Should I get Surface RT at the current discounted price or wait for next gen Surface?

[pazces84]

Should I get Surface RT at the current discounted price or wait for next gen Surface?

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

I say get it now. For starters there has been no real mention that I've
heard about the next gen surfaces.

I own a surface rt and it is perfectly fine for me.

 

[aaa6112]

Wait for the next gen. I own a Surface RT and love it a lot. However, if I were in your shoes, I'd wait for some Snapdragon 800 goodness.

 

[bilzkh]

I'd wait. The current Surface RT is just underpowered for what it's supposed to do (i.e. running what is a very powerful OS). It's a tough wait, but it'll be worth it.

 

[Michael Alan Goff]

I'm not sure I'd wait on the basis that we don't even know if Microsoft is coming out with a next gen Surface RT. We know that they're adding support for more ARM processors, but we don't know if they're going to take advantage of it for themselves. And even if they are, it could be any length of time before it happens.

 

[Etios]

Wait for the next gen surface with snapdragon 800, the slow Tegra 3 chip in the current surface has led to performance issues and i wont pay anything more than $200 for a tegra 3 tablet.

 

[shn'g]

I don't get people talking about the performance on Surface being bad. I have had almost no problems. Yeah the odd slow home screen, but even then very minimal. I have found with every update the OS gets more solid and never thought of it as underpowered at all..

anyways I think it also depends on if you like the size of this tablet cause I have heard they might be making an 8" model to. I was willing to pay the premium back when surface was first released and would again! So at $350 I think its a great deal! I am an impatient person though and can't wait for releases unless I know around the time the next device will be announced.

 

[D4X]

If you cannot wait to get started, get one now.. I got mine with an extra discount bringing its pricepoint on par w the upcoming nexus 7 2nd gen, and at that pricepoint the decision was a little easier to make. I will miss the portability of that formfactor, but the Surface more than makes up for it.
8.1 rt also fixes a lot of the annoyances I have w its current OS and regardless of which RT you end up getting, those improvements will make the user experience much better.
Personally, knowing the new RT will most likely come at a pricepoint around the introductory price of the original RT or slightly lower, the choice is pretty much dictated by the lower price..

 

[infinidim]

Get it now, they are great devices and now that the price has dropped they are great value.

 

[bilzkh]

I don't get people talking about the performance on Surface being bad. I have had almost no problems. Yeah the odd slow home screen, but even then very minimal. I have found with every update the OS gets more solid and never thought of it as underpowered at all..

anyways I think it also depends on if you like the size of this tablet cause I have heard they might be making an 8" model to. I was willing to pay the premium back when surface was first released and would again! So at $350 I think its a great deal! I am an impatient person though and can't wait for releases unless I know around the time the next device will be announced.

Think of it this way, why not wait if you know it's eventually going to come? I expect the 2nd gen RT to be in the market from the Fall.

 

[Derausgewanderte]

the notion that it may be better to wait I don't buy anymore. All we know is that it is going to be in 2014. Could be late 2014. You'd be waiting for a year and pay the full price. By then everybody will tell you to better wait for version 3. I own one now and wouldn't blink buying one at the current price. I have no issues with the performance of it and I am using it a lot for work (writing papers, giving presentations, using Excel for budgeting and OneNote for meetings).

cheers

 

[bilzkh]

the notion that it may be better to wait I don't buy anymore. All we know is that it is going to be in 2014. Could be late 2014. You'd be waiting for a year and pay the full price. By then everybody will tell you to better wait for version 3. I own one now and wouldn't blink buying one at the current price. I have no issues with the performance of it and I am using it a lot for work (writing papers, giving presentations, using Excel for budgeting and OneNote for meetings).

cheers

The next Surface RT will likely come in the Fall of this year, marking the first year since the first version released.

There are 3 possible outcomes:

1. The current Surface RT will stay and remain at $349.99, with Surface RT v2 being pricier.

2. The current Surface RT will be d/c or discounted further, with Surface RT v2 being $349.99

3. The current Surface RT will be replaced by a 7-8 inch version for $349.99, and a 10-inch version being more expensive

You can't lose if you wait IMHO.

 

[Derausgewanderte]

The next Surface RT will likely come in the Fall of this year, marking the first year since the first version released.

