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Surface Pro sells out at Microsoft's online US site

Surface Pro
Wilson Rothman / NBC News

Microsoft's new Surface Pro sold out online Saturday at Microsoft's website in the U.S., hours after becoming available. The first version of the hybrid tablet-PC to sell out was the 128 GB model, for $999, followed by the smaller-storage version with 64 GB for $899.

The Surface Pro, the more substantial sibling of the Surface RT released last fall, is also available in retail stores such as Best Buy and Staples (Staples' online site was also out of stock on Saturday.) Microsoft's Canadian website, as of early Saturday afternoon ET, showed availability of the Surface Pro. It's not known how many Surface Pros were made by Microsoft.

The company, contacted by NBC News, issued this statement at 3:20 p.m. ET about its online inventory:

“Customer response to the launch of Surface Pro has been amazing. The Microsoft Online Store is currently out of stock of the Surface Pro. Our priority is to ensure that every customer gets their new Surface Pro as soon as possible. We are replenishing our supplies as quickly as possible.”

With recent questions about how much real storage space is available on the Surface Pro, the company now says on its Microsoft Store website that the 64GB version really means "approximately" 29GB are available for your stuff; the 128GB Surface Pro has "approximately" 89GB. (Microsoft shows an eve more detailed drilldown on Surface storage here.)

Wilson Rothman, Technology & Science editor at NBC News Digital, wrote in his recent review of the Pro that:

Because the Surface Pro comes with about 35 gigabytes of software already built in, you'd be foolish NOT to select only the $999 128GB version (which had roughly 90GB remaining when I opened it), not the $899 64GB version, which only gives you around 30GB.

The Surface Pro runs the full version of Windows 8; the Surface RT, a lighter device, also runs a lighter version of Windows. The Surface Pro also comes with a full HD screen and more powerful processor than the RT.














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This story was updated at 3:25 pm. ET Saturday.