But for me, 64 bit is needed as our office develops apps and know that even with 2GB you want every scrap of processing power.

What is this restart the tablet to free RAM idea? Windows 8.1 is a Virtual Memory based OS and there is no free RAM. If there is free RAM it is wasted RAM. I don't know how long you've been researching this or what OS classes you have taken but something's odd about that statement.

I was out looking at the T100 in a big box store in the USA and it's price was 350USD. Not even close to 1000.
Bob