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Why You Shouldn’t Buy a Cheap Surface Pro 2

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Microsoft is slashing the price of the Surface Pro 2 notebook and tablet replacement it introduced last year. Does this drastically lower price tag make it the perfect time to purchase the powerful 2-in-1 Windows device? Absolutely not.

Earlier this morning the Microsoft Store, the online retail arm of the company, revealed drastically lower prices for the entire Surface Pro 2 line of tablets. Starting today, users can pick up four versions of the Surface Pro 2 for as much as $200 less than what they could following launch.

The Surface Pro 2 now costs $799 with 64GB of storage and $899 for a device with $128GB of storage. Additionally, Microsoft has discounted the Surface Pro 2 with 256GB of storage and the Surface Pro 2 with 512GB of storage by $200. That leaves those devices at $1099 and $1,599 respectively.

Surface 2

Surface Pro 2

Just a few months ago price breaks on the Surface Pro 2 would have been perfect. For all of its shortcomings, the machine was still the best Windows 2-in-1 available to users, even if it wasn’t the cheapest. Since Microsoft unveiled the Surface Pro 2 at an event in New York last year the Windows tablet landscape has changed. More specially, Microsoft has already unveiled the Surface Pro 2’s immediate replace, the aptly named the Surface Pro 3.

Shown last month and preparing for a release on June 30th, the Surface Pro 3 addresses nearly every concern previous Surface owners raised about the Surface Pro and Surface Pro 2’s form factor. For the same starting price — $799 with 64GB of storage – Surface Pro 3 users get a 12-inch display instead of the 10-inch display that’s included in the Surface Pro 2. The improvements don’t stop there either, the Surface Pro 2 includes two five megapixel cameras and an updated stylus that allows users to quickly open Microsoft’s OneNote application.

Surface Pro 3 is so thin that it’s roughly as thick as the Surface 2, Microsoft’s Windows RT tablet that competes directly against the Apple’s iPad. Repositioning the device is easier to do as well. Instead of a two-step kick-stand the Surface Pro 3 uses a tension hinge that is adjustable to almost any angle. That’s a big advantage as Surface Pro and Surface Pro 2 users have had to rely third-party cases and accessories to get just the right viewing angle in any situation, that’s despite having a kickstand built into their devices.

Microsoft also improved on the Type Keyboard by adding a larger trackpad with a less tacky surface and adding in a row of magnets at the top for users to lock the cover in with their Surface Pro 3 for a better typing experience in their lap. Unfortunately, Microsoft hasn’t improved on the add-on’s biggest pain point. It’s still sold separately from the Surface Pro 3 for an extra $129.99.

Read: The Surface Pro 3: 3 Reasons Not to Buy

It appears that Microsoft is simply pricing the Surface Pro 2 around this month’s launch of the Surface Pro 3. Only the Surface Pro 3’s more expensive and more powerful $999 model will be ready for launch. The $999 Surface Pro 3 with 128GB of storage won’t arrive on stores shelves until August.

Microsoft’s decision to price the Surface Pro 2 in this manner could have users excited about picking up the tablet. That is until a month from now when Microsoft drops the price of the Surface Pro 2 even further to avoid matching the price of the Surface Pro 3 or users realize that they could have gotten a machine that better fits their needs if they’d have just waited another month.

2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. Corrupted Mind

    06/18/2014 at 2:52 am

    Basically, the problem with absolutes is that they very rarely are true for everybody.

    If you are graphic designer (of any description) or engineer/architect then run out and get one of these right now. In fact buy some for your entire team. Before, the Surface Pro 2 was dominating against the competition (i.e. the Cintiq Companion) before the price cuts (all you were losing were a little screen estate, a textured panel and the pro pen) now, its virtually a no brainer and the $200 basically funds your external optical CD drive (manga pro, people), bamboo feel pen and type/touch cover.

    Amongst student designers the Surface’s are pretty much your fastest route to cintinq 13HD type drawing and getting a lappie thrown in.

  2. Tired of bias

    07/29/2014 at 1:47 am

    Droid bias product reviewer, the days of MS hating were long ago, leave it in the past hipster. Do the world a fave and never write another ‘why you shouldn’t’.

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