I want your honest opinion on the Surface RT

[StevesBalls]

Dude, go away. As I stated in response to another of your posts: you don't own a Surface. You are relying way too much on what blogs say. We actually own and use the device, that's why we say things like we do. We have first hand experience.

All your posts here trash the Surface. Well, most of your 17 or so posts do. And your ambiguous blanket statements make no sense and cause conflict. I've seen similar posts from you on iMore. btw, the whole Mobile Nation single sign in has caused a lot of troll posting.

Anyway, go out and buy the device, use it, and then come and comment. You have nothing to offer otherwise, ok??

I provided real world test, you offered us nothing but snake oil. Respectable sites have proven over and over that the Surface lacks in the performance department, like:

AnandTech - Microsoft Surface Review

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll take Anand's opinion over yours, thank you very much.

And no, I don't own a Surface. I compared both the iPad and the Surface. And guess what, I picked the iPad. As far as I know, that is not a crime but everybody's right.

IE10 does not support several of the tests in Peacekeeper, so on those portions, it is equivalent to having scored a zero. Not a fair comparison against a browser that supports all the tests.

While that is true, it actually shows another weakness of the IE browser - you can't blame other browsers that they have a superior featureset than IE. But to be fair, we of course have to take into account that the iPad runs on superior hardware - so it has an advantage on that front.

 

[martinmc78]

I provided real world test, you offered us nothing but snake oil. Respectable sites have proven over and over that the Surface lacks in the performance department, like:

AnandTech - Microsoft Surface Review

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll take Anand's opinion over yours, thank you very much.

And no, I don't own a Surface. I compared both the iPad and the Surface. And guess what, I picked the iPad. As far as I know, that is not a crime but everybody's right.



While that is true, it actually shows another weakness of the IE browser - you can't blame other browsers that they have a superior featureset than IE. But to be fair, we of course have to take into account that the iPad runs on superior hardware - so it has an advantage on that front.

Dude.. You still here? I owned both an ipad and a surface for a short period of time. The reason it was short was that after a week of using the surface i realised the the ipad is a childs toy and stuck it on ebay. The best thing about the ipad is the money i got for it paid for the surface. And snake oil? Hows that reality distortion field holding up under Tim Cook?

And linking review sites? Please... Ive yet to find an unbiased review anywhere on any product available. If everyone believed the reviews everyone would own iphone5's and be getting lost with iOS 6 because apparently its a perfect phone and a perfect OS. Form your own opinions fella, wake up and stop being a sheep.

Bottom line is the guy wants an opinion on the Surface rt not links to reviews. If you dont own a surface you can't really comment as your opinions are based on someone elses views

 

[paulm187]

Oh please...

I meant for Windows RT OS

 

[paulm187]

Again, I don't want an iPad. I have a Lumia 920 and I want to have 1 ecosystem, Win7 (or Win8) on my PC, WP8 and either a Win8 tablet or WinRT tablet.

I like the Samsung 500T, but at $699 with no keyboard dock it is quite expensive. I think the dock (if I can get one) is around $175ish. Which makes the 500T closer to $900 when compared to the $700 Surface RT.. I have no legacy programs I want to install either, I have my PC for those tasks.

Mate, you will not be disappointed with the Surface RT it works well for what it does. The Samsung 500T running the new Intel Clover Trail chipset is exciting but trust me, at the moment you don't want to be running desktop apps on anything but an Intel Core ix processor based tablet. The performance is not there yet and remember desktop apps are not designed with tablets and mobile computing in mind. For running desktop apps one will be better off with a hybrid-ultrabook. Even the Surface Pro which will be running an Intel Core i5 chip will be heavier and very likely have a fan thus noise & heat. Since you don't want to run desktop apps, the Surface RT will more than meet your requirements.

 

[paulm187]

Well, this is annoying...

I just found that I can get the Samsung 500T from the US shipped to me with a keyboard dock for $50 more than the 64GB Surface RT...

$50 isn't much of a spread between the 2 devices..

Samsung vs Microsoft
Intel Atom vs Tegra 3
Win8 vs WinRT
Plastic vs VaporMag
Hard keyboard dock vs Touch cover
Digitizer vs No-digitizer?

