Microsoft Announces "Surface" Tablet (1 Viewer)

[cstu]

My Windows 8 laptop got here Tuesday. Been playing with it a few days and this is an impromptu review.

I originally ordered a Lenovo Ideapad U300S based on the good reviews and the instant $600 rebate on the website. The shipping date got pushed back a week. Then a week later I came home to a voicemail message asking to call Lenovo to complete my order. Then check my email and found that the order had been canceled per my request. So ended up getting the HP Spectre XT, which was my 2nd choice. My original plan had been to get a Win 7 laptop and just put Linux on it, but I figured I might as well go with Win 8 and give it a shot. Mrs. SB has a Macbook that she's been using for the last 6 months or so and she tested it out really quick to compare. She said the touchpad on it was great and so was the keyboard, just like her MB. The original reason she went with the MB was because of the bad reviews other laptops were getting at the time in regards to touchpads and keyboards. If something like this had been out at the time, she may have gone that way instead. Also did a quick boot and shutdown test side by side and the HP is way faster than the MB at both. Anyway, this is about the OS, not the hardware.

To summarize my initial impressions, I think this OS would be fantastic on a tablet or laptop with a touch screen. It's definitely designed to be used that way in "app" mode. I'm not very good with using modern touchpads, so there's a learning curve. I think I'm getting the hang of it, and how Windows 8 flows. Nothing about it seems any less intuitive than an Android tablet. It comes with Security Essentials by default, so no need for any additional AV, but this came with Norton anyway which I promptly uninstalled. If you use a lot of Google apps like Chrome, Drive or Reader, they are in the App Store. The Google reader app is terrible. The reviews on it are almost universally negative. Everything else I had to download and install by hand. No issues in getting any of them to run so far. No crashes, slowness or bugs so far. Using it in desktop mode is similar to Windows 7 minus the start menu. Based on the last 2 days, I don't think I'd be in the market for a Surface. I need apps to get "real work" done, and most of the ones I use on a day to day basis aren't in the app store. I guess I could find similar replacements, but I want to use what I'm used to using.

I bought a USB docking station to go with it and my plan is to use this at work as a replacement for the desktop I have now. If it holds up, I'll likely recommend to my director that we don't upgrade any workstations/laptops to Win8, but go forward with Win8 on any tablets/convertibles that we purchase. I don't see any use for Windows 8 RT in the enterprise.

That's what I love about the Dell Duo 12 - you get the best features of a laptop and a tablet.

 

[goonsquad]

Pricing and release date revealed for the Surface Pro. Once you add in a keyboard cover you're looking at over $1,000 for the lower model. At least the Pen is included.

· 64GB standalone version at $899

· 128GB standalone version at $999

Both versions will both include a Surface pen with Palm Block technology and include the ability to use a Touch Cover or Type Cover (sold separately).

Surface with Windows 8 Pro uses the same familiar elegant design principles as Surface with Windows RT including the Dark Titanium VaporMg casing, dual 2x2 MIMO antennas designed specifically for Surface and of course the kickstand.

However, it also has some differences.

On the inside, Surface with Windows 8 Pro will come with Intel’s next generation Core i5 processor. This chip will give Surface with Windows 8 Pro a graphics boost for its 10.6” 16:9 ClearType display that runs at a 1920x1080 full HD resolution. Surface with Windows 8 Pro also includes a full-size USB 3.0 port. Its Mini DisplayPort can drive an external display up to 2560X1440 resolution. And, as I mentioned above, Surface with Windows 8 Pro will support Pen input. This is an amazing feature for all you note-takers or document editors out there, especially since it has expanded capacitive and digitizing technology we’re calling Palm Block that will prevent your handwriting from getting interrupted if you accidently place your palm on the screen as you write. This feature is pretty cool, and allows for a great inking experience alongside a great touch experience when needed.

 

[Maelstrom]

Pricing and release date revealed for the Surface Pro. Once you add in a keyboard cover you're looking at over $1,000 for the lower model. At least the Pen is included.

This is pretty much what I expected, and why I am not in the market for a Windows 8 Pro tablet. For that price, I can get a really nice ultrabook. Granted it won't be a tablet also, but the compromises made to have both is something I don't think I want. One thing I hope this does is push more ultrabook manufacturers to use the 1920x1080 display size, even on the smaller 13" screens.

 

[Rayderr]

Pricing and release date revealed for the Surface Pro. Once you add in a keyboard cover you're looking at over $1,000 for the lower model. At least the Pen is included.

· 64GB standalone version at $899

· 128GB standalone version at $999

Just for comparison, how much do the 128GB iPads cost?

 

[DrJ]

Pricing and release date revealed for the Surface Pro. Once you add in a keyboard cover you're looking at over $1,000 for the lower model. At least the Pen is included.

· 64GB standalone version at $899

· 128GB standalone version at $999

Just for comparison, how much do the 128GB iPads cost?

Twice as much as the 64 GB version, but you get 2 screens.

 

[SacramentoBob]

Pricing and release date revealed for the Surface Pro. Once you add in a keyboard cover you're looking at over $1,000 for the lower model. At least the Pen is included.

This is pretty much what I expected, and why I am not in the market for a Windows 8 Pro tablet. For that price, I can get a really nice ultrabook. Granted it won't be a tablet also, but the compromises made to have both is something I don't think I want. One thing I hope this does is push more ultrabook manufacturers to use the 1920x1080 display size, even on the smaller 13" screens.

Looks like they're pricing it in between an ultrabook and a tablet. Makes sense. If I hadn't just bought an ultrabook, I'd be interested.

 

[SacramentoBob]

Pricing and release date revealed for the Surface Pro. Once you add in a keyboard cover you're looking at over $1,000 for the lower model. At least the Pen is included.

· 64GB standalone version at $899

· 128GB standalone version at $999

Just for comparison, how much do the 128GB iPads cost?

Twice as much as the 64 GB version, but you get 2 screens.

 

[zDragon]

Pricing and release date revealed for the Surface Pro. Once you add in a keyboard cover you're looking at over $1,000 for the lower model. At least the Pen is included.

· 64GB standalone version at $899

· 128GB standalone version at $999

Just for comparison, how much do the 128GB iPads cost?

Twice as much as the 64 GB version, but you get 2 screens.

Not understanding the twice as much. I just went to Apples site and a 128GB does not exist so there is no comparison. The 64GB iPad is $699.

 

[Rayderr]

Pricing and release date revealed for the Surface Pro. Once you add in a keyboard cover you're looking at over $1,000 for the lower model. At least the Pen is included.

· 64GB standalone version at $899

· 128GB standalone version at $999

Just for comparison, how much do the 128GB iPads cost?

