News - Microsoft Surface 2 tablets to launch on 23rd September

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However no Surface Mini tablet is expected to be toddling along.

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Let's see if M$ have learnt their lesson from the first RT shambles. Price is key, if they want in on the mobile market they need to sell these at a loss like google do with the nexus 7, otherwise it will be another M$ stinker.

Why are they using RT when 8 is specifically built for tablets? Seems insane.

Agreed price is pretty key on this one - has there been any word on pricing? I guess not really, and I fully expect them to make the mistake of sticking to the original RT pricing, rather than launching it at the current £359 (£399 by the time you add a type cover).

Taking aside the consumer/market reactions, I expect them to keep the current surface at the £359 price point and launch surface 2 as their new model, back up to £450+ a cover (so £550 all in, probably £600 by the time you add a "power" cover). I'm talking 64gb pricing here as the 32gb is a bit umm "tight" with its usable space.

We will see though - there does appear to be some really strange stuff going on at Microsoft HQ at the moment, with some strange decisions...so maybe there will be someone there who realises that they can't expect surface to sell well if its priced at the same or more than an iPad or high end Android tablet.

I would look at a Surface 2 if the price is right.. but i don't really expect it to be though.

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Originally Posted by stanonwheels

Why are they using RT when 8 is specifically built for tablets? Seems insane.

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Originally Posted by Spud1

Agreed price is pretty key on this one

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2 problems in one, device manufacturers are going to be turning our more full Windows 8 tablets, so unless Microsoft can undercut them then you'd be crazy to buy an RT device.

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Originally Posted by stanonwheels

Why are they using RT when 8 is specifically built for tablets? Seems insane.

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I think because Surface is ARM and Surface Pro is x86. Different microarchitectures and not the same OS to rule them all. Anyway, I thought RT and 8 were the same UI and only different in the hardware interface?

It's the same OS, just compiled for a different target. The APIs are identical.

I think MS really more than anything need to show why it's different. I was doing some work whilst on the Intercity a few weeks back, laptop and surface RT, the guy next to me was almost joking that I had one (he runs a small consultancy) but as he realised what it was in my workflow he realised that he would quite like one. He commented "oh it's your office tablet". If you look at it like that £350 is damn good value for something so light, with the batterylife it has.

It is a tricky situation, not helped by MS's advertising and most of the tech press. What do you want from a tablet? Just surfing the web and casual games? Well a Surface is a waste of cash then. Want something that can do some word processing, or basic Excel sheets (no macros :() etc. get a surface.

In another thread someone pointed out that Dell Latitude 10 tablets are very reasonably priced (under £300) on the Outlet site. They might be refurbs but they still have a 1 year warranty, and offer the full Win8 experience (for better or worse!) without the RT hobbling.

Ok, the dual core Atoms powering them aren't going to put Usain Bolt out of a job, but you're basically getting all the advantages of an RT tablet (battery life and... er... whatever the other advantages are... nobody'll steal it?) with the flexibility to run absolutely anything that'll work in Win8. That will mean compromises, but for a fraction of the Surface price it makes a lot of sense.

It did to me anyway. I'll be amazed if the next wave offers anything even remotely comparable in terms of bang for buck... though I don't think the refurb L10's come with Office, which will be a big deal for many. Doesn't bother me as I only write for myself, not work, so Open Office'll be going on it.

I'd quite like Onenote on a tablet, I suppose, but I've lived without it for this long, so I'll manage. :-)

Bay Trail based Surface with full Win 8.1 would likely be just as thin and efficient as the Surface (non-Pro) yet retain desktop compatability.

Perhaps the fear of undermining Windows RT is precluding Microsoft from producing the best Surface tablet that they could.