Only a third of the available storage on Microsoft's Surface Pro tablet will be available to customers, with hefty software clogging up the upcoming tablet's hard drive.
The 64GB model will in fact contain just 23GB of useful space, CNET reports. The 128GB model meanwhile will apparently offer just 83GB of free storage.
Why do you get so much less space? It seems that Microsoft's built-in software is hogging gigabytes, while a recovery partition is also blamed for taking up hard drive capacity.
In total, the pre-installed Windows 8 operating system will take up over 40GB of space. Windows 8 is very different to Apple's iOS operating system, but in this regard Microsoft compares unfavourably with Apple, whose iPad software takes up roughly 1GB of space.
The iPad does lack expandable storage however, and Microsoft says you can free up some of that space by making a "backup bootable USB and deleting the recovery partition", though that doesn't sound like a particularly fun first day with your new tablet. If you do need to remove files from the Surface Pro, it has both USB and SD card slots to make that possible.
This is bad news for anyone looking to buy one of Microsoft's more powerful tablets, as it means that straight out of the box you'll find your storage options considerably less than advertised. The issue was also present on the Surface RT, where the 32GB tablet offered a mere 16GB of space.
Microsoft isn't the only one conning customers with capacity that isn't all it seems -- Nintendo's 8GB Wii U system can in fact only hold 3GB, once you factor in obligatory player accounts and other software. Apple does well in this regard, with the iPad's iOS software taking up only 1GB of space.
We're still waiting on word from Microsoft regarding UK pricing, but we know that $899 is the starting price in the US, so expect to pay upwards of £600.
Is it wrong for Microsoft to promote a tablet with so much less usable space than advertised? Or should we expect operating systems to take up lots of space? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook wall.
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Comments 24
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anonymous 30 January, 2013 12:45
did you just compare windows desktop OS to the iOS???
anonymous 30 January, 2013 12:50
Don't you think it's a bit stupid to compare a full fledged OS to a mobile OS? Of course it is going to take up more space.
Compare the Surface Pro's operating system size to that of the apple counterpart which is infact OSX
anonymous 30 January, 2013 13:08
Maybe it's a comparison of tablet to tablet.
anonymous 30 January, 2013 13:09
Yes, it's wrong to advertise storage people won't be able to use when what we're talking about is a third of the device's storage. The fact that a full OS takes up a lot of space is not at issue.
anonymous 30 January, 2013 13:39
Did this retard just compare Windows OS to IOS???
I actually can't believe how these stupid articles get published all the time!
If this was a windows 8 utrabook or laptop with a 128GB SSD no one would care and this wouldnt be an issue!!
But becuase MS choose to install the SAME full Windows 8 Pro on a tablet its a big issue???
anonymous 30 January, 2013 14:20
"iPad software which takes up only 1GB"
Such a mind-blowingly impressive fact that you had to say it twice in the one article.
anonymous 30 January, 2013 14:55
How much space would you have left if your iPad had the full Mac OSX installed?
Then come back and compare.
anonymous 30 January, 2013 15:48
IOSX has the same architecture of OSX, it just has a different, more simple UI, which takes advantage of the touch screen technology... Microsoft does give you a full OS, but you honestly don't need that on a tablet, and if you think you do then you have your option, but watch your battery life take a hit. And its wrong for Microsoft to advertise the total hard drive capacity!
anonymous 30 January, 2013 15:59
Oh cnet how you have declined over the years. As for Microsoft what a bunch of wallies! Seriously all that space is taken up with just the software? Where does that leave the user? You know that person thats shelled out a ridiculous amount of money for a poor product and decides how much of a success your product is? Flaming hell a whole third of space is gone. Thats unbelievably poor from Microsoft. People understand that you won't get ALL of the space advertised but that is just bad form. Its official its a FLOP
anonymous 30 January, 2013 16:40
oh don't give the poor chap bad time... he is just out here to feed his family. obviously apple pays journalists more for the promotion - because they skimmed much more money from the fussy part of public
ophmarketing 30 January, 2013 17:32
"If this was a windows 8 utrabook or laptop with a 128GB SSD no one would care and this wouldnt be an issue!!"