Twice as much as the 64 GB version, but you get 2 screens.

Not understanding the twice as much. I just went to Apples site and a 128GB does not exist

No more questions, your honor!

 

[Slapdash]

My Windows 8 laptop got here Tuesday. Been playing with it a few days and this is an impromptu review.

I originally ordered a Lenovo Ideapad U300S based on the good reviews and the instant $600 rebate on the website. The shipping date got pushed back a week. Then a week later I came home to a voicemail message asking to call Lenovo to complete my order. Then check my email and found that the order had been canceled per my request. So ended up getting the HP Spectre XT, which was my 2nd choice. My original plan had been to get a Win 7 laptop and just put Linux on it, but I figured I might as well go with Win 8 and give it a shot. Mrs. SB has a Macbook that she's been using for the last 6 months or so and she tested it out really quick to compare. She said the touchpad on it was great and so was the keyboard, just like her MB. The original reason she went with the MB was because of the bad reviews other laptops were getting at the time in regards to touchpads and keyboards. If something like this had been out at the time, she may have gone that way instead. Also did a quick boot and shutdown test side by side and the HP is way faster than the MB at both. Anyway, this is about the OS, not the hardware.

To summarize my initial impressions, I think this OS would be fantastic on a tablet or laptop with a touch screen. It's definitely designed to be used that way in "app" mode. I'm not very good with using modern touchpads, so there's a learning curve. I think I'm getting the hang of it, and how Windows 8 flows. Nothing about it seems any less intuitive than an Android tablet. It comes with Security Essentials by default, so no need for any additional AV, but this came with Norton anyway which I promptly uninstalled. If you use a lot of Google apps like Chrome, Drive or Reader, they are in the App Store. The Google reader app is terrible. The reviews on it are almost universally negative. Everything else I had to download and install by hand. No issues in getting any of them to run so far. No crashes, slowness or bugs so far. Using it in desktop mode is similar to Windows 7 minus the start menu. Based on the last 2 days, I don't think I'd be in the market for a Surface. I need apps to get "real work" done, and most of the ones I use on a day to day basis aren't in the app store. I guess I could find similar replacements, but I want to use what I'm used to using.

I bought a USB docking station to go with it and my plan is to use this at work as a replacement for the desktop I have now. If it holds up, I'll likely recommend to my director that we don't upgrade any workstations/laptops to Win8, but go forward with Win8 on any tablets/convertibles that we purchase. I don't see any use for Windows 8 RT in the enterprise.

That is disheartening. I haven't found a quality app for it on iOS either. The changes a year ago to the website version sucked too. I almost universally use it on my Android smartphone.

 

[Maelstrom]

Pricing and release date revealed for the Surface Pro. Once you add in a keyboard cover you're looking at over $1,000 for the lower model. At least the Pen is included.

· 64GB standalone version at $899

· 128GB standalone version at $999

Just for comparison, how much do the 128GB iPads cost?

This is really a bad comparison (or so Microsoft would have you believe.) An iPad is very limited compared to a Surface Pro because a Surface Pro is a full Windows OS, which means it can run any Windows application, not just Apps from the Store. It is probably better to compare it to a MacBook Air, IMO.

 

[[icon]]

Pricing and release date revealed for the Surface Pro. Once you add in a keyboard cover you're looking at over $1,000 for the lower model. At least the Pen is included.

· 64GB standalone version at $899

· 128GB standalone version at $999

Just for comparison, how much do the 128GB iPads cost?

Considering that The "bare bones" Windows 8 RT Operating system takes up half the free space on a 32GB Surface... I can understand why they would want to make a 128GB version of the (likely larger) Windows 8 Pro edition. Since we're concerned about on board storage....For Comparison

64GB Surface RT: 45GB Free Space

64GB Apple iPad: 57.2GB Free Space

I guess the surface's pricing should reflect the 22% decrease in storage?

 

[zDragon]

Pricing and release date revealed for the Surface Pro. Once you add in a keyboard cover you're looking at over $1,000 for the lower model. At least the Pen is included.

· 64GB standalone version at $899

· 128GB standalone version at $999

Just for comparison, how much do the 128GB iPads cost?

This is really a bad comparison (or so Microsoft would have you believe.) An iPad is very limited compared to a Surface Pro because a Surface Pro is a full Windows OS, which means it can run any Windows application, not just Apps from the Store. It is probably better to compare it to a MacBook Air, IMO.

Very true.

 

[goonsquad]

I recall a lot of FBG's saying they were waiting for the Surface Pro. Who is still buying now that we have firm prices?

 

[zDragon]

Pricing and release date revealed for the Surface Pro. Once you add in a keyboard cover you're looking at over $1,000 for the lower model. At least the Pen is included.

· 64GB standalone version at $899

· 128GB standalone version at $999

Just for comparison, how much do the 128GB iPads cost?

Considering that The "bare bones" Windows 8 RT Operating system takes up half the free space on a 32GB Surface... I can understand why they would want to make a 128GB version of the (likely larger) Windows 8 Pro edition. Since we're concerned about on board storage....For Comparison

64GB Surface RT: 45GB Free Space

64GB Apple iPad: 57.2GB Free Space

I guess the surface's pricing should reflect the 22% decrease in storage?

I love this argument. Office takes up space as does any other app. Why are you concerned that it does? Do you store Numbers, KeyNOte, etc somewhere else other than internal storage? Why aren't you mad at Apple for lying about disk space also? They give you the impression that you have a ton of free space. When in reality you have to download a lot of software, that eats up space, just to have general functionality. Then they don't allow you to delete the apps you don't use.

Anyway, Microsoft took the road of installing the apps on the device for you. You can uninstall the ones you do not like. If you do not use Bing uninstall it, if you do not like the sports app uninstall it. Apple took the road of making you pay and download the same type of software with less functionality. Numbers, KeyNote, Pages, etc. If you don't like bookshelf...uh well yeah keep it. If you don't like

In the end any software you install on the devices is gong to take up space.

 

[[icon]]

Considering that The "bare bones" Windows 8 RT Operating system takes up half the free space on a 32GB Surface... I can understand why they would want to make a 128GB version of the (likely larger) Windows 8 Pro edition.

Since we're concerned about on board storage....For Comparison

64GB Surface RT: 45GB Free Space

64GB Apple iPad: 57.2GB Free Space

I guess the surface's pricing should reflect the 22% decrease in storage?

I love this argument. Office takes up space as does any other app. Why are you concerned that it does? Do you store Numbers, KeyNOte, etc somewhere else other than internal storage?