Everything else seems to be about on par..

Read the review here for the Samsung 500T Samsung’s Ativ 500T: Not the Windows 8 tablet you’ve been waiting for | ExtremeTech

I don't think it will be the best choice at the moment.

 

[StevesBalls]

Dude.. You still here? I owned both an ipad and a surface for a short period of time. The reason it was short was that after a week of using the surface i realised the the ipad is a childs toy and stuck it on ebay. The best thing about the ipad is the money i got for it paid for the surface. And snake oil? Hows that reality distortion field holding up under Tim Cook?

And linking review sites? Please... Ive yet to find an unbiased review anywhere on any product available. If everyone believed the reviews everyone would own iphone5's and be getting lost with iOS 6 because apparently its a perfect phone and a perfect OS. Form your own opinions fella, wake up and stop being a sheep.

Bottom line is the guy wants an opinion on the Surface rt not links to reviews. If you dont own a surface you can't really comment as your opinions are based on someone elses views

By an unbiased review you obviously mean a favorable review, so I am not gonna argue about that with you. I have a Windows desktop machine, a Windows notebook, the Xbox 360 and a Windows Phone. The iPad is the only Apple product I own. I made my choice platform agnostic I just wanted the best tablet experience. For me (and most people) the iPad offers that. I'm glad you enjoy your Surface, that's honestly great for you. But other peoples needs may vary.

 

[martinmc78]

By an unbiased review you obviously mean a favorable review, so I am not gonna argue about that with you. I have a Windows desktop machine, a Windows notebook, the Xbox 360 and a Windows Phone. The iPad is the only Apple product I own. I made my choice platform agnostic I just wanted the best tablet experience. For me (and most people) the iPad offers that. I'm glad you enjoy your Surface, that's honestly great for you. But other peoples needs may vary.

Doesnt have to be favourable just realistic - alot of reviews are skewed from the start from them being performed on pre-release devices and they are just opinions of the reviewer at the time. Ive taken to waiting until Joe Public gets hold of the device and they start posting there own product reviews before i make any decisions on tech nowadays.
Also gotta put out an apology you were coming across as a bit of an isheep and it got my back up a bit. The recent ipad upgrade was the last straw in the apple coffin for me Ive had iphones and ipods in the past (+2years ago) along with the recently departed ipad that just didnt do the job anymore and have come to hate apple as a company. Same old BS year on year and everyone just laps it up.
Theres just things the ipad cant do when you comare it to the Surface. The multitasking just makes you wonder how you ever got on without it. Having my twitter feed on 1/3 screen and facebook on 2/3 for example. You can get so much more information in one go on one screen. Sitting in meetings with the kickstand out recording whats going on while making notes, the camera placement just makes you wonder why hasnt this been done before? Its a means of entertainment as well as a productivity device and has the power to do both at once. The ipad just cant keep up with that at the moment.

 

[balama]

i've been an ipad unlimited 3g owner since day one only just upgrading to an ipad2 this year.
I also ventured into the whole blackberry playbook thing with a 16 and then 64GB device.Several of us at work jumped on the Playbook bandwagon looking at the hardware specs especially as the price point got better but the software just never came about.I recently gave away my 16 PB to coworker and have been unsuccessfully trying to locally sell my entire 64GB PB setup for months. It seems that the BB is going the way of the startac for corporate connectivity as more folks convert to android and ios phones.

Earlier this year i converted from a slow 3g tmo bold to a 4G Nokia Lumia and have been very impressed with the WinPhone OS on a small form factor. So much so that i was willing to give Win8 preview a go and eventually gave up on the PB for a Surface RT.

You can't argue the build quality of the Surface versus the majority of its competitors and even though its as heavy as the Playbook is somehow feels more comfortable in hand because if its thinness.
Nothing like popping out the kick stand and going at it versus fooling around with cases i'm surprised no one figured this out especially the integrated keyboard lids of which i have both and prefer the type lid. The surface has just about everything I need to replace my laptop with exception of the following two items.

The first is a Cisco VPN IP Sec certified client that my employer will support that will allow me to use the surfaces remote desktop feature to VPN to my work computer where I can do just about any task I can do at work on the road. I wasn't able to do this with my Playbook although I could do this with my iPad but the screen resolution sucked.

