A retailer posted some pre-order prices for Microsoft's Surface tablet a few weeks ago that seemed over the top. And thankfully, that's not the final price of the tablet. In fact, no one could have guessed just how much it would actually cost.

Microsoft has yet to provide the official word on prices, but there’s a new rumor that seems to be the opposite of last month’s, leading us to believe that the Surface is going to be affordable.

The source behind this new info comes from a closed-door session Microsoft held at its TechReady15 conference late last month. The company reportedly discussed the details of the Surface launch, including that it would arrive on Oct. 26 for just $199.

$199 is actually for the Windows RT version, and starting with that price seems reasonable. And if this is true, Surface could end up making a huge splash, we're also predicting out of stock issues. Will it be able to uproot the iPad from its tablet throne?