I am pessimistic but hope you are right that a SRTv2 comes out sooner. It's almost Fall and I have not seen any concrete announcements from MS yet. There are only very few news articles that post about estimated release dates - all very vague. http://www.recoverlostpassword.com/news/next-generation-surface-rt-will-use-snapdragon-800-chip.html

 

[polbit]

I am pessimistic but hope you are right that a SRTv2 comes out sooner. It's almost Fall and I have not seen any concrete announcements from MS yet.

I think MS would like to try to move some of the current inventory they have on hand before they announce anything

That being said, unless you know for sure that in 2-3 months you will be able to buy a version 2, I don't buy the waiting argument. $350 is not a lot of money for something as well engineered as Surface RT, even if Tegra 3 is getting a little long in the tooth.

 

[bilzkh]

I am pessimistic but hope you are right that a SRTv2 comes out sooner. It's almost Fall and I have not seen any concrete announcements from MS yet. There are only very few news articles that post about estimated release dates - all very vague. Next Generation Surface RT will Use Snapdragon 800 Chip

The last time Microsoft announced Surface, people slammed them for not providing hard dates or opening pre-orders. They might be following on Nokia's lead of having the product ready for market before announcing it.

 

[joe_easton]

I just bought mine last Saturday. I considered waiting but the reality is with tech, you can always wait to but the next gen or enjoy today's model today. I am sure there will be a new Surface no later than Mid 2014 (probably by Q4 2013) but I think it will be back to the original price point of the Surface. My surface is 64GB and runs really fast; not issues even when I am running multiple office programs, web browsers, skydrive and other apps at the same time. I have noticed little to no lag.

In addition, the current surface will get 8.1 so besides stronger processing power and RAM, I don't see much of an upgrade from what I have now.

 

[iamtim]

Is there any documented release from Microsoft stating there will be a "next generation" RT?

Also, I'm very curious as to what those who say it's underpowered are doing with their RTs. Are they looking at specs? Or basing comments on actual experience with actual usage?

 

[anon(27512)]

I'm interested in the surface as well. The price point makes it very tempting.

 

[bilzkh]

Is there any documented release from Microsoft stating there will be a "next generation" RT?

Also, I'm very curious as to what those who say it's underpowered are doing with their RTs. Are they looking at specs? Or basing comments on actual experience with actual usage?

I own both a Surface Pro (used for work) and Surface RT (consumption, left in the living room for everyone to use).

The Surface RT is good, it performs 'well enough' for most tasks and you can count on further optimizations from Microsoft in the way of making Windows RT work better on the Tegra-3 CPU. That said, you'll always face a risk of lag or slow loading time to time. The issue isn't that bad though, but I would prefer not to ever deal with it. Look at Windows Phone, it runs beautifully and lag is a very rare occurrence. The next-gen Surface RT is poised to use Snapdragon 600 or even 800, and you can be assured that it'll perform without a hitch. Alternatively, a Nokia tablet is also on the way, and you can be assured that there'll be some interesting exclusive apps and services on it.

$349.99 is a great deal, but if I had that money now I would much rather hold it and only worry about the other $150 in two months.

That said, if you're really looking to get one, and will use it to test Windows 8.1 as well as Microsoft's eco-system (SmartGlass, Xbox, Remote Desktop, etc), then yeah, it's worth it in that regard. You'll have a lot of fun with it for a few months, but be warned that a much better set of products are on the horizon.

 

[iamtim]

That said, you'll always face a risk of lag or slow loading time to time.

Again, are you basing this on actual use? If so, what is causing the lag or slow loading?

...

I'm asking out of pure curiosity. I've had my RT a couple of weeks and aside of the "swipe down to close apps" not being as visually smooth as the "click and drag down to close apps" on my laptop and desktop, and my fat fingers not always tapping the right spot for links and buttons, I've experienced no lag or slow loading in any way. I mean, apps don't load as fast as they do on my Boot Camped iMac running Windows 8 or my Toshiba laptop running Windows 8, but those are full-horsepower x64 machines. Could it maybe be incorrect expectations? Or are you experiencing actual, recreate-able, performance issues?

The next-gen Surface RT is poised to use Snapdragon 600 or even 800

Is there a source for this anywhere? Or is it simple speculation?