Microsoft Surface Book sold out in initial round of pre-orders ahead of 26 October launch

Even as Microsoft's Surface Book has not yet been officially launched, its initial stock has been sold out within five days since it was listed for pre-orders on the company's online store. The new device will be launched in the US on 26 October.

The Surface Book was unveiled at the company's Windows 10 hardware event on 6 October and pre-orders commenced a day later. The technology giant is of the view that initial stocks were sold out because of "strong demand". But, analysts were of the view that the sell out could be a result of underwhelming supply as the company has not yet revealed the number of units that were available for pre-ordering.

"We've seen strong demand for Surface Book and have sold out of preorder supply for October 26 availability," a Microsoft spokesperson told CNet. "We will have limited quantities of Surface Book available in store on October 26 and will be updating online availability with new product ship dates soon."

Previously, reports suggested that the message, "Email me when available", was displaying on Microsoft's online store, instead of a "Pre-order now" button. However, when IBTimes UK verified it, the Surface Book was available for pre-ordering. The site also stated that the device would be shipped within the US in five to six weeks.

The Redmond-headquartered company is looking to compete with Apple's MacBook Pro with its Surface Book hybrid device that works as a tablet and a laptop. The device comes with a starting price of $1,499 (£967) and runs on the newly-released Windows 10 operating platform out-of-the-box.

In comparison to the latest MacBook Pro lineup, the Surface Book has a 13.5in display with 3000x2000 resolution and comes preloaded with the PixelSense touchscreen technology. The device is touted as the "future of laptop computing", with offerings such as a Surface Pen and an incredible battery life of up to 12 hours. Also, there are features such as facial recognition through Windows Hello and Cortana integration to rival OS X running MacBook Pro.