Microsoft Surface to start at $519, but is that cheap enough?

If you want the fancy fold-out Touch Cover keyboard, which you probably do since all the teaser images featured one, you’ll need to spend another $129.99. Might as well go for the variety of Surface which is bundled with the Touch Cover keyboard, for $619.

But this is both a Microsoft hardware and software product. Unusual, considering that Microsoft has let companies like Lenovo and HP make the devices with MS software.

With the exception of the Xbox, Microsoft usually doesn’t handle both.

The Surface, it seems, will try and give users a Windows experience but on a lightweight and portable device.

Let’s get something clear here, to start. The Surface will run Windows RT, which doesn’t mean Re Tweet. It is Microsoft’s way of saying that the software is specifically made for low-horsepower tablets. A (likely more powerful) Surface with Windows 8 Pro is “coming soon.”

From a hardware perspective, the Surface will pack a 10.1-inch screen and weigh about 1.5 pounds. Storage space starts at 32 GB (a 64GB version costs $710 and includes the Touch Cover). The CPU is an Nvidia T30 with 2 GB of RAM.

In addition to microphones and speakers, the Surface will have a USB 2.0 port and a microSDXC card slot, plus HD video out.

But there’s been a lot of hype around the Surface, especially since it should be as close a competitor to the Apple iPad as possible.

If the Surface offers a damn close experience to running a power powerful Intel-based tablet, then it will be a hit. The price is on the high end, considering that it doesn’t really undercut the iPad aggressively (which starts at $519 for 16GB) since you’ll most likely want the keyboard Touch Cover.

You can pre-order one now. Do you want one?

- Maurice Cacho, MSN Tech & Gadgets