Microsoft Surface (32GB with Black Touch Cover)..
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611 of 628 people found the following review helpful.
College student review: LOVE IT
By Sean
There are a lot of tech reviews out there on this product listing many of the pros and cons. I meant to keep this short, but it's a pricey piece of technology and I did a LOT of research on it and it's competitors.
I'm no tech expert, just a college student who was in the market for something more portable than my bulky heavy 15.6" Toshiba laptop. Overall, I would say that there are better and cheaper options if you want a strictly media oriented device; if you want to watch movies, listen to tunes, cruise facebook, etc. go with something cheaper. This does all of those things, but you can achieve this goal at a lower price point. NOTE: I DID NOT BUY THIS THROUGH AMAZON. I GOT THIS FOR $599 (with touch cover) elsewhere.
Screen: Awesome. I've watch netflix on this thing without ever noticing any complaints at all. I ordered a micro HDMI to hook it up to my TV, but I haven't actually tried it yet.
Storage: Not great, but has some advantages. Even though this is a 32 GB product, about 16 GB of that is used up by the OS. SO you have about 16 gigs left over. Not a big deal, since it has a micro SD slot, which is appealing. More appealing, I would say, is that it has a built in USB drive to which you may connect any number of devices (keyboards, mouses, printers... more importantly thumb drives with endless storage capabilities)... I keep a 16 GB thumb drive on my keyring which pretty much solves all my problems (especially because it readily accepts a USB device) Cloud? available, but not necessary in my case.
Apps: Pretty sparse. I don't fret this point because the app market for this product is new. It is sure to grow, and if it doesn't I don't care. Why? Because I bought this thing to do WORK, not play games and watch movies. Which leads me to the bigger point; this comes with fully function versions of excel, word, and power point...
Functionality: Good, but could be better. As a college student (I deal mostly in the sciences) this is great. I have instant portable access to excel which is super important for lab write ups and data analysis. This is the primary reason I ultimately selected this tablet. The word application is great. I typed out a 4 page paper a few evenings ago while on the go with few problems. It does take some decent typing skills and some getting used to to make real use of though.
Touch Cover: very cool. Mostly easy to use, but the space bar some times misses, and the delete key is just slightly out of comfortable reach. Also, after a few days of use there is noticeable wear on the space bar and mouse touch pad area. I am hoping this is just some skin oil residue, but it doesn't seem to want to come off with some light cleaning. I am worried that this part of it may wear out quickly.
Battery Life: Excellent. Period. I spent about 4 hours of almost continuous dorking around on the internet and playing on netflix... and it still had 60% left after all that. Not sure how that hold up to other tablets, but it blows my laptop out of the water. I don't dream of bring my laptop somewhere without the power source. With the Surface, I just leave it at home, and don't think twice.
I could go on and on. But I would say that the tablet functions are cool, the touch options are easy to figure out, and the option to go to a "desktop" view really helps you transition into, what I believe, is the closest thing to a tablet/ laptop hybrid. Love it overall, but there are a few annoying aspects. great for work, good for entertainment, but if entertainment is your primary prerogative, go with an iPAD or better yet (for the price) kindle Fire/ HD.
[EDIT] 2-10-2013 - I had to ditch the touch cover and replace it with the TYPE cover. I had a lot of problems with the touch cover; missing key strokes, missing the space bar OFTEN, and spending as much time deleting typos as I did actually typing meaningful words. I sometimes had three or four words strung together without spaces between them because of the space bar issue... VERY annoying. The touch cover is 10 times better. There are still issues with missing key strokes, but that is WAY less of a problem with the type cover. THE TYPE COVER IS EASILY WORK THEN EXTRA 10$!!! (And it doesn't add an appreciable thickness to its folded up orientation.
185 of 204 people found the following review helpful.
Very little compromise in a great productive tablet.
By Christopher Lee
Before I begin, the tablets that I can compare the Surface RT to include the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (from stock Android 3.1 Honeycomb to Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, and all firmware versions in between), the ASUS Transformer TF300 T-B1-BL 10.1-Inch 32 GB Tablet (Blue) (with its ASUS Transformer Pad Mobile Dock TF300T (Blue)), the Asus Google Nexus 7 Tablet (8 GB) - Quad-core Tegra 3 Processor, Android 4.1, the HP TouchPad Wi-Fi 32 GB 9.7-Inch Tablet Computer, and the Apple iPad MD328LL/A (16GB, Wi-Fi, White). Believe me, I know (and love) my mobile. Now for the part of the review you actually care about-- the tablet.
