Microsoft Surface Pro Box

Microsoft on Thursday dropped the price of the original 64GB Surface Pro from $799 to $699, likely in a bid to attract new consumers to its tablet. The device is the older model offered by Microsoft, which recently introduced the more powerful, but still expensive, Surface Pro 2 and Surface 2. The price drop also applies to the 128GB option, which is now available for $799.

The original Surface Pro is equipped with a 10.6-inch display with a 1920 x 1080-pixel resolution, a Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, a microSD expansion slot and a kickstand. By comparison, the Surface Pro 2 has a similar display but comes with a faster 1.5GHz Intel Core i5-4200U processor which should also offer better battery life. It can also ship with either 4GB or 6GB of RAM, and runs Windows 8.1 out of the box. It has a slightly re-designed body, too, with improvements to the kickstand feature.

The Surface Pro is a compelling buy at its new price point. It offers a full version of Windows that can run all x86 applications, instead of the watered-down version on the Surface RT and Surface 2. Microsoft isn't including a Touch or Type cover with the purchase, which would be a nicer deal, but we think the price drop should help offset early Surface losses.