Hasta La Gadget!

Microsoft has officially priced its Surface tablet, after details on the Windows RT slate appeared earlier today. Surface will go on sale from 9am Pacific this morning (12am ET) through Microsoft’s own webstore, priced at $499 for the 32GB model on its own, or $599 for the 32GB Surface paired with a black Touch Cover. Both will ship in time for the in-store release date of October 26.

There’s also a 64GB version of Surface, priced at $699 and also including the black Touch Cover; Microsoft won’t be selling it without the magnetically-attached touch-keyboard. If you’d prefer a colored Touch Cover, that will set you back $119.99, while the Type Cover with a more traditional keyboard will be $129.99.

Microsoft’s other accessories include an HD Digital AV Adapter and a VGA Adapter, both priced at $39.99. The same amount gets you a second 24W Power Supply, so that you can keep one at your office.

Surface – which runs Windows RT, with the Windows 8 “Pro” version arriving early in the new year – will be sold in Microsoft Stores in the US and Canada, starting from October 26, as well as in the company’s 34 new holiday stores. The tablet will also be offered online in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, and the UK.

Inside the tablet there’s a Tegra 3 processor with 2GB of RAM, either 32GB or 64GB of storage, and a 10.6-inch 1366 x 768 display. Connectivity includes WiFi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, a full-sized USB 2.0, microSDXC slot, HD video output, and a headphones socket; there are also two cameras, front and back, supporting 720p HD video recording.

Microsoft details Surface: When, where and how much is written by Vincent Nguyen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

With a stamp from the FCC on its passport, and some fancy new TV ads, the smell of Microsoft’s Surface tablet is thick in the air. Until now, however, price has been a mystery. Microsoft has just revealed, via its own store, that if you want a slice for yourself, you can do so starting from $499. That price will get you the 32GB version, without the touch cover, with pre-orders available now, penciled in for a 26th of October delivery date. If you must have that cover, it’ll set you back another $100, and the same amount again if you want to hop up to 64GB of memory. With the current status of the larger-memory version showing as out of stock though, those with a thirst for storage still might have to wait a little longer.

Update: It looks like Microsoft might have pulled the listing for now. Perhaps the pages weren’t meant for prime-time just yet.

Filed under: Tablets, Microsoft

Microsoft puts a price on Surface RT: starts at $499, or $599 with Touch Cover originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Oct 2012 08:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Last week, Samsung promised it would reveal a “groundbreaking” Windows 8 device, sending out invitations to a press event in which the company would announce Windows devices, including ultrabooks with touchscreens. This evening, the Korean company unveiled the products, including pricing, which are part of its new “Smart PC” category. The groundbreaking device? Meet the Samsung Series 5 Ultra Touch Windows 8 ultrabook.

The base Series 5 Ultra Touch model starts at $809.99, and features a Core i3 processor (upgradable to an i5 for an extra $50), while both the i3 and i5 models have 4GB of RAM, a 1366×768 display, and a 500GB hard drive with 24 gigs of ExpressCache (high-speed SSD storage). It weighs in at 3.83 pounds, which is perhaps a tad hefty for an ultrabook. No word on battery life.

Other products included the rebranded Ativ Smart PC 500T ($749.99 with keyboard/$649.99 without keyboard) and 700T ($1,199.99), both of which are Windows 8 tablets. The 500T runs an Atom Z2760 processor, while the 700T runs a Core i5. The 500T features 2GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage space, while the 700T features 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage space.

The laptops in the line include the Series 9 Premium Ultrabooks ($1,300 for the 13 inch model, $1,400 for the 15 inch model), the Series 7 15-inch notebook ($1,100), the Series 5 13.3-inch UltraTouch ($810 for the Core i3, $860 for the Core i5), and the Series 3 Notebook, which has a price range of $450 to $900 depending on configuration. Also announced were two All-in-One PCs, the Series 7 ($1,100 for the 23.6 inch model, $1,700 for the 27 inch model), and the 21.5 inch Series 5 at $800. Most of these devices will be available when Windows 8 is released on October 26th.

Samsung reveals Windows 8 ultrabooks and tablet hybrids is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Welcome back to Monday everyone – we’ve got a heaping helping of news to recap, so let’s dive right in. Today we found out that Apple’s manufacturing partnership with Samsung may not last much longer, and that the Google Nexus 7 might just be the best-selling Android tablet ever (which, given its immense popularity, doesn’t surprise us in the least). One Walmart store has its shelves fully stocked with copies of Windows 8, and this afternoon, we have reason to believe that a new, slimmer iMac may be in the pipeline.

By now, you’ve probably heard plenty of iPad Mini rumors, but today we found out that Apple may reveal a new Mac Mini alongside the bite-sized tablet. Today we saw some pictures that appear to have been snapped by the camera on the yet-unannounced Nexus 4, and Apple has managed to bring former Amazon executive William Stasior on to oversee the continuing development of Siri. Android 4.1.2 was sent out to eager Galaxy Nexus owners today, and just in case you missed Felix Baumgartner’s death-defying jump over the weekend, you can see the highlights again today – complete with terrifying shots from his helmet cam.

LG delivered its Jelly Bean update schedule for a few of its devices today, and speaking of LG, AT&T announced that the Optimus G goes up for pre-order tomorrow with a price tag of $200. We heard that Windows 8 is getting an underwhelming response from vendors today, and Nintendo dropped the price of the original Wii down to just $130 in anticipation of the holiday rush. A new study is claiming that file sharers actually buy more music than people who don’t partake in that rather controversial activity, and Microsoft released a brand new Windows 8 ad today.

Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition players found out that they’re in for a treat tomorrow, while Notch was busy showing off new footage from his upcoming game 0x10c and Microsoft was handing out Xbox Live bans to Halo 4 pirates. Activision announced today that Call of Duty Elite will be free with Black Ops II, and we were told that the Wii U gamepad boasts a latency of only 1/60 of a second. Google is in trouble in Europe over privacy concerns again, and we got to take a look at a new robotic wheelchair that can actually walk up stairs. How cool is that?

Finally tonight, we have quite a few original articles for you to have a look at. Chris Burns puts the Optimus G through its gaming paces with Wild Blood, and we pit Xbox Music, Spotify, iTunes, and Google Music against one another to see the strengths and weaknesses of all four. We’ve got a new review of the Huawei Ascend D1 quad XL by Chris Burns, and a review of the Motorola Electrify 2 by your humble wrapper-upper. That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, enjoy the rest of your night folks!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: October 15, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We’re just under two weeks away from the official launch of Windows 8, and Microsoft is doing its best to spread the word on its new and upcoming operating system. However, it looks like Windows 8 isn’t getting much praise from supply chain manufacturers over in Asia, and expectations have ended up plummeting.

Topeka Capital analyst Brian White traveled to Asia recently to meet with various supply chain manufacturers, but he quickly discovered that they’re not too happy with Microsoft’s latest creation. White says that the response has been “overwhelmingly negative” and expectations after the launch of Windows 8 are surprisingly low.

White also mentioned that one supplier he talked to said that they don’t expect Windows 8 to make an impact until the second-half of 2013, despite that October and the holiday season are usually when computer sales spike. This leads White to believe that “the PC industry is headed for a muted December quarter.”

Microsoft is expected to spend anywhere from $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion on their Windows 8 marketing campaign, which is the most that any company has ever spent on marketing one of their products. Overall, hype for the new OS seems pretty high in general, but I suppose the real test will come a few months after the official launch when Windows 8 releases to the public.

[via Business Insider]

Windows 8 getting underwhelming response from vendors is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.