The Microsoft Surface Pro is a premium Windows 8 tablet with a high-resolution display, a reasonably fast processor, support for pen or finger input, and an unusual design with a built-in kickstand and support for keyboard covers. It sells for $999 and up.

But if you’re looking for a cheaper tablet with a similar design, you may be able to find one soon.

HKC Surface tablet clone

Mobile Geeks spotted a prototype of a Surface Pro knockoff at CeBIT in Germany this week. The HKC tablet features an 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display, an Intel Core i3 or faster processor, and Windows 8 software.

It has 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.

In other words, it’s not as fast and doesn’t offer as much storage as the Surface Pro, and the screen resolution isn’t as high.

But the HKC tablet has a very Surface-like design including angular edges, and a built-in kickstand which makes a similar clicking noise. There’s also a docking port at the bottom which may work with keyboards or other accessories.

HKC is a Chinese device manufacturer that’s looking for partners to put their name on the tablet and sell it under different brand names. The price for distributors could be as low as $350, which means that the we could start to see Surface Pro clones based on this design selling for around $500 and up.

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7 replies on “HKC clones the Surface Pro, cuts some corners to keep the price low”

  1. hoping wal-mart (they sell a lot of HKC’s products) buys a ton of these and prices them relatively cheap I might ditch my lappy if it is sub-$400 for the i5 model…I don’t get how adding a touchscreen makes most of these skyrocket in price. The question on my mind is if the bulk price includes a windows8 license. This at the bulk price is cheaper than my laptop AND it has a 3g modem.

  2. Compare the specs to the Surface Pro: USB2 vs USB3, 1366×768 vs Full HD screen, 32Gb vs. 64/128Gb of Storage, i3 vs. i5. Nothing like the Touch or Type cover available for it. Can’t see any Wacom pen either. And how many of your fingers are actually detected on the screen? What about palm rejection?

    Overall: This device is far off the Surface Pro. Even though I really would like to see an alternative to the Surface Pro on the market, this just does not make it. All the key specs which make the Surface Pro interesting (at least for me) are missing. Even for the lower price (which is up to now speculation anyway) it does not really appeal to me.

    1. seems like it could be decent for me I have a laptop atm and it stays at home most of the time. This might just be the right form factor plus I could use it as a superfast reader with a puppylinux install as a quickboot option. if this is 2-3lb then it will be decent. there are still some things I prefer to do on a full pc to an android tablet…32gb is plenty considering how cheap SD cards go for and if I am really desperate USB hard drives are ultra-cheap

  3. Any word on battery specs/life or expandable storage? With a decent battery and a microSD slot, this could be pretty decent.

    1. I highly doubt that at this price point it will have decent or at least acceptable battery life, just like original Surface Pro ;)!

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