A few days ago we have reported about Microsoft’s Surface RT price drop and we have a few updates on availability. The tablet is now available now at Staples for $349 for the 32GB model and $449 for 64GB model.

We are happy to report that readers in EU can order one for as low as €329 at several addresses. A Surface RT with touch cover will set you back €429, exactly the same as Surface with 64GB of memory without a touch cover. The top of the food chain is Surface with 64GB and a touch cover that will set you down €529. You can find them listed here and here.

The good thing that Surface is getting Windows 8.1, which might make it at least a tad more attractive. As part of the Windows 8.1 update Surface users will get Outlook 2013 RT, something that many people requested as a top missing feature as well as a few other makeovers that you will see on both RT and normal version of Windows 8.1 update. We are not sure if it gets a start button.

Surface is definitely not a direct competitor to Apple’s iPad but it is doing more for a productive business folks who are used to Windows look and feel. The price slash definitely makes surface more attractive but with bushel of other tablets in the market, especially the ones based on Android, it still won't be an easy sell.

The lack of applications for Windows RT was the main obstacle, but with Windows 8.1 this thing might change for the better. We suspect that normal Windows applications simply won't run even on Windows 8.1 for surface due to architecture incompatibility.