After a price cut to its Surface RT tablet and reports of modest sales last month, The Verge is reporting that Microsoft has cut the price of its Surface Pro tablet by $100 through August 29. The price cut applies to both the 64 GB and 128 GB versions of the tablet, bringing down the price of those models to $799 and $899 respectively.

surface_pro
In July, Microsoft filed its annual Form 10-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealing that its Surface lineup of tablets had garnered only $853 million in revenue for the company, which is less than the $900 million writedown the company took for the Surface RT. While Microsoft did not reveal how many Surface units it sold, GeekWire estimated that it sold approximately 1.7 million units by the end of June.

Last month, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told employees at an internal Microsoft town hall meeting that the company had "built more devices than [Microsoft] could sell" in reference to slowing Surface sales. The company has been heavily marketing Windows 8 tablets recently, pitting different tablets against Apple's iPad in a series of ads that highlight the iPad's inability to multitask and its lack of built-in productivity software.

Despite the price cuts, Microsoft has suggested that new versions of both the Surface Pro and Surface RT are in the works, along with a number of new accessories.

Top Rated Comments

bmunge Avatar
147 months ago
Still not worth it.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JoeyCloverfield Avatar
147 months ago
No one cares about Microsoft Products, its not even in the same League as the iPad... also anyone who quotes this and tells me to stop moaning.. go cry to your moms.. if you don't have moms then to bad..

I was under the impression you had to be over 13 to make a forum account. I guess I was wrong.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
2457282 Avatar
147 months ago
Microsoft is doomed.

What? Come on, this is MacRumors, therefore it's Apple that is doomed!

/sarcasm

:D
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
inlinevolvo Avatar
147 months ago
I can agree with you on the battery life. It's the major reason why I haven't considered picking one up for myself, even with the stylus and digitizer tempting me.

But the keyboard? You don't have to use the smartcover if you don't want to. Why not just use any number of bluetooth keyboards? Then you could set the tablet whereever you want, and type from your lap no problem. I did that with my iPad just a couple days back, actually. I set it down on a table off to my left, had my keyboard right in front of me, and typed away. It was almost like having an itty bitty portable iMac in a way. I could easily see me doing the same thing with the Pro.

I understand most of these shortcomings could be handled one way or another. Fundamentally MS was not able to approach this correctly and in my opinion that is mostly because of win 8. It is cumbersome to use on a non touch screen. This has generally translated to bad reviews, among other issues. While win 8 has major improvements it is poorly executed. Some of this is in the works with the upcoming service pack, but for the love of God, why did they remove the start button?? I switched to a Mac because of win 8 and I know I'm not the only one.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
inlinevolvo Avatar
147 months ago
When they reduce the price to 20%, I'll buy a dozen for target practice. There's a great app called "Bull's Eye" that draws a perfect target.

----------



Back in 2007 I would have probably bought one, but just like with my Pocket PC, for which I spent over $1700 in units and accessories that have become practically obsolete, I'm afraid the same is going to happen to the Surface.

Something just didn't click-in properly (could that be the Metro interface?) and it's not getting much attention.

I have a feeling the surface will follow the path of the "kin" and the "Zune". Microsoft has a habit of introducing ill researched products into the market and killing them off. They will leave the tablet marketplace in a few years. As someone else posted, you can get a MacBook Air for the price, which can do so much more. It also doesn't help that the metro interface isn't all that great to use. And the classic Microsoft desktop doesn't suit a tablet.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Fafafoooey Avatar
147 months ago
Why get that...

when you can get a Macbook Air for the same original price and it has PCI SSD, can run Win7 or Win8 in addition to OSX, has a better warranty and more so with AppleCare, is built better.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

10 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Thursday October 31, 2024 9:42 am PDT by
Apple is set to release iOS 18.2 in December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. There are a handful of new non-AI related feature controls incoming as well. ...
best early black friday deals

The Best Early Black Friday Apple Deals

Friday November 1, 2024 8:21 am PDT by
We're officially in the month of Black Friday, which will take place on Friday, November 29 in 2024. As always, this will be the best time of the year to shop for great deals, including popular Apple products like AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment,...
M4 Pro on Blue

M4 Pro Chip Benchmark Results Reveal an Extremely Impressive Performance Feat

Thursday October 31, 2024 7:06 pm PDT by
The first Geekbench 6 benchmark results for the M4 Pro chip surfaced today. Impressively, the results that are available so far show that the highest-end M4 Pro chip is faster than the highest-end M2 Ultra chip in terms of peak multi-core CPU performance. Here is a comparison of the results: Mac mini with M4 Pro (14-core CPU): 22,094 multi-core score (average of 11 results) Mac Studio...
Apple iPhone SE 4 5G Modem 1

iPhone SE 4 First to Get Apple-Designed 5G Modem, iPhone 17 Pro to Add Custom Wi-Fi 7 Chip

Friday November 1, 2024 4:04 am PDT by
The iPhone SE 4 that's set to come out early next year is expected to debut Apple's first in-house 5G modem, according to Jeff Pu, an analyst who covers companies within Apple's supply chain. In a research note this week with Hong Kong-based investment firm Haitong International Securities, Pu said Apple is expected to roll out its custom-made 5G modem starting with the next-generation...
ios 18 2 chatgpt plus

iOS 18.2 Beta 2 Shows Siri ChatGPT Limit, Offers 'Plus' Upgrade Option

Monday November 4, 2024 10:54 am PST by
With the second beta of iOS 18.2 that's available for developers today, Apple has further fleshed out the ChatGPT integration that's available with Siri. In the Settings app, there's now a section that shows the ChatGPT daily limit, and offers an option to upgrade to the paid ChatGPT Plus plan. The beta includes an Advanced Capabilities section with a "Daily Limit" reading that shows up as...
M3 Pro Max vs M4 Pro Max Feature

Here's How Much Faster M4 Pro/Max Are for Graphics vs. M3 Pro/Max

Friday November 1, 2024 8:04 am PDT by
Apple's new M4 Pro and M4 Max chips are impressively fast in terms of CPU performance, topping the M2 Ultra, but what about graphics performance? The first Geekbench 6 results for GPU performance are now available for the M4 Pro and M4 Max, and the Metal scores reveal some impressive year-over-year gains. Based on the Metal scores that are available so far, the M4 Pro and M4 Max are up to...
imac video apple feature

What to Expect From Apple This November

Friday November 1, 2024 9:40 am PDT by
After a busy October in which Apple announced new Macs and Apple Intelligence launched, the calendar has now turned to November. Below, we outline what to expect from Apple this month as the slower-but-still-busy holiday season approaches. After seeding the first betas of iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2 with additional Apple Intelligence features last month, Apple will likely...