The second is the ability to use Go-to-Meeting, Go-to-Webinar, or Webex which is how most companies communicate or conduct remote training these days. Again I could not do this on my Playbook as good as that hardware was on the web and with multitasking.

As far as apps, I could care less. As long as I can get on the internet (which is also a weakness of the Win8 browser), I have access to most everything I need other than a good email client and media player (both of which are also weaknesses in the Win8 environment). But most of what I do in in MS Office so having a pure MS Office app versus a "compatible" one makes a huge difference. Until we go to Office 365 I think this will always be a differentiator for enterprise users.

Right now my ipad2 sits gathering dust wasting its unlimited 3g connection and my toshiba ultrabook is on the verge of doing the same as i also experiment with this new Samsung Chromebook as another option of running thin as you run remote. As as beautiful as the integration of Chrome is across platforms, it just isn't going to replace the microsoft dominated the platform of enterprise anytime soon although for allot of smaller businesses it makes sense plus the price point is so good you could buy one for everyone in the office without blinking an eye. But Chrome somehow just seem to fit with my assigned Droid Razr Maxx work phone. While the Surface seems to fit with my Lumia personal phone.

And that is why the Surface with Win8 Pro will struggle with an starting price point over $1000. At that price you might as well get an Air and dual boot it like most frequent fliers in the office have done or just get a new super thin win8 pro ultrabook.

I think the new Win8 phones like the Nokia 920/HTC 8X (although battery life seems to be more important for road warriors these days) and these Surface devices will pop up more and more as the wardrobe of choice for the traveling enterprise worker.

Although the Surface isn't perfect, its a good start. But then again Microsoft doesn't have a good track record with these types of ventures.
All I have to do is look at my 32GB Zune HD which I bought for its brilliant screen resolution and OS and worry about the future of such MS devices.

But this is just one of a million opinions you have to sort from

 

[Dewg]

I don't want to get in the middle of a pissing match, but I do want to offer a few points. One, the Anand review was Oct 23 meaning he was reviewing the pre-release. Less than one week after release, MS put out a substantial patch and firmware update that solves much of the lag and flash performance issues. Also Office software was updated to full version which removed performance problems there. For me, I honestly don't care if the iPad is better performing, it does not have the features I need to conduct my business. Surface is the first tablet to give me what I've been wanting from iPad for so long. Example, most of the websites my company uses for backend finance, accounting, invoicing, payroll, etc. all require IE. I tried every browser I could find on iPad but they never worked. Surface they work. The full Office software gives me the ability to work on complex files like redlined contracts and complicated budget files with pivot tables, etc. It is also a bonus that I can use USB flash drives or SD memory card.

So I won't argue that iPad is more mature and performs better, but it does not have the features I need to be most productive.

 

[berty6294]

My review is this.

Surface does more. I rely on the Surface at school, I can not with the iPad.

At school i do a lot of typing. Surface has a great keyboard, iPad does not (you can buy one, i haven't used any that I like)

Even if you can find a good keyboard for the iPad, you gotta use something to type to. Windows has Office. In class, a teacher puts a Word document online containing instructions for a project. On the Surface i can easily download and open it in Word for RT.

I've typed many assignments on my Surface and have been able to print to a WiFi printer very easily! (no apps needed, no setup AT ALL). Even if i didn't have a WiFi printer, its not a big deal cause i can just move it over to a flash drive.

Surface blows the iPad out of the water when it comes to usability. My Surface has completely replaced my laptop at school, I could never say the same about my iPad!

 

[NickA]

I provided real world test

It doesn't get more "real world" then the users on this forum. You're going to contradict a member on this forum who uses the Surface day in and day out? Reviews are what they are, and all with bias whether you believe that or not. Reviews are not real world use either.

And no, I don't own a Surface. I compared both the iPad and the Surface. And guess what, I picked the iPad. As far as I know, that is not a crime but everybody's right.

And that's great. I probably use my iPad 60% and the Surface 40% of the time right now. My issue with your posts (not you in general) is you state facts based on other people's opinion In addition to that, you speak as if you have first hand experience and recommend not getting the Surface. I, like you, have no preference to OS or manufacture. Whatever works. But I'm not coming to a Surface forum, loaded with links to reviews, trashing the Surface.

