USB you should buy the smallest internal size they have. They'll charge you twice as much to have the usable space internal, while external storage is much cheaper. I know internal storage is more convenient and you can't install apps to an SD Card, but even 45GB for apps is plenty.
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1 person liked this |RH00D said:
I don't really see this as a big deal any more. I have a 120 GB SSD on my computer with Windows 8 Pro installed and I don't know exactly how much the Windows installation takes up but the only thing I have on the SSD is my music collection (~6 GB) and pictures, and applications. Any video files or otherwise large files get stored on a external 2 TB drive. I also have a large portion of my documents in SkyDrive (and locally stored).
I would only see this as an issue if you were to download a lot of videos to the Surface, but I think most people prefer to stream their movies, or they have high-quality enough rips that they have a dedicated hard drive for them anyway.
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treeski said:
It's hard to say if this is really a big deal. It depends on who MS expects to be interested in this kind of tablet. The power of Surface Pro vs RT is of course that it can run standard desktops applications (and presumably pretty well, considering the specs). Limited disk space is an issue if the target user will have many applications to install.
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Funny how the initial remarks here are the opposite to the vilification you can see on neowin. Personally I am interested in the 128gb version, and even then I'd probably be tossing in at least a 32gb micro sd card to compliment the on board storage anyways so I look at all the backlash on neowin and scratch my head.
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VitalyT said:
Damn, 45 gigs... what do you supposed could be in there?A single uncompressed blu-ray rip, for example
or, tickle your fancy, don't say no to nothing -
1 person liked this |Jack Thompson said:
I don't really see this as a big deal any more. I have a 120 GB SSD on my computer with Windows 8 Pro installed and I don't know exactly how much the Windows installation takes up but the only thing I have on the SSD is my music collection (~6 GB) and pictures, and applications. Any video files or otherwise large files get stored on a external 2 TB drive. I also have a large portion of my documents in SkyDrive (and locally stored).I would only see this as an issue if you were to download a lot of videos to the Surface, but I think most people prefer to stream their movies, or they have high-quality enough rips that they have a dedicated hard drive for them anyway.
You are missing the point of owning a tablet... If I want to drag around with me multiple hardrives I'll just buy a laptop with bigger hardrive.
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I'll tell you what I'd be interested in. I'd like to have a notebook with a detachable touchscreen monitor. A monitor that interfaces through wireless with the PC that could be plugged in, to allow for longer processing while you are portable with the touchscreen monitor.
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1 person liked this |Skidmarksdeluxe said:
Funny how the initial remarks here are the opposite to the vilification you can see on neowin. Personally I am interested in the 128gb version, and even then I'd probably be tossing in at least a 32gb micro sd card to compliment the on board storage anyways so I look at all the backlash on neowin and scratch my head.At that price I'd rather go with a nice laptop.
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3 people like this |
You're not allowed to look at this article. It's the OEMs that are hurting Windows 8 sales and nothing else.
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I have a 180GB Agility 2 SSD with only a few games + the OS (Windows 7 64bit) ; and its barely enough. You don't want to use more then 70% of your SSD's storage for max life/performance.
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I don't really see this as a big deal any more. I have a 120 GB SSD on my computer with Windows 8 Pro installed and I don't know exactly how much the Windows installation takes up but the only thing I have on the SSD is my music collection (~6 GB) and pictures, and applications. Any video files or otherwise large files get stored on a external 2 TB drive. I also have a large portion of my documents in SkyDrive (and locally stored).
I would only see this as an issue if you were to download a lot of videos to the Surface, but I think most people prefer to stream their movies, or they have high-quality enough rips that they have a dedicated hard drive for them anyway.
You are missing the point of owning a tablet... If I want to drag around with me multiple hardrives I'll just buy a laptop with bigger hardrive.
True, and while I think 45GB being eaten up fresh out of the box is pretty crappy, you can install and leave a micro-sd card installed for media. I grabbed a 64GB card for my 32GB Surface RT.
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1 person liked this |
You people just don't get it, do you? Whether they call this "Pro" or not is moot. It's still a computer toy, that you might just be able to do a sales presentation or something similar with when you're traveling. You still need desktops and a server in your office, and don't throw your laptop with the 750GB hard drive away just yet.
