Headline from the Future: Microsoft Writes Down Millions of Unsold Surface 2s. It is Still Too Pricey!

Microsoft just does not know how to compete effectively in the hardware arena.

Microsoft's more "productive" tablet device, the Surface Pro 2, will launch with the full version of Windows 8.1 Pro, featuring compatibility with all Windows desktop software. On the hardware side, Surface Pro 2 is packing Intel's new Haswell i5 processor and now comes in storage and RAM configurations larger than the original Pro offered, either 4 or 8GB of RAM and 64, 128, 256 or 512GB of storage. The battery life on the Surface Pro 2, Microsoft has said, has been optimized for 60% longer life compared to the Surface Pro, which tested at about 4 hours of use. The price for the Surface Pro 2 will start at $899 (64GB, 4GB RAM), $100 more than its predecessor.

$899 is pretty much how expensive most full featured laptops with small screens would be. The Macbook Air is about $100 more expensive while most Dell laptops with 15 inch screens cost about $400 or so. In fact you can buy two Nexus 10s for the price of one Surface Pro 2. Actually you could buy the top of the line IPad and the best docking station you could buy and still have money leftover to buy a Kindle Fire or a Nexus 7 to read books with or whatever. An IPad or Nexus 10 has lesser specs but you still get a chance to be as productive as you can be with a Surface Pro 2. It just seems that Microsoft wants you to pay +$100 for 60% better battery life.

You also get a chance to buy a gimped version as well:

The Surface 2, meanwhile -- the sequel to Microsoft's Surface RT, which is meant to compete with Apple's iPad -- is being given an even more noticeable specs bump and a new silver colored casing. The NVIDIA quad-core processor is now a speedier Tegra 4; the display has been upped to 10.6" Full HD (1080p); and the company is claiming 10 hours of battery life for the device, about 25% longer than the Surface RT. The Surface 2 will have a starting price of $449 (32GB version).

Hmm, I think I would rather buy a Nexus 10 for slightly cheaper ($419 on Amazon) and have all of my Android apps from my phone available on my tablet. No need to re-download a bunch of Surface RT apps that won't work anywhere else other than on the device. Plus no ugly-assed Fisher-Price OS AKA the Metro display to look at as well. I'm sure 10s of people are lining up to buy them.