Microsoft first made the 256GB Surface Pro model available in Japan. TNW expected it to come to the United States, and as of today it has. Through new reseller partner CDW, the 256GB SKU (stock keeping unit) has been outed with an attached price tag of $1,199.99.
This device’s last stop is not the United States. Expect it to land in a market near you this calendar year. Let’s be honest: early Surface models suffered from modest storage space, something that was exacerbated by the total size required by a full Windows 8 install.
Given the popularity of the Surface Pro – demand for it has been higher than I expected, as a confession – adding a higher-priced SKU that will likely enjoy higher margins than its siblings is a sensible move, and one that was likely not fantasically difficult to execute.
As The Verge notes, the new 256GB model, apart from the upgraded storage drive, enjoys a hardware makeup that “remains entirely unchanged.”
TNW reached out to Microsoft for comment on the addition of the new unit variety, and was provided with a formal statement: “There will be limited availability of a 256GB version of Surface Pro in the U.S. exclusively through the commercial channel and the authorized Surface resellers.”
Microsoft this morning announced the availability of Surface through selected resellers. It could be that this new SKU was a part of those agreements. By providing them with a partially exclusive item, resellers would have a competitive edge over current Surface vendors. Naturally we have no concept of what “limited” means in this context.
Surface continues apace. Expect the second generation to sport larger SSDs as this specific SKU shows.
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