My Surface for Windows RT Review

theheyes said:
A lot of people will say no, and point to the fact that it's not exactly leading edge technology.

I would say it's not a straightforward yes or no. This is a really, really good tablet and you don't have to just take my word for it - just read through this thread. I think there was only one poster who has been particularly scathing. He said he tried one at work and described it as an ugly paperweight, but hasn't been back since. Go figure.

If you want one now then yes, I would say it's just about worth it. But you'll have to bury your head in the sand when the next wave arrives because I think they'll be better value.
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Thanks for the answer. I'll have a play with one in John Lewis and see what happens. I am well aware the next wave will be much better, however I am very impatient when it comes to this stuff :D
 
I would say its worth, but as above just about, its a lovely refreshing take on how tablets should work, and theirs just the little things that make it a lot more practical.

I cant underscore enough (for me any ways) how having a full SB and Explorer brings so much functionality to it.
 
I'm pretty much set on buying one of these - had a play in JL and think it fits my needs perfectly. I'm doing an Open Uni course so need to do the odd bit of study at work (OneNote and Word mainly) as well as surfing the net/Netflix on the sofa/weekends away. My phone deals with music so the lack of Spotify isn't a problem :)

Only problem for me at the moment is will the hardware be usable for the next 2 years or so? I can't afford to upgrade every year at this price so build quality is pretty high on the list as well as the processor performance coping with software updates. Main question is the Touch Cover - standing up to the abuse? It's an expensive thing to wear out...

EDIT: Off Topic - Having played with the Galaxy Note 10.1 while I was in there, I really wonder why how they sell many of the Android tablets with the demo units in such a messy state - widgets and shortcuts everywhere, the menu bar being hidden in some of the apps (without guessing at swiping it up, wouldn't have been able to exit an app). Very confusing for me and I've had Android handsets for over 2 years now, with one rooted and custom ROMs installed. Not a criticism of the tablet itself, just the demo experience. The Kindle Fire HD was much better, thanks in part to the fixed layout of it. If I was in the market for a small consumption device, would probably get one of those based on the user experience.
 
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LostPhil said:
I'm pretty much set on buying one of these - had a play in JL and think it fits my needs perfectly. I'm doing an Open Uni course so need to do the odd bit of study at work (OneNote and Word mainly) as well as surfing the net/Netflix on the sofa/weekends away. My phone deals with music so the lack of Spotify isn't a problem :)

Only problem for me at the moment is will the hardware be usable for the next 2 years or so? I can't afford to upgrade every year at this price so build quality is pretty high on the list as well as the processor performance coping with software updates. Main question is the Touch Cover - standing up to the abuse? It's an expensive thing to wear out...
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That's a tough one to answer. My touch cover is always on the device and looks to be standing up well but I'm quite careful with my tech.
The tablet itself is pretty rugged and I can see it surviving a couple of drop no problems.
As far as the longevity is concerned.... Well, who knows. I can't see MS not releasing updates for it for at least a few years. The Tegra 3 CPU is rapidly becoming old hat though what with the new A15 based devices starting to appear.
 
Worth remembering though if you have a desk to work at, you can plug in ( even wireless) keyboards so you wont have to use the TC ALL of the time to save on wear and tear!?

And yea, that's one things id say we are guaranteed of is some quality timely updates for it.

Also Im at the point these are moving to fast, so buy good in one year and ill be leaving it for a couple before upgrading again, its nearly pointless upgrading every year as the upgrade cycles seem to be barly holding out for that length of time.
 
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You'll get 2 years out of the Surface RT easily, and Microsoft have committed to supporting it till at least 2017.

The touch cover will be covered under warranty and if there is a design flaw you have grounds to exchange it even beyond that.

The Tegra 3 might not age well but I don't foresee that being a huge problem any time soon. The biggest issue is that I think it will look worse than it actually is side-by-side with the Surface Pro because I find the animations more fluid on the x86 tablets I've used.

If you plan to upgrade on a two year cycle buying now and then waiting for a 3rd generation Surface isn't such a bad idea in my view, because I think it will be a significant jump.
 
I'm hoping for something running on Qualcomm's APQ8064. Should alleviate the performance concerns, which are probably the biggest reason why I haven't bought a WinRT tablet yet (well that and the fact there's so few out and they're mostly being price gouged to hell).
 
Do we think Nokia will reuse the Lumia brand name for their tablet? I've heard quite a few people call Windows phones 'Lumias'.

Not quite sure whether that's a Nokia win or a Microsoft fail(!)
 
And why can't any one use Gorilla glass 3, it was announced at CES 2012, or that nano waterproofing also announced CES 2012

Yes I think it highly likely to retain lumia branding.

As the eu community design patents nokia have. Look exactly like a giant lumia.
 
Glaucus said:
I'm hopping for a fair few more device announcements at ces, Nokia one could be great.
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I'm hoping for a buttload more device announcements.
Got rid of my W500, I'm on a touchscreen 11.6" Asus Vivobook (With the Ivy i3) now.

Wanting to get a cheap RT tablet, wouldn't even care if it was some cheap A9 single core thing.
 
Viewing angles are inconsistent, like quite a few TN panels.
Definitely not as nice as it could be, but at the budget, and competing products, not surprising.

Wish it was an IPS, but oh well.

Definitely the weakest part about it.
 
Microsoft Support is better than Apple.

Contacted both companies about my respective stolen devices, for which I have a police report.

If your device is stolen with Apple they don’t care, they would not even log the serial number on a stolen list, so the thief can even get a repair!

Microsoft will take all the details and liaise with the Police.

Not sure of the outcome yet, but hopefully as a minimum they will block the serial number from ever being allowed a repair.
 
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