Surface Pro: Is 19/83GB free space enough?

[wpguy]

According to Microsoft's statement given to Softpedia, available free storage space on the Surface Pro 64 GB is 19 GB, and 83 GB on the 128 GB model. Is that enough?

Sure you also get an additional 7 GB storage with SkyDrive, but you can't use that for running apps and applications. Sure you can plug in an external drive, but there goes portability.

Should Microsoft also have a 256 GB option?

 

[spaulagain]

What?

That seems like a tonnnn of space used for the OS. My Win7 desktop doesn't even use that much space for the OS.

How can I still and desktop apps if there is only 19gigs free?

 

[bauerbach]

Id be curious to see the source as well... 45gb for system files? the rt uses like 20... and that includes office RT.

win 8 pro calls for 20gb of space, which I think includes the backup folder.

even after backing out the bit conversion, it should have 97gb available for the user, Id be curious where the other 15 is going... it certainly cannot be drivers...

 

[conanheath]

There's still the micro SD but I assume it will have the same indexing limitations as RT?!?! 19gb is a joke and 83gb isn't even enough. That will be gone in a year of normal use. Skydive is great option though. 7gb free and I purchased additional 50gb for $25/yr. Not a bad deal. SkyDrive is great, but it has limited usability. I don't think MS has really though out everything with RT and Pro storage. I never considered Pro because I won't buy a laptop with less than 500gb storage. It just limits its usefulness so much. For RT, 64gb internal and 64gb SD is perfect, in a tablet. For what they are asking for Surface Pro, you really don't get what you want or need. I purchase Vaio E Series 14" with i5, 8gb ram, 8hr battery, touch screen, 750gb HD, DVD burner, W8 Pro for clean install and all the bells and whistles for $1160. I think that is what the 128gb Pro with type cover costs give or take. My RT with remote desktop and Vaio covers everything I need and more. I think Surface Pro will sell well I just don't see people being happy with it in the long term. But with home sharing and networking capabilities it will suite a lot of peoples needs very nicely. I guess.

 

[fwaits]

I also thought I recall if you factory reset your device you get more available storage, but I don't recall the numbers offhand.

 

[The_Traveler]

I think it's enough for most people. Remember that you can easily throw in a large SD card.
The majority of people aren't going to put everything on their surface pro, they still have a primary workstation (desktop/notebook) for their work.

For me I use a Thinkpad T420 for my work and presently also for my casual browsing and what not. I would get the pro for home use and only use the thinkpad for work..

I think that's the whole point. Who the **** wants to work full time on a tablet? :S

Intel's vision of hyprid/convertible machines being the future might be accurate IMHO.

 

[spaulagain]

I'm not worried about personal files. SD slot and SkyDrive Will be fine for that. But what about when I install Adobe Design suite, AutoCAD, etc.?

 

[Microsoftjunkie]

People are also forgetting you can copy your backup to a external device and delete the partition. Freeing up space

 

[spaulagain]

People are also forgetting you can copy your backup to a external device and delete the partition. Freeing up space

Oh, ok. Hopefully that's all it is.

 

[wpguy]

Who the **** wants to work full time on a tablet? :S

Actually, me. Heavy-duty work sessions would be made more comfortable with an external display, keyboard, etc. But when I'm on the go, I don't want to have to rely on availability of any external devices or services. My device needs to be as self-contained as possible.

 

[spaulagain]

Actually, me. Heavy-duty work sessions would be made more comfortable with an external display, keyboard, etc. But when I'm on the go, I don't want to have to rely on availability of any external devices or services. My device needs to be as self-contained as possible.

Exactly

 

[tonyk79]

Can anybody confirm what amount of storage is likely to be available after removing the backup partition? 19gb is not enough and you wouldn't be able to run programs from sdhc cards unless using the expensive high speed ones. I am hoping Microsoft didn't drop the ball on this like with surface rt.

 

[dsp4]

64GB isn't that bad. I'm currently running Win 8 Pro on a desktop that only has a 64GB SSD and it's OK as my main system. Movies, Music and backups are all stored on a separate file server, but I have about half of Adobe's Creative Suite, Office 2013 Preview, Visual Studio Express, SC2 and Diablo 3, plus a bunch of personal files and work projects set up. That leaves about 5GB of free space. That's definitely not ideal and I would really appreciate the extra room of a 128GB drive, but it works.

128GB is more than enough for a device like Surface Pro.

 

[tonyk79]

128gb seems to be the only option as 19gb free isn't enough for me. It looks a quality product though and if they can get it down another $100 per model i think it can really make inroads into the highend iPad sales.

 

[inteller]

My god it doesn't ****ing compete with ipads! When are you _____________ going to get that through your heads?

the 64Gb model -should- have about 35-40Gb free as that is what the Acer W510 has which is running Windows 8. Since the Surface runs Pro it could mean there are more things taking up space. 19Gb free would indicate that MS has the entire system image on a recovery partition which can be taken out.

 

[Laura Knotek]

It isn't supposed to compete with iPads. It is a laptop replacement.

 

[wpguy]

It isn't supposed to compete with iPads. It is a laptop replacement.

That may be, but as a tablet most consumers will be comparing it to other tablets, namely the iPad and the Android assortment.

 

[Laura Knotek]

That may be, but as a tablet most consumers will be comparing it to other tablets, namely the iPad and the Android assortment.

There is no comparison, though, since it runs a desktop OS, not a mobile OS.

 

[Shadow_12213]

On my HP laptop running Windows 8 pro, WITH Office 2013 pro and with some extra software goodies and all the Windows 8 files etc. add up to 20.3 GB... So I highly doubt that the Surface pro will be using 45 GB of space without office and everything. It makes no sense whatsoever and even if we count the drivers and everything for the surface pen software, there is no way that adds up to 45 GB.

 

[tonyk79]

My god it doesn't ****ing compete with ipads! When are you _____________ going to get that through your heads?

the 64Gb model -should- have about 35-40Gb free as that is what the Acer W510 has which is running Windows 8. Since the Surface runs Pro it could mean there are more things taking up space. 19Gb free would indicate that MS has the entire system image on a recovery partition which can be taken out.

How does this tablet not compete with ipads? Its a tablet, the iPad is a tablet, the galaxy tab 2 is a tablet. This could potentially pull people from buying the 64GB iPad, of course somebody looking to spend $400 on a tablet isn't going to consider the surface pro but those who want the defining adobe cs6 experience on a tablet could consider this. I don't want to hulk around dslr camera gear and a laptop and the iPad i currently have is limited to a really poor photoshop experience.

For this to succeed Microsoft have to get people to stop buying iPad and the various android tablets. Laptop sales have already stalled as people buy tablets, they need to buy the MS version.