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Microsoft Surface Pro sales hit 400K in a hurry

Microsoft is moving a lot of Surface Pros, considering the high price for the device.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Brooke Crothers
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Will Surface Pro outsell Surface RT despite the Pro's higher price?
Will Surface Pro outsell Surface RT despite the Pro's higher price? Best Buy

Microsoft has sold 400,000 Surface Pros since launch, according to a Bloomberg report.

That's not a bad start for a very pricey tablet -- starting at $899 -- considering that the Windows 8-based Pro launched only about a month ago.

"That's a respectable number and it leads me to believe that Surface Pro will end up outselling Surface RT," Bob O'Donnell, an analyst at IDC, said in a phone interview.

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O'Donnell is referring to the RT version of Surface, which is less expensive, starting at $499, but it is not compatible with older Windows software.

"It's something that we've predicated all along because of the compatibility that Surface Pro offers," he said.

In total, Microsoft has sold about 1.5 million Surface devices, including both Pro and RT, according to Bloomberg. Surface RT was announced more than three months ago.

While the RT version initially sold out, Microsoft was able to meet demand quickly. That hasn't been the case for the Pro. The high-end 128GB Pro has been chronically sold out since its release on February 9. Only in the last week to ten days has the high-end model become readily available.

Of course, the Pro's numbers pale in comparison with the iPad. Apple sold more than 20 million iPads in the quarter ending December.

But, like Surface RT, the 9.7-inch Retina iPad starts at $499, while the iPad Mini is even cheaper, starting at $329.

The Surface Pro essentially squeezes a mainstream laptop into a 2-pound, 0.5-inch thick tablet. Pro packs a 1,920x1,080 resolution 10.6-inch display, Intel Ivy Bridge processor, 4GB of memory, and a full-fledged solid-state drive (not the slower flash drives found in Apple and Android tablets).

[Via The Verge ]