Surface rt or ???????

[flame l]

Should I buy microsoft surface rt or wait for the nokia tablet rt or other upcoming windows tablet ?

 

[inteller]

You should go with ??????? They are a lot cheaper.

 

[11B1P]

Should I buy microsoft surface rt or wait for the nokia tablet rt or other upcoming windows tablet ?

Do any of the computers do what you need/want to do? That's the basic question. Can you do whatever you need done, on a Surface? I've been able to do everything I've wanted to on mine. Here's the thing. In the world of technology, if you're going to wait for the "next X that comes out" because "it has better specs" you will always be playing the waiting game, as there will always be something better on the radar 6 months from now. Spend some time researching the Surface and using the question of "Will this do what I want to do?" and decide from there. Other than that, yes, you should buy a Surface RT.

 

[sportex]

And if you get a surface rt and still have a desktop or laptop running windows you can access either using the remote desktop feature

 

[justreason]

What type of computing needs do you have?
Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express

 

[cre8tivspirit]

Same question for me, Surface RT or Surface Pro? I currently have a Toshiba laptop that does pretty much all I need and it will upgrade to Windows 8. I've never had any tablet before but my wife has recently started asking about getting one. I'm not wanting to bring an iPad into the picture for several reasons, mostly personal preference ones. The question though is do I spend $699 for the 64Gb RT or do I wait for the 64Gb Pro that is supposed to be $899? I like the idea of the Pro running all apps and regular software but I'm not sure if it's really needed.

Any thoughts or comments, constructive please, are welcome on this.

 

[Iumia]

I'm in a similar mind with Pro/RT.

I've recently installed Windows 8 on my PC. I think I'll compare my use of apps from the store compared to x86 apps and try and form a decision from that as to what I will need in a tablet.

 

[johninsj]

If you want a companion device, a surface RT kicks an android tablet's ass, and other than games, kicks an iPad's ass. If you want an ultrabook with a detachable keyboard, don't get any RT device. Get an ultrabook. Like a yoga, or whatever those weird lenovos are called.

Or maybe a surface pro...

But as a companion (as in, I have BOTH a laptop and the surface with me, and grab whichever is appropriate at the time) it's da bomb.

 

[johnbash612]

Please wait for CES to finish, its only a few days, and a tablet that might be better suited for you will be released

 

[cre8tivspirit]

I'm definitely not in a hurry to buy something. I'm personally leaning towards the Surface Pro, or something similar, simply because I want the full blown Office features over the Office RT. Plus, the Pro is more in line with what I was hoping that over priced HP Slate was going to be. Maybe after CES, there will be some other options as well.

 

[calfee20]

I don't know where you live but if you could get yourself to a full Microsoft store, go there. They will have their own stuff plus all their competitors equipment there. I went to the Boston store in October and I am going back after the Surface Pro comes out.

 

[conanheath]

You can't go wrong with the Surface RT, if you are well aware of its limitations. It won't run legacy apps. Basically, if you can't find it in windows app store, RT won't do it. But you will be amazed at what it can do. And build quality is top notch.

If you have a laptop that works than the RT is a perfect companion. It has replaced my laptop for all my personal computer needs, but not the work laptop. The battery life is great on RT and may be questionable on the Pro model, if that is a decision maker for you. I get 8-10hrs streaming on netflix with RT and I think I read 5hrs for Pro. I'm also skeptical of Pro model capabilities with limited ram. I thought it was only 2gig???? Maybe 4gig???? That's not much with all the processes now days. If you want a laptop, buy something with expandable memory at least. And after my 920 experience, I would stay away from anything Nokia until real people reviews are out. They are just getting their feet wet again in this market and they have some issues to work through, in my opinion. Battery life mainly.

I would recommend the RT to anyone and buy it again if I had to. I reach for it for everything except work related tasks. And Office is powerful enough to handle everyday needs. IE is fast, not flawless, but fast. For consuming information, I don't see where the iPad can beat it. Now, its not as easy to get setup as an iPad. Its more laptop than tablet and offers more than a tablet.

There are so many options out there. Figure out what your needs are first and do a little research.

 

[cre8tivspirit]

I don't know where you live but if you could get yourself to a full Microsoft store, go there. They will have their own stuff plus all their competitors equipment there. I went to the Boston store in October and I am going back after the Surface Pro comes out.

Closest Microsoft store to me is about 2 hours away. Definitely close enough to make a trip worthwhile.

 

[cre8tivspirit]

You can't go wrong with the Surface RT, if you are well aware of its limitations. It won't run legacy apps. Basically, if you can't find it in windows app store, RT won't do it. But you will be amazed at what it can do. And build quality is top notch.

