It’s launch week for Surface with Windows 8 Pro — the new Microsoft tablet that uses an Intel Core i5 processor and, unlike the previous Surface with Windows RT, runs legacy Windows applications.
Despite a report that Surface RT users would be able to trade in their existing tablets toward the price of a Surface Pro, that isn’t accurate, according to Microsoft representatives. This appears to have been some confusion related to Microsoft’s return policy, which does remain in effect.
A Microsoft representative says in a statement, “There is no hardware trade-in or upgrade program in our stores at this time. We are confident people will love the devices they purchase but if there are any issues that arise we have a 14 day in-store return policy and a 30 day online store return policy.”
The new tablet started appearing in promotional displays in some stores over the weekend, giving browsers a chance to experience demo units at retail, but the Surface Pro won’t actually go on sale until Saturday Feb. 9.
The Surface Pro start at $899 for a version with 64GB of storage. It comes with a pen, but the tablet’s signature keyboard cover costs extra. Stay tuned, we’ll have more on Surface Pro later this week.
Updated at 7:35 a.m. with Microsoft’s statement
