Windows Surface RT reviewed!

Status
Not open for further replies.
S

Sei

Galvanizer
Lot of Windows Surface RT reviews are now online after the NDA was lifted off today.

In sum, lot of mixed opinions - some good, some bad. I, for one, feel it is a very good attempt at disrupting the tablet market and will depend highly on the developers who make apps.

Microsoft Surface with Windows RT review -- Engadget
Surface with Windows RT Review - SlashGear
Microsoft Surface RT Review - Watch CNET's Video Review
Microsoft Surface RT Review: This Is Technological Heartbreak
Review: Microsoft Surface Tablet
Microsoft’s first stab at a tablet: Surface reviewed | Ars Technica
Hands on with Microsoft's Surface RT: Can it hit the sweet spot? | ZDNet
Microsoft Surface review | The Verge
Microsoft Surface review | Tablets Reviews | TechRadar
AnandTech - Microsoft Surface Review
Microsoft Surface review — Surface with Windows RT tablet reviewed | BGR
Review: Surface RT, Microsoft's bid for a 'thing' of its own | PCWorld
Microsoft Surface RT: Impressive piece of engineering
Microsoft Surface Review: The PC of the Future Needs More Apps | TIME.com

A very good compilation of all reviews at GDGT which keeps the score at 7.3/10 at the moment -
Microsoft Surface with Windows RT review - gdgt

Battery life is a solid 10 hours. Never thought we could say this for a Windows PC (RT, but still)!

What I felt was the the reviewers who were disappointed were the ones who are attempting to replace their laptops with this. It is still a tablet and should be treated as such. The keyboard cover(s), back-stand, micro-sdxc slot, full USB port (USB hard drives, printers etc.) are the factors which can make you stay without your main machine (a laptop or a desktop PC) for an extended period of time without feeling limited.

From Anandtech's review -

Windows Explorer exists and RT is installed in the same C:\Windows directory that we’ve been looking at for years. Want to dump photos from a USB stick into your photo library? You can just copy them as you always would using Explorer. You get a command prompt, you can write and run batch files, you get access to diskpart and can even manually TRIM the integrated NAND storage. Did I mention you can even tinker around in the registry? Not everyone will care about these things, but I get a kick out of them. Windows RT/8 is an almost perfect marriage of new mobile world simplicity with the flexibility that we’ve enjoyed from Windows for ages.
Click to expand...

For me, the ARSTECHNICA and ANANDTECH reviews were the most balanced. THEVERGE's review was good too but he gave the ecosystem a score of just 4/10. Ecosystem is more than apps. Take the integration with Xbox, Smartglass, Office, proper multitasking, Skydrive and finally a very good implementation of IE warrants more than 4. Just saying.
 
^^LOL, where were you living all this time? The price is already out for some time now. $499 for the 32GB Model and $599 for the same with the keyboard and $699 for the 64GB model with keyboard. Its already up for Pre-orders in other countries and Locally, I saw Reliance Digital put up an ad that they are taking preorders for it. On eBay, importers have put it up for pre-order for 45k.

Anyway, my sister might be getting one of these for her self and I will most likely going to get one from my company as the brass are in talks with Microsoft to get a few demo/development devices. I am waiting for the Windows 8 Pro devices to hit the market for my personal purchase.
 
^ Totally agree about the Windows 8 Pro devices. I am tired of having toys (referring to my 1st gen iPad) and want to have a device that fulfills the needs of a pure consumption device and a working powerhouse - something like an Core i7 Transformer style 12.5"/13" Windows Pro tablet.
 
in the Engadget pics, the screen quality looks poor. its looks grainy and a bit washed out (like no contrast) to me. looks like TN display.
 
6pack said:
in the Engadget pics, the screen quality looks poor. its looks grainy and a bit washed out (like no contrast) to me. looks like TN display.
Click to expand...

Anand's review puts contrast ratio at 1384:1 which takes it place right at the top of the charts. By comparison, iPad 3 is 934:1 so that is nearly 50% better contrast. Viewing angles are the same 178 degrees. Numbers don't lie. It is a top notch optically bonded IPS display.

You cannot judge screen quality based on pictures!

All that said, most people are better off with a Windows 8 tablet. I get why Microsoft chose ARM, to push Windows RT, but today Clover Trail is simply the better choice. Plenty of options from Iconia W510 ($499) to Thinkpad Tablet 2 ($649). I am not saying Windows RT won't take off, I am sure it will, but today it is just an unnecessary gamble. Having said that, if the Vivo Tab RT comes around for $399 or so, that will be a pretty good deal.

