Reserve your Surface 2 or Surface Pro 2 for free at your local Microsoft Store

By Sam Sabri
last updated

Microsoft announced the Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 last week at an event in New York City. The two devices, along with their new accessories, are due out on October 22th. Pre-orders started last Tuesday online and in-person. If you wanted to pre-order online you’d have to pay the full price of the device or accessory. However, if you did the pre-order in person at your local Microsoft Store you had to put at least $50 down to reserve your device.

Starting today, you can reserve your Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 without paying until you pick it up.

The Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 will be available in 22 countries at launch. We’ll see it in places like Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. China is part of that initial 22, but they’ll get it in early November instead of Oct. 22.

But having physical access to retail Microsoft Stores gives Canada and the United States an advantage over the others. Starting today you’re able to reserve your Surface 2, Surface Pro 2, and associated accessories for $0 down. You’ll be paying the device when you pick up your new toys in a few weeks.

We received the tip from a retail employee of a Microsoft Store. We followed up by calling a few of our local Stores in southern California and confirmed the same thing. Head into your local Microsoft Store and you should be able to reserve your new devices without having to pay until you grab them. Unfortunately, it looks like you won’t be able to do that for the 512GB version of the Surface Pro 2, but it should work for the rest of the lineup.  

Pricing for the Surface 2 starts at $449, while the Surface Pro 2 starts at $899. Check the full pricing here.

Thinking of going this route to reserve your Surface 2? Be sure to call ahead to your local Microsoft Store before heading down to the mall and tell us below what device and configuration you’re getting!

Thanks for the tip Derek! 

81 Comments
  • Hi I am the first commenter and the next comment will be about GDR2 for AT&T.
  • That's great, but where's my GDR2 update, at&t?
  • I'm honestly tired of complaining about it, because it will get me no where. I guess we will just have to wait very long, or just not get it.
  • You have to pay for the upgrades. That's why I'm waiting for GDR3. When I purchase a 1520 I will receive all the updates. :)
  • Not 8.1 if you get the 1520 on ATT, so I woldn't smile about it.
    The only way to change it is to complain on as many outlets as you can, and keep spreading the word that Microsoft lets ATT block updates and screw its customers.
    If I don't receive the GDR3 and 8.1 updates right on time on my ATT 1020, it is the last WP I will ever get. I won't support a company that allows carriers to block OS updates.
    And Microsoft better unlock the damn Data Sense with the GDR3 update.
     
     
  • Lol he mad
  • He's right. Microsoft should be more like Apple in terms of the updating process.
  • Except Microsoft is hardly in any position to declare the terms. If MS says, "Ok, either we control the update process or we walk," the carriers will respond with, "Ok, bye. We still have Apple and Samsung, and they have market share." I'm sure Microsoft would like to wear the pants in the relationship, but until Windows Phone reaches a market share large enough to do so, it ain't happening.
  • Yeah, true. :'(
  • Yes, unfortunate, but people abandoning the platform won't help, if anything, it'll only give AT&T more power. Instead, we need to stick with it to help Windows Phone grow and develops, and make it a large enough player that to lose it would be costly to a career, and thus Microsoft can dictate the terms. I don't like it either, but Microsoft is too much of a niche player to be take seriously. Unless we unite and let Windows Phone grow, this will only continue.
  • Time to make a trip to the Microsoft Kiosk here in Las Vegas then :)
  • At the Fashion Mall? I picked up my Surface RT there when I went to the SharePoint conference last November.
  • Bingo, at fashion show. The cool thing is the kiosk is being upgraded to a full blown store.
  • They should promote like this buy a surface pro 2 and get 1020 wp $0.00 with two year contract
  • A much better promotion would be including the type cover with pro and touch with normal. Much more useful to most people.
  • 100% agree. Keyboard should be included in the price.
  • Bingo. I already have a 1020, another would be redundant and useless. Support free Touch/Type Cover.
  • Where in France can I buy it in the first day?(22), also the 200g SkyDrive is a worldwide promotion or only US?
    Does anyone knows this?
  • The 200GB Skydrive space is also available here in Finland so must be worldwide I guess.
  • thanks for the info, but I just checked Microsoft website in FR, and the pre-orders ship at 15/12/2013
       
