News - Steve Ballmer drops hints on Surface pricing; it won't be $199

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The Surface is more expensive than 7-inch competition because it’s more useful.

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Read more.

I'm expecting cheaper than iPad but still a fair premium. Willing to go for an RT if it's in the lower end of his hinted range, then the Pro later on...

7" tablets are much better for the inbetween phone + laptop than the larger 10" tabs.

I see how they failed to grasp that completely.

microsoft have given people too long to think. Google went in so cheap people just impulse bought, apple do it by hiding the product till the last minute... Microsoft dont seem to be doing either.

They seem to have this PMI thing going on where, 'everything is going to be amazing' what they fail to see is that, it actually has to be more than words for them.

In fairness, I can't see a single reason to buy an iPad format over theirs.

Its just I can't see a reason not to spend the extra £500 and buy a fricken ultrabook.

I mean tablets are just for toddlers / hipsters.
(I own an iPad2, Nexus7, Kindle Fire and a windows 8 'device').

i actually find my tablet very useful when im travelling light, its replaced by already portable netbook. I also find it very useful for work, rather than lugginag around big A1 system schematics i can just use my tablet with autocad WS. Evernote with skitch is also extremely useful for a huge number of purpses. Perhaps im a hipster :p

I disagree that tablets are just for toddlers/hipsters (although I guess you were being tongue-in-cheek given how many you have...). I'm totally convinced by the usefulness of the format, despite initially thinking they were basically stupid/pointless before I got one to try out.

My tablet (an Asus Slider) has made my MacBook Pro totally redundant in the home. If I have development work to do, I use my desktop PC. If I'm relaxing, the tablet has always got charge in the batteries, and is already on - I can use it instantly. It's a much more usable format than my laptop (can prop it on a shelf, etc), and it has a proper keyboard if I want it. It's pretty much perfect for non-work stuff, and I can send emails on it easily if I'm feeling too lazy to walk to my desktop.

The only time I use the laptop nowadays is if I have a work-related trip somewhere.

pfft hipsters.

Seriously thou, both of you sound like an ultrabook would fill the void. I splerged on a Series 9, because of the travelling I was doing, a friend choose the lighter, mostly plastic thou, toshiba.

Lift the lid, the things awake, 6 hours of battery life, none of the tablet drawbacks, a damn site easier to use on the sofa, in bed, or in economy class on the plan (I for one hate airlines, and agree with the boss of Ikea)

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Originally Posted by TheAnimus

pfft hipsters.

Seriously thou, both of you sound like an ultrabook would fill the void. I splerged on a Series 9, because of the travelling I was doing, a friend choose the lighter, mostly plastic thou, toshiba.

Lift the lid, the things awake, 6 hours of battery life, none of the tablet drawbacks, a damn site easier to use on the sofa, in bed, or in economy class on the plan (I for one hate airlines, and agree with the boss of Ikea)

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But I have a light portable laptop and find myself using a tablet anyway, the tablet filled a void and I have no desire to change it at the moment.
I couldn't carry around an ultrabook with one hand and swipe about on it to look at schematics whilst in a noisy machine room, they are just too bulky and I wouldn't want to risk dropping it! My 200 quid nexus... Il get over it

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Originally Posted by TheAnimus

Seriously thou, both of you sound like an ultrabook would fill the void. I splerged on a Series 9, because of the travelling I was doing, a friend choose the lighter, mostly plastic thou, toshiba.

Lift the lid, the things awake, 6 hours of battery life, none of the tablet drawbacks, a damn site easier to use on the sofa, in bed, or in economy class on the plan (I for one hate airlines, and agree with the boss of Ikea)

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Erm, I've got a counterblast to that pro-Ultrabook line, at least for folks who don't need Windows specifically.
Asus Ultrabook UX21E £780, Asus Transformer TF300 £399. (prices at Amazon)

So like I said, if all you want to do is a bit of office type stuff, then I can do what I need with a device that costs just over half as much as your Ultrabook. I'll obviously grant that the UB is a more flexible device (because it's Wintel), then again I can easily switch the TF300 into "consumption" mode by detaching the screen.

Getting back to the article, I didn't expect even the 7" Win8 tablet to be $199, although if it's more than about $250 then they might struggle. Similarly in my book a 10"+ Win8 tablet that's as expensive as iPad3 is not going to be that successful. Justification for that being that - of course - iOS (and Android too) have a huge library of tablet compatible apps, which isn't the case for Win8RT.

Wait, no one is going to do their homework on a tablet full stop. That's what desktop pc's (or laptops) with decent keyboards are for.

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Originally Posted by davesom555

Wait, no one is going to do their homework on a tablet full stop. That's what desktop pc's (or laptops) with decent keyboards are for.

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Sorry I'm going to disagree - based on admitted limited evidence - one kid here does her homework on a netbook, and the other uses her HP Touchpad tablet. Then again, the latter one's work seems to consist mainly of internet searches, so arguably that's as easy on a tablet as a "proper" device. Then again, I thought the Surface came with that fancy case that doubled up as keyboard too? (Plus there's always bluetooth keyboards).

Dad's had a Galaxy Tab for just short of a year, and he seems to use that more often than his main computer (if only 'cos mum ties that up playing solitare or talking over MSN to my aunt in Canada).

I've only just bought a tablet myself, I was thinking of waiting for the Surface as it does seem like an awesome piece of hardware, but I ended up buying a Nexus7 at the end of last month.
It hasn't left my side so far (although that could be because I've bought several books from the Play Store on it - including a VBA for excel book for a project I needed to do for work (and I haven't done any VBA programming since I left Uni 12 years ago)).

Mum fancied a tablet herself after seeing mine and ended up getting a 2nd hand 32gb iPad2 on Sunday (which I then had to set-up for her Sunday night).

I'd pay more for a Surface Pro... a Surface with Windows RT... erm no

Did the HP tablet die in vain? Just 'cos apple can charge lots doesn't mean that any new entrant with an empty library can do the same. Does no-one look and learn?

According to this - link to Register story - Surface tablets from Asus will start at $599 and peak at $1300. If that's the case across the board then Microsoft is aiming Surface at the general consumer like us.