The 128 GB Surface Pro Has Only 83 GB of Free Space

Another thing to note is that a 128 GB SSD does not mean you start with 128 GB of free space. Typically, about 119 GB of the 128 GB is actually usable, meaning the OS and pre-installed software is likely to be closer to 38 GB.

Actually jigshah, that statement is a little incorrect. The hard drive comes with 128GB in the way that they advertise a GB to be sized but the actual sizing of a GB is a bit different so in the technical sense you are getting about 7% less hard drive capacity than what was advertised.

good point, but I think 119G - 83G should be 36G instead, besides, i don't know the "83G" stand for harddisk size or file system size, if it also in harddisk size, then 128G-83G=45G is correct.

Also, another thing to note is that there is the possibility that you can get rid of a lot of the pre-installed software. As well as the fact that you can expand storage with the SDXC slot.

In the end I am a bit disappointed. Cause you are already paying a hefty price for the pro + touch/type pads. And you need to invest more money into SD card. nearly $1200.

I was really looking forward to buying Surface Pro with 128GB, but I am losing interest due to the price factor

So you are saying that Microsoft is installing over 20 GB of bloat ware. They say Windows 8 is 16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit). Where is the other memory going that requires 83. Hard to believe.

Lets see, 128GB SSD formatted gives 119GB of usable space, MS say there's 83GB usable after the pre-installed image so that's 119GB - 83GB = 36GB (and no 36GB is not approximately 45GB) kind of makes me wonder why you didn't just quote the statement since even your basic grasp of the information is wrong

No, 128GB is in base 10, the 119GB is in base 2. You do not lose 7GB by formatting. On a Mac, which uses base 10 for storage display, the whole 128GB is present after formatting. So if the 83GB is base 10, you have lost 45GB to the installed software.

my acer W700 with 64GB SSD and running windows 8 pro has 38.5GB left in the beginning. acer puts some pre-installed customized from acer. i dont think microsoft will put 45GB total usage in their 64Gb version of surface..even if the 128Gb version does only have 83Gb left

So how come a 64GB iOS device has about 57GB free out of the box?

A big difference in the two: iOS apps get an OS warning to dispose memory when memory is tight, and the only swap is between RAM and read-only pages (mostly code), not data space, so there’s no need to reserve swap space. Surface Pro OTOH has to run native Windows apps that are designed to run with swap, so I doubt very much that MS does away with swap on the Pro, which could be a reason to need a lot more space on the drive for the OS. Bloatware is not a good explanation, otherwise why does the OS need more space than on the Surface RT, which has Office pre-installed? I don't know but suspect RT uses something more like the iOS swap model.

Here are MS official numbers for RT that don't include anything reserved for swap: http://www.microsoft.com/Surface/en-US/support/surface-with-windows-RT/files-folders-and-online-storage/surface-disk-space-faq

What was their statement?

Windows 8 for 64bit systems (which is what the Pro is) should only take up 20GB per Microsoft's technical specifications on Windows 8.

So, if that's the case, there should be around 100GB of free space (being that 128GB is an advertised amount ,but not necessary the actual amount).

I would like to know Exactly what Type of Storage the Surface Pro will have. If it Will have a SSD, then can't that be Upgraded? If it Has The Storage in the form of Chips that are soldered to the Main Board then You just get what You Buy.

I Like the Idea that the Surface Pro would come with a SSD that we can Upgrade. Check this out, it's with the Extra Cost.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9235277/Micron_unveils_its_first_1TB_SSD_for_under_600