    USA then....!!!  
  • Hmmmm may look into this tomorrow in Houston store
  • Surface mini,
  • Wonder if you can trade in your old surface rt for a new one! Lol
  • I reserved the 256 Gb/ 8 G ram last week. I had to throw down $50. I should've waited. It's all good.
  • It's refunded when you purchase it, however.
  • My Surface RT stopped working so it's getting sent on for replacement. Asked Microsoft about paying more and upgrading too a surface 2, manager told me no policies in place so it will not happen. Selling it as soon as it's returned.
  • No Singapore, as expected.
  • I'll wait for Nokia iteration, I tried the pro at a store and I am not buying it. Pen input is the whole reason to buy a system like this. I wish HP would look at their past and make a sequel to the 2760p. The last great tablet.
  • The Pro 2 comes with a stylus.
  • It does, but it falls short to the experience I have on my HP 2760p which the pen had pressure input , a sensor that when you flipped the pen, the cursor would become an eraser. A side button that when pressed, would enable the right click menu.
    I used my HP 2760p during college and took notes with the OneNote program.
  • I don't know about flipping around to erase (That would be on a per-application basis, I think), but the Pro's stylus has 1024 pressure levels.  The issue was that there was a driver missing for it or something (I don't know the specifics, but the pen definitely has pressure sensitivity).  Not only that, but the magnetic connector that attaches the pen to the surface functions as the right click button--you might want to go to your local store and try that out.  The Surface Pro 2 launches with all the proper drivers in place to support pressure from the get-go.
  • The Surface Pro does that too (at least mine does) don't know what you're talking about...
  • I seriously don't understand what you are talking about. Surface Pro also did all that. Heck, eraser at the back is a trademark of Wacom pens
  • The surface pro 2 does all of that...the only thing you might want as a feature that the stylus doesnt do is pen tilt detection
  • I don't think I'd ever use the pen/stylus. Maybe to draw pictures!
  • It is a 'must have' when the Office Reader is released next year.  It reads all document formats and you can comment on the screen with stylus, circle any word with stylus to search, circle sentences and paragraphs to edit, save, print.  It will be a powerful reader app.  The stylus makes it shine.
  • Owning the Surface Pro, the pen input is not at all required to make the device useful. I love the pen input because it feels amazingly smooth, but it only improves the experience; I rarely use it because I mostly write code on the device. I wouldn't be surprised if by the third generation that the pen becomes a non-bundled accessory. If for no other reason, it's the _only_ annoying aspect of the Surface Pro: the pen has no where to go except the charging port, which means you have to keep track of it when you _are_ charging it, thus making it easy to lose.
  • Speak for yourself the pen input is 90% of the reason why I got the Surface Pro, without the pen it would be useless for me as I take written notes and anotate documents on it daily.
  • Shows the different roles that the Surface Pro can fulfill :). As a software engineer, I rarely have a need to take notes or annotate documents with the pen.
  • And that's the great thing, ain't it? Most scoff at its price, hut look at all the roles it fills right out of the box! Honestly, with how many devices it replaces, it's really a bargin.
  • Best Buy is also taking preorders for the Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2. You just need to place a $50 deposit, etc according to the Microsoft representative in store.
  • 1. Awesome
    2. Just flash your phone & put yourself out of your own misery
  • Flashing a phone is never a good solution, and I am getting sick of people recommending it.
     
  • Pricey
  • Oh man, i can reserve the Surface 2 for FREE?!?!  wow there are things that Microsoft gives for free lol. 
  • Looks like I'm gonna stop by the MS store to deserve mine so I don't have to wait in line!
  • Today's kids really are entitled
  • No Mexico love... :'(
  • Think I rather see Nokia tablet before I say buy it.
  • I'm stuck in the same place. The surface looks nice, but some of the renders of the Nokia tablet make me want to hold one before I decide.
  • There are a slew of tablets coming out as well so it's best to wait and see...And pricing is always a key factor.
  • I'll reserve since its free to do so lol but the one I want price is insane so I'll just won't pick it up.
  • Yeah, I think you'd have to be certifiably insane to pre-order these products.  Nobody, not even Steve Ballmer's mother, thinks these things are going to be in short supply this year.  Plus with Nokia coming to the party in a month, plus several other hardware choices that have come further in a year than Surface tablets have, I can't see a reason.  I pre-ordered last year and felt burned by how slow Surface RT was and how poor the Mail app was, and it's gotten better but not enough.
    I'm going to put my hands on any tablet before I buy one this time 'round.
    Eric
  • There is a big reason to preorder in-store: freebie giveaways on the first day. For the Surface RT, I got a free year of Xbox Music. Owning both the Surface RT and Surface Pro, I don't plan on pre-ordering this year, but I don't know of a superior Ultrabook to the Pro. As for the Surface 2, _if_ their performance numbers hold up, then it should be a much better device. Mail is greatly improved in 8.1, and Office now includes Outlook, which should also be a lot better (though hopefully they have sped it up as Outlook can drag on powerful desktops).
  • ". . . but I don't know of a superior Ultrabook to the Pro."
    The Lenova IdeaPad Yoga 2 looks amazing on paper.
  • I will be getting the surface 2 with touch cover 2, giving my RT to my son.
  • I already pre ordered my pro 2!
     
