No Dave, I didn't buy it because it wasn't available in retail over here. I just wanted to play with it and get a feeling for it and dive into the Windows 8 waters. Turns out I dodged a bullet because of its slight heft (bezel, thickness, weight), fan noise, and battery life. Besides, I wasn't ready to flush down $1,800 that quick. The pebbel is mad. I like how they realized they shouldn't alter things too much for fragmentation's sake... but they should've done more for that $249 offering. Its overpriced, no doubt. If they made it thinner, bumped up the battery life (from 6-7 days to 8-9 days) or improved the display... sure thing. I dig the Matte Black and all... but there's just not enough for me to justify the cost. I mean its more expensive than a Nexus 7 ! I hope next year they use a display that: - uses little power (<200mW) = still 7 day battery life - can refresh at 24fps/50Hz - can do 8-bit colour - 400nits brightness/sun-friendly - capacitive touch gestures - integration to WP8 Then we'll talk. And $249 would seem acceptable.