If you want to rip and store Blu-Ray files, then buy an NAS SATA RAID enclosure, and fill it with 4TB mechanical drives
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My little Windows 8 Pro that I setup to test on a Desktop is just 10 Gigs on disk. (No Office, no Media Center.) If there were recovery partitions, and the OS, that still wouldn't add up to 45 Gigs. That's a pretty big chunk of storage taken away from the user.
I wonder what they're putting on there in all that space?!
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My little Windows 8 Pro that I setup to test on a Desktop is just 10 Gigs on disk. (No Office, no Media Center.) If there were recovery partitions, and the OS, that still wouldn't add up to 45 Gigs. That's a pretty big chunk of storage taken away from the user.The restore partition, is going to eat as much space as the OS installation. Since this doesn't have an optical drive, maybe they image the OS and apps on the restore partition. I wouldn't be surprised if they have some SSD flash tasked as RAM extension. Although, that is just a wild guess.
I wonder what they're putting on there in all that space?!
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My little Windows 8 Pro that I setup to test on a Desktop is just 10 Gigs on disk. (No Office, no Media Center.) If there were recovery partitions, and the OS, that still wouldn't add up to 45 Gigs. That's a pretty big chunk of storage taken away from the user.
I wonder what they're putting on there in all that space?!
Surface Pro comes with a restore partition and Office preinstalled.
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St1ckM4n said:
128GB is unformatted. That's 119GB formatted. Up to 20GB for the OS and bundles apps, makes 99GB. 10GB for recovery partition makes 89GB. Some rough figures, but there you go.
You could always delete the recovery partition and regain 10-15GB.
Surface Pro comes with a restore partition and Office preinstalled.
It doesn't come with office.
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Microsoft has revealed that the 128GB Surface Pro will ship with just 83GB of usable storage space. No word yet on how much space the 64GB version will arrive with but if the same 45GB is unavailable from the get-go,...Is this all about the clown with the lawsuit? Does every company have to divulge the free space on their machines when they sell them, or just M$? Because that sure sounds like unfair bias, and anti competitive business practices if they don't.You could always delete the recovery partition and regain 10-15GB.Yeah, as long as you're able to image the recovery partition to a bootable USB you can. Otherwise that would be kind of stupid.
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St1ckM4n said:
Yeah, as long as you're able to image the recovery partition to a bootable USB you can. Otherwise that would be kind of stupid.
Yeah, should be able to do it. Even then, a fresh copy and a download of drivers should be do-able. Hopefully.
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I think this is expected. but then you can always delete the recovery partition, turn off hibernation and pagefile (if it isnt off) since it uses SSD. when I upgraded my 64GB zenbook ux21 to Windows 8 for 15 bucks, I see no use in all the options mentioned above. the windows 8 iso is easily available from MS if you bought it, and burning it into usb drive just take few minutes.
for the premium price of Surface Pro, I think a 32GB microSD should come free.
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turn off hibernation and pagefile (if it isnt off) since it uses SSD.Forgive me if I'm wrong but doesn't Windows 8 shutdown by design using Hibernation? It has been my understanding that improvements on this feature has been what gives Windows 8 its faster boot times. Can Hibernation be disabled in Windows 8?
Edit:
OK - I was wrong. :/
[link]
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avoidz said:
It seems like a nice peripheral device. But it's just too damn expensive.
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St1ckM4n said:Forgive me if I'm wrong but doesn't Windows 8 shutdown by design using Hibernation? It has been my understanding that improvements on this feature has been what gives Windows 8 its faster boot times. Can Hibernation be disabled in Windows 8?
Edit:
OK - I was wrong. :/
[link]
Link doesn't work. But yeah, hibernation is enabled by default. Even when you disable it, it still uses hibernation to shut down, which can also be disabled.
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Skidmarksdeluxe said:You people just don't get it, do you? Whether they call this "Pro" or not is moot. It's still a computer toy, that you might just be able to do a sales presentation or something similar with when you're traveling. You still need desktops and a server in your office, and don't throw your laptop with the 750GB hard drive away just yet.
If you want to rip and store Blu-Ray files, then buy an NAS SATA RAID enclosure, and fill it with 4TB mechanical drives
'Computer toy' being the operative word. How could anybody be stupid enough to pay so much just to do tasks like presentations when a similarly priced ultra book can do exactly the same thing with the same portability convenience of a tablet and far greater storage capacity. Go figure.
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