Of course, the Ivy Bridge tablets bring a whole new dimension. Iconia W700 looks solid, it can transform anywhere between a desktop (when docked and connected to external I/O) and a tablet. It has ultrabook internals with a 1920x1080 IPS screen. But the best part is starts at $799 which is quite a bit cheaper than comparable ultrabooks. Of course it is going to be heftier and battery life worse than Clover Trail / ARM but that is the price you pay for what is an order of magnitude better performance for a tablet.

Surface may be the coolest tablet on the market with a killer accessory and unparalleled build quality, but let's not forget there are some good products incoming from the OEM partners.

By the way, the quality of reviews from the mainstream press is woeful. Obviously the likes of Anand and Ars do a well rounded review, but objective reviews are few and far between.
 
I think we've all been waiting for something like since the day the first iPad was announced. What everyone imagined and what we got were two different things.

Now, finally, everything seems to be coming to a beautifully orchestrated culmination of aesthetic, functionality and implementation.

The way AnandTech's review repeatedly mentions that this is Microsoft's 'perspective' of the tablet PC is worth mentioning here. I guess Microsoft got it right. Now fingers crossed they live up to the consumer's hopes, needs and demands.
 
I read a few reviews including AT's and frankly, I'm a little bit disappointed. It seems that the RT version of the OS looks like the Windows 8, has a desktop mode but can't run any x86 apps. On the other hand, it can't run the WP7/WP8 apps either. The video playability is very poor. On top of this, the pricing is similar to iPad which is already an established product with higher resolution, way better app collection and better brand name / popularity. This kind of reminds of WP7 which also was a cool product but had much less usability. IMO, MS should have used a WP8 based OS with broader interface for bigger screen since this, after all, is a tablet not a tablet PC.

What I don't understand is behind the awkward pricing placements of the Windows 8 tablets with Atom. The previous gen Atom netbooks used to sell around $250-$300. But the Win 8 Atom tablets are priced at $650-$800 :O If MS had used clovertrail in the Surface RT tablet with a little bit of optimization for low power usage at $500, that would have easily won millions of customers ( faster and x86 hardware hence more usable ) without affecting the sales number of Surface Pro.
 
phoenix844884 said:
The way AnandTech's review repeatedly mentions that this is Microsoft's 'perspective' of the tablet PC is worth mentioning here. I guess Microsoft got it right. Now fingers crossed they live up to the consumer's hopes, needs and demands.
Click to expand...

^This!

Microsoft has been trying since years to break in to the tablet PC market. The iPad has made them realise that you cannot simply do that by putting in your mouse-and-keyboard-optimized OS onto a touchscreen tablet. Even touchscreen tablets with Windows 7 failed.

The good part is that Microsoft has tried to go one step ahead of Apple and tried to combine the best of the 2 worlds. If Windows 8 even takes off a little bit, I won't be surprised Apple to make the same move pretty soon. Apple under Steve Jobs knew what it was doing and stuck by it's vision whereas the one under Tim Cook seems to be simply playing catch up to the competition ( the 4" iPhone when Jobs was against larger screen sizes, iPad Mini when Kindle Fire HD and Nexus 7 started becoming popular.

sabby said:
I read a few reviews including AT's and frankly, I'm a little bit disappointed. It seems that the RT version of the OS looks like the Windows 8, has a desktop mode but can't run any x86 apps. On the other hand, it can't run the WP7/WP8 apps either. The video playability is very poor. On top of this, the pricing is similar to iPad which is already an established product with higher resolution, way better app collection and better brand name / popularity. This kind of reminds of WP7 which also was a cool product but had much less usability. IMO, MS should have used a WP8 based OS with broader interface for bigger screen since this, after all, is a tablet not a tablet PC.
Click to expand...

The RT version is similar to iPad and Android tablets. It has the same limitations that all tablets have - plus some very useful additional features like a USB port. Why is everyone so confused about that? I now feel they should have removed the traditional Explorer screen altogether.

Even the iPad cannot play mkvs out of the box. There is already a PowerDVD app in the store that can play all formats and I am pretty sure there will be more.

As for the pricing, it simply says that Microsoft is really proud of their product and it is a superb product at that. Do you realize how difficult it is to even get yourself heard in a market where you are competing against the iPad? The apps will start flowing in, I am quite sure of that. Another thing to remember is that this is the first iteration. They will address most of the shortcomings in the next version - like every other manufacturer.