• Completely Empty 64GB Windows RT Surface w/ no OS or Software on it = 53GB remaining

• Retail 64GB Windows RT Surface w/ Windows and Office on it = 45GB

• Retail iPad 64 with a full compliment of Numbers/Keynote/Pages/Maps/Itunes/Calendar/Mail/etc installed on it = 56GB remaining

 

[cstu]

I recall a lot of FBG's saying they were waiting for the Surface Pro. Who is still buying now that we have firm prices?

It's over-priced compared to buying a Dell XPS 12.

 

[Reepicheep]

Whatever the merits of RT may be, 12 GB is an absolutely massive footprint for a mobile OS.

 

[[icon]]

Whatever the merits of RT may be, 12 GB is an absolutely massive footprint for a mobile OS.

Actually 11GB disappears due to:5GB : Space reserved for "Windows Recovery Tools"

6GB : "Lost" due to MS playing games with Binary vs decimal system*

* "The advertised local disk size is shown using the decimal system, while Windows displays the disk size using the binary system. As a result, 1 GB (in decimal) appears as about 0.93 GB (in binary). The storage capacity is the same, it's just shown differently depending on the how you measure a GB (decimal or binary)." source

The Windows RT Install / Office / PreInstalled Apps take up 8GB bringing to total of space lost to OS, Preinstalled Software, "Recovery Tools", and Binary/Decimal "conversion" to 19GB.

 

[zDragon]

Considering that The "bare bones" Windows 8 RT Operating system takes up half the free space on a 32GB Surface... I can understand why they would want to make a 128GB version of the (likely larger) Windows 8 Pro edition.

Since we're concerned about on board storage....For Comparison

64GB Surface RT: 45GB Free Space

64GB Apple iPad: 57.2GB Free Space

I guess the surface's pricing should reflect the 22% decrease in storage?

I love this argument. Office takes up space as does any other app. Why are you concerned that it does? Do you store Numbers, KeyNOte, etc somewhere else other than internal storage?

• Completely Empty 64GB Windows RT Surface w/ no OS or Software on it = 53GB remaining

• Retail 64GB Windows RT Surface w/ Windows and Office on it = 45GB

• Retail iPad 64 with a full compliment of Numbers/Keynote/Pages/Maps/Itunes/Calendar/Mail/etc installed on it = 56GB remaining

Once again apps eat space regardless. All your saying is Office takes more space on disk. Not sure where the issue is with that. My understanding is it offers a few more features if not a lot more than the equivalent ios apps.The other isn't exactly correct. If no OS or apps were there then it would be 64gb. Once again your saying something about something you do not understand. The missing space is for recovery which is another feature of the device.

Regardless the space is there and is used to add functionality to the device. If you sort on space add an little extra with external storage. Try that with an iPad.

 

[[icon]]

Considering that The "bare bones" Windows 8 RT Operating system takes up half the free space on a 32GB Surface... I can understand why they would want to make a 128GB version of the (likely larger) Windows 8 Pro edition.

Since we're concerned about on board storage....For Comparison

64GB Surface RT: 45GB Free Space

64GB Apple iPad: 57.2GB Free Space

I guess the surface's pricing should reflect the 22% decrease in storage?

I love this argument. Office takes up space as does any other app. Why are you concerned that it does? Do you store Numbers, KeyNOte, etc somewhere else other than internal storage?

• Completely Empty 64GB Windows RT Surface w/ no OS or Software on it = 53GB remaining

• Retail 64GB Windows RT Surface w/ Windows and Office on it = 45GB

• Retail iPad 64 with a full compliment of Numbers/Keynote/Pages/Maps/Itunes/Calendar/Mail/etc installed on it = 56GB remaining

Once again apps eat space regardless. All your saying is Office takes more space on disk. Not sure where the issue is with that. My understanding is it offers a few more features if not a lot more than the equivalent ios apps.The other isn't exactly correct. If no OS or apps were there then it would be 64gb. Once again your saying something about something you do not understand. The missing space is for recovery which is another feature of the device.

I don't think you read my link. It's from microsoft's webpage. You might want to read it before you reiterate stuff like the bolded again. You're wrong.To help, since you pruned it off the previous post:

6GB : "Lost" due to MS playing games with Binary vs decimal system*

* "The advertised local disk size is shown using the decimal system, while Windows displays the disk size using the binary system. As a result, 1 GB (in decimal) appears as about 0.93 GB (in binary).

And you may call wasting 10% (20% in case of 16GB version) of your space on "Recovery" (which can be done easily remotely) a "feature". I'm going to call it stupid. Regardless... this was all in response to the chest beating about a 128GB version. Apple apparently doesn't see any demand for such a version because A) Their units have a "base install" that utilizes a much smaller footprint, and B) they have integrated cloud solution that encourage people to use offsite storage when it's practical.

 

[Maelstrom]

Considering that The "bare bones" Windows 8 RT Operating system takes up half the free space on a 32GB Surface... I can understand why they would want to make a 128GB version of the (likely larger) Windows 8 Pro edition.

Since we're concerned about on board storage....For Comparison

64GB Surface RT: 45GB Free Space

64GB Apple iPad: 57.2GB Free Space

I guess the surface's pricing should reflect the 22% decrease in storage?

I love this argument. Office takes up space as does any other app. Why are you concerned that it does? Do you store Numbers, KeyNOte, etc somewhere else other than internal storage?

• Completely Empty 64GB Windows RT Surface w/ no OS or Software on it = 53GB remaining

• Retail 64GB Windows RT Surface w/ Windows and Office on it = 45GB

• Retail iPad 64 with a full compliment of Numbers/Keynote/Pages/Maps/Itunes/Calendar/Mail/etc installed on it = 56GB remaining

Once again apps eat space regardless. All your saying is Office takes more space on disk. Not sure where the issue is with that. My understanding is it offers a few more features if not a lot more than the equivalent ios apps.The other isn't exactly correct. If no OS or apps were there then it would be 64gb. Once again your saying something about something you do not understand. The missing space is for recovery which is another feature of the device.

I don't think you read my link. It's from microsoft's webpage. You might want to read it before you reiterate stuff like the bolded again. You're wrong.To help, since you pruned it off the previous post:

6GB : "Lost" due to MS playing games with Binary vs decimal system*

* "The advertised local disk size is shown using the decimal system, while Windows displays the disk size using the binary system. As a result, 1 GB (in decimal) appears as about 0.93 GB (in binary).

And you may call wasting 10% (20% in case of 16GB version) of your space on "Recovery" (which can be done easily remotely) a "feature". I'm going to call it stupid. Regardless... this was all in response to the chest beating about a 128GB version. Apple apparently doesn't see any demand for such a version because A) Their units have a "base install" that utilizes a much smaller footprint, and B) they have integrated cloud solution that encourage people to use offsite storage when it's practical.

