Anyone have a Surface??

[winniedapooh]

Or know anything about them?? Thoughts?? DS, 19, wants one of these for Christmas. I believe it is Microsoft's answer to the Ipad. I know that some one of my DISboards friends will know something...

TIA

 

[Colleen27]

I have been wanting to check them out too, but haven't seen them in store anywhere yet. There's no Microsoft store in my area and Best Buy hasn't had them. Since I won't buy without actually touching it and feeling how the navigation and design work in my hands I'm just waiting now until I can find one to check out. On specs alone it looks very good - the self-storing keyboard and kickstand really appeal to me for the way I use my tablet - but never having used Windows RT or seen the keyboard design first hand I'm not comfortable spending the money for it yet.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

I have been wanting to check them out too, but haven't seen them in store anywhere yet. There's no Microsoft store in my area and Best Buy hasn't had them. Since I won't buy without actually touching it and feeling how the navigation and design work in my hands I'm just waiting now until I can find one to check out. On specs alone it looks very good - the self-storing keyboard and kickstand really appeal to me for the way I use my tablet - but never having used Windows RT or seen the keyboard design first hand I'm not comfortable spending the money for it yet.

I think that the only store with the Surface RT are the Microsoft retail and holiday pop up stores. You can also buy it online from Microsoft. Maybe when they release the Surface Pro with Windows 8 next year it will be in more stores. -- Suzanne

 

[Minnie Momma]

The Surface RT is only available on-line, at the brick and mortar Microsoft stores and at some "pop up" stores. I have yet to see any of those.

The Surface Pro will be available in January.

My hubby is a super computer geek and uses Microsoft programming for his job. He can not wait to get the Pro. A friend of his (a Mac user) has the RT and he LOVES it.

 

[Colleen27]

I think that the only store with the Surface RT are the Microsoft retail and holiday pop up stores. You can also buy it online from Microsoft. Maybe when they release the Surface Pro with Windows 8 next year it will be in more stores. -- Suzanne

Well that stinks... The closest MS stores to me are in Cleveland, Toronto, and Chicago (I live an hour or so north of Detroit) so I'm not likely to have occasion to visit one any time soon.

 

[niffer5150]

I have one and just spent 20 minutes writing up why I hate mine and how it's miserable to use. then it shut itself off with no warning to install an update.... it likes to do that. I cant begin to explain how much I hate my surface. $700 and it's neither a good tablet nor is it a good laptop. so if you want someehing that's NOT intuitive and has a steep learning curve, a touch keyboard that seems made for people who stare at the keys as they type, shuts itself off with no warning, a graveyard of an app store with no idea if it will ever improve, then by all means, this is the gimmicky gem for you. maybe I just don't get it because im a laptop person and I've never owned an ipad but it's like they tried to invent a car that flies.

 

[mountdew1]

Do yourself a favor, and don't buy a Surface RT. I work in IT and got one the day they came out to evaluate if they would work in our business. Long story short, they don't. The only apps you can install are from the Windows Store. And last time I checked, they only had maybe 1,500 apps. The app selection isn't nearly as good as what is available on either iPad or Android. Admittedly they are a new platform, but kids will want the apps that can interface with their friends and the popular social networks.

They do have some cool features, but are really limited. Some things that should be really simple and easy to setup, like email, isn't very straightforward. Things like switching between portrait and landscape is really buggy, my battery life is terrible, a fraction of what my iPad provides. For everyone who says that an iPad is really just a big iPhone, the Surface RT is really just a big Windows 8 phone. Which no one really seems to like. If you have a huge investment in the Microsoft stack, so already have a MS account, XBox Live account, use exclusively MS products for software, then you may love it. But if you use anything else, you will find it fairly irritating to use.

The Surface Pro (expected to be released in Jan) can natively run any Windows application, and shows much more promise, although the price will be much higher.

If he is really insisting on getting one for the holidays, don't but it until he gets his hands on one to try it.

 

[FergieTCat]

I have one and just spent 20 minutes writing up why I hate mine and how it's miserable to use. then it shut itself off with no warning to install an update.... it likes to do that. I cant begin to explain how much I hate my surface. $700 and it's neither a good tablet nor is it a good laptop. so if you want someehing that's NOT intuitive and has a steep learning curve, a touch keyboard that seems made for people who stare at the keys as they type, shuts itself off with no warning, a graveyard of an app store with no idea if it will ever improve, then by all means, this is the gimmicky gem for you. maybe I just don't get it because im a laptop person and I've never owned an ipad but it's like they tried to invent a car that flies.

I felt the same way about the Lenovo U410 I returned to Amazon less than one week after I received it. I hated that thing! It was worse than the Toshiba Satellite I bought a few years ago.

The Surface is one of Oprah's favorite things. I guess she never turned it on.