It may have taken twelve months from announcement to reality, but Microsoft’s Surface Pro has finally gone on sale in the UK today. Microsoft announced a few weeks ago that a collection of countries would see the Surface Pro arrive by the end of May. Today, it was the UK’s turn and Microsoft is celebrating by devoting the company’s UK website’s home page to the new tablet.
Priced at £719 for the 64GB version or £799 for the 128GB version, the Surface Pro certainly isn’t cheap, but it is whole a lot more powerful than Surface RT. It runs full version of Windows 8 compared to Windows RT in Surface RT. It’s fair to say many are still unsure that Windows 8 / RT is the answer to Microsoft’s tablet problems, but with the company going head on with the iPad not just in the market but also in the company’s new adverts, it’s certainly game-on!
If any UK Surface fans want to pick up a Surface Pro today then they can via Microsoft’s own online store right now. If they’d rather walk into a brick and mortar store instead, then there are options available. PC World will be stocking the product in selected stores as well as the company’s online store, and John Lewis will also be playing host to Microsoft’s own-brand premium tablet.
With the Surface Pro having been originally showcased in June of 2012, and released in U.S. in February of 2013, it’s taken far too long for the device to make its way to one of the world’s biggest technology markets. Whether Microsoft has ultimately left it too long, we’ll just have to see. When all’s said and done though, if the tablet fills a hole for customers right now, they won’t care when it was announced assuming there isn’t a newer model just around the corner!
Apple is expected to announce a new iPad later this year, though it is debatable as to whether the Surface Pro and the iPad are playing in the same place. Microsoft’s solution is seen as a mobile home for Office by many, something the iPad just can’t compete with currently, okay maybe it can with the RT version, but certainly not with the Pro version. Price-wise, for the 64GB model at least, Apple’s tablet is around £150 less expensive than the Microsoft-branded alternative.
At the end of the day, you pays your money, you takes your choice.
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