After its initial announcement waaaay back in June 2012, the Surface Windows 8 Pro tablet will finally be launching on Feb. 9. Customers will have two options when it comes time to decide how much storage they want included in their Surface Windows 8 Pro, with the 64GB model coming in at $899 and the 128GB variant featuring a price tag of $999. However, Microsoft today revealed exactly how much storage space will be available to the consumer out of the box on both units, and the numbers given are quite a bit lower. Microsoft explained in a statement sent to Engadget that the 64GB Surface Windows 8 Pro will actually have 23GB available, while the 128GB version will give users 83GB of usable space.
Microsoft goes on to say that customers can free up some of the storage space by making a bootable USB backup and deleting the Surface's recovery partition. Additionally, the firm explains that any users that are jonesing for some extra storage can use the Surface's USB 3.0 port to add an external hard drive, utilize the tablet's microSDXC card slot, or use SkyDrive and its 7GB of free space.
We saw a similar situation unfold last year with the launch of the Windows RT version of Microsoft's Surface, which comes in a 32GB model with 16GB of usable space or a 64GB flavor with 46GB of user-accessible storage. The situation is a bit worse with the Surface Windows 8 Pro, though, which has been touted by some as a potential laptop replacement thanks to the fact that it can run full-on Windows 7 desktop apps in addition to Windows 8 apps. With just 23GB available on the 64GB model and 83GB on the 128GB version, folks that use the Surface Windows 8 Pro like they would a traditional laptop are likely to start feeling a bit cramped for storage fairly quickly. Do you think you'd be able to make do with 23GB or 83GB of space on a Surface Windows 8 Pro?
Via Engadget
