Rich Conway
Footballguy
Anyone used the Microsoft Surface tablets? They any good? Are there good and plentiful free apps? Easy enough for non-techies to use?
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Anyone used the Microsoft Surface tablets? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Rich Conway
- Start date
Maelstrom
Footballguy
I've used the RT (tablet version) for a weekend and played around with the full OS version. As a techie, I much prefer to have a full OS, but for basic tablet type activities, it worked quite well. As Abraham said, the Pro is basically an ultrabook.
They are a very nice tablet, although the "wide-screen" form factor leads people to feel that they are significantly heavier than the iPad (even though they aren't). I do like the additional screen real-estate as opposed to the iPad, but many people will find themselves zooming in for reading text, etc.
The apps are fairly plentiful, but nothing like either the iPad or Android marketplaces.
I would rank them like this: Surface Pro > iPad > Surface RT
They are a very nice tablet, although the "wide-screen" form factor leads people to feel that they are significantly heavier than the iPad (even though they aren't). I do like the additional screen real-estate as opposed to the iPad, but many people will find themselves zooming in for reading text, etc.
The apps are fairly plentiful, but nothing like either the iPad or Android marketplaces.
I would rank them like this: Surface Pro > iPad > Surface RT
BoltBacker
Footballguy
I've used an ipad2, own an early multi-core Android tablet, and played for a few minutes with a 1st gen surface pro and thought all were good. I don't think there is a ton of difference in user experience between any of them.
Three things
- We are very close to the holidays so I wouldn't settle for anything but a great deal on a windows 8 tablet
- I wouldn't buy a windows RT tablet unless it was ridiculously inexpensive since the full windows 8 tablets aren't that much more and Microsoft may be the only one left making RT tablets soon so that kind of suggests how well RT will be supported in the future.
- You should really look at some of the other windows 8 tablets that aren't made by Microsoft. I am in the market and considering the Asus T100 has an MSRP of $350 that includes keyboard. I would expect to find a deal on that for less than $300 by the end of the year and will likely pull the trigger if I don't see a smoking deal on something else(Acer, Lenovo, etc). If you aren't as price sensitive as myself you might look at the Sony win8 tablet as well. Dell is supposed to have some compelling windows tablets in the works as well.
Three things
- We are very close to the holidays so I wouldn't settle for anything but a great deal on a windows 8 tablet
- I wouldn't buy a windows RT tablet unless it was ridiculously inexpensive since the full windows 8 tablets aren't that much more and Microsoft may be the only one left making RT tablets soon so that kind of suggests how well RT will be supported in the future.
- You should really look at some of the other windows 8 tablets that aren't made by Microsoft. I am in the market and considering the Asus T100 has an MSRP of $350 that includes keyboard. I would expect to find a deal on that for less than $300 by the end of the year and will likely pull the trigger if I don't see a smoking deal on something else(Acer, Lenovo, etc). If you aren't as price sensitive as myself you might look at the Sony win8 tablet as well. Dell is supposed to have some compelling windows tablets in the works as well.
Jojo the circus boy
Footballguy
The biggest problem with it is battery life. There's an inherent flaw in Windows idle power management which is much worse than the competition's desktop operating system in OS X.
A good article on it:
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2013/10/why-does-windows-have-terrible-battery-life.html
A good article on it:
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2013/10/why-does-windows-have-terrible-battery-life.html
If you are going to be using it mostly for web surfing off battery, get the Pro 2. If you can wait, wait for the Windows units that are built off of Bay Trail, Intel's new lower power CPU from the Atom family, achieves 8.6 hours of WiFi web browsing.
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Dippa
Footballguy
Do you (or anyone else) have the T100 now? I'm strongly considering it, as I think it looks perfect for a work/personal tablet. Right now, it's $350 at Best Buy and I just missed a deal the other day for the 64GB version for $299. For a tablet with full Windows 8, a keyboard, and one of the new better Atom Baytrail processors, this seems like a really good value to me. Any thoughts or opinions on it?
Koya
Footballguy
Serious thinking of the Asus T-100. Wife got the surface, seems overpriced and/or underperforming depending upon what you need. Im looking for basic office needs, powerpoint presentations etc, so nothing major as I could use my old but hurting laptop for those uses.
My Ipad gets criminally underused - its basically a web browser and note taker and not much else.
My Ipad gets criminally underused - its basically a web browser and note taker and not much else.