Hopefully you realize that reporting in decimal in marketing is completely standard practice now. From Apple's site:

Storage device manufacturers measure capacity using the decimal system (base 10), so 1 gigabyte (GB) is calculated as exactly 1,000,000,000 bytes. The capacity of the storage media in your Mac (Mac OS X v10.5 or earlier), iPad, iPod, iPhone and other Apple hardware is measured using this decimal system. This is detailed on product packaging and online through the statement "1 GB = 1 billion bytes."

 

[zDragon]

Considering that The "bare bones" Windows 8 RT Operating system takes up half the free space on a 32GB Surface... I can understand why they would want to make a 128GB version of the (likely larger) Windows 8 Pro edition.

Since we're concerned about on board storage....For Comparison

64GB Surface RT: 45GB Free Space

64GB Apple iPad: 57.2GB Free Space

I guess the surface's pricing should reflect the 22% decrease in storage?

I love this argument. Office takes up space as does any other app. Why are you concerned that it does? Do you store Numbers, KeyNOte, etc somewhere else other than internal storage?

• Completely Empty 64GB Windows RT Surface w/ no OS or Software on it = 53GB remaining

• Retail 64GB Windows RT Surface w/ Windows and Office on it = 45GB

• Retail iPad 64 with a full compliment of Numbers/Keynote/Pages/Maps/Itunes/Calendar/Mail/etc installed on it = 56GB remaining

Once again apps eat space regardless. All your saying is Office takes more space on disk. Not sure where the issue is with that. My understanding is it offers a few more features if not a lot more than the equivalent ios apps.The other isn't exactly correct. If no OS or apps were there then it would be 64gb. Once again your saying something about something you do not understand. The missing space is for recovery which is another feature of the device.

I don't think you read my link. It's from microsoft's webpage. You might want to read it before you reiterate stuff like the bolded again. You're wrong.To help, since you pruned it off the previous post:

6GB : "Lost" due to MS playing games with Binary vs decimal system*

* "The advertised local disk size is shown using the decimal system, while Windows displays the disk size using the binary system. As a result, 1 GB (in decimal) appears as about 0.93 GB (in binary).

And you may call wasting 10% (20% in case of 16GB version) of your space on "Recovery" (which can be done easily remotely) a "feature". I'm going to call it stupid. Regardless... this was all in response to the chest beating about a 128GB version. Apple apparently doesn't see any demand for such a version because A) Their units have a "base install" that utilizes a much smaller footprint, and B) they have integrated cloud solution that encourage people to use offsite storage when it's practical.

Welcome to the 2000's. Your now just as confused as they were. Congratulations.Microsoft uses the proper standard so the reporting difference is noted. Just as it has been on Hard Drives.

Do you even know how much actual space you get on a HD, Memory stick or USB Stick? Did you know the giga multiplier is 1073741824 which Microsoft uses and is a standard?

If you actually did then you would understand the sizes Microsoft uses versus what Apple uses. It's been that way ever since Apple started using the Linux kernal.

 

[Reepicheep]

Yeah, the decimal / binary thing has been there forever. It's stupid but it will never change because nobody wants to be the one company advertising smaller sizes.

Anyways, it is interesting that a 32 GB surface has roughly the same amount of storage available to the end user as a 16 GB iPad.

 

[Mario Kart]

Maybe that is why Microsoft added USB ports to their tablet. Essentially there is a hard drive with an endless amount of memory whereas an iPad cannot be expanded at any time without deletion of material. I'm pretty sure this "feature" would be eaten up by Apple fanboys had Apple added it to their iPads.

 

[Reepicheep]

Maybe that is why Microsoft added USB ports to their tablet. Essentially there is a hard drive with an endless amount of memory whereas an iPad cannot be expanded at any time without deletion of material. I'm pretty sure this "feature" would be eaten up by Apple fanboys had Apple added it to their iPads.

I would load up an SD card with movies if there was a slot on an iPad but I think it's fair to say connecting a portable hard drive to a tablet computer would be pretty silly. On second thought, they could make an extra long cord for the drive and sell stylish pouches to hold the drive on your belt while tablet computing. This is The Future guys!

 

[Maelstrom]

Maybe that is why Microsoft added USB ports to their tablet. Essentially there is a hard drive with an endless amount of memory whereas an iPad cannot be expanded at any time without deletion of material. I'm pretty sure this "feature" would be eaten up by Apple fanboys had Apple added it to their iPads.

I would load up an SD card with movies if there was a slot on an iPad but I think it's fair to say connecting a portable hard drive to a tablet computer would be pretty silly. On second thought, they could make an extra long cord for the drive and sell stylish pouches to hold the drive on your belt while tablet computing. This is The Future guys!

While most that have an iPad (and that market) would not want to have an additional hard drive, many who might choose a Surface may not care. Despite some of the commercials, they are aimed at slightly different markets.

 

[zDragon]

Yeah, the decimal / binary thing has been there forever. It's stupid but it will never change because nobody wants to be the one company advertising smaller sizes.Anyways, it is interesting that a 32 GB surface has roughly the same amount of storage available to the end user as a 16 GB iPad.

You do realize the storage capacity is the same. The difference is in the way it is being reported. Hard Drive Manufacturers have for along time reported sizes as decimal, because it makes the drive look bigger than it is. For example you could take the same HD and get the following. 500GB Decimal or 465.66GB Binary (The true size). The Decimal system was used to make drive look larger than they are.

 

[zDragon]

Maybe that is why Microsoft added USB ports to their tablet. Essentially there is a hard drive with an endless amount of memory whereas an iPad cannot be expanded at any time without deletion of material. I'm pretty sure this "feature" would be eaten up by Apple fanboys had Apple added it to their iPads.

I would load up an SD card with movies if there was a slot on an iPad but I think it's fair to say connecting a portable hard drive to a tablet computer would be pretty silly. On second thought, they could make an extra long cord for the drive and sell stylish pouches to hold the drive on your belt while tablet computing. This is The Future guys!

While most that have an iPad (and that market) would not want to have an additional hard drive, many who might choose a Surface may not care. Despite some of the commercials, they are aimed at slightly different markets.

HD really isn't needed. The microSD cards are fast now and you can grab a 64gb for around $50.

 

[Reepicheep]

Yeah, the decimal / binary thing has been there forever. It's stupid but it will never change because nobody wants to be the one company advertising smaller sizes.Anyways, it is interesting that a 32 GB surface has roughly the same amount of storage available to the end user as a 16 GB iPad.

