Panos Panay introducing the Surface Pro at the LA launch
If you were wondering how the Microsoft Surface Pro was going to be priced, Panos Panay, the General Manager of Microsoft Surface has made it official: it will start at $899 (64GB) and climb to $999 (128GB). If you forgot what the specifications are, both versions are powered by an Intel Core i5 and use a 10.6″ 1080p display (1920×1080). It is possible to attach an external display (2560×1600 max) via DisplayPort. The Surface Pro runs with the full version of Windows 8, so every Windows app will run in that environment.At 14mm thick, it is substantially thicker than the Surface RT tablet, but the difference in performance and capabilities are also substantial. The January availability for the Microsoft Surface Pro has also been confirmed by the same blog post.
We knew that the pricing was going to be high, but this post puts an end to the various speculations that were going around. The added-value of the Microsoft Surface Pro makes it more of an enterprise device, where Windows app compatibility is paramount. The pro and cons are well defined: basically it is much faster, and can run any Windows app, but it is expensive and bulkier — but the real question at this point is: what does the battery life look like?
What do you think of the Microsoft Surface Pro? In the meantime, take a look at our review of the Microsoft Surface RT as it has a similar ergonomic profile.
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