While stocks last —

$499 first-generation Surface Pro is something of a steal

Microsoft and Best Buy are clearing stock of the powerful PC tablets.

Microsoft must have built a lot of the first-generation, Ivy Bridge-powered Surface Pro tablets, because they're still on sale, even though they've been nominally replaced by the Haswell-powered Surface Pro 2.

But that's OK, because the Ivy Bridge units are still pretty nice machines: good screens, decent performance, stylus input, and of course, the Surface's trademark kickstand. And for a limited time only, they're an absolute bargain: toddle along to your nearest Best Buy or Microsoft Store—or buy online—and you can pick one up for $499.

That's the same price that the original Surface RT model launched at. You can still pick one of those up if you want, though it'll set you back $299 if you do.

The Surface Pro price isn't likely to be around forever, as they'll have to run out of them some time. As the Microsoft store says, "Shop now, quantities are limited." So if you want to grab one, you should probably do it this weekend.

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