Hasta La Gadget!

Yesterday Microsoft announced two new Surface tablets and a set of accessories designed to help its more expensive tablet-hybrid slot into enterprise business environments. The new Surface Pro 2, the Power Cover, and the docking station form a trio of products that Microsoft hopes will drive corporate sales of its hardware.

Microsoft’s new tablets are now up for pre-order, though the Power Cover and dock will not be released until the early part of next year.

It’s worth noting the price of the get-up, however. The Surface Pro 2, sans any accessory, starts at $899 in its most basic format. That SKU has a modest 64 gigabytes of internal storage. The highest-end Surface Pro 2, with 512 gigabytes of storage, costs $1,799, or double the price of its cheapest build.

The docking station and the Power Cover will cost another $199 apiece when they are released. Therefore, to pick up the flagship Surface Pro 2 SKU, along with the hardware that Microsoft is building for the extension of its use inside the corporate realm, you will spend three dollars under the $2,200 mark. That’s a high price.

So, Microsoft is more than willing to charge for its enterprise-facing Surface Pro 2. At the other end of the scale, Microsoft is selling its original Surface RT tablet for $349, and first generation Touch Cover for $79. It is also selling the Surface RT as part of a discounted bundle that includes a black Touch Cover for as little as $400.

In case you hadn’t seen the full list, here’s the pricing for the Surface line moving forward:

Surface RT

• 32GB $349
• 64 GB $449
• 32 GB with black Touch Cover: $399
• 64 GB with black Touch Cover: $499

Surface 2

• 32GB $449
• 64GB $549

Surface Pro 2

• 64GB $899
• 128GB $999
• 256GB $1,299
• 512GB $1,799

You can buy just over 5 Surface RT devices for the price of a single, highest-end Surface Pro 2.

The new question is how the new Surface devices together will sell, and how they will sell in relation to one another. The Surface 2 is cheaper than the Surface Pro 2, but Microsoft appeared to have an easier time selling the Surface Pro than the Surface RT, the two devices’ predecessors.

It’s too early to have any sort of sales indicators, but our radar is up. More as it happens.

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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What’s the definition of insanity? Trying the same thing several times and expecting a different outcome. While we wouldn’t suggest that Microsoft’s finest minds are in need of urgent medical care, it does seem as if the company’s executives have failed to heed the lessons doled out this summer. After all, it was only a few months ago that Microsoft had to admit that very few Surface RT tablets had been sold, and booked a $900 million loss on inventory that remains rotting in warehouses.

At today’s launch of Microsoft’s second Windows RT-running slate, Surface chief Panos Panay opened his remarks by saying that the “Surface 2 is not subtle, but is a revamp. It is not the simple changes that everybody wants, but it’s the changes people need.” Unfortunately, the changes that he then went on to describe involved making the device thinner, faster and giving it a full-HD display — criticisms that few had leveled at the first generation of the hardware. No, the problems that every critic had were the limitations of the Surface’s operating system: Windows RT. Not that you’d know it from today’s event. In fact, Microsoft went out of its way to downplay the fact that the Surface 2 runs RT, mentioning the ambitious Windows-on-ARM project only three times in an hour. But why was the star of the show reduced to such a bit-part role?

Filed under: Tablets, Software, Microsoft

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Microsoft announced its second-generation Surface tablet PCs and a handful of accompanying accessories today. Here’s a closer look at all the new gear.

With the ushering in of the second generation of Microsoft Surface devices in the Surface 2 and the Surface Pro 2, the company decided to give their accessory line a boot as well. What you’re seeing this week is a Type Cover 2, a Touch Cover 2, a Power Cover, and a Docking Station. These […]