My bad, I thought you were talking more generally. Yeah, their tablet PC didn't do well. But I think Gateway sold a fair share of them to office workers.

seriously. Sci-Fi is the only true inventor.

i believe i remember alien resurrection had a nice tablet as well. that was after 1988 but i was like "woah"

The general consensus was that MS created it as a working proof of concept for hardware manufacturers to produce (presumably under license, I don't know), but it was a product that had minimal impact commercially, likely due to hardware constraints of the time.

Most offices that require a high level of portability and extended power management would be better served by the RT version of the Surface, which happens to compete directly with the iPad/iOS on a hardware and software functionality level. As a "light" version of Windows 8, it will not offer the same level of functionality as the Pro.

The Pro version is not likely to be a device that can be used all day unlike ARM SoC based tablets so that's a pretty significant restriction, making it more like an ultrabook than a tablet (with a 10 hour battery) in that respect. And, the Surface Pro is, for all intents and purposes, an ultrabook in tablet form with a flip over keypad and a kickstand. 

Apparently the cheapest will be $600 with the more expensive Intel based tablets nearer $800.

I think Apple uses ARM based chips but they tailor them for their purposes, but I think every major electronics manufacturer who uses ARM chips does this. I don't think they design any chips from scratch.

Just as the smartphone is the early predecessor of the Tricorder.

My friend and I had a good laugh at that upon discovering the ability to scan QC codes and barcodes in stores back in 2008. 

And of course Big (Tom Hanks film from 1988) predicted/invented the tablet PC digital comic reader even though it wasn't a Sci-Fi film. It was presumably just something cool the screenwriter came up with as a device that would hold great appeal to kids without even thinking about the depth of use the same device could have in every day life. 

$800 seems a bit low given that the cheapest Samsung Series 7 Slate is closer to $1000. 

MS isn't going to be giving these things away. 

Just going by what I've read on some news sites. Might be starting prices.

It's hilarious the hate Non apple companies get when they try and get one up on them. As people have said, if this was IPAD 4, it would be the usual circle jerk amongst the media.

Reminded me of this gif.