Another important thing to keep in mind here is that this is a forceful mindset change by Microsoft. Like Ballmer said, they want to be known as a devices and software company. And Surface is no half-hearted attempt.


sabby said:
What I don't understand is behind the awkward pricing placements of the Windows 8 tablets with Atom. The previous gen Atom netbooks used to sell around $250-$300. But the Win 8 Atom tablets are priced at $650-$800 :O If MS had used clovertrail in the Surface RT tablet with a little bit of optimization for low power usage at $500, that would have easily won millions of customers ( faster and x86 hardware hence more usable ) without affecting the sales number of Surface Pro.
Click to expand...

I think it would be best if you don't compare them to the cheaply made low powered POS Atom tablets present earlier. These newer tablets have a touchscreen with a new form-factor in most cases. As far as the new Intel Atom is concerned -
According to numbers published by Intel (which should, of course, be verified with independent results when the devices launch), the dual core Atom Z2760 is faster in the popular SPECint benchmark than the Nvidia (NVDA) Tegra 3, Qualcomm Snapdragon S4, and the standard ARM Cortex A9 design clocked up to 1.8GHz. Further, Intel claims that power consumption is significantly better than the latest generation iPad, slightly worse than the iPad 2, and slightly better than the ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity.
Click to expand...
http://seekingalpha.com/article/910...tablets-great-chip-but-margins-no-longer-safe
It's a dual-core, four-thread SoC that makes for long battery life - more than three weeks of connected standby and more than 10 hours of local HD video playback.
Other specs for the Z2760 include integrated graphics with up to 533MHz graphics core frequency and hardware acceleration support for 1080p video encode and decode.
It offers support for one internal MIPI-DSI or LVDS display in addition to one external HDMI 1.3 display.
An integrated ISP with support for an HD camera (up to 8MP) and secondary camera (up to 2.1MP), the processor also comes with an embedded multimedia card at 4.41.
Click to expand...
http://www.techradar.com/news/compu...rocessor-the-atom-z2760-for-windows-8-1100316
An affordably priced Windows 8 tablet running Clovertrail can be very compelling for someone looking to carry a single device instead of a tablet + notebook.
Click to expand...
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6340/intel-details-atom-z2760-clovertrail-for-windows-8-tablets

Sub said:
Surface may be the coolest tablet on the market with a killer accessory and unparalleled build quality, but let's not forget there are some good products incoming from the OEM partners.

By the way, the quality of reviews from the mainstream press is woeful. Obviously the likes of Anand and Ars do a well rounded review, but objective reviews are few and far between.
Click to expand...

The best outcome of this may be that the Surface has galvanised the other OEM partners to finally invest some time in design and innovate their machines. The Asus Vivo Tab RT seems a good VFM device too. For $600, you get a transformer style tablet with a keyboard dock (with built in battery) offering up to 14 hours of usage! Now that is quite awesome.
 
Quick question.
Which are the tablets which will run the full fledged Windows 8 OS. As in something that will replace my laptop.

The Asus Transformer Book is one of them, i guess. For $1300 with 128GB SSD and a Core i5 processor i think.

Frankly speaking i dont see a point for ultrabooks after such powerful tablets will get released with similar specs and a better portability factor.
 
rdst_1 said:
Quick question.
Which are the tablets which will run the full fledged Windows 8 OS. As in something that will replace my laptop.

The Asus Transformer Book is one of them, i guess. For $1300 with 128GB SSD and a Core i5 processor i think.

Frankly speaking i dont see a point for ultrabooks after such powerful tablets will get released with similar specs and a better portability factor.
Click to expand...

Go through these links -

By the numbers: 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro vs. other MacBooks and the ultrabook competition | The Verge
How Windows 8 is shaping next-generation PCs | Ars Technica
Windows 8: The complete new PC launch list | Crave - CNET

More than enough information! :)

Something like the Toshiba U920t is what I have in mind.

[TABLE="class: geekbox, width: 580"]
[TR="class: even"]
[TD]Price as reviewed[/TD]
[TD]$1,149[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: odd"]
[TD]Processor[/TD]
[TD]1.7GHz Intel Core i5-3317U[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: even"]
[TD]Memory[/TD]
[TD]4GB, 1,600MHz DDR3[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: odd"]
[TD]Hard drive[/TD]
[TD]128GB SSD[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: even"]
[TD]Chipset[/TD]
[TD]Intel HM77[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: odd"]
[TD]Graphics[/TD]
[TD]Intel HD 4000[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: odd"]Screen size (diagonal)[/TD]
[TD="class: odd"]12.5 inches[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: odd"]System weight / Weight with AC adapter[/TD]
[TD="class: odd"]3.3 pounds / 3.9 pounds[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]


PS: Frankly speaking, I wouldn't even mind a newer Atom (look at my post above) based Windows 8 tablet that gives me around 9 hours of HD video playback and still packs the full version of Windows 8 since I already have a pretty powerful desktop.
 
