This device really goes after a niche. Most people just want to know what do they need and how much, and not worry about which accessories to add. At 899, it's extremely difficult to recommend a PC with only 25 GB of usable space.
I say PC, because it's 25GB of PC storage. PC storage and, let's say, Android storage follow completely different metrics.
As an example, Spotify, the app, uses 8MB on android. Spotify uses 70MB on Win8.
Spec wise, the device is very attractive at that price.
Usability wise, the decide isn't too attractive at 899.
Example, recommending my g/f a laptop. I have basic requirements. 8GB of RAM, at least 128GB of storage, and a keyboard.
The Surface for these specs is 1418
The MBA is 1099.
I have a Win8 Key... For the first time ever, i'm considering an MBA as a recommendation, although it will be running Windows
A 128GB Surface Pro 2 costs $999 and Type Cover 2 is $129.99 = $1130...that's $40 more
with a touchscreen, active digitizer and stylus
and 200GB of SkyDrive storage (2 yrs) and basically unlimited use of Skype (1 yr). That is a hell of a deal, especially when you consider that the Surface's hardware is of premium quality and built to make Windows 8 fly.
Sure, you only get about 80GB of available storage and 4GB of RAM on the Surface, but you are getting a lot to offset that loss.
Even with my 64GB Surface Pro I'm running Office 2013, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Premiere,
and Steam with Warframe, drawing help from a 64 micro-SD card and SkyDrive of course.
Since Windows Vista we've seen Microsoft make Windows more efficient and lightweight, so as to allow future iterations to work on dated hardware. Compared to my previous PC, a 2007 HP Pavilion on 2GB of RAM and AMD CPU, the Pro (1) is a fighter, and with Windows iterations becoming increasingly efficient and computing increasingly off-loaded to the cloud, does 8GB of RAM matter for most?
My girl was also in the market for a new laptop, and she is a Mac user at home. But seeing me this past year with my Surface she felt the Mac lost its special quality and charm, it's just another computer. But the Surface? It's a new take on computing.
She likens the Surface Pro to Final Fantasy XIII. There's this huge world below, "Pulse" ... where you have access to all of those legacy desktop applications, Adobe Cloud Suite, full Office 2013, etc. But then there's this new world, a more ordered and shinier world, "Cacoon" ... where you're opened to the mobile apps that work on your core PC, and work
with you from one device. Yes, Kindle, Kobo, Twitter and soon Facebook, Flipboard and more.
That's special bro. Special. Don't let your girl miss out... MBA doesn't do justice to its default wallpaper (which is some nebula/galaxy, but it's not nearly as cool as cosmic gas inside...it isn't...)
Come on bro.... Come on.