Microsoft exec says the iPad mini is a total ripoff at $329

Things just got real. Steven Sinofsky, president of the Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows and Windows Live division, has told AllThingsD that new laptops based on the Windows 8 operating system give vastly more bang for the buck than Apple’s (AAPL) iPad mini, which he dismissed as “a seven-inch recreational tablet” that sold for a too-high $329. In comparison, Sinofsky touted some low-costs Windows 8 laptops that sell for as low as $279 but are still feature-rich. Sinofsky’s swipe at the iPad mini comes in the wake of Apple CEO Tim Cook comparing the Surface to “a car that flies and floats” but that doesn’t “do any of those things particularly well.”