Still worth the purchase?

[Eren68]

Hi all. I'm thinking of buying possibly two of these for family members, to be used for general surfing, Youtube, online shopping and very light games from the store. These are selling in the UK for as little as ?160 (used ipad mini money) so, that seems a bargain.

It's not an entirely selfless act, as I wish to protect my Pro from grubby paws :grin:

Many users still seem happy with the original RT so surely they're still worth grabbing?

Thanks.

 

[Darthbobcat]

I used to work at a Microsoft Store, and I have seen loads of Surface RT's and Surface 2's. I would say that, all things being equal, I'd recommend a Surface 2 over an RT on a performance basis. Surface RT's processor is a little pokey. It'll work alright, but the 2 will just work better.

 

[John Steffes]

I got a Surface RT 64G on clearance in the US, I use it everyday, waiting for Surface 2's to go on clearance, as the 200G OneDrive and free Skype deal expire in December, so the device should be priced lower as the services that are bundled will be worthless... But I love the Surface RT, never touch a 2 (yet), but also the big issues with the original was related to Windows 8, once you upgrade to Windows 8.1 Update 1 (a long process of Windows Update/reboot/Windows Update/Reboot/Store update to Windows 8.1, then again Windows Update/reboot/Windows Update reboot), took me 2 days... Once updated it has been smooth, disable a few services (Defender, firewall, logging, tweak IE with protection lists ad kills)... and it speeds up fast... Viruses/Malware are not an issue with ARM devices (yet)...

 

[Philip Hamm]

I got a 64G Surface RT in August for $238US. I use it every day and I love it. I need to do some of the tweaks for performance such as disabling Defender, but so far I've been very happy with it. It makes me want a Pro 3 to replace my desktop! It works great for light duty surfing, Facebook, YouTube (get Hyper), and other stuff. I think for the price they are asking for these things they are a no brainer. Having full Office is pretty great also.

 

[rkarolak]

I'm still pretty happy with my RT. Since the 8.1 update and maybe a tweak or two it feels fairly snappy to me, although the Surface 2 is of course faster.

The Windows app store isn't as expansive as many others, but it covers everything I use my Surface for. The keyboard/trackpad cover, usb, the desktop and desktop utilities make it feel like a good stand-in for productivity on the go.

Of course, there are a few things that could be better - No macros in Excel, no third-party desktop ARM apps, limitations on Powershell, only a x728 resolution screen.

However, it has great active and standby battery life though, good build quality, and Windows 8's tiled interface is pretty nice and power once you have gotten used to it.

Most people who don't like the RT are people who bought it and expected it to be a tablet on parity to an x86 machine in what it can run. If you know what the RT can and cannot do and if you can get a good deal on one I say go for it.

 

[Eren68]

Thanks all. That's us sold on the idea as my better half has decided she would like one. I really appreciate you all taking the time to give me your feedback.

 

[WillysJeepMan]

Hi all. I'm thinking of buying possibly two of these for family members, to be used for general surfing, Youtube, online shopping and very light games from the store. These are selling in the UK for as little as ?160 (used ipad mini money) so, that seems a bargain.

It's not an entirely selfless act, as I wish to protect my Pro from grubby paws :grin:

Many users still seem happy with the original RT so surely they're still worth grabbing?

Thanks.

If you lived in the 'States I would've suggested waiting until Black Friday (the Friday after Thanksgiving). There is a good possibility of there being some sales on the RT for $99. (although I traded my Surface 2 in for a 11" Macbook Air) I would get an RT for $99.

 

[Eren68]

Ugh. Anyone have any experience that can compare this device to a Dell Latitude 10 Tablet ? I can get one of those for slightly more.

 

[cityhunterx]

I have both, and I am a power user and still prefer the rt!

 

[Eren68]

I have both, and I am a power user and still prefer the rt!

Thanks. Any particular reason? Performance wise, how does the Dell handle everyday moderate use ? The swappable battery is appealing, and Atom cpu's aren't a concern as I would imagine they're much faster in a tablet using SSD when compared to the old netbook.

 

[npoe]

I came here with the same question and I'm glad to read that Surface RT is still a good a choice.

 

[cityhunterx]

I actually have both the latitude 10 essentials and the security version. the essentials is slow and sluggish, however the battery life surprised me as it matches the RT. The RT was all-round a better device, quicker (for me) and built better. However I do miss the progress bar of WinRAR and copying files not in the desktop.

The security version of the latitude 10 is quicker than the essentials but is slightly slower the than the RT. The Dells have had no updates in quite a while and it looks like intel and dell cant be bothered with the chipset/device any longer.

 

[Eren68]

I just grabbed a 64gb online. Thanks for the input everyone.

I came here with the same question and I'm glad to read that Surface RT is still a good a choice.

npoe, I hope you grab one before the Christmas rush wipes them all out, or drives the prices up.