I don't know if this is the right thread. I want to buy my husband one of these tablet things for Christmas. I have absolutely no idea what they do, what makes them good, what makes one bad. I know he wants a keyboard for it. We both have laptops so he doesn't need an actual laptop, which some of these just look like real lightweight laptops. I'm assuming he would just use this to surf the internets and things of that nature. Maybe play some of those games like they have on phones. What else would one do with a "tablet"
Should I just get and iPad? We are typically PC users.
HELP!!
Should I just get and iPad? We are typically PC users.
HELP!!
Abraham
Footballguy
If you don't know what he'd use it for other than internet and games, yes, get him an iPad.
BoltBacker
Footballguy
I don't own the T100 but my everyday computer is an Asus Transformer running Android right now and wouldn't hesitate buying Asus again. The T100 has an MSRP of $350 so it would be difficult for me to believe they won't drop in price somewhere in the next month. Depends on how soon you need it.Dippa said:
BoltBacker
Footballguy
I was thinking the opposite. If all he's going to use it for is surfing the internet and light gaming I think you could probably get something to do that below the $230 of a Nexus 7, let alone the $400-$600 iStab in the dark when you aren't sure what he wants.Abraham said:
If it were me I'd get a $150 Nook HD+ from a brick-and-mortar and if he doesn't like it give him the option of getting what he really wants. If he want's something with a keyboard then even if you spend the $400-$600 on an apple device it might not be what he was thinking of. You can surf the web and play angry birds just fine on a Nook HD+.
http://reviews.cnet.com/tablets/barnes-noble-nook-hd/4505-3126_7-35472167.html
I already put the iPad in my cart and I may just buy it. I'm not sure he knows exactly what he would use it for either, but he has a nice phone already and I don't see the point in just getting him a glorified cell phone with a bigger screen. I think I'll just get the iPad. I'm sure he'll play around with it and maybe even use it as a replacement for his laptop which is getting a bit older.
Foosball God
Foos
I'm wondering about the ASUS T-100 for my son. He needs to do some real work on it, like papers for school and such, but would probably also like to game on it with Steam and tablet type games. Not sure if this could handle Steam though.
BoltBacker
Footballguy
I have been wondering that myself. I'm guessing it can handle some of the older games(which I love) so I'm hoping it will work fine with my old favorites. I've been trying to extract myself from the Windows environment and go solely with Android/Chrome moving forward but the full version of Lightroom and Steam for windows are the two most difficult things to give up imo. The photog apps for android are getting so much better so fast I can see a day in the near future when I can finally break away from Lightroom but I would still miss the hundreds of Steam games I'd abandon.
Dippa
Footballguy
Got the T-100 this week and after using it for a few days, I'm liking it a lot. The keyboard dock makes it very versatile. While on the keyboard dock, it's essentially a small laptop with great battery life, or off the dock, it's a nice tablet experience. Contrary to some reviews, the keyboard doesn't feel too cheap to me. Yes, the keys are plastic and it's not a premium keyboard, but it gets the job done and I feel like the dock should last as long as the tablet does. I'm typing on it right now and I can type about as fast as a normal size keyboard. The touchpad is okay, but I hate using them anyways, so I've been using a wireless mouse a lot, which works fine.
Performance has been great. With the SSD, programs open almost instantly, it boots up in about 15 seconds, and everything is very snappy and responsive. I've been doing a lot of streaming media on it, and it has handled everything very well so far. Have only had a couple of issues that were resolved quickly...if you're used to normal Windows troubleshooting, these are just very minor occasional issues, but I could see how some would get frustrated when things sometimes don't "just work". It is full Windows 8, so nothing is dumbed down. The Windows 8 apps, while limited, do work very well, especially while using the touchscreen. I haven't done any gaming on it yet, but if someone wants me to try a free game or something to see if it works, I could do that.
Battery life has been fantastic. I've been getting 10+ hours of screen-on time, and it uses minimal juice when asleep. The micro HDMI slot is a nice feature and works very well to hook up to an external monitor/TV. The one thing that would be nice is if it had more than one USB port, but considering that most tablets have zero full sized USB ports, can't complain too much. If you plan to load a lot of programs on it, consider going with the 64GB version. My 32GB version now has about 13GB free after just installing MS Office and a couple of programs. I could see how some would need more, but it should work for me, and it does have a micro SD slot for more storage.
Overall, very satisfied with this device, and I think it is a great value for all the features it has. No one is going to be blown away by the display or how it looks, but it's a very capable, powerful tablet. I plan to use it for when I travel for work and as a personal tablet at home when I'm not working. For that, I think it's right on the money.
