Below $1k was a given anyways. Microsoft has said repeatedly that it would be competitively priced with the iPad.
$1,000 for a new and unknown tablet is anything but competitive.
$1,000 for a new and unknown tablet is anything but competitive.
I would pay that for a tablet that did more than surf the web and play video and games. So, yes, if it was only going to match the capabilities of an iPad but have a different (Metro) interface, then yes, it would have to be priced on par with the iPad. But if it does more and integrates with the enterprise, I think 1,000 is not uncompetitive, given the possible advantages.
I know plenty of medical staff who are receiving training now to use iPads as the sole computing device in the hospital, for example. Same for a lot of financial companies.
Microsoft is trying to sell the idea that you can have the best of both worlds (traditional PCs and tablets) without sacrifices but its simply not true. Something's gotta give. In the case of Surface I expect a lot of frustration trying to use a standard windows app on a small touchscreen. And if you are going to connect the device to an external monitor, keyboard and mouse, you might as well have a small desktop PC.
this is not new, either. Microsoft has tried time and again, first with TabeltPCs, then the overhyped UMPCs (remember those?) and its always hitting the same walls.
If you are going to do a big change in the paradigm you have to have the balls to do it completely and take the advantages that switching to a "pure" tablet experience can offer. Leave bloated software behind, leave all the legacy support, etc...
So don't buy the x86 version. The ARM version doesn't have the desktop, so there's no complaining about how you foolishly installed non-touch apps and now you can't use them easily.
Unless an iPad isn't what you want. There are other selling points for a Windows 8 tablet than "runs desktop apps that you won't like using". That was the selling point for Windows XP and 7 tablets.
And Androids need not apply. We stopped supporting them. Too many security issues as a result of their divergent platform.
In any event, I'm not saying that a Surface would be _the_ system in the ent. All I'm saying is that given its legacy and avant capabilities, the extra price is justifiable, to me. For you an ipad is the perfect solution, there is no problem with that.