 

[Eren68]

I actually have both the latitude 10 essentials and the security version. the essentials is slow and sluggish, however the battery life surprised me as it matches the RT. The RT was all-round a better device, quicker (for me) and built better. However I do miss the progress bar of WinRAR and copying files not in the desktop.

The security version of the latitude 10 is quicker than the essentials but is slightly slower the than the RT. The Dells have had no updates in quite a while and it looks like intel and dell cant be bothered with the chipset/device any longer.

Thanks. I gathered from your last post, being a power user, I should have just read between the lines over your preference in the first place :smile:

 

[npoe]

I just grabbed a 64gb online. Thanks for the input everyone.




npoe, I hope you grab one before the Christmas rush wipes them all out, or drives the prices up.

If everything goes as planned I'll buy one this week. I was hesitant because I have no real reference about the performance of a Tegra3 processor. This thread has give me what I needed.

 

[cityhunterx]

Just remember to do a few of the tweaks such as the blocking of adverts or else the surface comes across as sluggish.

 

[npoe]

Just remember to do a few of the tweaks such as the blocking of adverts or else the surface comes across as sluggish.

I did the add blocking in one of my Windows8 PCs and it seems to follow me to every other Windows8 device I started to use. If I see it missing from the RT I will tweak it.

 

[vb4]

Had one of the original RTs (now a relative is using it).
I'd definitely suggest NOT buying one. If you consider it at all, you should get a 2.

The RT was okay and quite snappy on Windows 8, but 8.1 broke its performance. It's a hit-or-miss afair, which sometimes does what it's supposed to do, but occasionally just refuses to react.
It's sluggish in just the right way to drive you to madness, if you are in any way sensitive to performance issues.
Some apps will just crash after attempting to load for a minute. Internet Explorer loves to outright disregard my choices, because badly coded webpages slow it down so much that it just kills itself unless you wait a minute for the site to be loaded completely. Sometimes you can't even be sure if the OS just ****ed something up (Like an issue that we recently had with connecting a TV screen) or if the function simply doesn't work due to another performance blow-out.
The app side can be infuriating at times and you should be prepared to reload crashing apps often. Hint: Holding an app to the bottom, instead of just dragging and release, will close it completely. The built-in Win32 software is far better, though. Office and the system tools generally work as they are supposed to.

Note: I did not disable Windows Defender. I guess that would be a sound choice, considering that RT is immune against most conventional threats, but it's still kind of a hackjob.
How big is the performance impact?

Also, I'm seconding the guy who's asking about comparisons to another tablet:
How *does* the Surface RT compare to other tablets? Are the Atoms on 8.1 faster than the ARM chip on RT 8.1? Or are they just as sluggish?

P.S.
I had trouble with the RT on 8.1 not reacting flawlessly to the "close" gesture anymore. It seems that sometimes it only works if you place the finger in the center of the screen before dragging down, instead of being able to do so even from the edges.
Is that a general issue on 8.1 or is this unique? My RT sometimes seems to randomly not react to touch input properly.

 

[John Steffes]

I can not speak for everyone, but I have the Surface RT 64G, I have the following Apps open, IE with about 7 or 8 tabs, Outlook, Notepad, Word, One Note, Calculator, News (Metro/Modern), The Weather Channel (Metro/Modern), Windows Update is downloading Tuesday special updates... Now Windows Central in IE is a little sluggish, but much faster then my Windows XP Pentium II 300MHZ ever was... So if you expect it to be as fast as a Surface Pro 3 I7, it will never be, but faster then most... I did a lot of performance tweaks, the biggest was the for IE, the rest like Defender did not seem to change much, but why have a Real Time Scan on ARM? I have it set to once a week full scan when I am sleeping... Can not compare with a Surface 2, but for what it is I still can not believe how much I love it. I still use it everyday and would never pay $500 or more for it, but if you can find one under $200 (64G), or $100 (32G) it is a steal...

FYI I have only gotten the close metro/modern by grabbing the APP right in the center dragging it down to the Windows button and waiting for it to flip, I have never gotten it to work from the edges.

 

[Eren68]

Hi all, and a Happy Christmas wherever you may be

I always like to revisit posts and give some kind of feedback. Nothing worse than visiting a forum and someone says they'll let everyone know how they got on........ but they don't.

The RT tablet has been a hit here. I purchased it as a gift, and it was the perfect purchase at the price we paid.

I've owned a Surface 2, a Surface Pro, very briefly an RT (not enough to explore the device) and I've eventually settled for a Dell Venue Pro 11 as my personal tablet of choice, so, I'm very familiar with the format. BUT, the RT is a great little device and If I didn't need certain x86 tools on my tablet, I could EASILY live with the RT. The only negative I have found is this particular website runs extremely slow on it. A pain, but not a deal breaker.

Thanks to the replies, I've performed all the tweaks and it's running very nicely now it's fully updated and set up properly. Because of this, I feel myself missing my Surface 2, so who knows, maybe in the future

Hat's off to everyone for the advice, and I wish you all a productive and prosperous new year