Performance has been great. With the SSD, programs open almost instantly, it boots up in about 15 seconds, and everything is very snappy and responsive. I've been doing a lot of streaming media on it, and it has handled everything very well so far. Have only had a couple of issues that were resolved quickly...if you're used to normal Windows troubleshooting, these are just very minor occasional issues, but I could see how some would get frustrated when things sometimes don't "just work". It is full Windows 8, so nothing is dumbed down. The Windows 8 apps, while limited, do work very well, especially while using the touchscreen. I haven't done any gaming on it yet, but if someone wants me to try a free game or something to see if it works, I could do that.
Battery life has been fantastic. I've been getting 10+ hours of screen-on time, and it uses minimal juice when asleep. The micro HDMI slot is a nice feature and works very well to hook up to an external monitor/TV. The one thing that would be nice is if it had more than one USB port, but considering that most tablets have zero full sized USB ports, can't complain too much. If you plan to load a lot of programs on it, consider going with the 64GB version. My 32GB version now has about 13GB free after just installing MS Office and a couple of programs. I could see how some would need more, but it should work for me, and it does have a micro SD slot for more storage.
Overall, very satisfied with this device, and I think it is a great value for all the features it has. No one is going to be blown away by the display or how it looks, but it's a very capable, powerful tablet. I plan to use it for when I travel for work and as a personal tablet at home when I'm not working. For that, I think it's right on the money.
My only concern is the talks off Microsoft killing the RT OS in early 2014. Microsoft has not denied the rumors of moving to a unified OS for both phone and tablet like Apple's IOS.
My issue would be having to pay for an upgrade or Microsoft not upgrading the Surface 1 or 2.
Ant techies here of such talk of RT OS being killed off in early 2014.
My issue would be having to pay for an upgrade or Microsoft not upgrading the Surface 1 or 2.
Ant techies here of such talk of RT OS being killed off in early 2014.
BoltBacker
Footballguy
I think if you go the RT route you don't do it because of the apps. Just don't invest much $ in RT apps and you'll be fine.
If you are buying a 10" RT tablet for $170-$200 because you absolutely have to use Office right now and plan to use it for web surfing... no worries. In a couple of years you'll want a new tablet anyway and the market will be even more mature at that time. It's a cheap/light way to avoid carrying a full size laptop to run Office right now.
Brady Marino
Footballguy
ILUVBEER99
Footballguy
If he's someone who needs it to do actual computer stuff then the Surface Pro is by far the best.
The iPads are great but they basically are just a bigger iPhone, which is what you said he'd find pointless.
The surface pro is a full operating system in tablet form. Just make sure to get the Pro version and not the RT one.
ebcpastor2004
Footballguy
I bought it today at Office Depot for $329. Very pleased that it was preloaded with Office H & S
Link. http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/268778/ASUS-Transformer-Book-T100TA-B1-GR/?cm_mmc=Mobile_Display-_-Paypal-_-BFCM-_-fbasus&nan_pid=1493453374
gianmarco
Footballguy
I'm strongly considering this Dell Venue 11 Pro
Anyone with any experience with it? Trying to decide now between the Surface 2 and this Dell.
Anyone with any experience with it? Trying to decide now between the Surface 2 and this Dell.
Leeroy Jenkins
Footballguy
I get a Surface Pro 2, 128 gb with my new job. Should I be excited?
I will have a decent amount of travel; does it have all the standard apps like Netflix, kindle, amazon, pandora etc?
I will have a decent amount of travel; does it have all the standard apps like Netflix, kindle, amazon, pandora etc?
Abraham
Footballguy
Leeroy Jenkins
Footballguy
Any suggested peripherals, apps, or other tips for this device? I start my job the first week of march, and am just as excited about getting the Surface Pro as I am about the actual job.
I already bought a micro-to-HDMI adapter and will be getting a usb drive from work as well.
The job is real estate/multifamily housing related. For personal use I watch a lot of Netflix, Amazon Instant, and would use it as a kindle as well.
I already bought a micro-to-HDMI adapter and will be getting a usb drive from work as well.
The job is real estate/multifamily housing related. For personal use I watch a lot of Netflix, Amazon Instant, and would use it as a kindle as well.
Patriotsfatboy1
Footballguy
We have done testing with the Venue 11 Pro and the Surface 2. Some of the Dell's had some hardware issues, but supposedly (according to our Dell rep), they have been rectified and were limited to one batch that we received.
The Surface 2's are pretty powerful and are almost a laptop replacement. The battery life has been pretty good and it is a good device for a traveler. If you are creating a lot of content, I still think that you are better off with a laptop.
Surface Pro's are about 25% more expensive FWIW.