You do realize the storage capacity is the same. The difference is in the way it is being reported. Hard Drive Manufacturers have for along time reported sizes as decimal, because it makes the drive look bigger than it is. For example you could take the same HD and get the following. 500GB Decimal or 465.66GB Binary (The true size). The Decimal system was used to make drive look larger than they are.

I understand the issue completely, I'm saying the practice is stupid (because the user has to convert the number on the box to a meaningful number), and that it will never change (because no company wants to be the one advertising smaller numbers).

 

[zDragon]

Yeah, the decimal / binary thing has been there forever. It's stupid but it will never change because nobody wants to be the one company advertising smaller sizes.Anyways, it is interesting that a 32 GB surface has roughly the same amount of storage available to the end user as a 16 GB iPad.

You do realize the storage capacity is the same. The difference is in the way it is being reported. Hard Drive Manufacturers have for along time reported sizes as decimal, because it makes the drive look bigger than it is. For example you could take the same HD and get the following. 500GB Decimal or 465.66GB Binary (The true size). The Decimal system was used to make drive look larger than they are.

I understand the issue completely, I'm saying the practice is stupid (because the user has to convert the number on the box to a meaningful number), and that it will never change (because no company wants to be the one advertising smaller numbers).

Gotcha, I took your last to mean there was an actual size difference. Truthfully if the majority of that is taken up by Office i am fine with it. It's one of the major productivity apps out there.

 

[SacramentoBob]

The fishing in this thread is subpar.

 

[goonsquad]

Microsoft confirms via Twitter that Surface Pro gets roughly only 4 hours of battery life.

No Matter What You Think Of Windows 8, The Surface Pro Seems Like A Horrible Value

Microsoft's Surface Pro Goes On Sale In January, Costs $900

Microsoft announced pricing today for its top-of-the-line Surface tablet, the Surface Pro.

It'll start at $899, or $400 more than the Surface RT tablet that's out now.

Unfortunately, that extra $400 also gets you terrible battery life.

In a Tweet from Microsoft that was picked up by Engadget, the company revealed that the Surface Pro would only get about half the battery life of the Surface RT. That means approximately 4.5 hours.

So, let's recap.

$899 gets you: A Surface Pro with 64 GB of storage.

No keyboard. You'll need to drop another ~$100 to get one of the special keyboard covers.

4.5 hours of battery life, which is pretty bad compared to many other laptops and abysmal compared to most tablets.

Yes, the Surface Pro is a full-fledged PC, powered by an Intel Chip. That explains the price. But how can Microsoft sell a PC without a keyboard/mouse? And compared to other portable PCs like the popular light and thin Ultrabooks, the Surface Pro has horrible battery life. Many Ultrabooks can last seven hours or longer on a charge.

No matter what you think of Windows 8, the Surface Pro is a horrible value.

 

[Maelstrom]

Microsoft confirms via Twitter that Surface Pro gets roughly only 4 hours of battery life.

No Matter What You Think Of Windows 8, The Surface Pro Seems Like A Horrible Value

Microsoft's Surface Pro Goes On Sale In January, Costs $900

Microsoft announced pricing today for its top-of-the-line Surface tablet, the Surface Pro.

It'll start at $899, or $400 more than the Surface RT tablet that's out now.

Unfortunately, that extra $400 also gets you terrible battery life.

In a Tweet from Microsoft that was picked up by Engadget, the company revealed that the Surface Pro would only get about half the battery life of the Surface RT. That means approximately 4.5 hours.

So, let's recap.

$899 gets you: A Surface Pro with 64 GB of storage.

No keyboard. You'll need to drop another ~$100 to get one of the special keyboard covers.

4.5 hours of battery life, which is pretty bad compared to many other laptops and abysmal compared to most tablets.

Yes, the Surface Pro is a full-fledged PC, powered by an Intel Chip. That explains the price. But how can Microsoft sell a PC without a keyboard/mouse? And compared to other portable PCs like the popular light and thin Ultrabooks, the Surface Pro has horrible battery life. Many Ultrabooks can last seven hours or longer on a charge.

No matter what you think of Windows 8, the Surface Pro is a horrible value.

While I agree with much of that, particularly that the Surface Pro is a poor value, the line that many Ultrabook get 7+ hours is pretty much a joke. I've been reading a lot of reviews lately, and most are pushing it to get to 6, and many end up between 4 and 5.That being said, a tablet in general is expected to run longer between charges - one of the pluses would be the ability to take it to say and all day conference without needing to bring along your charger.

 

[Slapdash]

Microsoft confirms via Twitter that Surface Pro gets roughly only 4 hours of battery life.

No Matter What You Think Of Windows 8, The Surface Pro Seems Like A Horrible Value

Microsoft's Surface Pro Goes On Sale In January, Costs $900

Microsoft announced pricing today for its top-of-the-line Surface tablet, the Surface Pro.

It'll start at $899, or $400 more than the Surface RT tablet that's out now.

Unfortunately, that extra $400 also gets you terrible battery life.

In a Tweet from Microsoft that was picked up by Engadget, the company revealed that the Surface Pro would only get about half the battery life of the Surface RT. That means approximately 4.5 hours.

So, let's recap.

$899 gets you: A Surface Pro with 64 GB of storage.

No keyboard. You'll need to drop another ~$100 to get one of the special keyboard covers.

4.5 hours of battery life, which is pretty bad compared to many other laptops and abysmal compared to most tablets.

Yes, the Surface Pro is a full-fledged PC, powered by an Intel Chip. That explains the price. But how can Microsoft sell a PC without a keyboard/mouse? And compared to other portable PCs like the popular light and thin Ultrabooks, the Surface Pro has horrible battery life. Many Ultrabooks can last seven hours or longer on a charge.

No matter what you think of Windows 8, the Surface Pro is a horrible value.

Wait, devices that do more generally cost more money and have worse battery life? That changes everything.

 

[cstu]

But how can Microsoft sell a PC without a keyboard/mouse?

It technically does come with a keyboard since nobody is buying this without a cover. Granted it will cost you $999 (or $1029 with the Type Cover) but it does have one. As for the mouse, I think those are pretty easy to find these days.Truthfully, this isn't going to be the right device for most people. I do think it's a cool and to be able to do everything you can do with it in 2 lb. device is impressive, but the price is an issue. For $200 more you can get an XPS 12 that has a physical keyboard and has upgradeable RAM and HD. The downsize is that it weighs over a pound more than the Surface Pro.

 

[BoltBacker]

Microsoft confirms via Twitter that Surface Pro gets roughly only 4 hours of battery life.

