Originally Posted by
nmercy $200 or less *
Seriously?
The iPad mini costs ~$300 for the non Retina version and ~$400 for the retina version and to point out one major difference, neither of those come with pen support. If you'd like to compare it to the $200 N7, then again no pen support and my personal opinion, but this will trump that in every way except apps. But for my purposes a full fledged browser, office, and pen support are way more important.
Personally I'd like it to be free, but more realistically $300-$350 is where it will be.
If Microsoft made a product that undercut all of their OEMs and the price they could produce at, that wouldn't be very good for relations. They want to make a compelling product, but still leave it open for OEM involvement imo.
Oh yea, features I'd like:
- Kickstand - I know this has been leaked that it won't have one, but that is ridiculous
. That is what sets the Surface line apart and no matter how small the thing is, the kickstand is invaluable. Even people with phones buy cases that have kickstands in them. Not a deal breaker for me, but a big letdown. - Full USB - No micro USB please. Those are too flimsy and I do not want to carry around adapters for when I want to plug in a USB drive or card reader. I highly doubt the Surface mini will be thinner than a Full USB port. It will fit.
- 10 hours of battery would be nice.
- High res display is nice, but prefer longer battery life. My MBA screen kind of sucks in comparison to my other monitors, but the battery is amazing. Wouldn't trade it.
- 16x10 ratio would be nice. Would prefer not to have 4:3, but not a deal breaker either way.
- ARM - Windows RT has been fantastic for my MOBILE needs and this will be even better. I've got my desktop machines to do everything else I want, but for travel, RT has been perfect.
- Cover accessory that includes a battery and another full USB port - wishful thinking

- Photoshop for RT so we can use the pen for even more! - I can dream right?

- Office Metro - get rid of the need for Desktop for the most part.
Overall I feel like these are realistic expectations besides the Photoshop and doubtful on the cover. Originally I would have said there is no way they'd take the kickstand out so now I don't even know. I probably won't get any of the above except ARM, either 10 hours or high res display (probably not both), and maybe Office Metro for launch. No full USB and kickstand may be deal breakers for me if there isn't enough other that is compelling.