70
Criteria
Comments
Rating
- Features When I try hard to think about what other features I would want in a tablet, I can't come up with anything major.
- Display If no one told you specs on the display, I doubt you would think poorly of it. It compares well to my office's 4th gen iPad.
- Battery life I've been using it non-stop. I can't stop touching this tablet. It hasn't even come close to running out of battery since coming out of the box.
- Ease of use I'll admit that I struggled a bit with Win 8 for the first hour, but I haven't thought about since then. It becomes natural very quickly.
- Storage capacity 32 gb of storage is okay for an Android tablet and possibly an iPad, but Windows itself takes up a lot of storage (10gb). 32gb SD card solves prob for now.
- Design and form factor Honestly, anyone who doesn't rate this a 5 should punch themselves in the face. Really.
- Portability (size / weight) After using it for two days, I ask myself. Would I want this to be any smaller or lighter? Bigger? At times, yes. But 99% of the time, it's the perfect size
- Durability There isn't any part of this tablet that feels flimsy or poorly assembled.
Detailed review
The Surface is absolutely perfect for a large swath of the population. If you want something ultra-light for reading books, don't buy this. If you need lots and lots of apps right this instant, don't buy this. For everyone else, you shouldn't even consider getting any other tablet before trying the Surface for an hour.
There's no need to expound on each detail, as it's been covered to death. The biggest criticism is the lack of apps, but it hasn't slowed me down any. There's more than enough content to cover the bases and I highly doubt it takes more than a couple of months for the store to fill up. There's new apps popping up every hour or two it seems.
If you are going to buy a keyboard cover for the Surface, it MUST be the Touch Cover. In my opinion, it defines the Surface RT. The Type cover will undoubtedly be superior to the Touch for typing. But there's a synergy between Surface RT and Touch that isn't there with Type. The resulting size and feel is perfect. The Type cover is still great, but feels like an afterthought compared to Touch.
It's dangerously close to being a perfect tablet, but there are a couple flaws that cost it a point. Apps will crash and close a few times a day. It isn't frequent at all and I'm not sure if it's the app or the OS. The Surface also isn't blazingly fast. Despite a so-so processor, it feels very much like a modern computer running on a mature OS.
And of course, this review was written on a Surface RT w/ Touch cover.
*update:
Use case: Finally had a chance to use at the office (thanks Sandy), mapped network drives, installed three printers, total time was 3 minutes. It might be possible on our iPads or my Nexus 7, but it wouldn't be as easy. Sometimes I forget it really is a computer and I feel reviewers discount this point too much.
There's no need to expound on each detail, as it's been covered to death. The biggest criticism is the lack of apps, but it hasn't slowed me down any. There's more than enough content to cover the bases and I highly doubt it takes more than a couple of months for the store to fill up. There's new apps popping up every hour or two it seems.
If you are going to buy a keyboard cover for the Surface, it MUST be the Touch Cover. In my opinion, it defines the Surface RT. The Type cover will undoubtedly be superior to the Touch for typing. But there's a synergy between Surface RT and Touch that isn't there with Type. The resulting size and feel is perfect. The Type cover is still great, but feels like an afterthought compared to Touch.
It's dangerously close to being a perfect tablet, but there are a couple flaws that cost it a point. Apps will crash and close a few times a day. It isn't frequent at all and I'm not sure if it's the app or the OS. The Surface also isn't blazingly fast. Despite a so-so processor, it feels very much like a modern computer running on a mature OS.
And of course, this review was written on a Surface RT w/ Touch cover.
*update:
Use case: Finally had a chance to use at the office (thanks Sandy), mapped network drives, installed three printers, total time was 3 minutes. It might be possible on our iPads or my Nexus 7, but it wouldn't be as easy. Sometimes I forget it really is a computer and I feel reviewers discount this point too much.
good review!
5 people find this review helpful
review history
- 2012-11-05
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Updated detailed review
Updated detailed review