No Matter What You Think Of Windows 8, The Surface Pro Seems Like A Horrible Value

Microsoft's Surface Pro Goes On Sale In January, Costs $900

Microsoft announced pricing today for its top-of-the-line Surface tablet, the Surface Pro.

It'll start at $899, or $400 more than the Surface RT tablet that's out now.

Unfortunately, that extra $400 also gets you terrible battery life.

In a Tweet from Microsoft that was picked up by Engadget, the company revealed that the Surface Pro would only get about half the battery life of the Surface RT. That means approximately 4.5 hours.

So, let's recap.

$899 gets you: A Surface Pro with 64 GB of storage.

No keyboard. You'll need to drop another ~$100 to get one of the special keyboard covers.

4.5 hours of battery life, which is pretty bad compared to many other laptops and abysmal compared to most tablets.

Yes, the Surface Pro is a full-fledged PC, powered by an Intel Chip. That explains the price. But how can Microsoft sell a PC without a keyboard/mouse? And compared to other portable PCs like the popular light and thin Ultrabooks, the Surface Pro has horrible battery life. Many Ultrabooks can last seven hours or longer on a charge.

No matter what you think of Windows 8, the Surface Pro is a horrible value.

????"Get up to 5 hours of battery life on a single charge on the 11-inch model" of the current $1,000 64gb macbook air...

http://www.apple.com/macbookair/features.html

Meh, I assumed the the price of the surface pro would be in line with most ultrabooks. Not sure why anyone expected anything different.

Of course I assumed the surface RT would cost the same as the other high-end tablets and was completely confused by the hand wringing over the price on that device as well.

 

[cstu]

The worst part about the Surface RT is that it's already out of date with Tegra 4 chips coming out early 2013. They are expected to be 6x faster than the Tegra 3 in the Surface and 50% faster than the A6 in the iPad as well as support USB 3.0 and have 2560 x 1600 resolution @ 120 Hz.

Link

Tegra 4 specs leak: Quad-core Cortex-A15, 72-core GPU, 28nm, 4K max resolution

Details of Nvidia’s upcoming Tegra 4 SoC, due early next year, have leaked. If the leak is to be believed, Tegra 4 (codename Wayne) will be a quad-core Cortex-A15 (with a fifth, low-power companion core), with a 72-core GPU — six times more than Tegra 3.

At this point we should stress that this leak might not be real, though the specs dovetail quite neatly with what we already knew. The shift from Cortex-A9 to A15 will bring Tegra 4 in line with the latest Snapdragon S4 and Exynos 5 SoCs. The jump to 72 cores (from Tegra 3′s 12) might sound dramatic, but it’s important to note that the Tegra 3′s graphics performance pales in comparison to Apple’s latest A5X and A6 SoCs. Of course, if Nvidia also changes the architecture of those 72 cores — to something resembling Kepler — then Tegra 4 will be a complete beast. It is odd (and a little unnerving) that the GPU’s underlying architecture isn’t listed on the leaked diagram.

The fifth Cortex-A9 Companion Core in Tegra 3

Drilling down into the CPU, the leak says that Tegra 4 features a “4-PLUS-1 Quad Core Eagle.” Eagle was the codename for Cortex-A15. 4-PLUS-1 is Nvidia’s obnoxious trademark on a quad-core design, with a low-power companion core that takes care of smaller, background tasks. It isn’t clear if the fifth core will be Cortex-A15, or a “little” Cortex-A7 core. The SoC itself will be fabricated on TSMC’s 28nm HPL (high performance, low power) process, again bringing it into line with the 28nm Snapdragon, Exynos, and A6.

Rounding out the leaked specs, Tegra 4 will apparently be capable of outputting 1080p @ 120Hz, full hardware encode/decode for video up to 2560×1440 (1440p), and a maximum output resolution of 3820×2160 (4K). There’s also support for HDMI (with HDCP) and USB 3.0. Curiously, there’s no mention of integrated LTE. No LTE, coupled with the lack of info about the GPU architecture, make me a little suspicious about the veracity of this slide — or if it isn’t fake, it might just be old. Either way, we’ll find out for certain at Tegra 4′s official unveil at CES in January.

 

[goonsquad]

The worst part about the Surface RT is that it's already out of date with Tegra 4 chips coming out early 2013. They are expected to be 6x faster than the Tegra 3 in the Surface and 50% faster than the A6 in the iPad as well as support USB 3.0 and have 2560 x 1600 resolution @ 120 Hz.

Link

Tegra 4 specs leak: Quad-core Cortex-A15, 72-core GPU, 28nm, 4K max resolution

Details of Nvidia’s upcoming Tegra 4 SoC, due early next year, have leaked. If the leak is to be believed, Tegra 4 (codename Wayne) will be a quad-core Cortex-A15 (with a fifth, low-power companion core), with a 72-core GPU — six times more than Tegra 3.

At this point we should stress that this leak might not be real, though the specs dovetail quite neatly with what we already knew. The shift from Cortex-A9 to A15 will bring Tegra 4 in line with the latest Snapdragon S4 and Exynos 5 SoCs. The jump to 72 cores (from Tegra 3′s 12) might sound dramatic, but it’s important to note that the Tegra 3′s graphics performance pales in comparison to Apple’s latest A5X and A6 SoCs. Of course, if Nvidia also changes the architecture of those 72 cores — to something resembling Kepler — then Tegra 4 will be a complete beast. It is odd (and a little unnerving) that the GPU’s underlying architecture isn’t listed on the leaked diagram.

The fifth Cortex-A9 Companion Core in Tegra 3

Drilling down into the CPU, the leak says that Tegra 4 features a “4-PLUS-1 Quad Core Eagle.” Eagle was the codename for Cortex-A15. 4-PLUS-1 is Nvidia’s obnoxious trademark on a quad-core design, with a low-power companion core that takes care of smaller, background tasks. It isn’t clear if the fifth core will be Cortex-A15, or a “little” Cortex-A7 core. The SoC itself will be fabricated on TSMC’s 28nm HPL (high performance, low power) process, again bringing it into line with the 28nm Snapdragon, Exynos, and A6.

Rounding out the leaked specs, Tegra 4 will apparently be capable of outputting 1080p @ 120Hz, full hardware encode/decode for video up to 2560×1440 (1440p), and a maximum output resolution of 3820×2160 (4K). There’s also support for HDMI (with HDCP) and USB 3.0. Curiously, there’s no mention of integrated LTE. No LTE, coupled with the lack of info about the GPU architecture, make me a little suspicious about the veracity of this slide — or if it isn’t fake, it might just be old. Either way, we’ll find out for certain at Tegra 4′s official unveil at CES in January.

