http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20539993

FAIL

How much

Yes it is pricey but it has a larger screen and more memory. Though you could run existing programs on it, so do not need to worry about the lack of apps. It is an interesting solution.

Makes no difference to most, and it's a crowded market. MS will be lucky to be outdone by their own suppliers

It's far too dear before you even add the keyboard, which lets be honest, is probably it's USP since nobody in their right mind is gonna use fully fledged software with just a touchscreen.

I think that it will cannibalise ultra laptop sales more than tablet sales. It is pricey but that has not stopped Apple. Microsoft will have to overcome their reputation for this to do very well. $99 for a keyboard is expensive but it acts as a cover as well so you save that expense. Plus it is a proper keyboard. It might appeal to someone who is considering a tablet but wants to run some apps without having to gamble on whether there will be an app available. If this is covered already with a PC app then it will not hold back the buyer.

I was thinking along the lines of ultra laptops myself; I think they might just be too late to the party, short of very slim profit margins. MS have the right idea, but this was their one chance to stand out and so far it costs too much.

Not if you are thinking of buying an ultrabook. It might be late but still worth considering if you want one. If I were not so wedded to Apple now I would seriously consider this as an alternative to the iPad or MB Air. This is who the real competition is rather than the Android tablet.

That's just it though; Ballmer clearly hasn't got a clue what this is or where it fits, so why would the public? Especially when he admits he's already two years late. It'll work for a lot of people, but they need to be competing on price since an ordinary tablet does the job for most.

As if the RT isn't expensive enough

It is also not selling well. Only 2 million have been sold.

That's because it's [LIFTED].

The price is very competitive, for a Core i5 tablet. Compared to the existing Core tablets, like the Samsung Series 5 Slat, which has an RRP of 1200€, the Surface Pro looks very competitive. It is in line with or undercuts a lot of the new Hybrids as well.

We've been looking for a decent, relatively cheap tablet for a while, which will run Java. So far, we have been limited to Atom based tablets, which are a total non-starter or tablets for 1200€ or more - some are over 2K - so the Surface Pro seems good value.

And how many sent back?

We found at work the RT wasn't suitable (cannot connect to Exchange because of our security policies and cannot connect remotely through UAG [MS said because it's a 3rd party application!!?] all of which the iPad can do) so it went back. The guy on the phone said a lot had gone back.

I'm a little bit shocked at the price of the Pro. For the money it's obviously not competing with other tablets so presumably it's looking at the Ultrabook market?

It's not really competing with Ultrabooks. It's competing with other i5 convertibles, which are pretty damned expensive.

The RT is there to compete with existing top-end tablets.

Personally, I have an i7 laptop and a separate tablet. I doubt I would have gone for the Pro even if it had been available, but I wouldn't say no if I could get one through work. I imagine a fair number of people will get them for work.

Sadly the RT is anything but top end. Never seen a tablet drop so many frames - and I've seen the Kindle Fire.