By . Damien Gayle . PUBLISHED: . 08:00 EST, 30 January 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 08:10 EST, 30 January 2013 . The new pro version of Microsoft's Surface tablet will come out of the box with nearly two-thirds of its 64GB storage already used up, it emerged today. Set for its North American release next week, the $899 tablet computer will boot up with just 23GB of usable space, while its 128GB big brother will actually only have 83GB free. The revelation is an embarrassment for Microsoft, with the lack of free space damaging claims its latest top of the range tablet could be a fully featured laptop replacement. Not so spacious: Microsoft's Surface Pro tablet, which will ship with more than two-thirds of its 64GB storage space already used up by its operating system and pre-installed apps . And it compares badly with tablet rival Apple's freshly announced 128GB iPad, which is expected to ship with 115GB free for storing files and apps. The problem stems from the Surface Pro's use of the full version of the Windows 8 operating system, rather than the slimmed-down Windows RT installed on its cheaper siblings. Windows 8 alone takes up 20GB of space, but the OS claims even more of the Surface's solid-state hard drive for a 'recovery partition' to back up users' data right there on their tablets. Add to that the Surface Pro's built-in apps and the trial version of Office 2013 it ships with, and users of the 64GB version will find most of their devices already full. Other tablets, including the iPad, the Surface RT, and Android-powered devices, run on specially slimmed down operating systems which dispense with much of the functionality of those found on laptop and desktop computers to save space. That means they are unable to run the same software as 'real' computers and users must purchase apps that are specially designed for the tablet format. Microsoft had accordingly made great shakes of the Surface Pro's ability to run full Windows versions of popular software packages, but the lack of space seems to contradict the company's attempts to market the Intel-powered tablet as a laptop replacement. Out next week: The revelation is an embarrassment for Microsoft, with the lack of free space damaging claims its latest top of the range laptop could be a fully featured laptop replacement . With just 23GB to work with, users who want to use the device for storage space-hungry applications like photo and video editing will quickly find their hard drives filling up. Simply installing the latest version of Adobe's Creative Suite, a popular package of creative software, would take up a further 14.5GB of that - without including the extra 10GB recommended for a swap file. Microsoft was quick to point out that much of the used space on the box-fresh Surface Pro can be reclaimed, NBC News reported. However the method, which involves uninstalling packaged apps and moving or deleting the recovery partition, is likely to be difficult for computer novices to carry out. Despite running a slimmed-down Windows, the Surface RT had a similar problem, shipping with about half its disk space already full. That resulted in a consumer backlash, although Microsoft insisted that the crunch was unavoidable. Microsoft will release the Pro version of its Surface tablet in North America on February 9 with a price tag of $899 for the 64GB version and $999 for the 128GB version - making it the most expensive tablet computer in the world.
$899 tablet will start up with only 23GB of usable space, while its $999 128GB big brother will actually have 83GB available .
Lack of hard drive space damages Microsoft's claims that the Surface Pro could work as fully featured laptop replacement .
Apple's recently announced 128GB iPad, by contrast, is expected to ship with 115GB free for storing apps and files .
The Intel-powered, Windows 8 running Surface Pro is set for release in North America on February 9 .
By . Damien Gayle . PUBLISHED: . 08:00 EST, 30 January 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 08:10 EST, 30 January 2013 . The new pro version of Microsoft's Surface tablet will come out of the box with nearly two-thirds of its 64GB storage already used up, it emerged today. Set for its North American release next week, the $899 tablet computer will boot up with just 23GB of usable space, while its 128GB big brother will actually only have 83GB free. The revelation is an embarrassment for Microsoft, with the lack of free space damaging claims its latest top of the range tablet could be a fully featured laptop replacement. Not so spacious: Microsoft's Surface Pro tablet, which will ship with more than two-thirds of its 64GB storage space already used up by its operating system and pre-installed apps . And it compares badly with tablet rival Apple's freshly announced 128GB iPad, which is expected to ship with 115GB free for storing files and apps. The problem stems from the Surface Pro's use of the full version of the Windows 8 operating system, rather than the slimmed-down Windows RT installed on its cheaper siblings. Windows 8 alone takes up 20GB of space, but the OS claims even more of the Surface's solid-state hard drive for a 'recovery partition' to back up users' data right there on their tablets. Add to that the Surface Pro's built-in apps and the trial version of Office 2013 it ships with, and users of the 64GB version will find most of their devices already full. Other tablets, including the iPad, the Surface RT, and Android-powered devices, run on specially slimmed down operating systems which dispense with much of the functionality of those found on laptop and desktop computers to save space. That means they are unable to run the same software as 'real' computers and users must purchase apps that are specially designed for the tablet format. Microsoft had accordingly made great shakes of the Surface Pro's ability to run full Windows versions of popular software packages, but the lack of space seems to contradict the company's attempts to market the Intel-powered tablet as a laptop replacement. Out next week: The revelation is an embarrassment for Microsoft, with the lack of free space damaging claims its latest top of the range laptop could be a fully featured laptop replacement . With just 23GB to work with, users who want to use the device for storage space-hungry applications like photo and video editing will quickly find their hard drives filling up. Simply installing the latest version of Adobe's Creative Suite, a popular package of creative software, would take up a further 14.5GB of that - without including the extra 10GB recommended for a swap file. Microsoft was quick to point out that much of the used space on the box-fresh Surface Pro can be reclaimed, NBC News reported. However the method, which involves uninstalling packaged apps and moving or deleting the recovery partition, is likely to be difficult for computer novices to carry out. Despite running a slimmed-down Windows, the Surface RT had a similar problem, shipping with about half its disk space already full. That resulted in a consumer backlash, although Microsoft insisted that the crunch was unavoidable. Microsoft will release the Pro version of its Surface tablet in North America on February 9 with a price tag of $899 for the 64GB version and $999 for the 128GB version - making it the most expensive tablet computer in the world.
computer will boot up with just 23GB of usable space, while its 128GB big brother will actually only have 83GB free. The revelation is an range tablet could be a fully featured laptop freshly announced 128GB iPad, which is expected to ship with 115GB free for storing files and use of the full version of the Windows 8 that the Surface Pro's built-in apps and the release the Pro version of its Surface tablet in North America on February 9 with a price tag of