Microsoft slashes Surface Pro 2 pricing ahead of Surface Pro 3 launch

Shawn Knight

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microsoft surface pro pro

Microsoft’s Surface Pro 2 is now a bit cheaper to own for those living in the US. Last month, the Redmond-based company slashed the price of its Surface Pro 2 line in the UK and now they’ve extended the offer to those stateside through the Microsoft Store.

The entry-level Surface Pro 2 with 64GB of storage can now be had for $799, a $100 savings over the previous $899 price tag. You’ll also save $100 on the 128GB model which is now priced at $899. Stepping up to the 256GB and 512GB varieties will net you savings of $200 with the former now selling for $1,099 while the latter will set you back $1,599.

It’s worth pointing out that Microsoft offers free shipping and free returns on all of the Surface Pro 2 variants.

The price cuts come as Microsoft is gearing up for the launch of the Surface Pro 3, a 12-inch slate designed to replace your laptop. Unlike the Surface Pro 2 that universally comes with an Intel Core i5 processor, the upcoming tablet is available in i3, i5 and i7 configurations.

Pre-order pricing starts at $799 for a 64GB model powered by the i3 chip and scales all the way up to a 512GB capacity version with an i7 CPU for $1,949. All new Surface Pro 3s are expected to ship by August 31.

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What's the sense of that? If you want a 64 GB model you may as well grip the latest model... it's the same price. As for me, I'd get my head read if I blew $800 on a tablet that doesn't even include that keyboard thingy of their's and even if it did, I'd rather buy a proper laptop and be done with it.
 
What's the sense of that? If you want a 64 GB model you may as well grip the latest model... it's the same price. As for me, I'd get my head read if I blew $800 on a tablet that doesn't even include that keyboard thingy of their's and even if it did, I'd rather buy a proper laptop and be done with it.

The whole idea is to have something in that form factor WITHOUT the keyboard, a handheld device, not a full fledged LAPtop. There are cheaper ones of course, this is a replacement for a laptop hence the i5 proc.

For most non-tech-savy users this is more than enough for most of their productivity uses.

I've been wanting to try one of these for some time now though I think I'll start with a Venue 8 Pro to test drive it, if I don't like it I could inherit it to someone else :)
 
I have a Venue 8 Pro and its very nice little device, its not up the Surface Pro hardware wise but its still very useful to have a portable device with a full fat OS on it.
 
I have a Venue 8 Pro and its very nice little device, its not up the Surface Pro hardware wise but its still very useful to have a portable device with a full fat OS on it.

Do you have the 32 or 64gb version? How are you so far with storage space?
 
In some other countries it's been in stores for weeks already.

Surface Pro gen evolution: 1-crap, 2-usable, 3-good, 4-excellent?

The new one ups the resolution, but 90% of software doesn't support it and looks too small. By the time Surface 4 is released, there will be much better retina support for Windows, better M cpu-s, newer batteries. Also, the chances are Surface 4 will be the first product running Windows 9, which will have a much better support for high-res screens.

Therefore, I'm camping for the next one :)
 
The whole idea is to have something in that form factor WITHOUT the keyboard, a handheld device, not a full fledged LAPtop. There are cheaper ones of course, this is a replacement for a laptop hence the i5 proc.

For most non-tech-savy users this is more than enough for most of their productivity uses.

I've been wanting to try one of these for some time now though I think I'll start with a Venue 8 Pro to test drive it, if I don't like it I could inherit it to someone else :)
No. The whole idea was for MS to try become a player in the mobile arena but so far they haven't made much of an impact mainly because of their extortionist pricing. From what I understand the 64 GB model is an i3 and they want 800 bucks for it. $800 for a 64 GB i3 tablet is madness personified. As I said earlier, you're better off buying a laptop for that price.
 
In some other countries it's been in stores for weeks already.

Surface Pro gen evolution: 1-crap, 2-usable, 3-good, 4-excellent?

The new one ups the resolution, but 90% of software doesn't support it and looks too small. By the time Surface 4 is released, there will be much better retina support for Windows, better M cpu-s, newer batteries. Also, the chances are Surface 4 will be the first product running Windows 9, which will have a much better support for high-res screens.

Therefore, I'm camping for the next one :)
Good luck to you. I'll hold out for the mk 35 version, maybe by then MS may have come to their senses and priced their tablets more realistically.
 
What's the sense of that? If you want a 64 GB model you may as well grip the latest model... it's the same price. As for me, I'd get my head read if I blew $800 on a tablet that doesn't even include that keyboard thingy of their's and even if it did, I'd rather buy a proper laptop and be done with it.

The whole idea is to have something in that form factor WITHOUT the keyboard, a handheld device, not a full fledged LAPtop. There are cheaper ones of course, this is a replacement for a laptop hence the i5 proc.

For most non-tech-savy users this is more than enough for most of their productivity uses.

I've been wanting to try one of these for some time now though I think I'll start with a Venue 8 Pro to test drive it, if I don't like it I could inherit it to someone else :)

Actually the whole idea was of the Type & Touch cover was to be a COVER that just happens to be a usable keyboard, which happens to allow it to act as a laptop replacement. This is there biggest selling point and they refuse to bundle it. They claim some people don't want it and that re-sellers wouldn't be able to stock all the color bundles --- which I believe is true. So with that I say keep selling them seperate, but the $129 price tag is just silly. If these were $50 accessories they would sell way more. I myself would end up purchasing 2 colors for that price. We know these covers don't cost anywhere near $129 to produce and it's actually said that the TouchCover costs around $16 to manufacture. So even at $50 it more than pays for itself, turns a profit for parts & R&D. I personally don't have a problem with the Surface Pro price range --- its the TypeCover pricing that doesn't sit well with me.
 
