While Microsoft's big unveil event for its new Surface tablets with Windows 8 is just a few weeks away on Oct. 25, the company still has yet to announce a solid price for the tablet devices. Word comes today though that the company's Surface RT tablet will almost certainly sell for $300, according to sources at pc-tablet.com.

The tech website notes that Dummies.com has begun a contest on its website to promote their new editions of "Windows 8 For Dummies" and "Surface for Dummies" books with a 32GB Surface RT tablet as the prize. The winner of the contest receives one Microsoft Surface RT tablet, and one copy of each of the "Dummies" books.

With the total price for the prize package coming to $350, it seems fair to assume that each book is between $20-25, thus the price of the Surface RT would be around $300.

Dummies already has "Surface for Dummies" in production, which includes pricing information, among the tablet's other many feature, notes pc-tablet.com.

Microsoft itself still has yet to confirm any of the rumors, or comment on Surface PRO pricing, but this all seems to indicate that the 32GB version of Surface RT will cost $300.

The Surface, and Surface RT will be available for pre-order Oct. 26 at Midnight on Microsoft's website, and will be released in permanent, as well as 32 "pop-up" across the U.S. and Canada that day.

Microsoft's price point combined with the release date and specs ensures a tablet war come the holiday shopping season.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is in the process of building 10 million iPad Minis, which many sources, including Fortune, are speculating the company will release on Nov. 2. Japanese Apple blog Macatakara, similarly claims that production of the iPad mini is well underway in Brazil, according to "reliable sources" it spoke to.

A major Apple investor, who in turn cites "multiple sources," has claimed that Apple will be sending out invites to a special event on October 10. The event, to be held a week later on October 17, will serve as the public unveiling of the iPad mini.

The news of the iPad mini's likely Nov. 2 release reinforces many of the rumors swirling around lately about Apple's intentions to take on Microsoft's Surface tablets and Google's Nexus 7 with a smaller 7-inch tablet.

Rumors have also surfaced over the last few days about a possible 32GB version of Google's very popular Nexus 7 tablet, and if a report from Oct. 4 is to be believed, the company will indeed be releasing a 32GB version of the product. According to a report from Droid-Life, the device could be released on or around the same day as Microsoft's launch of its Surface tablets, as early as Oct. 24.

If true, the release date would set up a four-way showdown with Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Apple all releasing 7-inch tablets around the same time.

An unnamed source told Droid-Life that resellers are expecting to receive shipments of the 32GB Nexus 7 "sometime around" Oct. 24, although the source said no official date has been confirmed. Droid-Life found that resellers are initially planning to sell the 32GB tablet for $259.92, although the site cautions that this price is just an estimate and is not related to what Google will actually charge for the device when it launches. Previously Google had only sold the Nexus 7 in 8GB and 16GB models.

Microsoft Surface "pop-up" stores

U.S.

Atlanta (Perimeter Mall); Aventura, Fla. (Aventura Mall); Beachwood, Ohio (Beachwood Place); Bethesda, Md. (Montgomery Mall); Braintree, Mass. (South Shore Plaza); Charlotte, NC (Southpark Mall); Columbia, Md. (Mall in Columbia); Denver (Cherry Creek Shopping Center); Durham, NC (Streets at Southpoint); Frisco, Texas (Stonebriar Centre Mall); Garden, City, NY (Roosevelt Field Mall); Glendale, Calif. (Glendale Galleria); Indianapolis (Fashion Mall at Keystone); Las Vegas (Fashion Show Mall); Miami (Dadeland Mall); Nashville (Mall at Green Hills); Natick, Mass. (Natick Collection); New York City (Time Warner Center -- The Shops at Columbus Circle); Oklahoma City (Penn Square Mall); Paramus, NJ (Westfield Garden State Plaza); Pittsburgh (Ross Park Mall); Portland, Ore. (Washington Square); San Antonio (North Star Mall); San Francisco (San Francisco Centre); St. Louis (Saint Louis Galleria); Tulsa, Okla. (Woodland Hills Mall); West Hartford, Conn. (Westfarms Mall); Woodlands, Texas (Woodlands Mall)

Canada

Burnaby, British Columbia (Metropolis at Metrotown); Edmonton, Alberta (West Edmonton Mall); Toronto (Eaton Centre); Vancouver, BC (Oakridge Centre)

Microsoft's website promises more locations will be revealed in the future.

Microsoft has not commented on the pop-ups, or included confirmation that they would sell the Surface RT.

Microsoft Surface tablet features

The RT sports a HD screen (1366x768), while the PRO has a 10.6-inch Clear type Full HD (1920 x 1080) screen with 16:9 widescreen.

That means they are among the biggest tablets in the market. If you are not satisfied with the typical 10.1-inch tablet, you can go for the Surface tablet. Along with the touch keyboards with the device, you can turn the machine to a small notebook.

The Surface tablet comes with five Touch Covers. Well, you can pick up any one while purchasing the machine. Different from typical keyboards, the Surface keypads provide brilliant typing experience thanks to their touch-based surface.

The Surface tablets mount both front and rear cameras. The front camera, named life cam by Microsoft, makes the tablet perfect for video chatting through Skype or other services. Using the rear camera, you can capture images and video clips.

Microsoft puts forward better memory options with the Surface tablets. The device comes in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB options. The 128GB is available only with Surface Pro. Further, you can expand the memory using external memory sticks thanks to microSD card slot. That is, you can store enough data including music, software items and video in external clips.

The 3mm Touch Cover can be connected to your Surface tablet with a single magnetic click, so, now you can type text and send messages quite easily.

The Surface's tablet housing features a revolutionary kickstand. Along with fully functioning keyboard and track-pad, the integrated kickstand helps you place the gadget in both portrait or landscape modes.

According to Bloomberg, Surface will only be able to go online using a short-range Wi-Fi connection. This is a stark contrast to Apple's iPad 3, which has a 3G option, and a faster LTE connection.

Media tablets powered by new Microsoft operating systems Windows 8 and Windows RT will have an impact on the overall market - just not this year, according to market intelligence firm ABI Research.

Windows-based tablets will commence shipments at the end of October and capture an estimated 1.5 percent of total tablet shipments for 2012. Pricing for Windows tablets will be a key consideration for end-user adoption.

If priced aggressively towards current Android tablets, Windows tablets could see 2013 shipments increase 10-fold year-over-year. But if they're priced like Apple's iPad offerings, Windows tablets may only double or triple shipments in 2013. Growth in the total available market is expected to come from businesses adopting tablets, which is expected to be a strong area for Windows 8.