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Microsoft Surface Pro 64GB model will only have 23GB free

posted on Jan 29th 2013 by Joe Fedewa

Back when Surface RT was being released we heard that the 32GB model would only have 20GB of free storage. Later that number was reported to be even lower, at just 16GB of free storage. This made a lot of people upset, because they would be getting only half of the storage they paid for. Surface Pro is now just over a week away, and the storage situation is just as upsetting.

Microsoft has confirmed to Neowin that the 64GB model of Surface Pro will only have 23GB of free storage available. The OS will take up a whopping 41GB. The 128GB model will have 83GB of storage. This lack of space is due to Windows 8 recovery. Perhaps a better solution would to have put the recovery on an included USB thumb drive. One plus is that you can use external storage with a Surface, plus it has SkyDrive cloud storage. Still, we would like to see the OS not be so fat.

What do you think about this?


About The Author
Joe Fedewa is a Contributing Editor for Winsource.com and has posted 2625 articles. .
  • Edgar Cervantes

    WOW! That is ridiculous! 64 GB is already a small amount of storage to have to live with… Really? 41 GB? That is just sad.

  • http://www.facebook.com/alexander.nevrmind.7 Alexander Nevrmind

    I have no issue with the Surface Pro only having 83GB of useable space. However, MS has a SERIOUS issue with delivering a clear message as to why the Pro has said space available due to the WIN8 OS and specific applications (list them). They should go further and explain to the consumer that MS recognizes the consumer need for space and award all Surface Pro buyers additional 20GB of storage on Skydrive. The 7GB is a slap in the face, considering consumers can go to Dropbox or the like. On another note, the Surface Pro sure looks like a bargain now considering what Apple is charging for their 128GB iPad.

  • AS147

    Well that has probably just killed off the Surface for me. It is meant to be a laptop and tablet and I can never survive without constantly having to shuffle data around on that amount of space. Its a shame but everytime I think MS has pulled a hardware ace out of the hole it almost always turns out to have a major issue. I suppose this is what happens when a software company releases its Gen 1 hardware. They really need to buy Dell or some other hardware expertise because as brilliant as the Surface is it (for me) is severely hobbled. A 64gb SD card and 83gb of storage only gives me ~20gb more than the 128gb I started with. I am now on the hunt for another device :/

  • djcata

    41GB it is very much …. my laptop with base applications it is just 20GB

  • http://josedmorales.net/ Joe Morales

    I am all for the Surface Pro but come on Microsoft … COME ON!

  • http://www.colossaldamage.com/ SuperMarino

    Uggggh

  • AS147

    So the question I am left with is what is the Windows 8 pro alternative that still provides the lightness, portability, slim form factor and most importantly easily converts between keyboard and tablet mode.

    This last point is most important for me as I don’t like the devices where you have to remove the keyboard and carry it around with you (e.g. transformer PC’s). I really like that you can fold back the keyboard and just forget it but still quickly and easily flip it back when you need it.

    I have seen a few “convertible” laptops where they allow you to move the keyboard out of the way but I don’t know which one comes closest to the light and thin form factor of the Surface Pro.

    Any advice would be appreciated.