The "one is better then the other" debate is so 2010 and immature. Come here when you can speak of your own experience, then offer advice. Otherwise, you're doing nothing more then a Google search, which we all can do ourselves.

 

[v10type-r]

Ok, StevesBalls - Like I have said for the 3rd time now, I DO NOT WANT AN IPAD. This is NOT AN IPAD forum, this is specifcally meant for the Surface RT.

My Thread asks that I wanted ppls honest opinion on the Surface RT. Honest opinion being one from an actual owner of the device. I have read the reviews and I feel almost 90% of them are biased and almost all of them are from the "pre-release, pre-update" version.

Almost all North American, especially from the US reviews are biased towards Apple, at least this has been my observation, whether it be windows phone 7, 8, Surface RT or Windows anything.

This is why I wanted feedback from real Surface owners. I was an early adopter of Windows Phone, I took the bad reviews, the teasing and crap thrown on the internet, but I have not once regretted my decision to go to Windows Phone from day 1. The same will go with the Surface, yes all new products have bugs, but for some reason all reviewers/tech sites tend to point out these flaws more on Windows devices for some reason. Yet anything that happens with Apple seems to not get exposed. Like all the problems with the iPhone5, and there are a ton which I won't get into, yet those same reviewers give the Lumia 920 so-so reviews cause its a brick? lol.. 185 grams is not heavy unless you're a 5 year old, even still my 2.5 year old has no issues using the Kids Corner on my 920, I haven't heard a peep from her saying its too heavy

Apple in its own right is great, but its getting old fast. The UI is boring, its dated and to me the iPad is in the same class as the Vtech InnoTab. A tablet for kids, a toy. Comparing apps from iPad to Surface is ridiculous, but hey, its really all it has against it... for now. I guess it has a higher resolution display, but its 4:3. And honestly, on such a small screen it doesn't make a difference, nay-sayers will defend the "retina display" all they want, but that is no different than the Apple loyalists saying that they have the best phone ever.. oh wait, I mean iPhone ever. Which really doesn't say much.

Anyways, I want to thank the Surface owners on their input. I am going to get the Surface RT. Most likely the 64GB. I've already ordered my 64GB Sandisk microSDXC to increase my storage capacity to 128GB and I've ordered a Zagg full body kit (not sure I will use it, but just in case).

I am just trying to decide if I should wait for a potential sale (boxing day maybe?), or just go ahead and buy it now. If there is a sale after Xmas, and its like the Black Friday one, I'd rather buy it now since I don't care for a discounted second keyboard.

 

[jdevenberg]

I was going to purchase a Surface RT and decided against it and got an Asus Vivo Tab RT instead. It has nearly identical internals to the Surface RT, including the Tegra 3 processor, but adds NFC and has a smaller screen. There were a couple main reasons I went with the Vivo over the Surface:

1. After playing with the Surface at a pop up store, I felt it was too large to use as a stand alone tablet. 10.1", like the Vivo RT, is pushing it in my opinion and the 10.6" of the Surface RT felt unwieldly in hand to me.
2. No NFC on the Surface seemed like a glaring omission to me (I understand why they had to leave it out, but I don't like that they did)
3. The Vivo Tab dock adds extra battery and is better for lap use, which was a huge consideration for me. This is probably the biggest reason. As awesome as I think the touch cover is, 90% of the time I use a keyboard, its on my lap and the Vivo Tab's keyboard is better for that.

 

[Jason94]

I owned a Surface RT, pretty good! I prefer it more than iPad...there are fewer choice of apps on Windows RT, so i usually use it for social networking and web browsing. but those apps which are available for Surface RT is actually quite good, performs better than the same apps on other platform...and you dont need facebook or fb messenger apps...people hub combine everything, messaging hub combine everything, pictures, music, videos and calendar! Windows 8 is more about integration, and very easy to use! The most friendly UI i ever use and it's really fast...if you want to do more things, wait for Surface Pro, runs on Intel processor, just like a laptop specs with tablet appearance...conclusion, surface RT is a very good product...i would like to keep it for leisure uses, and buy a Surface Pro in the future

 

[v10type-r]

I played with the Asus VivoTab RT, it is nice, light and has a few nice features, but I like the robustness of the Surface and build quality of it more than the VivoTab..

