According to Microsoft, Surface pricing is "expected to be competitive with a comparable ARM tablet or Intel Ultrabook-class PC" (paraphrasing from the original presentation.) It's pretty clear that's closer to the $800 mark than the $200.
If they want to compete with the iPad, they'll need to get down into the $500-$700 range, but I doubt they'd be giving that kind of price guidance if anything under $400 was remotely possible in Microsoft's own view - their estimate is probably a "best case" outcome given how incredibly fuzzy they were about it. (Arguably they could deliver at $1000 and claim they're still "competitive" with an Ultrabook.)
To clarify that, the RT version will compete with ARM tablet prices; expect ~US$500. The Pro version will compete with Intel-based ultrabooks; expect ~$1200.
Sure. Care to specify the "high-end" tablet you're buying for $200? I'm a bit skeptical. If you're claiming the Nexus 7, that's not in the class of the iPad nor the proposed Surface.
Not really sure what you mean by "not in the class of the iPad".
For less than half the price you get more than half the performance. I don't think theres benchmarks out there yet but I don't think its fair to say that a Tegra 3 Quadcore is 'low-end'. It's on par with the A5& A5X technically.
I think counting cores (should be a band name) is a useful metric. By iPad class, I mean similar build quality, similar battery life, similar size, similar responsiveness.