PROS
+ Build quality. The VaporMg finish definitely feels-- and looks-- extremely classy, and this tablet feels great in the hand. Think the aluminum used on Apple's products, but with a slightly softer, warmer finish. The kickstand (designed to be similar to the doors on a luxury car) snaps shut with an incredibly satisfying click, and folds open in a smooth, clear motion. There's no creak to the chassis anywhere, and the entire package screams quality. Save for one thing: the Microsoft logo on the kickstand begins to wear quickly, and for no discernable reason.
+ Beautiful screen. The big sticking point for many is that the Surface RT packs a screen with just 1368x768px resolution, which pales in comparison to many flagship Android tabs (typically packing Full HD screens at 1920x1080px, and the new Nexus 10 with the Retina-crushing 2560×1600px) and of course, Apple's own Retina iPads (at a beautiful 2,048×1,536px). But in my experience, after around 720p the benefits of a higher resolution video or image fall off very quickly on a tablet. Microsoft's ClearType technology is no gimmick; text looks genuinely impressive on this comparatively low-resolution panel, which negates (at least in part) a huge advantage held by higher-pixel displays. Viewing angles and color reproduction is spot on, and Netflix looks incredible on the no-letterboxing 16:9 display.
+ The kickstand. As a student, the small footprint afforded by the Surface with its kickstand extended makes it a great desk companion and movie watching aid, especially while I'm at work and my hands are busy. Some people have likened the Surface (with stand extended and Touch Cover out) as a poor man's laptop, but the kickstand certainly holds its own when it comes to increasing the Surface's versatility. And yes, it is possible to use the device on your lap-- if you're sitting straight. Lean forward, and you'll find the device wanting to tip down. Although, that won't be a huge issue because....
+ Reassuringly sturdy connection to the Touch Cover. The Touch Cover deserves a review of its own, because it's what really brings the Surface into an entirely different league of tablet. Suffice to say that once you get used to it, you'll never want to go back to a tablet where such a useful accessory isn't an option. But even better is the stiff magnetic connection (complete with a reassuring thunk), which is strong enough to-- yes, I did test this over a bed first-- suspend the tablet by the keyboard, and even surface a considerable amount of shaking around. For reference, I tried the same using my iPad and the Apple Smart Cover, and while you can suspend the tablet, any real movement and the iPad will just go flying off.
+ Ports! Having a full USB port open for peripherals (which work astoundingly well) lets you really expand the device at a moment's notice. My favorite setup is to use a Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000 - Graphite with my Surface, eschewing the tiny touchpad on the touch covers for a real, solid mouse. You also get HD video out (to HDMI or VGA, though this requires an adapter), a standard 3.5mm headphone jack, and SDXC expansion (located behind the kickstand) to satisfying your storage and ease of access needs.
+ Software. Of course, this tablet is going to be made or broken by Windows RT, and in my belief, it's...made! Windows RT is by far and away the best tablet operating system I've used so far, and you can see for yourself up top that I've dealt with a lot of them. Windows RT allows for "true" multitasking in a way that Android (the closest competitor in terms of multitasking; iOS' implementation is glorified window switching, and webOS on the TouchPad still only allowed one application to be seen at once) cannot. Being able to run two apps on the screen isn't anything new to a desktop user, but Microsoft absolutely nailed the implementation on the mobile front. You really have to check out a video; my review can't do this feature justice. The interface is clean, sleek, and performs great-- one reason Microsoft limited the resolution was to ensure that the processor (the formidable A9 nVIDIA Tegra 3) could run everything at speeds and smoothness rivaling anything iOS and Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean can toss out. Apps function as you'd expect, and altogether everything really comes together.
Did I mention Office? Last week, I decided I wanted to get some work done on an economics project, so I flipped out my Surface, popped the stand and keyboard, and got to work. I was halfway through crunching some large datasets in Excel when I realized that with any other tablet (including the keyboard-equipped Transformer TF300T, in my opinion the closest rival as a "productive" tablet), I would not have even considered trying to work with a spreadsheet. It's a miserable experience.