Sei said:
Go through these links -

By the numbers: 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro vs. other MacBooks and the ultrabook competition | The Verge
How Windows 8 is shaping next-generation PCs | Ars Technica
Windows 8: The complete new PC launch list | Crave - CNET

More than enough information! :)

Something like the Toshiba U920t is what I have in mind.

[TABLE="class: geekbox, width: 580"]
[TR="class: even"]
[TD]Price as reviewed[/TD]
[TD]$1,149[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: odd"]
[TD]Processor[/TD]
[TD]1.7GHz Intel Core i5-3317U[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: even"]
[TD]Memory[/TD]
[TD]4GB, 1,600MHz DDR3[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: odd"]
[TD]Hard drive[/TD]
[TD]128GB SSD[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: even"]
[TD]Chipset[/TD]
[TD]Intel HM77[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: odd"]
[TD]Graphics[/TD]
[TD]Intel HD 4000[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: odd"]Screen size (diagonal)[/TD]
[TD="class: odd"]12.5 inches[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: odd"]System weight / Weight with AC adapter[/TD]
[TD="class: odd"]3.3 pounds / 3.9 pounds[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]


PS: Frankly speaking, I wouldn't even mind a newer Atom (look at my post above) based Windows 8 tablet that gives me around 9 hours of HD video playback and still packs the full version of Windows 8 since I already have a pretty powerful desktop.
Click to expand...

Yeah. Just read some articles online. The Atom tablets are going to be the most VFM as they will pack the full fledged OS and still be not obscenely expensive. I am guessing $800 with Keyboard dock will be the max i will be looking to spend as i too have a pretty powerful desktop and a custom gaming laptop on its way from States.
 
Sei said:
The RT version is similar to iPad and Android tablets. It has the same limitations that all tablets have - plus some very useful additional features like a USB port. Why is everyone so confused about that? I now feel they should have removed the traditional Explorer screen altogether.

Even the iPad cannot play mkvs out of the box. There is already a PowerDVD app in the store that can play all formats and I am pretty sure there will be more.

As for the pricing, it simply says that Microsoft is really proud of their product and it is a superb product at that. Do you realize how difficult it is to even get yourself heard in a market where you are competing against the iPad? The apps will start flowing in, I am quite sure of that. Another thing to remember is that this is the first iteration. They will address most of the shortcomings in the next version - like every other manufacturer.

Another important thing to keep in mind here is that this is a forceful mindset change by Microsoft. Like Ballmer said, they want to be known as a devices and software company. And Surface is no half-hearted attempt.
Click to expand...

First of all, I want to clarify that what I said was from a consumer point of view. While it is very good to have USB port and other functionality, we can't discard the fact that apps are what separates the tablet. They are way more important in tablet space than phones. Let me make it clear that my point is mainly about the Win RT OS not the surface hardware which is fantastic. I as a Computer Engineer can understand the pricing behind Surface RT. They had to make a whole new OS for a completely new architecture, that had obviously cost them a lot (tegra 3 is pretty cheap). But an end user will not think about that neither they will care whether MS is proud of their product. They will have a specific budget, they will see the options available and compare. The only advantage of Surface RT over the other tablets is Office RT which will also have some limitations. The desktop app is pretty useless as it seems. Instead of investing on a new OS, MS could have simply play with the WP8 OS to make a tablet version with the Win 8 touch interface (remember that the WP8 OS shares the same Win NT kernel). That way, they could have kept the starting price at $400 and the users would be able to install all the existing WP7/8 apps.

Sei said:
I think it would be best if you don't compare them to the cheaply made low powered POS Atom tablets present earlier. These newer tablets have a touchscreen with a new form-factor in most cases. As far as the new Intel Atom is concerned -

Intel's Atom Z2760 For Tablets - Great Chip, But Margins No Longer Safe - Seeking Alpha

Intel launches new mobile processor, the Atom Z2760, for Windows 8 | News | TechRadar

AnandTech - Intel Details Atom Z2760: Clovertrail for Windows 8 Tablets


The best outcome of this may be that the Surface has galvanised the other OEM partners to finally invest some time in design and innovate their machines. The Asus Vivo Tab RT seems a good VFM device too. For $600, you get a transformer style tablet with a keyboard dock (with built in battery) offering up to 14 hours of usage! Now that is quite awesome.
Click to expand...

