MICROSOFT SURFACE TABLET PRO AT $899

Microsoft's Surface tablet running a full version of windows 8 Pro will start selling in january for $899 and up, thecompany said Thursday. But you'll have to pay more if you want keyboard cover and the popular office suit of software.

The current Surface tablet uses the slimmed down Windows RT operating system . As result ,it runs only specially designed applications from Microsoft and others sold through the company's online store . The Pro version of surface will also run regular windows applications written for desktops and laptops.

"It's a full PC and a Tablet, " Surface general manager Panos Panay wrote in a blog post Thursday. The surface represents Microsoft's first foray into manufaturing its own general-purpose computer . In doing so the company is competing with some of its partners, the manufatures of PC's and tablets .

The Announced Price is in line wiyh Microsoft Corp's  earlier statements that Pro version would cost about the same slim , lightweight laptops known as Ultrabooks.

The Price includes a stylus and software that disregards touches from one's Palm while writing on the touch screen .But the detachable touch-sensitive keyboard cover is sold seperatively .The  Touch Cover with keys printed o n it cost $ 120, while the Type depressable key is priced at $ 130.

The Pro version of surface will come with Intel's Core i5 Processor , which Microsoft said gives it a Graphic boost compared with the RT version.

The $899 version will come with 64 gigabyte of memmory, while $999 gets you 128 GB of memmory. It was not immediately clear how much memmory would be used up by the operating system and pre-installed apps . For the Rt versions, the 32 GB model has only 16 Gb usable memory , while the 64Gb has 45 Gb available .

All version of Surface comes with a slot to expand memeory and a USB port for peripherals . The Pro version of surface comes with a newer , faster USB 3.0 port , while the RT version ha USB 2.0