Microsoft sets date for the launch of Surface Pro: February 9th (that’s a Saturday). The tablet running with the full version of Windows 8 Pro missed its promised 90 days after the release of Surface RT, but is finally hitting the store shelves. The announcement comes from Panos Panay, General Manager of Microsoft Surface, in a new article at The Official Microsoft Blog, where he also details that at first it will be available in the U.S. and Canada, in all the Microsoft retail stores, at microsoftstore.com, Best Buy and Staples, as well as from different locations in Canada, yet to be announced.
Microsoft Surface with Windows 8 Pro houses a powerful Intel Core i5 processor giving the tablet great performance to run all Windows 7 desktop programs and the new Windows 8 apps. The device will be available in a 64GB and a 128GB version at a starting price of $899 without Touch Cover or Type Cover.
Surface Pro looks almost identical to its sibling Surface RT, they both feature the VaporMg case, a 10.6-inch multi-touch display and they both support the two types of attachable keyboards. The big difference comes in the CPU, pen support, 10-point multi-touch support compare to the 5-point support in the RT version of the tablet, and in the Full HD 1080p screen resolution. For full details and comparison between the tablets, see this previously article with a pre-release overview.
Microsoft is also unveiling that they will shortly expand the availability of Surface RT to 13 additional countries including: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
In addition, starting February the company is also introducing three new laser-etched designs Touch Cover Limited Editions for $129.99 (each) for either version of the tablet. And a Surface Edition of the Wedge Touch Mouse, providing four-way Touch scrolling and easy way to navigate Windows 8 and it will be priced at $69.99.
Source and images from Microsoft
