Im contemplating in purchasing surface rt. Cant justify the pro due to the cost. Im torn between the two keyboards. Which is better and ill i be disappointed with rt. Work have a asus tablet which has 8 pro installed and i really like it. But i like the design of the surface especially with a full sized usb socket. Just not sure if rt will be a pain or not.
Windows surface RT
- Thread starter Andy Barker
- Start date
stmav
Retired Moderator
Just how much typing do you think you'll be doing with it? I have a RT, and I find myself using the onscreen keyboard more when I'm on it. The touch keyboard is ok and the learning curve is pretty quick. But if you do a lot of typing, the type keyboard might suit you better.
Sam Sabri
New member
Don't get the Surface RT. Wait for the second generation. I prefer the Type Cover over the Touch Cover keyboard.
Cant see the second generation coming for a while. Wont be typing that much. So ill try the touch cover version. All i want at this moment is my own tablet that isn't an iPad.
I'm very happy with my RT. I was on the fence for the Touch vs Type cover, I went Touch and glad I did, even with the cover I still use the on screen keyboard more, the cover is mainly for protecting the tablet in transit and the rare instances when I need to type more than a sentence or two. I'd say my on screen vs. Touch keyboard usage is easily 80/20.
neo158
Active member
With the Windows RT 8.1 Preview the Surface RT is much more functional and faster so I don't think anyone needs to wait for the second gen Surface RT.
Just a real shame apps bought on phone don't work on rt like games etc. I really like integration of skydrive between my phone and works win 8 tablet. Is it easy to get rt printing to a printer shared from a server
I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, bought it last Christmas, my wife has it now, I got myself a Surface RT and I don't regret it one little bit, 8.1 made it even better. Jim
neo158
Active member
mase123987
New member
Couldn't agree more. Surface RT is just under powered right now. I want to love it but it gets bogged down really quick. If you can, wait for the next Surface tablets or new Windows 8 tablets with the bay trail atom processors that will be out late this year probably.
ctitanic
New member
waiting for the next generation is something that I never recommend unless I believe that current generation is buggy. And this is not the case. When the next generation comes you will soon hear about a next generation coming so then what are going to do wait for that other 'next generation'. My taken is, buy the current generation, enjoy it as long as you can. If the next generation makes a big difference with new features tat you really need then, there is eBay for your current device, get the money, complete it and get the next generation.
I find my RT more responsive than my iPad 2. I play HD movies in my RT and I never have seen the processor go over 15%. Current Surface RT has enough juice for all the needs of 90% of all users. There are a 10% out there that are speed demons that I think will not be pleased with RT, Pro or any Tablet.
mase123987
New member
ctitanic, I agree with your concept but the RT has issues when using even a couple websites. It is considerably slower at loading pages than a $600 device should be (assuming you have to pay for the keyboard). My 920 loads the full WPCentral.com website noticeably faster than the Surface RT. Considering just about everyone uses their tablet to surf the net, this is a giant issue. It is frustrating enough for me to start carrying my laptop around again. It really would be a great device if it wasn't powered by a lack luster processor.
AndyCalling
New member
It is actually really great. Get the 64gig version and the type cover. The touch cover is not really suitable for any sustained typing. Not when compared to the type cover.
testement
New member
I love my Surface RT and I can't say it's been sluggish and has far as the browser is concerned you've got to remember it's got full flash so it might be a bit slower when loading up pages but you get the full web experience.
Then throw 8.1 preview on, you won't regret it.
Then throw 8.1 preview on, you won't regret it.
Coreldan
New member
I'm personally very satisfied with my RT with TouchCover, and I occasionally write quite a bit on it due to university. It mostly comes down to whether you need legacy software on the go (at home you can remote desktop a full PC if you need legacy apps 
).
But I would buy my Surface RT all over again
As for WPcentral being sluggish, that's not on Surface, that's on this website. This is easily the heaviest website I frequent for no apparent reason. WPCentral causes issues even on my gaming PC that no other website manages to do lol. But even then, I always have 5 tabs open in the RT browser, one of which is the WPcentral and I don't really have problems with that and I most certainly can't blame the performance on this site on any of the devices.
).But I would buy my Surface RT all over again
As for WPcentral being sluggish, that's not on Surface, that's on this website. This is easily the heaviest website I frequent for no apparent reason. WPCentral causes issues even on my gaming PC that no other website manages to do lol. But even then, I always have 5 tabs open in the RT browser, one of which is the WPcentral and I don't really have problems with that and I most certainly can't blame the performance on this site on any of the devices.
Someone has just told me that word isn't any good on the rt. She couldn't really tell me details but she said it wouldn't suit a school. I thought it was a full version. Any i misled
Coreldan
New member
Well, without any details it's hard to say much. The office isn't 100% full version, as I believe at least excel lacks something like macros and scripts (according to MS for security reasons I believe?), but I havn't found anything lacking from Word on my Surface. It could be this friend of yours has some very specific/niche needs for her school, but I dont see why the Office 2013 RT wouldn't be suitable for school. I'm very happy with mine and it's largely for university use. I study theology though, so I manage far with just reading, writing and formatting fairly basic text. I dont really know what would be the kind of thing that the Word wouldnt be sufficient for in school use, I guess what I can come up with could be the lack of digital inking for something like mathematic formulas, but does anyone actually use Word for that anyways even if they had digital inking?
I wrote my bachelor's term largely on my Surface RT
I wrote my bachelor's term largely on my Surface RT
Wait for the next generation to be announced, then get the first gen in the inevitable fire sale that follows.
RT can't run VBA. Macros are written in VBA that's why they aren't there. Much of the more 'advanced' Office features are written in VBA, so some things like the ability to merge Excel data into a Word document is missing, and some entire apps like Access are too.
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