 

[FinsUpDNC]

Ok, StevesBalls - Like I have said for the 3rd time now, I DO NOT WANT AN IPAD. This is NOT AN IPAD forum, this is specifcally meant for the Surface RT.

My Thread asks that I wanted ppls honest opinion on the Surface RT. Honest opinion being one from an actual owner of the device. I have read the reviews and I feel almost 90% of them are biased and almost all of them are from the "pre-release, pre-update" version.

Almost all North American, especially from the US reviews are biased towards Apple, at least this has been my observation, whether it be windows phone 7, 8, Surface RT or Windows anything.

This is why I wanted feedback from real Surface owners. I was an early adopter of Windows Phone, I took the bad reviews, the teasing and crap thrown on the internet, but I have not once regretted my decision to go to Windows Phone from day 1. The same will go with the Surface, yes all new products have bugs, but for some reason all reviewers/tech sites tend to point out these flaws more on Windows devices for some reason. Yet anything that happens with Apple seems to not get exposed. Like all the problems with the iPhone5, and there are a ton which I won't get into, yet those same reviewers give the Lumia 920 so-so reviews cause its a brick? lol.. 185 grams is not heavy unless you're a 5 year old, even still my 2.5 year old has no issues using the Kids Corner on my 920, I haven't heard a peep from her saying its too heavy

Apple in its own right is great, but its getting old fast. The UI is boring, its dated and to me the iPad is in the same class as the Vtech InnoTab. A tablet for kids, a toy. Comparing apps from iPad to Surface is ridiculous, but hey, its really all it has against it... for now. I guess it has a higher resolution display, but its 4:3. And honestly, on such a small screen it doesn't make a difference, nay-sayers will defend the "retina display" all they want, but that is no different than the Apple loyalists saying that they have the best phone ever.. oh wait, I mean iPhone ever. Which really doesn't say much.

Anyways, I want to thank the Surface owners on their input. I am going to get the Surface RT. Most likely the 64GB. I've already ordered my 64GB Sandisk microSDXC to increase my storage capacity to 128GB and I've ordered a Zagg full body kit (not sure I will use it, but just in case).

I am just trying to decide if I should wait for a potential sale (boxing day maybe?), or just go ahead and buy it now. If there is a sale after Xmas, and its like the Black Friday one, I'd rather buy it now since I don't care for a discounted second keyboard.

I agree with what you say about a lot of the reviews out there. I wrote the following on my site, but I am not looking for hits so just copy/pasting. I am going t put up a full review later, and will put a copy in this thread.

Microsoft’s new tablet, called “Surface”, went on sale a few weeks ago with some fanfare. The reviews around the tech world were mixed at best. Reading these reviews was making me angry. No journalist owed Microsoft a positive review, but the reviewers totally missed the boat on what the Surface is. Every review compared it to the iPad. I am not going to do a review of the Surface, as I will let others make their own opinions. However, I ask that you look at it in this light. The iPad is a device made for media consumption, social, gaming, and other personal activities that can be used if need be for some work product. The Surface is a device that is made for work product that can be used for media consumption, social, gaming, and other personal activities. The entire basis for each product is inverse to the other. Therefore just doing a review where you compare the two products is intellectually dishonest.
Now Microsoft has to take some blame here as well. They have done an awful job explaining the device, and have done an even worse job describing what will run on it. Everyone by now has seen the new Windows 8 ads showing the next version of Windows. I think it is safe to say that most people know what Windows is as this point. However the Surface runs Windows RT. What in the world is Windows RT? It really is a version of Windows that only runs apps designed for the platform. However, a lot of people see the word Windows and assume that it will run all of their Windows apps. This problem could have been solved very easily. They should never have named the operating system Windows RT. In fact they should not have put the name Windows in it at all. They should have called it Surface OS. Most people would understand that you can only run Surface OS apps on your Surface. Unlike the iPad which only has Apple making them, Microsoft allows any hardware company to make a Windows RT device. These devices should have been called “powered by Surface OS”. This also allows Microsoft another marketing point. They can advertise to their Windows 8 buyers that their machines run Windows and Surface applications.
At this point I would just tell you to go to your local Microsoft Store or Best Buy to check out these devices. The Surface is only sold at Microsoft stores, however there are other RT devices being sold elsewhere. Best Buy has an ACER tablet running Windows RT that is very nice. The ease with which these devices connect to a keyboard is great, and they will run your native Office applications such as Word and PowerPoint. Right now there is no Outlook for Windows RT, but you can setup your mail account to use the built in mail, address book, and calendar apps. I am just happy there is a new player on the block that looks like it will have staying power. I see Microsoft being able to position itself with its new phones and tablets as the new Blackberry. Devices you can use for fun, but they are made for work.