Seeing as how a MacBook Air with a 128 GB SSD, with the full OS installed as well as all pre-loaded software, still leaves more than 90GB free for the user, I'd say that yes, this would be and is an issue.
billfred 30 January, 2013 18:27
^^ What he said ^^
How are people defending this? It's ridiculous!
anonymous 30 January, 2013 19:29
Mac OSX is between 6 - 10 GB. Software is always optional.
ElDiabloJuanCarl 30 January, 2013 20:34
Congratulations CNET, you've written articles so good, The Daily Mail has picked up on it (although strangely they actually had more technical insight!).
Windows 8 (64 bit) requires 20 GB, regardless of what device it is running on. This is a well established fact. Everything else is not the O/S (apps, recovery partition) and can be configured/removed.
Given that I just compared it unfavourably to the Daily Mail, I think I've finally given up on CNET UK for good
anonymous 30 January, 2013 21:39
iOS 4.2.1 on my iPod touch 2g takes up 1.2GB of storage, the models with higher capacity take up more.
anonymous 30 January, 2013 22:43
but you can add inexpensive micro SD or USB storage unlike an iPad......... You cant add any storage to an iPad.
anonymous 31 January, 2013 05:33
The important thing to note is that the recovery partition can be deleted and/or transferred to a USB drive, and any unwanted software can be deleted. Win8 with no extra software only uses around 13GB of storage, somewhere around 20GB with Office and other typical software included. I'm no mathematician, but that leaves you with either 44GB or 108GB, respectively. An iPad is a toy, the Surface Pro is a computer. Comparing them is stupid, so stop it iZombies.
anonymous 31 January, 2013 07:48
>>You cant add any storage to an iPad.
Really?
We are in a brave you world people, I have cloud storage (dropbox and skydrive) on my iPad that makes the storage about infinite
anonymous 31 January, 2013 09:21
^^ Hey, you haven't been transfering ~10 GB via WiFi, have you? :> With a wireless card on 802.11g you can reach max 54Mb/s, so 6,75 MB/s, so it would transfer ~25,5 minutes. For comparision, with e-Sata you have 150 MB/s (not Mb/s). 70 seconds of transfer. Oldish USB 2.0? less than 3 minutes. So WiFi for storage is... quite inconvenient:P
anonymous 31 January, 2013 10:42
Most consumers won't give a rats ass as to whether the difference is due to the type of operating system (OS v's iOS). Seriously they won't. What they will care about is the fact that they will only be able to fit about half their media files that they could on an equivalent apple product. If microsoft want to market these to the tech nerds that do care about these things then great, but believe me they won't be hopping off the shelves.
anonymous 1 February, 2013 15:50
"We are in a brave you world people, I have cloud storage (dropbox and skydrive) on my iPad that makes the storage about infinite"
Really??? Tell me whats more convienient, tranfering gigabites of data over wifi or having all your media instantly accessible on a micro SD card? Go figure isheep!!!
anonymous 2 February, 2013 17:20
Btw., aren't you too optimistic with the (slightly over) £600 price tag? I suppose the price will start at £700 or more.
anonymous 5 February, 2013 10:11
So? An iPad is a toy, the Surface Pro is a tablet AND a PC. The amount of utterly risible garbage people spout about Apple is ridiculous. You CAN work with an iPad, but the Surface (to some degree both of them) but definitely the Pro, is a real multipurpose PC, not a fat iPod...
anonymous 8 February, 2013 12:12
This is what a well researched article looks like:
http://www.zdnet.com/surface-pro-versus-macbook-air-whos-being-dishonest-with-storage-space-7000011009/
This is what someone just shouting to get attention looks like:
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/laptops/64gb-surface-pro-has-just-23gb-free-thanks-to-hefty-software-50010304/