The Surface Pro Flex keyboard integrates the Slim Pen stylus for a set of almost essential accessories for Surface Pro users, but at what price!
When announcing its new Surface machines and the entire new ARM Copilot PC family, Microsoft logically placed emphasis on everything related to artificial intelligence.
Nothing surprising, Copilot is clearly THE fashionable product at Microsoft, and the American firm is banking heavily on it… to the point of completely cracking down on the price of certain accessories?
The historically expensive Surface range
The Surface range has always been expensive and it has also always been accompanied by peripherals at “delicate” prices. In the past, some voices have already been raised to denounce certain “abuses”.
But whether we’re talking about keyboards/supports at more or less 150 euros, or styluses 50 euros cheaper, Microsoft always managed to sweeten the deal with a remarkable design, excellent performance and an elegance that’s still rare in the world of PC. When it was released, the Surface range was clearly an eye-catcher for Apple machines.
Today, this is still the case, and even if other companies offer very stylish, very elegant PCs, the Surface brand retains an undeniable charm. The Laptop and Pro models that we have presented to you here are interesting in more than one way.
Several colors to choose from, obviously © Microsoft
Would Copilot cause prices to explode?
But now, it seems that Microsoft has decided to charge completely crazy prices on certain accessories. There is no doubt that Copilot required huge investments, but does that justify the keyboard designed for the Surface Pro being priced at a whopping 529 euros?
Called “Surface Pro Flex Keyboard with Slim Pen”, the product therefore includes the keyboard and the stylus, which, taking the old ranges as a reference, can justify a price of 250, 300, or even 350 euros, since inflation has slipped everywhere… but 529.99 euros? Really ?
Could the justification come from the presence of three keys dedicated to Copilot, microphone management and screenshots? Oddly, it is the presence of Copilot that makes us fear this escalation, and we hope that all of Microsoft’s partners will not follow suit.
Tech players tend to charge completely crazy prices on a lot of products, and things have accelerated in recent years. Apple’s Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro is a second example, even if at 349 euros, it is still far from the Surface Pro Flex.
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- DALL-E 3 integration for more creative and realistic image creation
- GPT-4 Vision image processing capability for precise contextual responses
- User-friendly interface integrated into various Microsoft products
Microsoft Copilot is a chatbot combining advanced artificial intelligence with the ability to generate creative and realistic images using DALL-E 3, and process image-based queries using GPT-4. This multimodal integration makes it a versatile tool for users looking to obtain contextual information about images or generate tailor-made visual content.
Microsoft Copilot is a chatbot combining advanced artificial intelligence with the ability to generate creative and realistic images using DALL-E 3, and process image-based queries using GPT-4. This multimodal integration makes it a versatile tool for users looking to obtain contextual information about images or generate tailor-made visual content.
Source: Microsoft press release
Having fallen into video games at a time when it took a great imagination to see here a football match, there a tank fight in these few bars represented on the screen, I have followed all the developments for forty years. Loyal to the PC, but a fan of all genres, I only have trouble with JRPGs. Otherwise, from the driest turn-based strategy to the most spectacular FPS, including sports simulations or musical games, I can do it all... with a preference for management and games combining several styles. My video game pantheon would consist of three series: Elite, Civilization and Max Payne.
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