Microsoft → Microsoft Surface Pricing

ArsTechnica and BRG both have said it's over priced and its use is unclear

ArsTechnica and BRG both have said it's over priced and its use is unclear

I didn't realize how cheap the touchscreen Ultrabooks had become. It is going to be a tough sell, especially without a keyboard.

Also note that I am unclear on whether or not cheaper Windows 8 tablets use Windows 8 or “Windows 8 Pro”.

ArsTechnica and BRG both have said it's over priced and its use is unclear

Check the CPUs.

If it has Intel Atom or i5, it's likely the x86 Windows 8.

There are two big troubles with the NPD numbers, though.

First, they don't actually represent month one. NPD's release says "Windows 8 initial four week launch sales include the time period of October 21 – November 17, 2012." That survey period starts five days before the launch of Windows 8 and runs for 22 days after the launch event. It also doesn't include Black Friday. The press release might have been released a month after launch, but the numbers represent sales from the first half of November, traditionally the slowest time of the year.

Second, although the NPD press release stated that "Windows 8 tablet sales have been almost non-existent," the research firm failed to count sales of Microsoft's Surface RT, which was the only tablet on the market for much of the post-launch period.

Finally, there's StatCounter, a rival of Net Market Share, which calculated that by November 26, worldwide web usage from devices running Windows 8 was equal to 1.31% of total traffic. Remarkably, that figure is identical to Net Market Share's calculation.

Trying to turn those usage stats into hard numbers is an exercise in fuzzy math, but it's reasonable to assume that at least half of the 40 million licenses Microsoft sold in the month after Windows 8's launch are now in the hands of computer users. And many new PC models are just beginning to hit the market. NPD says only 58% of PCs sold in their sample period were running Windows 8, with the remaining 42% consisting of inventory running Windows 7. That means the numbers at the end of December will be significantly more illuminating.

In other words: Still too early to tell.

I think over time that's going to be possible and likely to happen. I think Intel also needs to ramp up its game. Their mobile initiatives move too slowly. With AMD struggling, I don't think they provide nearly as large of a fire to light under Intel's butt as they used to do.