Microsoft's Surface slates get permanent price drops, cheaper Touch Covers

Not that Microsoft was fooling anyone before, but the Surface tablet discounts that the company previously advertised as “limited time” are now permanent.

The Surface RT will remain priced at $349 for 32 GB, and $449 for 64 GB, a discount of $150 in both cases. Microsoft is also offering a black Touch Cover bundle with both Surface RT models for an additional $50.

The Surface Pro retains its $100 discount on all models, bringing the price to $799 for 64 GB and $899 for 128 GB. No Touch Cover or Type Cover bundles are available with the Surface Pro.

Microsoft has also slashed the price of its standalone Touch Cover accessories by $40. Regular covers now cost $80, and Limited Edition covers are $90. Pricing for the Type Cover, which has actual mechanical keys compared to the Touch Cover's pressure-sensitive sensors, remains at $130.

Microsoft's struggles to sell the Surface are no secret. Last month, the company revealed that it would take a $900 million writedown on the Surface RT, as the company slashed prices in hopes of unloading excess inventory. It's unlikely that Surface Pro sales are much better, given that Microsoft spent more to advertise the tablet and Windows 8 than it actually earned in Surface revenue.

On the plus side, the price cuts have sent Surface RT usage skyrocketing over the past months.

Tech-savvy consumers, however, might want to stay away from these permanent price cuts, with the possibility of new Surface models around the corner. The Surface Pro, in particular, would greatly benefit from Intel's Haswell processors , which offer big improvements to battery life. It's unclear when Microsoft will launch new Surface tablets, but something timed around the October 18 launch of Windows 8.1 would make sense.

According to ZDNet, Microsoft will be rolling out the price adjustments in phases, “in order to meet customer demand and retailer expectations.” Check Microsoft's Surface Website for details.

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4K TVs just got a lot cheaper

The prices for 4K or “Ultra HD” televisions are still very expensive, but they’re less so than they were a month ago, at least for models from Sony and Samsung.

For 65-inch 4K TVs, Samsung's asking price recently fell from $7500 to $6000 (for the 4K TV shown above), while Sony cut its price from $7000 to $5500. For 55-inch models, Samsung dropped the price from $5500 to $4500, and Sony’s prices fell from $5000 to $4000.

The price cuts, first spotted by Twice, are available through Sony’s and Samsung’s respective websites, and through Amazon. LG, which also offers 4K TVs, is still seeking higher prices for its 55-inch and 65-inch models.

4K TVs started out much more expensive than their predecessors, largely because television makers were only selling larger-screen models at high premiums. Samsung, for instance, sells an 85-inch Ultra HD TV for $40,000, while LG charges $17,000 for its 84-inch Ultra HD television.

But as screen sizes have come down, so has the entry-level pricing for 4K, which refers to televisions with screen resolutions of 3840 by 2160 pixels. (The Consumer Electronics Association adopted and interchangeably uses the term “Ultra HD.”)

Meanwhile, lesser-known brands such as Seiki and TCL have come out with 50-inch 4K TVs in the $1000 price range, but reviews have noted that the picture quality and features are not nearly as good as their higher-priced counterparts.

Additionally, given that there’s so little 4K content available right now, getting a 4K television doesn’t make much sense unless you can enjoy better 1080p picture quality while waiting for more content to come along. Even that’s a stretch, considering that the best large-screen 1080p televisions are about half the price of 4K right now.

Still, it’s always good to see new TV tech become, over time, more realistically priced. With 4K getting cheaper, you’ll have to get your shock and bewilderment from $15,000 curved OLED screens instead.

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