Kind of tough to fault Microsoft for not using a chip that isn't released yet. Assuming the Tegra 4 launches in Q1 2013 as predicted, do you think Microsoft should have postponed the Surface launch three to six months for it?

 

[toshiba]

The worst part about the Surface RT is that it's already out of date with Tegra 4 chips coming out early 2013. They are expected to be 6x faster than the Tegra 3 in the Surface and 50% faster than the A6 in the iPad as well as support USB 3.0 and have 2560 x 1600 resolution @ 120 Hz.

Link

Tegra 4 specs leak: Quad-core Cortex-A15, 72-core GPU, 28nm, 4K max resolution

Details of Nvidia’s upcoming Tegra 4 SoC, due early next year, have leaked. If the leak is to be believed, Tegra 4 (codename Wayne) will be a quad-core Cortex-A15 (with a fifth, low-power companion core), with a 72-core GPU — six times more than Tegra 3.

At this point we should stress that this leak might not be real, though the specs dovetail quite neatly with what we already knew. The shift from Cortex-A9 to A15 will bring Tegra 4 in line with the latest Snapdragon S4 and Exynos 5 SoCs. The jump to 72 cores (from Tegra 3′s 12) might sound dramatic, but it’s important to note that the Tegra 3′s graphics performance pales in comparison to Apple’s latest A5X and A6 SoCs. Of course, if Nvidia also changes the architecture of those 72 cores — to something resembling Kepler — then Tegra 4 will be a complete beast. It is odd (and a little unnerving) that the GPU’s underlying architecture isn’t listed on the leaked diagram.

The fifth Cortex-A9 Companion Core in Tegra 3

Drilling down into the CPU, the leak says that Tegra 4 features a “4-PLUS-1 Quad Core Eagle.” Eagle was the codename for Cortex-A15. 4-PLUS-1 is Nvidia’s obnoxious trademark on a quad-core design, with a low-power companion core that takes care of smaller, background tasks. It isn’t clear if the fifth core will be Cortex-A15, or a “little” Cortex-A7 core. The SoC itself will be fabricated on TSMC’s 28nm HPL (high performance, low power) process, again bringing it into line with the 28nm Snapdragon, Exynos, and A6.

Rounding out the leaked specs, Tegra 4 will apparently be capable of outputting 1080p @ 120Hz, full hardware encode/decode for video up to 2560×1440 (1440p), and a maximum output resolution of 3820×2160 (4K). There’s also support for HDMI (with HDCP) and USB 3.0. Curiously, there’s no mention of integrated LTE. No LTE, coupled with the lack of info about the GPU architecture, make me a little suspicious about the veracity of this slide — or if it isn’t fake, it might just be old. Either way, we’ll find out for certain at Tegra 4′s official unveil at CES in January.

Really, that is the worse thing, not that it doesn't run real windows 8? I though the first RT Surface tablets released would have that as the biggest issue.

 

[SacramentoBob]

The worst part about the Surface RT is that it's already out of date with Tegra 4 chips coming out early 2013. They are expected to be 6x faster than the Tegra 3 in the Surface and 50% faster than the A6 in the iPad as well as support USB 3.0 and have 2560 x 1600 resolution @ 120 Hz.

Link

Tegra 4 specs leak: Quad-core Cortex-A15, 72-core GPU, 28nm, 4K max resolution

Details of Nvidia’s upcoming Tegra 4 SoC, due early next year, have leaked. If the leak is to be believed, Tegra 4 (codename Wayne) will be a quad-core Cortex-A15 (with a fifth, low-power companion core), with a 72-core GPU — six times more than Tegra 3.

At this point we should stress that this leak might not be real, though the specs dovetail quite neatly with what we already knew. The shift from Cortex-A9 to A15 will bring Tegra 4 in line with the latest Snapdragon S4 and Exynos 5 SoCs. The jump to 72 cores (from Tegra 3′s 12) might sound dramatic, but it’s important to note that the Tegra 3′s graphics performance pales in comparison to Apple’s latest A5X and A6 SoCs. Of course, if Nvidia also changes the architecture of those 72 cores — to something resembling Kepler — then Tegra 4 will be a complete beast. It is odd (and a little unnerving) that the GPU’s underlying architecture isn’t listed on the leaked diagram.

The fifth Cortex-A9 Companion Core in Tegra 3

Drilling down into the CPU, the leak says that Tegra 4 features a “4-PLUS-1 Quad Core Eagle.” Eagle was the codename for Cortex-A15. 4-PLUS-1 is Nvidia’s obnoxious trademark on a quad-core design, with a low-power companion core that takes care of smaller, background tasks. It isn’t clear if the fifth core will be Cortex-A15, or a “little” Cortex-A7 core. The SoC itself will be fabricated on TSMC’s 28nm HPL (high performance, low power) process, again bringing it into line with the 28nm Snapdragon, Exynos, and A6.

Rounding out the leaked specs, Tegra 4 will apparently be capable of outputting 1080p @ 120Hz, full hardware encode/decode for video up to 2560×1440 (1440p), and a maximum output resolution of 3820×2160 (4K). There’s also support for HDMI (with HDCP) and USB 3.0. Curiously, there’s no mention of integrated LTE. No LTE, coupled with the lack of info about the GPU architecture, make me a little suspicious about the veracity of this slide — or if it isn’t fake, it might just be old. Either way, we’ll find out for certain at Tegra 4′s official unveil at CES in January.

That's just technology. Anything you buy today will be obsolete 6 months from now.

 

[cstu]

Kind of tough to fault Microsoft for not using a chip that isn't released yet. Assuming the Tegra 4 launches in Q1 2013 as predicted, do you think Microsoft should have postponed the Surface launch three to six months for it?

That's a tough call because they wanted to get something to market so maybe in the long term it was a good decision even if this first product is a bust.

 

[cstu]

That's just technology. Anything you buy today will be obsolete 6 months from now.

The Tegra 3 is a year old processor so they're using it at the tail end of it's lifecycle. Pretty soon we'll start seeing the Tegra 3 show up in cheap tablets and it's already being used in the $99 Ouya gaming system.

 

[Fennis]

I've been using my Surface pretty solid for about a month now. I like it a lot, I think its a great product.

 

[toshiba]

I've been using my Surface pretty solid for about a month now. I like it a lot, I think its a great product.

SHould have held out for the Windows 8 version instead of the Windows 8RT

 

[Maelstrom]

I've been using my Surface pretty solid for about a month now. I like it a lot, I think its a great product.

SHould have held out for the Windows 8 version instead of the Windows 8RT

It depends on what you need it for. We have an RT at the office, and while it doesn't suit my needs, it is definitely a decent tablet and would be usable for what many folk use a tablet for.