 

[jdevenberg]

I played with the Asus VivoTab RT, it is nice, light and has a few nice features, but I like the robustness of the Surface and build quality of it more than the VivoTab..

I agree with the build quality of the Surface being superior, but that isn't the same as the Vivo RT having poor build. It actually has quite good build quality and feels very nice in hand, the Surface is just an outstanding example of exempliary build quality.

The thinness, and even more so the lightness, are huge advantages of the Vivo. Having used an iPad 2 and a Vivo, I can say that after an hour of use, your wrist notices the weight difference.

 

[StevesBalls]

Reviews are what they are, and all with bias whether you believe that or not. Reviews are not real world use either.

This notion that all reviews are biased only because they dare to be critical is completely ridiculous. I don't know where this idea came from that the whole world has conspired to bring down the Surface and WP.

The reasons why the Surface (and the same can be applied to WP) is not a knockout success are very simple:

1) Ecosystem that lacks behind the competition
2) An OS that was rushed to market (applies both to WP8 and WinRT) and therefore again lacks in many regards compared to the competition (and please note that MS also competes with itself with RT vs x86 Windows).
3) Microsoft's marketing sucks.

There is no dark magic behind it, no cospiracy. Nobody is out to trash your beloved Surface. When MS makes a great product and throws it's weight behind it it will succeed. You only need to look at the Xbox as an example. It's that simple. Once Microsoft brings that same A Game to the phone and tablet market they will dominate it too. But that time is not now.

Doesnt have to be favourable just realistic - alot of reviews are skewed from the start from them being performed on pre-release devices and they are just opinions of the reviewer at the time. Ive taken to waiting until Joe Public gets hold of the device and they start posting there own product reviews before i make any decisions on tech nowadays.
Also gotta put out an apology you were coming across as a bit of an isheep and it got my back up a bit. The recent ipad upgrade was the last straw in the apple coffin for me Ive had iphones and ipods in the past (+2years ago) along with the recently departed ipad that just didnt do the job anymore and have come to hate apple as a company. Same old BS year on year and everyone just laps it up.
Theres just things the ipad cant do when you comare it to the Surface. The multitasking just makes you wonder how you ever got on without it. Having my twitter feed on 1/3 screen and facebook on 2/3 for example. You can get so much more information in one go on one screen. Sitting in meetings with the kickstand out recording whats going on while making notes, the camera placement just makes you wonder why hasnt this been done before? Its a means of entertainment as well as a productivity device and has the power to do both at once. The ipad just cant keep up with that at the moment.

Thanks for that great reply, really appreciate it.

And I completely understand your point. But the truth is that everything the Surface can do, my laptop already does. And more and better. There is nothing I can do on the Surface that I can't do on my laptop. But the same is not true vice versa, quite the opposite - compared to a full fledged x86 based laptop the Surface is rather limited. And as a tablet it can't compete with the iPad. And so it's stuck somewhere in between in a place that most consumers don't care about and which makes it really difficult to make a case for it.

 

[NickA]

This notion that all reviews are biased only because they dare to be critical is completely ridiculous. I don't know where this idea came from that the whole world has conspired to bring down the Surface and WP.

The reasons why the Surface (and the same can be applied to WP) is not a knockout success are very simple:

1) Ecosystem that lacks behind the competition
2) An OS that was rushed to market (applies both to WP8 and WinRT) and therefore again lacks in many regards compared to the competition (and please note that MS also competes with itself with RT vs x86 Windows).
3) Microsoft's marketing sucks.

