Microsoft sells out Dell tablet doorbuster in minutes

Microsoft sold out the Dell Venue 8 Pro tablet within minutes of kicking off an online discount Monday morning.

The tablet, which lists for $299, was priced at $99 for the first 100 online customers, then $199 for laggards.

Minutes after the 7:30 a.m. PT debut of the sale, Microsoft's website noted "Sold out." Previously, Microsoft had said that the $199 price was valid throughout the day, or while supplies lasted.

The Dell tablet runs Windows 8.1 and includes a copy of Office Home and Student 2013, offers 32GB of storage space -- less is available for user content after the operating system and productivity suite have been installed -- 2GB of system memory and an 8-in. screen with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels.

The Venue 8 Pro was the first of a dozen days of deals that Microsoft plans to do in the run-up to the Christmas holiday.

Microsoft's retail stores -- the company has a chain of 86 full-blown brick-and-mortar and kiosk-sized outlets in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico -- will also offer the tablet at the reduced prices today: $99 for the first 20 in-store customers, $199 for others while supplies last. Not all the Canadian stores will participate, Microsoft said in a note on its site.

:story: Computerworld