It's like comparing an iPad to a Macbook. In this case however, the Surface Pro can run all of the same store apps that you can run on the Surface 2. There are a couple of major differences between the two which lead to the large price difference. First, the Pro comes with an Intel Core i5 processor and runs a full version of Windows 8.1. That puts this into the laptop category. It is essentially a laptop in a tablet body. You can install and run anything you can install on your PC or laptop/ultrabook. The Surface 2 runs on an ARM processor (Tegra 4) and a stripped down version of Windows 8.1 called RT, therefore it can only run the programs that either came preinstalled or can be downloaded from the online store. This is exactly how an iPad works. The Pro is thicker and heavier due to it having full laptop hardware under the hood, but it's also WAY more powerful and comes in several different hardware configurations that include extra storage and extra RAM. The Surface 2 comes in just two versions with the difference being either 32 or 64 GB of storage. Hopefully that answers you question.

Two words, Microsoft office. Are you a business user? The iPad, to me, for business use is useless. Having office loaded on the surface eliminates the need for me to pack a laptop on trips. Hands down a winner in my book because office is vital to my day to day business productivity.

the Surface 2 does not run full windows, it runs a different OS called windows RT, which cant download any programs from the internet except apps from the windows app store. So any anti virus program from the windows app store will work

Both of those hot spots, require authentication, the connection will always show limited till you launch the browser and sign in using your Verizon or AT&T credentials. after that the connection switches to connected.

Absolutely. I have a wireless Canon printer and it picked it up immediately. If you have an older printer that you connect via USB, you can use the full USB port on the Surface. Since it's nearly a fully functional Windows OS, drivers for all of the common printers are available. This has all of the functionality of a normal laptop minus being able to install legacy programs and connecting to a network domain. Other than that, you can pretty much do everything else you'd do on a laptop including printing with ease.

The battery life is ridiculously long. I use it 8 hours straight for collage classes and I still have battery life when I get home

Surface 2 comes with Office installed, but Surface Pro 2 doesn't.

Out of the box that would actually make Surface 2 more compatible unless you have an Office 365 subscription or other Office license you can use to install Office on SP2.

Pictures will sync with either version.