64GB MS Surface Pro Only Has 23GB of Free Space 588
An anonymous reader writes "From the LA Times: 'Although Microsoft's 128 GB Surface Pro tablet is advertised as having 128 gigabytes of storage, the amount of space available to users is much less than that. That's also true for the 64 GB model. The Redmond, Wash., company confirmed Tuesday that the 128 GB Surface Pro has 83 GB of free storage, while the 64 GB version comes with 23 GB of open space. The reason for the difference: space already taken up by the tablet's Windows 8 Pro operating system and various preinstalled apps.' It's generally understood that your device won't have as much available storage as advertised, but it's usually a lot closer than this. Should device-makers be required to advertise how much storage is available to users, rather than the size of the storage media?"
OK. Next? (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, they should.
Yes (Score:5, Insightful)
For the first time a summary that ends in a question can be answered by a yes.
Re:Recovery partition can be moved or deleted (Score:1, Insightful)
Wow. (Score:5, Insightful)
And to think that yesterday I was complaining that our corporate Win7 image payload (which includes an automated "reimage" virtual disk) was fat and bloated at 13GB.
Well, it still is fat and bloated. But it's a slender reed compared to this 41GB monster.
Re:OK. Next? (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't think they should be required to advertise how much space is actually available, however Microsoft should be looking to give people reasons to buy the Surface Pro; instead here's another reason not to. PR fail.
No. BOTH. (Score:5, Insightful)
"Should device-makers be required to advertise how much storage is available to users, rather than the size of the storage media?"
No. They should advertise BOTH storage size and available storage space.
Re:OK. Next? (Score:5, Insightful)
and then what happens after a few windows updates .. how much space will be left then
Re:McDonald's doesn't (Score:5, Insightful)
Should McDonald's tell you exactly what is in their burgers when we buy them or should we have the foresight to look up nutrition facts before buying?
Um, no. A comparable situation would be if McDonald's advertised that that their McNuggets Lunch-a-rama had 12 nuggets, but when you buy one you only got 7. Their explanation being that the server has to eat some, too. At least McDonald's has the decency to admit that their Quarter Pounder is *pre-cooked weight. MS could do the same by saying pre-OS storage. However, if the Quarter Pounder was delivered at less than 2 oz, I think there would be an uproar.
Re:analogy (Score:5, Insightful)
it is more like:
here is this car for you to buy, with 5 seats...but you can only use two of the seats because the engine takes the other three...
It is amazing what software companies can escape with, things that in other engineering fields would totally blast them companies with lawsuits.
Can you imagine a civil engineer gradually patching structural inconsistencies in a bridge as they show up? Yikes!
Re:OK. Next? (Score:5, Insightful)
No, actually, it IS a PC, no matter how much you think it isn't.
The only issue is that rather than have distinct OS storage space, as most tablets do, this device stores all software, user content and OS in one large storage space.
Re:Recovery partition can be moved or deleted (Score:4, Insightful)
Unless you're a total novice you shouldn't be using the recovery partition anyway. That puts all the crapware back on your system.
Re:On linux (Score:4, Insightful)
The "need" for msoffice is and always has been grossly overblown.
We don't "need" to speak English either, but it generally makes doing business a whole lot easier...