128gb

Coveted Microsoft Surface Pro model surfaces again in stores

The 128GB model of the Surface Pro tablet is trickling into Microsoft stores again after quickly selling out earlier in the month.

Microsoft stores at Century City (Los Angeles, Calif.), Palo Alto, Calif., Boston (Prudential Center), and Huntington Station, N.Y., all had "limited stock" of the 128GB model, CNET confirmed today. Other stores, such as ones in New Jersey and Texas, didn't have the model this morning.

Representatives at two of the stores said that they couldn't guarantee availability at the end of the day due to the model's popularity.

The 128GB Surface Pro … Read more

Microsoft Surface Pro hoarders try to make a quick buck

The 128GB Surface Pro is a rare commodity at the moment. And stiff eBay asking prices reflect this.

In fact, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that some eBay vendors are hoarding the device, trying to cash in on the scarcity.

Though pretty common with hard-to-get Apple products, it's unusual to see this with a Windows product -- and it's Microsoft's first PC, to boot.

One seller, with a stack of at least 10 Pros, is asking $1,300 for the 128GB model. Other sellers are asking $1,399 and even $1,499. The regular … Read more

Apple getting 'defensive' with 128GB iPad, says analyst

With its new pricey fourth-generation iPad 4, Apple has one eye on Windows 8 hybrids, a Citibank analyst said today.

"At $799, this latest iPad [model is] priced above the average selling price of a laptop ($703), bringing the two squarely into the same wallet discussion," Glen Yeung of Citibank said in a research note.

Yeung continued: "Given what we estimate to be a 3-quarter slide in 10" iPad unit sales, we can't help but detect a defensive element to Apple's latest iPad [model]."

That defensiveness is rooted in "trying to head … Read more

Microsoft pushes Office subscriptions

Tuesday's CNET Update doesn't need another yearly fee:

Microsoft Office 2013 comes in several flavors, so today's show breaks down what you need to know about upgrading. A single copy of Office 2013 with the basic programs costs $140. But Microsoft is pushing a new yearly subscription version called Office 365. The $100 yearly fee brings regular updates, as well as bonus cloud storage space and free calling time on Skype. The fee also gives customers the option to download Office on five computers.

Also in the news:

- Apple announced it will offer a 128GB iPad on February 5, … Read more

The 404 1,197: Where we are who we said we were (podcast)

Jeff hasn't finished complaining about last year's Retina Display iPad yet and Apple went ahead and announced a new 128-gigabyte model for $799. But wait, haven't we been getting beaten in the head with Apple's cloudcentric messaging for the last two years? Why the push for local storage all of a sudden?

In pop culture news, we'll spend some of the first half talking about mistaken identities through the Internet and the "Catfish" show on MTV that just wrapped up its first season.

Some critics accused the episodes of being staged (like the film it was based on), but a casting application for Season 2 at least proves that the stories are staged at most, not entirely made up.… Read more

Apple's 128GB iPad: Here's how much the bump really costs

Apple's long been at the top of the heap when it comes to making money on one key aspect of its portable devices: storage.

That trend continued with this morning's announcement of a 128GB model of the iPad, a device that costs just a steak dinner short of a full-blown Mac notebook.

The new models ring in at $799 for the Wi-Fi only, or $929 for the version with 4G LTE connectivity. That's $100 more than the 64GB model, which is $100 more than the 32GB model, which is -- you guessed it -- $100 more than … Read more

Microsoft Surface Pro software devours disk space

Microsoft's Surface RT tablet was knocked for the dearth of storage on the low-end version. Surface Pro isn't faring much better.

The 64GB version of the upcoming Surface Pro -- due for release February 9 -- will offer only 23GB of available storage space for user files, according to a statement CNET received from Microsoft.

"The 128GB version of Surface Pro has 83GB of free storage out of the box. The 64GB version of Surface Pro has 23GB of free storage out of the box," a Microsoft representative said in a statement.

(Note that a report … Read more

128GB iPad should mean the end of the 64GB MacBook Air

Today's news: the iPad has hit 128GB. That's fine. But my real question is, why does the $999 11-inch Air still have only a 64GB SSD?

If you look at the world of business-targeted Windows 8 tablets, many of them have 128GB storage options...including the upcoming Surface Pro. The logic is clear, especially if you're in a business where you need to store tons of files locally and don't want to sync in the cloud. In that sense, a stepped-up storage option for the larger iPad makes obvious sense.

The real benefit of 128GB of storage, though, would be in the 11-inch MacBook Air.… Read more

Porn permitted on Twitter's Vine app

Monday's CNET Update is swinging off the Vine:

In today's tech news roundup, everyone is buzzing about the Vine app -- for a different reason this time. Twitter's overly hyped app for six-second video clips seems to have a porn problem. Users are posting pornographic videos, and Vine permits it. Apple has not yet pulled Vine from the App Store, even though it has a strict policy to ban apps with adult content. Could Apple be making an exception and giving Twitter time to clean up its app?

If you're curious what other video clips are … Read more

XPS 13, Dell's first ultrabook, released

Dell's first ultrabook, the XPS 13, is now available. And it's attracting a lot of attention as one of Dell's best laptop designs to date.

The XPS 13 boasts solid specs for the base $999 configuration, is priced well below the MacBook Air, uses a smaller footprint than 13-inch competitors, and taps carbon fiber materials in the chassis to keep the weight below three pounds.

And Dell will announce Tuesday that it is seeing lots of demand already. "We're seeing strong consumer and business demand for the new XPS 13," said Michael Tatelman, Dell Vice President and General Manager of Americas Consumer, in a statement to be released Tuesday.

The XPS 13 wil also be sold at Best Buy from Tuesday.

Starting at $999.99, it comes -- at that price -- with a 13.3-inch/300-nit/1,366x768 display squeezed into a 12-inch chassis (roughly), an Intel Core i5-2467M processor, Intel HD Graphics 3000, a 128GB solid-state drive, 4GB of memory, backlit keyboard, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit. It is 0.71 inches at its thickest point.

Other standard features include a 47WHr 6-cell battery (built into the laptop and not replaceable by the customer) rated at a maximum of over eight hours, one USB 3.0 port, one USB 2.0, mini Display-Port, 1.3-megapixel Webcam, and dual-array digital microphones. … Read more