There is no dark magic behind it, no cospiracy. Nobody is out to trash your beloved Surface. When MS makes a great product and throws it's weight behind it it will succeed. You only need to look at the Xbox as an example. It's that simple. Once Microsoft brings that same A Game to the phone and tablet market they will dominate it too. But that time is not now.

Thanks for providing your own commentary and not simply linking to an article And I don't think there is a conspiracy against the RT, or pretty much any non Apple device, but the media is biased towards Apple. It's a fact. Some thing are criticized, unless it's Apple. Take the iPad Mini and it's low res (by today's standard) display. Put that on any other tablet, and it would get slammed in reviews. But because it's Apple, it's a needed feature and it had to be done that way.

And I completely understand your point. But the truth is that everything the Surface can do, my laptop already does. And more and better. There is nothing I can do on the Surface that I can't do on my laptop. But the same is not true vice versa, quite the opposite - compared to a full fledged x86 based laptop the Surface is rather limited. And as a tablet it can't compete with the iPad. And so it's stuck somewhere in between in a place that most consumers don't care about and which makes it really difficult to make a case for it.

No one is claiming the Surface RT is a laptop replacement. Remember when everyone said the laptop wouldn't replace the desktop? Tablets are the future and will be outselling laptops soon. But right now, you can't beat the full functionality of a laptop, if you need all that functionality. And when the Surface Pro comes out it's a moot point.

And it's not meant to compete with the iPad. There is no use in trying to compete with an iPad, it will end up on the losing end every time. Whether that's right or wrong is open for debate. The RT fits nicely in between an iPad and a laptop. I can list things a Surface RT can do the iPad can't. It doesn't mean one is better then the other.

 

[ddoyle777]

This has been a very interesting thread. I, too, am deciding what to do about the Surface RT.
Let me give a bit of background. I have been using word since Word 2.0 for DOS. It's still my favorite word processor and I am more comfortable there than any place else. I have kept it updated on both Windows and Mac platforms. I primarily use Mac because of the Bible software called Accordance that is Mac only (although they just announced a Windows version arriving sometime in 2013). I have taught basic computing at our local community college which was a bit of operating system stuff but mostly Office 2010 minus my favorite Office app OneNote.
I have been an iPad user since day one (I was literally one of the first to receive the iPad as I got it on release day at 8:15 am on the East Coast - my 15 minutes of fame) and I'm on the iPad 3 now. I bought a Surface RT a couple of weeks after it came out. So, I'm not a new user, nor am I pounding for one platform over the other. I just want to get stuff done, find out what's new in world, read my books, etc. It's much more about use than anything else.

So, with about a week left of my initial 30 days, I'm struggling with the decision to keep it or return it as I wait for something more powerful. I guess we learned earlier this week that Microsoft won't be abandoning it (they said 4+ years of support), but I'm not sure what that means. Do they mean full support or virus definition updates - don't know. Will the app store get substantially better? Will the apps get better fast enough to matter? I have a few loaded that are a joke right now - Evernote stinks in Metro (or whatever we should be calling it). My Logos Bible app will only let you read online - no downloads, no highlighting, no notes, no sync (all of which it has on both iOS and Android), Kindle app has storage problems, etc., etc. I realize that these apps are not mature yet, but I wonder how long it will take for them to get so. I wonder how long it will take for the Metro OS to do things like use the SD card easily, have favorites in Explorer (only the desktop version seems to have this), etc. etc. It feels like a crap shoot right now, and that's my dilemma - do I keep the current Version 1.0 tablet and hope, or do I return it for something more powerful?

I don't know yet. Twice I've started to reset the Surface to return it, but then, damn - it's great hardware. I love having the keyboard attached, and the easy way it detaches or moves out of the way. I love the stand, I love having a USB port so I can use a mouse when I want. I love having the widescreen display and the swipe gestures it uses. So, damn, I don't reset and use it for a couple of more days until my doubt on the long term viability of the device grows.

Right now it's sitting on my desk, the packing is in the MS bag next to it and I'm still pondering it's future. It's strengths and weakness are pretty evident, all I want is that one killer app to push it over into the keep side.