Slim Pickings for Windows 8/Surface Cyber Monday Deals
On this Cyber Monday, if you were hoping to find a good deal on a Windows 8 PC and/or tablet you'll have to search long and hard. And even those that may appeal to cost-conscious shoppers are already sold out.
In an apparent effort to clear out inventory of its first-generation Surface devices, Microsoft slashed the price of its Surface Pro to $649 for the version equipped with 64 GB of storage -- down from $799. Unfortunately it's sold out. Though if you want the beefier Surface Pro with 128 GB of storage it was still available this morning for $749 (down from $899) at the Microsoft Store. That's $250 less than the Surface Pro 2 and you will sacrifice battery life and performance if you believe then the savings are worthwhile.
If you're looking for a hot deal on the first-generation Surface RT, Best Buy had them listed at an attractive $199. The bad news is they're sold out. Microsoft is offering the Surface RT for $299 (down from $349), though it's a refurbished version. The newer Surface 2s cost $449.
The only PC equipped with Intel's 4th generation (Haswell) processor at the Microsoft Store is HP Pavilion TouchSmart 15-n011nr touchscreen laptop offered as a Cyber Monday deal. It's listed at $499, which Microsoft claims is $200 off the regular price. It has a 15.6-inch touch screen display, an i5 processor, a 500 GB hard drive, 4 GB of RAM and battery life of six hours.
Some other deals tweeted by Microsoft Sales Excellence Program Manager Eric Ligman include the Dell XPS 18 Touchscreen All-in-One for $699 (down from $1,349) and the ASUS VivoTab Smart ME400C-C2-BK touchscreen tablet reduced $100 to $299 -- but alas they too are sold out. Others, touted as deals, are really the same prices they were advertised at in the past such as the New Dell Venue 11 Pro (64 GB). Also beware of low-cost PCs that don't have touch displays. Whether or not you think you'll ever use the touch features, it makes no sense to buy one without a touch interface. At some point you will need it.
If you're looking for a Cyber Monday deal on a Surface 2 or Surface Pro 2, good luck! If you see any deals on Windows 8 PCs and/or tablets, feel free to share them.
Posted by Jeffrey Schwartz on 12/02/2013 at 2:56 PM