If you have a laptop that works than the RT is a perfect companion. It has replaced my laptop for all my personal computer needs, but not the work laptop. The battery life is great on RT and may be questionable on the Pro model, if that is a decision maker for you. I get 8-10hrs streaming on netflix with RT and I think I read 5hrs for Pro. I'm also skeptical of Pro model capabilities with limited ram. I thought it was only 2gig???? Maybe 4gig???? That's not much with all the processes now days. If you want a laptop, buy something with expandable memory at least. And after my 920 experience, I would stay away from anything Nokia until real people reviews are out. They are just getting their feet wet again in this market and they have some issues to work through, in my opinion. Battery life mainly.

I would recommend the RT to anyone and buy it again if I had to. I reach for it for everything except work related tasks. And Office is powerful enough to handle everyday needs. IE is fast, not flawless, but fast. For consuming information, I don't see where the iPad can beat it. Now, its not as easy to get setup as an iPad. Its more laptop than tablet and offers more than a tablet.

There are so many options out there. Figure out what your needs are first and do a little research.

I'm glad to hear that the Office RT software is quality. That was one of the sticking points for me and the Surface RT. I may just take a trip up to the Microsoft store in Charlotte and check it out. Thanks for the insight.

 

[bgros]

After using both I would recommend a Clover Trail Win 8 Pro device. They are giving great battery life, they run all legacy apps, they are in the 1.4 LB range and they are actually delivering a little better performance than RT devices.

 

[power5]

I have yet to run out of 4gb ram. I still have not made the step to 8gb like most people. I just built an i7 desktop upgrade and only used 4gb ram even with 8gb only being $75 when I built. Still not worth it in my mind. When I have my typical browsing and video streaming active I am still seeing over 2gb free. Not sure what people are doing that they need more ram. Different at work. I do a lot of rendering and photoshop and illustrator at the same time. I need the 16gb of ram I have in that system.

As for the pro. I wanted one till I heard about the battery life expectancy. I have (2) $50 7" android tablets I purchased for my daughters to play angry birds and watch movies on trips. It lasts for about 4 hours with constant use. Pro is only another hour. That is not enough for me. On a recent trip out west my girls used my father's iPad2. They played as many games as they wanted, and watched 2 movies ~3hrs. Battery still had like 35% when we got to our destination. I think it was about 8 hours of total travel time from when my dad unplugged. If you want something truly mobile, I would not recommend the pro. You will feel like its always needing to be plugged in.

Biggest thing I do not like about Metroland on my win8 desktop is the IE browser. I hate the UI of it compared to what I am used to. Tabs are not always shown, so you are always swiping down if you want to switch between tabs or anything like that. I am not sure if there are browser alternatives, but I need to look into the store. No problem for me on my desktop since I now just browse on my legacy browsers, but I want an RT and will need to find a browser I like.

Only thing I would be missing from office RT is outlook. I do not use access or the other "business" programs. Just excel and outlook really. Dont really even use word or powerpoint.

 

[cre8tivspirit]

After using both I would recommend a Clover Trail Win 8 Pro device. They are giving great battery life, they run all legacy apps, they are in the 1.4 LB range and they are actually delivering a little better performance than RT devices.

What devices out there are currently using the Clover Trail processors?

 

[nuprotocol]

theverge.com just released their review of the HP Envy x2. Its CloverTrail. They didn't seem too impressed with legacy app performance on Clover Trail. however, I don't think anybody using an Atom hybrid expects to run photoshop/Steam on it. lol

 

[DaveSC]

Here is my setup at the office, The screen on the left is an old HP DV6 laptop which isn't the most portable thing in the world. Everything is synced and the mouse / kb work on all machines via input director.

So in deciding that it's time to replace the old laptop I decided that I needed to get a bit more portable so I can just grab 1 simple device and head down to the conference room/etc. I was looking at the surface pro for a long time but I just ordered a competing tablet. I got tired of waiting on it and after playing around with the RT I think I am just looking for a bit more especially in the screen department.

After spending a lot of time looking at all the options I ended up ordering The Samsung ATIV Pro (intel i5):

 

[Reflexx]

I'm not a fan of the Atoms.

The Surface RT is a premium device. Build quality is exceptional.

Atoms are targeted towards a budget market. They're pretty inadequate when it comes to Desktop legacy programs. But you will get a little faster performance on the RT side than with an ARM tablet. But the trade-off is that you don't get MS Office free.

Un my opinion, if you want a laptop replacement, then get the Surface Pro, Lenovo Yoga, or one of the other ultrabook convertibles. It's worth spending a little extra to know that your legacy programs will run well.

If you're just looking for a mobile companion where you can also do light Office work when needed, the the Surface RT is a great choice.