Do you have a Microsoft store nearby? They have them just roaming the store, untethered and free like their are on tech safari. When you detach the keyboard, you are shocked by the weight or lack of it. It is so balanced that I could not detect the extra quarter of a pound when holding the Surface 2. The security tether will ruin that sensation, for sure. It feels very natural in portrait for browsing and note taking.
Best Buy really should have an untethered unit for reps to bust out and show off how light it feels and how well it handles; they would sell a lot more of them.
I think the closest microsoft store is like 45 minutes away from me. And yeah , the tether made trying to get a sense if using it as a tablet pretty impossible.