Seriously right now people, this is a TABLET PERSONAL COMPUTER RUNNING WINDOWS 8 PRO!!! NOT AN IPAD OR AN ANDROID!!!
Seriously Coke Robot, do people really want a fully functional computer in a tablet form factor? I don't. Tablets to me are far less functional than a laptop and therefore should also be far less expensive than a laptop. I'm not sure I would be willing to pay $1,000 for something with a 10" screen and so many other tablet style limitations.
Does your ipad or android tablet run Office 2013 Pro or iTunes to manage your ipad or iphone, or allow you to convert video files, or be able to run bittorrent clients (ipad), or data recovery software, virtualization software, Photoshop CS6, AutoCAD 2013, or even allow for some light Steam gaming? I'm going to answer this because this is such a stupidly easy question to answer:
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And does anybody care about converting video files or bit torrenting from their tablet, or running virtual machines. Ummm....no. And good luck virtualizing machines with small amounts of hard drive space and RAM. I don't forsee too many people attempting to use Photoshop or AutoCad on a damn tablet.
Define multifunction that people are in demand for. Last I checked, Ethernet isn't one. An optical drive can be done without. Look at ipad sales, people are putting cash (in some cases bodily organs) over fist to buy a 500 dollar ipod touch. Then, some go out an pay an extra 150 usually for an added keyboard to do things like....I don't know using the notepad?
To me, phablets are one thing. They're what have defined tablets as being impotent. Tablet PCs are another thing. In all honesty, a tablet PC is just a laptop with usually a five inch smaller screen without a keyboard attached all the time. THAT right there is what makes a tablet so much more portable. It's awkward to carry around a laptop, let alone the possible damage that can be done to a moving hard drive.
So you're telling me that the ONLY thing that tablets are good for are doing literally NOTHING more than what a smartphone does? I'm sorry, but I'm not going to shell out 400+ dollars for that just for the off chance I want to read an news story in the park. I'll make use of my Windows Phone. If I'm going to shell out 800+ dollars, I BETTER be able to convert video and music files to put on an ipad or iphone or my Windows Phone; as well as being able to use AutoCAD or Photoshop. See, I don't personally have a laptop. I've used and lived by a desktop for most my life. I've been in the market for a laptop for a year or two now as I'll be using it for college classes when I go back. I don't really want a 500 gig hard drive as mechanical drives aren't the best solution for ultra portability, and I just don't really require 500 gigs when I will have terabytes in my desktop. If I'm going to shell out 800+ dollars for an ultrabook, it better be portable and light and easy and convenient to use. It better have software that allows ME to do what I want to do, whether it be something on the Desktop or a metro app. But alas, there isn't an ultrabook or laptop that has fit the bill. Now comes along the Surface Pro, that has the hardware specs I want such as the stylus and the i5 processor as well as flash storage, has a keyboard cover that I can take off and use as a cover and isn't in the way and doesn't add bulk to the whole package. For a total of 1,000 dollar, yes it's expensive as balls. I can buy a Lenovo Yoga for with that, but again I don't want the keyboard there. I want to be able to whip it out like a notepad and write something down. I can then use it create an AutoCAD drawing and carry it over to my desktop. I can use it recover data off damaged hard drives if I want to go to that extent.
It's the flexibility that it offers that is so attractive. I've meet someone once that actually paid 1,000 dollars on a 64 gig ipad, a third party keyboard, a case and cover, and a couple other accessories to make it work like a tablet PC that it is not. For that same money, he could had bought a laptop, but again he probably doesn't want that added bulk and want it as a companion device or such. I believe he ended up buying that Lenovo Yoga we were looking at. So tell me, the Yoga is a laptop/ultrabook, does that offer added functionality that I sacrifice with a tablet PC?
Kind of silly that the thinking is that the Surface Pro is too expensive and an ipad would be better. Excuse me, but no, and ipad or android won't be better.
