Are Windows RT tablets good enough for school use?

[Mokonoko]

Seeing as how it comes with a free Office 2013, I'm considering getting it this fall/winter

 

[Reflexx]

Depends on what you need for school.

Office and IE will be enough for the vast majority of students. What kinds of courses will you be taking?

 

[jdevenberg]

Like winning guy said, it really depends on what classes you will be taking. I'd say for 50-60% of students RT will be fine.

 

[jimski]

Seton Hall University in New Jersey just finished handing out Lumia 900s to the freshman class. Next, they will all be getting a Surface RT. So I would say yes.

Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express Pro

 

[jdevenberg]

They are not handing windows rt tablets, they are getting Samsung series 7 tablets with windows 8 pro or a series 5 ultra book with the same

 

[Mokonoko]

I'm gonna be a high school senior soon, my laptop kinda broke so I need something that I can type on reliably(college esaays and stuff) and I may need it for stuff like power point. The fact that RT comes with free office(I never bought office, just downloaded similar stuff like open office haha) office and a keyboard designed to be ergonomic makes me want to get it.

And Seton hall giving away free lumias and tablets? Makes me feel like applying there! Expensive though lol

 

[jdevenberg]

I'm gonna be a high school senior soon, my laptop kinda broke so I need something that I can type on reliably(college esaays and stuff) and I may need it for stuff like power point. The fact that RT comes with free office(I never bought office, just downloaded similar stuff like open office haha) office and a keyboard designed to be ergonomic makes me want to get it.

And Seton hall giving away free lumias and tablets? Makes me feel like applying there! Expensive though lol

I do think that for most students, an rt would be fine. For more specialized programs (photoshop, some science programs, etc.) there is either the campus computer lab or, if the college you goes to allows it, remote access via your tablet (my university allowed this).

 

[Corey]

It may be alright, but probably not as a primary device. I'm back in school now (12 years later) and picked up a first gen iPad to go along with my laptop. While it has definitely come in handy for a lot of things, and has probably mean the difference between the B I would have got and the A I did get in a few classes, I wouldn't dream of using it as a primary device for school. I have a bluetooth keyboard that I use to do some typing with, and a stylus for some other things, as well as quite a few apps, and it's still a distant 2nd to my laptop, and maybe a distant third to my netbook when I decide to dust that thing off. Perhaps the OS will be far more user friendly, and perhaps the keyboard/cover thing will be a game changer, but I have a feeling that any tablet is going to pale in comparison to a laptop in terms of usefulness and ease of use. They're fantastic supplemental devices, and there are places where they really shine in a school environment, but it's still a crapshoot depending on what you actually need it for. The tablet environment is still far too limited to be a dedicated school device.

 

[jdevenberg]

It may be alright, but probably not as a primary device. I'm back in school now (12 years later) and picked up a first gen iPad to go along with my laptop. While it has definitely come in handy for a lot of things, and has probably mean the difference between the B I would have got and the A I did get in a few classes, I wouldn't dream of using it as a primary device for school. I have a bluetooth keyboard that I use to do some typing with, and a stylus for some other things, as well as quite a few apps, and it's still a distant 2nd to my laptop, and maybe a distant third to my netbook when I decide to dust that thing off. Perhaps the OS will be far more user friendly, and perhaps the keyboard/cover thing will be a game changer, but I have a feeling that any tablet is going to pale in comparison to a laptop in terms of usefulness and ease of use. They're fantastic supplemental devices, and there are places where they really shine in a school environment, but it's still a crapshoot depending on what you actually need it for. The tablet environment is still far too limited to be a dedicated school device.

The whole idea of windows 8/rt is that it is supposed to be much more usable for content creation than any other tablet. Saying "Since my iPad wasn't, windows rt won't be either" is like saying "Since my mini van cant tow a big trailer neither will that suburban, after all they are both vehicles designed to move 7 people.". My point is that yes, they are both tablets, but they are different approaches to tablets. Just like mini vans and suburbans are different approaches to moving lots of people. iPad will be better at some things, such as ease of use and likely battery life (just as a mini van will have a smoother ride and better fuel economy) and windows rt tablets will be better at other things, like content creation and and productivity (just as an Suburban will be better at towing and going down trails than a minivan).

Neither approach is wrong, but you can't say since approach A wasnt good at that activity neither will approach b.

 

[Corey]

The whole idea of windows 8/rt is that it is supposed to be much more usable for content creation than any other tablet. Saying "Since my iPad wasn't, windows rt won't be either" is like saying "Since my mini van cant tow a big trailer neither will that suburban, after all they are both vehicles designed to move 7 people.". My point is that yes, they are both tablets, but they are different approaches to tablets. Just like mini vans and suburbans are different approaches to moving lots of people. iPad will be better at some things, such as ease of use and likely battery life (just as a mini van will have a smoother ride and better fuel economy) and windows rt tablets will be better at other things, like content creation and and productivity (just as an Suburban will be better at towing and going down trails than a minivan).

Neither approach is wrong, but you can't say since approach A wasnt good at that activity neither will approach b.

