"It's even simpler, when MS says 64GB, I'd wager that most people expect to have about 64GB free to fill."
This is where we disagree. I could certainly understand that they might thing there would be more of the 64G available to them, but if they were Microsoft Customers before this and the installed Windows on a 64GB drive they know that after the install not a whole lot is left for them.
I would bet a majority of the people who buy PC's think the HDD space listed is what's available to them. I worked at a help desk in college and it was a frequent complaint among users that their hard drive shows less available than what the box said when helping them set up their computer. Your average user isn't going to think about OS size.
I think you make my point. So did the same student complain more than once about their misunderstanding of what was stated versus what they got? I'm sure you explained to them that the OS and other things took up space and that came out of the one hard drive in the system. And I would guess that they understood that explanation, and then when they made future purchases they would "expect" that some of the space was taken up by OS and other things and perhaps, if they were careful shoppers, they would read through the foot note to figure out exactly how much before they bought it.
Or was it your experience that every time they got a new machine they would complain "Wow, they did it again!" ?
Obviously those people would not be surprised in the future with a similar purchase. If those same students would go and buy a Surface Tablet, I'd be willing to bet that they would be upset about the lack of "free space", especially the amount that is described in the above post.
It's a totally different machine to your average consumer. They more than likely think of it akin to an iPad and not a full blown PC.
Yes, the majority on this website know how available storage works but we as a whole are a very small minority in the PC consumer world.
Hmm, I think if you want to contest the reasoning you need a definition of 'obviously deceptive' that we can agree on.
What if someone told you that the exact same amount of "Storage space" is free on Windows 8 laptop with a 64GB SSD? Does that change your perception of the argument? I'm trying to ascertain whether or not you are comparing the space usage of the Surface Pro to that of a phone, a tablet, or a laptop. If so what was the basis for your comparison choice?
This is where we disagree. I could certainly understand that they might thing there would be more of the 64G available to them, but if they were Microsoft Customers before this and the installed Windows on a 64GB drive they know that after the install not a whole lot is left for them.