 

[Fennis]

I've been using my Surface pretty solid for about a month now. I like it a lot, I think its a great product.

SHould have held out for the Windows 8 version instead of the Windows 8RT

It depends on what you need it for. We have an RT at the office, and while it doesn't suit my needs, it is definitely a decent tablet and would be usable for what many folk use a tablet for.

I use windows 8 at work. RT is fine for a tablet for my needs (surfing, reading, playing games, and other consumer type use)

 

[SacramentoBob]

My Windows 8 laptop got here Tuesday. Been playing with it a few days and this is an impromptu review.

I originally ordered a Lenovo Ideapad U300S based on the good reviews and the instant $600 rebate on the website. The shipping date got pushed back a week. Then a week later I came home to a voicemail message asking to call Lenovo to complete my order. Then check my email and found that the order had been canceled per my request. So ended up getting the HP Spectre XT, which was my 2nd choice. My original plan had been to get a Win 7 laptop and just put Linux on it, but I figured I might as well go with Win 8 and give it a shot. Mrs. SB has a Macbook that she's been using for the last 6 months or so and she tested it out really quick to compare. She said the touchpad on it was great and so was the keyboard, just like her MB. The original reason she went with the MB was because of the bad reviews other laptops were getting at the time in regards to touchpads and keyboards. If something like this had been out at the time, she may have gone that way instead. Also did a quick boot and shutdown test side by side and the HP is way faster than the MB at both. Anyway, this is about the OS, not the hardware.

To summarize my initial impressions, I think this OS would be fantastic on a tablet or laptop with a touch screen. It's definitely designed to be used that way in "app" mode. I'm not very good with using modern touchpads, so there's a learning curve. I think I'm getting the hang of it, and how Windows 8 flows. Nothing about it seems any less intuitive than an Android tablet. It comes with Security Essentials by default, so no need for any additional AV, but this came with Norton anyway which I promptly uninstalled. If you use a lot of Google apps like Chrome, Drive or Reader, they are in the App Store. The Google reader app is terrible. The reviews on it are almost universally negative. Everything else I had to download and install by hand. No issues in getting any of them to run so far. No crashes, slowness or bugs so far. Using it in desktop mode is similar to Windows 7 minus the start menu. Based on the last 2 days, I don't think I'd be in the market for a Surface. I need apps to get "real work" done, and most of the ones I use on a day to day basis aren't in the app store. I guess I could find similar replacements, but I want to use what I'm used to using.

I bought a USB docking station to go with it and my plan is to use this at work as a replacement for the desktop I have now. If it holds up, I'll likely recommend to my director that we don't upgrade any workstations/laptops to Win8, but go forward with Win8 on any tablets/convertibles that we purchase. I don't see any use for Windows 8 RT in the enterprise.

That is disheartening. I haven't found a quality app for it on iOS either. The changes a year ago to the website version sucked too. I almost universally use it on my Android smartphone.

Been using it for a little over a month now. Nothing about my feelings has really changed. I don't think Windows 8 shines on a desktop. It's not terrible, it's just that 5-10% of your workflow that has to be done from Metro is awkward. On a single screen, touch device I think it would be great. My director made a comment about wanting to move all of our 18K devices to Windows 8. If it comes up again, I'll try to talk him out of it. I think using Win 8 as a standard for new tablet/hybrid purchases is fine, but I don't think our users will like it as much as Win 7 on their desktops.

 

[Eephus]

My Windows 8 laptop got here Tuesday. Been playing with it a few days and this is an impromptu review.

I originally ordered a Lenovo Ideapad U300S based on the good reviews and the instant $600 rebate on the website. The shipping date got pushed back a week. Then a week later I came home to a voicemail message asking to call Lenovo to complete my order. Then check my email and found that the order had been canceled per my request. So ended up getting the HP Spectre XT, which was my 2nd choice. My original plan had been to get a Win 7 laptop and just put Linux on it, but I figured I might as well go with Win 8 and give it a shot. Mrs. SB has a Macbook that she's been using for the last 6 months or so and she tested it out really quick to compare. She said the touchpad on it was great and so was the keyboard, just like her MB. The original reason she went with the MB was because of the bad reviews other laptops were getting at the time in regards to touchpads and keyboards. If something like this had been out at the time, she may have gone that way instead. Also did a quick boot and shutdown test side by side and the HP is way faster than the MB at both. Anyway, this is about the OS, not the hardware.

To summarize my initial impressions, I think this OS would be fantastic on a tablet or laptop with a touch screen. It's definitely designed to be used that way in "app" mode. I'm not very good with using modern touchpads, so there's a learning curve. I think I'm getting the hang of it, and how Windows 8 flows. Nothing about it seems any less intuitive than an Android tablet. It comes with Security Essentials by default, so no need for any additional AV, but this came with Norton anyway which I promptly uninstalled. If you use a lot of Google apps like Chrome, Drive or Reader, they are in the App Store. The Google reader app is terrible. The reviews on it are almost universally negative. Everything else I had to download and install by hand. No issues in getting any of them to run so far. No crashes, slowness or bugs so far. Using it in desktop mode is similar to Windows 7 minus the start menu. Based on the last 2 days, I don't think I'd be in the market for a Surface. I need apps to get "real work" done, and most of the ones I use on a day to day basis aren't in the app store. I guess I could find similar replacements, but I want to use what I'm used to using.

I bought a USB docking station to go with it and my plan is to use this at work as a replacement for the desktop I have now. If it holds up, I'll likely recommend to my director that we don't upgrade any workstations/laptops to Win8, but go forward with Win8 on any tablets/convertibles that we purchase. I don't see any use for Windows 8 RT in the enterprise.

That is disheartening. I haven't found a quality app for it on iOS either. The changes a year ago to the website version sucked too. I almost universally use it on my Android smartphone.

Been using it for a little over a month now. Nothing about my feelings has really changed. I don't think Windows 8 shines on a desktop. It's not terrible, it's just that 5-10% of your workflow that has to be done from Metro is awkward. On a single screen, touch device I think it would be great. My director made a comment about wanting to move all of our 18K devices to Windows 8. If it comes up again, I'll try to talk him out of it. I think using Win 8 as a standard for new tablet/hybrid purchases is fine, but I don't think our users will like it as much as Win 7 on their desktops.

The biggest problem I have with Windows 8 on a desktop is that very few applications run natively in Metro. I spend most of my time in the traditional desktop or even worse, switching back and forth.If/when Office and a non-MS browser work in Metro, the experience on non-touchscreen machines will be better. But switching between Metro and desktop will be a nusiance pretty much forever.

 

[culdeus]

I still have not seen a single one of these in the wild.