No matter how much we'd like it to happen, Microsoft probably isn't going to launch Surface starting a mere $199, as has been rumored this week. Not only would such an aggressive pricing strategy further piss off Microsoft's hardware partners, it would also require selling the device at a significant loss. So, how much will Surface cost? Nobody knows for sure, but according to Lenovo, Windows RT versions will be priced up to $300 less than their Windows 8 counterparts.

You know how pessimists like to point out that if something is too good to be true, then it probably is? As much as we hate to admit it, that idiom most likely applies to a recent rumor suggesting Microsoft finalized plans to price its Windows RT-based Surface tablet at a mere $199. It's fun to speculate on what kind of impact that would have on the tablet market, but at the end of the day, all that rhetoric would be for naught because it's just not going to happen, according to several analysts.

After creating a stir in the media over comments he made to Microsoft warning the company to "think twice" about its Surface strategy, Acer chairman J.T. Wang is now singing a different tune, one that's far less threatening and more accepting to the situation. That doesn't mean Wang is no longer concerned about Microsoft's march in the tablet space, but he did clarify that Acer has every intention of competing with Windows 8-based slates of its own.