True enough. I think the approach of a Windows based tablet will see how it plays out. If they go for an app-centric setup similar to the iPad and Android environment, then I feel that it'll still be crippled as a device for school. I'm basing this on using my iPad, a Samsung Netbook, an Asus Transform tablet with Windows 7. Of these three, netbook would seemingly be the better choice, as the battery life is quite nice (about 6 hours of decent use with lower power settings). The size, though is a shortcoming, with a keyboard that is cramped, a slightly laggy experience using the Office suite while trying to multitask, and mediocre portability have kept it away from school and turned into a pseudo-Chromebook to tinker with. The Asus, while a nice piece of hardware in itself, isn't much better. The keyboard is, again, a limiting factor, being cramped and annoying to deal with. It, too, feels laggy doing multitasking with Office, internet, and other things going on. Granted, it's on Windows 7, which really sucks in a tablet space. The similar tablet running Honeycomb was smoother, and would probably be even nicer with Jellybean, but switching to that OS environment removes the functionality of a full, dedicated OS that isn't a trumped up phone OS. Windows 8/RT may indeed unlock the power of a tablet form, but it's tough to say at the moment. My personal opinion on school use is that the ease of use and broad functionality of a laptop would be preferred when using something like Word. I've tried to replace the regular laptop with the portability of the iPad/Asus/Netbook, but functionality of all of them in the school environment suffers too much when it comes time to write the papers, create power point presentations, or do some solid research and note taking. More power to Microsoft if their new tablets can overcome the current short comings of this generation of tablets, but the physical limitations and my experience in trying to shift to a more mobile setup have shown it to be a difficult thing to do.

 

[jdevenberg]

You should load the windows 8 release preview on your Asus. Its super easy to do

 

[Corey]

You should load the windows 8 release preview on your Asus. Its super easy to do

I would if I still had it. I sold it to buy an Xbox and some games. It's a pain in the butt to do a paper on that, though. Batman does not like to type.

 

[berty6294]

Do you guys think there will be some kind of app like "putty" in the Windows 8 store off the bat? like a SSH client?

This would make the Surface RT perfect and everything that i need for school!

 

[VagrantWade]

It comes with free Office 2013 TRIAL.

 

[jdevenberg]

It comes with free Office 2013 TRIAL.

Because office 2013 isn't shipping until 2013. Microsoft already said Rt devices would be updated to the final build once it is ready in early 2013.

 

[Reflexx]

MS Office on WinRT should be more than enough for most students. You'll probably want to get a full sized bluetooth keyboard for when you're at home though.

But some companies are coming out with some impressive looking full blown Windows 8 tablets and laptops. The Asus TaiChi and the Lenovo Yogo come to mind.

 

[jdevenberg]

MS Office on WinRT should be more than enough for most students. You'll probably want to get a full sized bluetooth keyboard for when you're at home though.

But some companies are coming out with some impressive looking full blown Windows 8 tablets and laptops. The Asus TaiChi and the Lenovo Yogo come to mind.

I agree, they are impressive. The catch is their prices. Both of those machines have $1000+ price tags. As someone who was in university not that long ago, I can tell you the vast majority of students did not have $1000 laptops, and the majority of the ones that did were in majors that required a machine of that caliber. That is sort of the point of RT. Given the choice, most people would take one of the $1000+ machines, because they are quite nice, but not everyone, especially students, have that sort of coin to drop on a laptop. So RT gives you the functionality you need in a more affordable package.

Your comment is sort of like telling someone the new BMW 5 series are excellent cars when they are asking if a Toyota Carolla would fit their needs.

 

[Coreldan]

I'm getting a Surface RT for university. I study theology, so all I really need is internet browser and Office. In addition I get a tablet which I don't have yet and a (hopefully) more optimized device for the size (currently on a win 7 netbook, ugh....). It also looks amazing and I just love the design idea of it.

That said, I would too recommend having a more hardcore device back at home. I have my gaming rig which I will naturally rather use when home, but I travel 3 hours in a train every weekday not to mention the lectures and perhaps some spare hours between lectures, so a good mobile experience is very important to me while keeping up productivity.

I try to use those hours on the train well, and I do end up doing most of my writing currently on the netbook. I somehow dont have any issues with the cramped keyboard, even if I use a full size keyboard hour-wise more at home, but I type longer texts actually on the netbook.

Beautiful Skydrive integration also makes thing a treat when combined with Win8 on home desktop and a Lumia 920

 

[tissotti]

I'm also looking for Windows 8 hybrid for university.

Thing is i sold my old laptop that was too big to be carried around and iPad 2 is getting old for gadget freak like me.
I'm set for Windows 8 hybrid like Asus Transformer Book and Surface Pro. Still that free office with RT really makes you think, i'm almost certainly already paying over 1000 euros from either of those above.

Knowing me i will buy whatever i get into my hands first.

Beautiful Skydrive integration also makes thing a treat when combined with Win8 on home desktop and a Lumia 920

Tell me about it. Already love the SkyDrive marriage of my Ipad 2, Lumia 800 and my desktop PC. Can't wait for Lumia 920 + W8 hybrid + desktop PC.