Microsoft Surface RT gets a global price cut (now costs about $350)

As expected, Microsoft’s Surface RT tablet is now available in the US for $350 and up. In the US, can pick one up for the new price at the Microsoft Store or at select retailers including Best Buy and Staples.

But the new prices aren’t just available in the United States.

Neowin noticed that the based price of Microsoft’s tablet has also dropped in Canada, the UK, Australia, and other countries including France and Germany.

The price cuts seem to be pretty similar across the board, with European prices falling by about €150, the UK price dropping £120, and Canadians paying about $150 less for the tablet.

The Surface RT features a 10.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display, 2GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor. While the base model has 32GB of storage, there’s also a 64GB model available. Prices for that model have also been cut.

Unlike the Microsoft Surface Pro, which has an Intel Core i5 processor and the full Windows 8 operating system, the Surface RT runs Windows RT. That’s the stripped-down version of Windows 8 designed to run on devices with ARM-based processors.

For the most part, it’s the same operating system. But it doesn’t support older Windows apps designed to run on x86 chips, and Microsoft only officially lets you install apps downloaded from the Windows Store. That means there are far fewer apps available for the Surface RT than for a full-fledged Windows 8 device, or an Android or iOS tablet for that matter.

The price drop seems to reflect that, by bringing the starting price of the tablet more in line with what you’d expect to pay for an Android tablet with similar specs.