  • $630 for the 64GB Surface 2 in Australia and no touch cover included so it's more expensive then Surface RT .
  • All I know is the entire crew on Fox's NFL show all had a Surface while doing their broadcast. It's just a matter of time when it's popularity will grow.
  • I noticed that too!
  • Totally agree. I saw it too.
  • Probably worth noting that the first generation didn't require any money to be put down at my local MS Store for a reservation card. It was just while supplies lasted.
  • October twenty tooth.
  • Okay so since this is supposed to be about the surface, I'll comment that I love the surface and where they're going with it. I will have the second version and believe it's in its own class. They are going in the right direction with this unit by focusing on productivity. I don't play a lot of games, I do work. IPad is for subway surfer, surface is for people with real jobs. If you're offended, sorry but that's real life.
  • " If you wanted to pre-order online you’d have to pay the full price of the device or accessory." Not true. I pre-ordered a Surface 2 online at https://www.windowscentral.com/e?link=https2F%2Fclick.linksynergy.co... last week. They don't charge your credit card until the order ships. It's in their pre-order policy.
  • Unfortunately, given my current budget situation, it would only work for me if I didn't pay any money even when I came to pick it up.
  • I can reserve it for free on the Microsoft store website, in Australia though, not sure if so for the rest of the world. 
  • Looks like touch cover 2 is out of stock
  • When I will get in uae
  • I can  pre-order a surface for free? Really? Thank you, Microsoft. I don't know what to say. Such generosity is unprecedented.
    I know, it's a reservation not just an order. But seriously ...
    Probably the number of pre-orders is just behind expectations. No big surprise since it's not available on amazon or other popular sites here.
  • they did this only because they know that there ain't gonna be much of demand anyway.. so let's make a constant availability in stocks a feature... XD
    PS: .. I like them.. so I'm not bashing them because I'm a fandroid or iFan or whatever..
  • Can you also buy these in other stores i.e. Best Buy? Will get the Pro 2, but bummed that the cover still isn't included.
  • Screw this, I'm gonna go download and install GDR2. I'm sick of waiting. Screw you AT&T!!!
  • That's why less and less people talk about they all have done it already. I did and haven't looked back. Good luck
  • Awesome, I was going to do this when I went to the meet Panos Panay event at my local store anyways.
  • Thank god I held out on preorder, dropping my my MS store today to reserve my pro2. Finally getting a wacom tablet, and it only took me 4 years after graduation lol.
  • in Belgium the surface pro 256g is already out of stock since launch date is now 15/12. Only think i find sucky is that the power cover only come this year and if you buy a surface for the first time you will buy a cover for 150 EUR and few months later again for the other...
    Otherwise i just wanna say gimme gimme!!!
  • if they offer no interest financing for a year for the most expensive pro 2 configuration I'd get it now and not wait for my laptop to croak lol
  • What's up with the Surface Pro 2 512GB shipping by October 29th?  All the other models are 10/21.
  • Have the Surface Pro and it has replaced every device save for my HTC Arrive that became a 1020. ;-) I was only hoping for two things: A docking station. CHECK. A better placement for the Stylus. NO CHECK. Due to the latter, I'll skip this 2nd version and make do with my completely competent Surface Pro--which is still the best computing device that this IT Pro and company owner has ever owned. I can use all of the accessories to bridge the gap to the Surface Pro 3-- undoubtedly due out this time next year. That Stylus thing was THE major oversite in the first model and what a shame that the 2nd model fails to address it. Otherwise 2nd version is clearly a better device at an outstanding price point for what it is, which is a truly revolutionary device on the cutting edge of form vs. Function. Just not enough yet to get me to jump. Fix the Stylus issue and I'll jump.
  • Started to pre-order this morning only to find out that there touch and type covers are out of stock. How do you run out of stock on the accessories? I guess I'll just wait and see if any more become available.