"In a filing with the US Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), Microsoft admitted something it has been silent about with the public: Yes, the first Surface tablets will ship to customers on October 26, the same day that Windows 8 arrives.
"The next version of our operating system, Windows 8, will be generally available on October 26, 2012,” the filing reads. “At that time, we will begin selling the Surface, a series of Microsoft-designed and manufactured hardware devices.”
Presumably, this means only the base Surface version, which runs on ARM hardware and utilizes the ARM version of Windows 8, called Windows RT. Surface Pro, which runs Windows 8 Pro on Intel-based hardware, will arrive about 90 days later, according to a previous Microsoft statement.
Of course, there are still so many questions about Surface, not the least of which is pricing. The ARM-based Surface versions will come in 32GB and 64GB variants, and the Intel Pro versions will ship with 64GB or 128GB of solid state storage. But Microsoft has never discussed pricing, and even the SEC filing doesn’t touch on this matter.
"Suggested retail pricing will be announced closer to availability and is expected to be competitive with a comparable ARM tablet or Intel Ultrabook-class PC," Microsoft said in a statement, somewhat clarifying things. Comparable ARM tablets, like the iPad, start at $500 and quickly rise to $830. Ultrabooks generally sell in the $999 range, though Intel said recently that it expects Windows 8-class Ultrabooks to sell for closer to $699."
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Microsoft: Surface Tablet to Ship October 26 Alongside Windows 8
Userlevel 7
+56
Userlevel 7
+56
Time for Webroot to support the new Surface Tablet and Windows phones! ;)
TH
TH
Userlevel 5
+16
I'm actually thinking about picking one of these up to replace my first gen iPad. While I can't confirm it, the 'Pro' version of the Surface should be supported by WSA, as it's running on Intel hardware (an i5), however, I'm not sure about the RT version running on the ARM chip. I don't know enough about the version to say if it has enough of the core Windows Kernal to allow WSA to run on it, or if it even includes enough instructions, it will certainly be interesting to see.
It's certainly an exciting time for Microsoft and the devices look GREAT!!!
It's certainly an exciting time for Microsoft and the devices look GREAT!!!
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