What's the sense of that? If you want a 64 GB model you may as well grip the latest model... it's the same price. As for me, I'd get my head read if I blew $800 on a tablet that doesn't even include that keyboard thingy of their's and even if it did, I'd rather buy a proper laptop and be done with it.
The worst part about it is that there is only like 40 GB of usable space.
 
I have a Venue 8 Pro and its very nice little device, its not up the Surface Pro hardware wise but its still very useful to have a portable device with a full fat OS on it.

Do you have the 32 or 64gb version? How are you so far with storage space?

I purchased one of these for my father last Christmas. It was the 32GB version, had about 1/3 of that free but did include the full Office 2013 loaded already. It has a microSD slot so I included a 64GB card with it. more than enough space. I was pretty amazed with it considering we picked it up at FutureShop for $279. We had just about picked up the Galaxy Note for him for $299 when we spotted the Venue 8 Pro. Not having to teach the old man Android was a plus, having to teach him to use Metro was a brief pain but overcome once he realized that Windows really is Windows and he could do all his usual stuff on it.
 
The worst part about it is that there is only like 40 GB of usable space.

The best part is you won't be installing autocad or skyrim or anything that will be using 10gb on it's own, and probably for the most part you will be needing even less than 10gb to install other things, in worst case scenario you put an sd card and you have extra 32 or 64gbps and it has a USB3.0 port to which you can put aditional storage so... it doesn't matter.

I purchased one of these for my father last Christmas. It was the 32GB version, had about 1/3 of that free but did include the full Office 2013 loaded already. It has a microSD slot so I included a 64GB card with it. more than enough space. I was pretty amazed with it considering we picked it up at FutureShop for $279. We had just about picked up the Galaxy Note for him for $299 when we spotted the Venue 8 Pro. Not having to teach the old man Android was a plus, having to teach him to use Metro was a brief pain but overcome once he realized that Windows really is Windows and he could do all his usual stuff on it.

Sounds great! Yeah I wasnt thinking into installing tons of things it's mostly a productivity thing so it sounds like its more tan enough space. Will definitely get one for a spin :D
 
The best part is you won't be installing autocad or skyrim or anything that will be using 10gb on it's own, and probably for the most part you will be needing even less than 10gb to install other things, in worst case scenario you put an sd card and you have extra 32 or 64gbps and it has a USB3.0 port to which you can put aditional storage so... it doesn't matter
Too bad the SD cards can only expand file storage, not the system storage.
 
If those applications are what anyone needs/wants, they shouldn't be thinking about Surface (aka: tablet) at all.

I'm pretty sure lots of people will just have one for Office. I know my dad will and no, office suites for android tablets are not the same, at all. For example to schedule work time for our drivers we use an excel sheet synced through dropbox, the sheet has conditional format among other rules. In android yes we could use dropbox to open it but it won't sync automatically, and if I try to save it I could save it in the same excel format but it would loose the conditional formatting and other rules that are exclusive for Microsoft Excel.

So in terms of productivity, it suits our needs whereas android or ipad tablets are unable to. So... yes.

Besides, the Surface is not the only one out there, if you want a replacement for a productivity notebook it is though (Hence the i5 proc and loads of ram + space and the i7 option). I'm talking more in terms of a Venue Pro.

Too bad the SD cards can only expand file storage, not the system storage.

Sure, though my main windows drive with the programs I use is only 55 gigs big, so, 64 would be more than enough for me (Unless I wanted to install huge games, in which case I would have a gaming notebook).
 
The whole idea is to have something in that form factor WITHOUT the keyboard, a handheld device, not a full fledged LAPtop. There are cheaper ones of course, this is a replacement for a laptop hence the i5 proc.

For most non-tech-savy users this is more than enough for most of their productivity uses.

I've been wanting to try one of these for some time now though I think I'll start with a Venue 8 Pro to test drive it, if I don't like it I could inherit it to someone else :)
No. The whole idea was for MS to try become a player in the mobile arena but so far they haven't made much of an impact mainly because of their extortionist pricing. From what I understand the 64 GB model is an i3 and they want 800 bucks for it. $800 for a 64 GB i3 tablet is madness personified. As I said earlier, you're better off buying a laptop for that price.

Actually breaking down the surface pro the pricing is spot on, the i5 is a low wattage chip so that price goes up right there, Intel quotes the Chips price at right below $400 so microsoft prob got em for $300. the touch screen has a active digitizer on it to allow for the proper stylus and drawing again price goes up, and there relatively high resolution screens (even more so on the surface 3 and they are a odd size so the price goes up again). The case is high quality magnesium, not cheap plastic. The SSD's are pretty speedy which give them good performance in that regard. I put them on the level as a $1000 ultrabook in most uses and they have features that $1000 ultrabooks don't have. I haven't seen a Full blown professional 10" windows tablet with this much horsepower for less then $700. The cherry trail chips will bring lots horsepower down into the $500 range but the quality of the tablets drop in that price ranges, no more active digitizer, no more metal casing, worse displays and so on.
 
With 128GB micro SD cards now on the market storage isn't as much of an issue as you may think. I bought my wife a Surface Pro 2 128GB version and have used Lightroom on it with the pen and it works well. Storage may be a consideration if you want to install lots of games or something, but with a lot of cloud services/storage now popular you can get by with a smaller disk size.
 
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