Microsoft Surface tablet, would you get one?

[Shining Raikou]

I have been looking at the Surface and am thinking about getting one. What are the pros and cons of it? Do you like the design? Should I get something else or am I making a good choice? I am a student and want something thin and light to do word processing and access the internet on.

 

[Keeper of Night]

I don't have an answer myself, but I found this, maybe it will help.

 

[Breakfast Cereal]

I just went to Best Buy yesterday and tried out the Surface RT. I liked it a lot, it was pretty cool. However, I would strongly recommend against buying one.

The RT version can not run x86 applications and small amount of apps on the Windows Store is a huge deal breaker. Android and iOS have many more applications. However, its Office Suite is very good and is similar to what you would use on a Windows desktop.

If you wait for a tablet that runs full Windows 8 as opposed to RT, it would be a lot better for you as a student. Your best bets are the Surface Pro, Acer Iconia W700, or Asus VivoTab. The Surface Pro and Acer Iconia W700 are both powerful with 4 GB of RAM and a standard Ivy Bridge processor. If you aren't a power user or you want something lighter for school, the Asus VivoTab is the option for you. The VivoTab has only 2 GB of RAM onboard and an Intel Atom (which isn't as powerful compared to an Ivy Bridge, but it should perform well). The resolution on all of these tablets is pretty average.

Your third option would be to get an Android or iOS tablet. For school, the Asus Transformer Pad Infinity would be the best Android tablet. There are better ones out there like the Nexus 10, but the Infinity is the only one that you can buy with a removable keyboard that offers up to 5 more hours of battery life, an SD card slot, and a USB port. It has 1 GB of RAM, a quad-core Tegra 3 processor, and a 1920x1080 resolution. It runs Android 4.1 and should be updated to 4.2 soon. I own one of these along with the keyboard and it's awesome; best thing I've ever owned. It even comes with a Word processor application called Polaris Office, and it can edit Powerpoint and Excel documents as well. (There are also other Office applications on the Google Play Store if you prefer a different one.)
I wouldn't recommend getting an iOS tablet for school. iOS is very restricted compared to Android, with which you can do anything with your device. Also, the third party keyboard cases offered for the iPad use Bluetooth and don't offer any extra battery. You also can't use an SD card, micro SD card, or USB drive, with or without the keyboard case. If you already have an iOS device though, it's worth consideration.

Anyway, that's it. Hope I helped with your decision!

 

[Juliacoolo]

"If you wait for a tablet that runs full Windows 8 as opposed to RT, it would be a lot better for you as a student."

^ This summarizes the thread. RT is awful. People with Windows 7 phones will know the limits of the mobile operating system.

I also would highly recommend against using a tablet as your primary device for word processing. Even with a bluetooth keyboard, it can be difficult, and often there are formatting/transfer issues. Get a nice sleek ultrabook for typing papers.

As for browsing the web, the surface should be decent. I would recommend an Android or Ipad over it, but almost any tablet will do for mere web browsing.

Overall, you will get much much more out of an android or ipad.

 

[Breakfast Cereal]

Also, SR, just found this. You might want to check it out if you still want a slimmer RT tablet.
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Hacker-jailbreaks-Windows-RT-and-finds-it-no-different-than-Windows-8_id38338
No guarantees that there will be a jailbreak option in the future, and if there is, there may be some drawbacks, but it's worth a look.

 

[Atamask]

LOL no.
Honestly it just seems like a repeat of the old pen tablet laptops way back when.
I mean if they go down in price It'll probably be a little more worth buying hopefully. I definitely wouldn't buy one now because like every piece of technology it's "new" therefore it will most likely have a lot of problems with it. I see this more as a little play thing just to test out, not something I "need" to have.

 

[ESP]

It's very interesting as a concept, however the biggest con to it in my opinion is the keyboard. I had a very hard time typing on it and so did my girlfriend when we tried it out at Best Buy. Also, I think the price is a bit steep for any tablet really. I'd much rather pay $200-230 for the Nexus 7 personally.