Built in apps like Internet Explorer 10 work without issue, and unlike other manufacturers, Microsoft lets you uninstall almost ANY application you want-- an enormous and refreshing change of pace. Don't like XBOX Music? Games? Video? Gone, gone, and gone. Don't like the default Mail app? That can be gone too (though it'll take Messaging and People with it). The list goes on and on and on. Multitouch gestures are worked in in thoughtful, genuinely useful ways, and you will hate going back to another tablet once you realize that some sensible, convenient shortcuts are now lost to you.
Oh, and the People app-- great way to check Facebook if you're only in it for casual use.
+ Full filesystem access. If you ever need to work with files, you'll know precisely why this is important. No more chasing files all over the stupid tablet, then finding you can't cram them into your app of choice no matter what.
+ Overall polish. It's weird, because Windows RT still has some bugs of its own, but...the Surface as a whole is incredibly well thought out and executed. You'll sit there thinking, "if only this tablet could do x," then find that it's quite capable of x, y, and z. And then you can appreciate the work that someone, somewhere put into making this a useful device.
CONS
- (Update: That I forgot to include this initially should indicate how much of an afterthought cameras are on tablets) The cameras on this tablet are utterly forgettable. The front-facing one is good enough for a video call, but the rear facing one takes pictures that look like something out of the very first smartphones. The saving grace is the built-in inclination, which positions the camera at a perfectly flat angle when the kickstand is out. It's not hard to use in your hands either-- if you can take people laughing at you. The TF300T has a much better camera, although it's just as bad in low light.
- Speakers are weak. They sound nice enough, and you get decent stereo separation, but there's no beating around the bush-- these things are soft, even for me.
- Browser lock in. Unacceptable. Internet Explorer 10 is better than I thought it would be, but Chrome bookmark sync and the interface are must haves.
- App selection is still a little weak. I don't think this is a huge issue, as I've found everything I need from the web, Office, and some very, very good apps already in the store (such as DLNA streaming via Multimedia 8), but some big hitters are missing; others, like Evernote are in reduced functionality modes (inability to edit rich text, for example).
- Terrible power plug design. I don't mind having a wall wart charger if it charges the machine quickly-- which it does-- but the magnetic attachment has nothing on the MagSafe adapters used on Apple's laptops. They should have gone with a plug on this one.
On the whole, this is a product that can really pull its own weight, and you owe it to yourself to give Windows RT a shot if you're new to the market-- or even if you're a veteran of the ongoing mobile wars. I'd be happy to answer questions, and I will continue to update this review as time goes on.
Just to be clear: I preordered this fellow from the Microsoft store, and I recommend that you'd do so as well. Price gouging on Amazon is always disgusting.
32 of 37 people found the following review helpful.
The things you "CAN DO" perhaps are more important
By Scott E. Bradley
I have an iPad2 and my wife and I have enjoyed it. It is great for surfing the web and if you have little kiddos you want to hand something over to, to hush them up so the adults can speak it is an A+, tons of free game apps (many though that just copy a few others on premise of the games). Anyway... what I found frustrating with it was.
I could not access remote desktop at work, secure network. I could with an app for a little while, but it sucked to use. Then work upgraded to an "RDPFarm" server and no longer could it connect. Then we went on some trips and I wanted to toss some movies on the iPad and some of my own MP3's, hmmmm that is not going to happen easily. I am not an iTunes guy so many cheaper ways to get music! I am more techie than the average person and even I felt is was not worth the time to try to work around putting my own stuff on it. Then my wife wanted it to print to our 3 year HP printer ($20 more bucks for an application to do that).
Surface RT, you get an SD card slot so I added a 64GB SD card ($20). It has a USB port (awesome), I can print to my printer, I can connect to work and do everything I want (makes the keyboard very valuable). I can toss music or movies of any format on an SD card and boom it plays it. I have an HDMI out so I can plug that in to my TV or a Hotels TV and watch whatever (Hulu, YouTube, Netflix). MS has a skydrive just like iCloud so I can take movies, music or pics anywhere I want. I can access my xbox360, I can even use my xbox controller playing games on it (hope they expand on this).
It has the apps I need. Meaning that 2 Angry birds is enough for me (not 30 versions). I don't need to be a flash light, have fart sound apps or have an app for my cat. So my first 2 paragraphs is why you should go for an iPad. The rest may speak to why the Surface is right for you.
P.S. To make your first days go smooth follow these web links below on how to get things going on the Surface. There are many updates, so you will have to do a few reboots (no different that iPad updates).
Also if you have a Xbox 360 have all of your log in's and passwords handy because surface will ask you to set up or copy a profile:
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Xbox Surface Glass info:
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