I'm not comparing clovertrail with the last gen ATOMs performance wise. But it is a fact that ATOM is the lowest PC system from Intel both power and price wise. The mainstream IvyBridge i5 processors are probably 50% faster than the 1st gen i5 series at the same price point, so its pretty clear that Intel didn't drastically hike the price of ATOM series just because the performance is better now. They would risk their ULV processor lineup if they did. So, a $300 netbook couldn't be as costly as $700-$800 just to get converted to a tablet form factor. As I said earlier, If the clovertrail tablets were priced at about $500, many high end tablets would have had serious decrease in sales numbers.
I don't think its relevant and fair to compare clovertrail to the ARM offerings like tegra 3 or Krait. Those SOCs couldn't hold a candle if we installed a full Windows OS and other softwares on them assuming they were compatible.
 
What was Gizodo smoking? 5/10 !

This is the first version of surface and they are already pinning the iPad to the wall. V2 will walk all over it when there'l be more apps and a much larger ecosystem. This is only getting better man!
And frankly Microsoft's products ahve all the bases covered! Office, IE, Skydrive, mail, contacts etc! There's really the odd flipboard or some nice apps that you'l find missing for now.

I cant see how any buyers of these tabs will ever be disappointed. An eco system supported by Microsoft and a version 1 Product will give you new stuff to do, new possibilities to discover over the next year. Guess the people realize this, no wonder its already sold out.
 
Dude @Sub I'm starting to become a fan of your Win8 software and hardware related posts :D
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Just finished reading AT's Win RT review - AnandTech - The Windows RT Review.

Two of my questions are answered now.

1. The price of clovertrail.


Atom Z2760 (Clovertrail) is around half the price of the cheapest Atom CPU of the past five years, and it's price competitive with solutions from Qualcomm.
Click to expand...
So they really can deliver a $300 clovertrail tablet if they want.

2. The storage usage

From a storage standpoint, the OS takes up between 6.5 and 7.5GB of space (Anand measured 6.47GB on Surface, I measured 7.35GB on the VivoTab RT) and Office takes up another 750-850MB (830MB for Surface, 749MB for the ASUS), so you’re looking at 7.5-8GB of NAND dedicated to the OS. On my 32GB VivoTab RT, I had 25.3GB of storage to start with, so after Windows and Office, I was looking at 17GB left over for programs and documents.
Click to expand...
 
Party Monger said:
What was Gizodo smoking? 5/10 !

This is the first version of surface and they are already pinning the iPad to the wall. V2 will walk all over it when there'l be more apps and a much larger ecosystem. This is only getting better man!
And frankly Microsoft's products ahve all the bases covered! Office, IE, Skydrive, mail, contacts etc! There's really the odd flipboard or some nice apps that you'l find missing for now.

I cant see how any buyers of these tabs will ever be disappointed. An eco system supported by Microsoft and a version 1 Product will give you new stuff to do, new possibilities to discover over the next year. Guess the people realize this, no wonder its already sold out.
Click to expand...


Buyers for gadgets like these can be classified into two groups. One group has solid needs the device requires to fulfill and they can put that on paper even before they buy the device and their purchases are motivated largely by these needs (be it hardware or software functionality). As long as they have the features and apps that they need, they don't care about having a million other useless apps as long as their prime requirements are satisfied.

The second group does not have any definite semblance of a requirement and just buy a tablet just for the heck of it, then when the realty sinks in that they just spent 500 bucks or more on something that they don't have any real need for they start inventing reasons to justify the purchase. Some try to use the device what ever way they can (one of my office colleagues uses his first gen iPad as a paper weight more than as anything else).. For them, even the count of apps (95% of which are unless) is an excuse worth justifying their purchase for.

Often, I also hear some ridiculous arguments like the platform with more overall apps is better because it would have more useful ones. That is also totally senseless. If a platform has 100 apps and another 10000, it is totally possible that the first one has 50 useful apps and the second only 10.
Also how many apps do people really install and use? Windows has a million times more apps than iOS, Android, blackberry, Symbian put together. How much percentage of that figure do people actually install and use? People often attribute the success of windows solely to its app base, but its the fragmented model of one size does not fit all and the extensive backward compatibility that lead to the success of windows over all these years.

People constantly argue over the number of apps in the Apple app store or Android market or some other store, but when I got the iPad2 and Transformer TF300, I found that the TF300 covers most of my basic requirements out of the box and I hardly installed about 50 additional apps/games that caught my interest and I also found many that might be of interest to my mom for time pass. The iPad2 has some of my Mom's very limited requirements covered out of the box, but when I wanted to install a few free apps just for entertainment, I hardly found any decent ones. In fact I got the feeling that Apple store is severely lacking in interesting apps apart from the Social networking a very few good free games. While both app stores are filled with a lot of junk, I found that I am more likely to find useful apps in Android market than in Apple app store. Windows RT too requires to get some apps, but a million useless apps is not going to make any difference.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom