My Review of the Surface

Iristheangel

I just made these. Sorry if I'm a little tongue-tied at times. I'm pulling a 16 hour shift at work and I'm a little tired.

Video 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wZrWJZ4rb4
Video 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCIZxV17LBU

Edit: 1000th post! WHOO HOO!

truckfit

congrats on the 1000th post.

now go outside and play.

Just joking

Iristheangel

Screw that. I'm going to bed. I'm too old to be pulling 16 hour shifts. *yawn*

AlexNguyen

[removed comment that may have been meant as a joke, but grossly inappropriate for our community]

The YouTube videos don't work. It played for a few seconds and then stopped.

MickQ

Thanks for the review. The surface is better than I was expecting.

Iristheangel

AlexNguyen wrote: »

...

The YouTube videos don't work. It played for a few seconds and then stopped.

I just tested the videos and they worked. Try refreshing, skipping ahead or another browse. I had the same issue in chrome but not IE strangely enough

Webmaster

That's a very decent review, nice job. I like the pace and cool that you mentioned TE at the start.

I also agree with your prediction about MS going to gain a large share of the market. Maybe not rule the business market with the Surface alone but Windows 8 with tablets combined. Steve Ballmer said sales started "modestly", but I think they will steadily grow into a steady piece of of the pie and from there on that could certainly come out on top.

Plantwiz

Nice work IristheAngel!!!

Roguetadhg

have you tried the USB port for things like ethernet attachments, and usb hubs, and all that jazz?

it_consultant

I am getting mine when the pro comes out .

Iristheangel

Roguetadhg wrote: »

have you tried the USB port for things like ethernet attachments, and usb hubs, and all that jazz?

Just tried it out - USB LAN adapter didn't work, USB hub did, and so did the USB mouse/keyboard. I suspect that Windows RT did not recognize the drivers for the USB LAN adapter which isn't surprising since it isn't a full build of Windows. This guy actually tried to stump the Surface by trying a variety of USB devices and it looks like the Surface did pretty well: Fun with the Microsoft Surface - YouTube

ptilsen

Great videos. Thanks for posting.

I had a chance to play around with Surface RT a bit at the Mall of America Microsoft store this weekend. I was somewhat surprised to see that RT is 99% of the x86 version of Windows 8 ported to ARM. Most of the familiar tools were there. I was less surprised to see that Microsoft either does a poor job of locking down the system or intentionally does not lock things done (I suspect the former). You run in the "kiosk" limited account, but have access to all the system folders and can make a surprising number of changes without getting an elevation prompt. Not that this has anything to do with the product itself -- just something I found interesting.

It is definitely a shock to really try to use it for a few minutes, but I could see getting used to it. I personally could not see keeping the RT version. I was not so blown away by Surface that I would go with the ARM version over any of the Ultrabook convertibles. I managed to slow it down pretty quickly by opening Youtube and trying to do other things. Youtube got choppy quickly. It was not hard to slow the system down, which compares poorly to the 3rd and 4th gen iPads -- they are very difficult to slow down.

Also, maybe I misunderstood the video or I am not remembering correctly, but I seem to recall being able to get windows to snap to each side and each take up half the screen. I don't recall being limited, but I only had a few minutes to play with it, so perhaps I missed something.

There were also some x86 Windows 8 tablets, but no convertibles. I'm definitely going to take a look at the convertibles. Surface seems like a great piece of hardware on its own, but I'm not sure the form factor is really going to be better than a convertible.

One thing I did not like was Office. Office 2013 seems like a bad compromise of old-school interface and new. Excel was particularly frustrating. I don't think it will matter what system its on -- the menus are different from 2010 and from my first glance, not for the better. The change will be as unpopular as 2007 was, in my opinion. My initial reaction to Office on RT is so negative, in fact, that I think in production I would find myself doing what I do with my iPad -- either giving up and switching to a laptop running 7 with 2010, or using LogMeIn to use Office 2010 on a Windows 7 machine.

I also was not crazy about the touch cover. It is only marginally preferable to a virtual keyboard, and even then only because it doesn't take up the screen. The type cover was a huge improvement, and I could see getting used to it. With a Surface Pro, Type Cover, and a mouse, I could even see light gaming.

the_Grinch

Iris did you notice the screen cracking? Read an article today where people are complaining that after a few days of use the device is cracking. If that holds true, it's not a great start.

sratakhin

Iris, can you use USB to Serial or RJ-45 adapters to connect to switches and routers with Surface? Would be great if it worked!

Iristheangel

@Ptilsen - The touch cover does take some time to get used to but I adjusted to it. When I get the Pro, I'll probably try out the type cover. As far as the split screen, sadly, you can only do 1/4 and 3/4 screens, not down the middle. I hope service pack 1 will allow for this adjustment but we shall see...

@The_Grinch - No screen cracking at all. I've had it for about 2 weeks now and haven't noticed any defects like that.

@sratakin - USB to RJ-45 and serial do not work for the RT. I assume this has to do with the drivers not being compatible. This shouldn't be an issue in the Pro version. I suspect the RT version is more geared towards students

TheShadow

the_Grinch wrote: »

Iris did you notice the screen cracking? Read an article today where people are complaining that after a few days of use the device is cracking. If that holds true, it's not a great start.

I think someone mis-reported, it is the keyboard cover that is cracking, not the screen. Microsoft is already replacing some of them. Serious since the keyboard cover is a 100 dollar option.

Iristheangel

Ah. Well to revise my previous statement - No, I have no noticed cracking in the keyboard. I doubt it'll start to crack before I have a chance to return it.

ptilsen

Now that I think about it, I think I just re-sized the windows to be about half the screen each. Which works, just not as well. I definitely think the flexibility to do both fourths and haves could be useful, especially on the desktop and even more specifically in dual monitor scenarios. I find myself working with more than four windows, occasionally, sometimes needing a mixture of portrait and landscape windows. I could seriously see a feature like that being very, very useful.

Daniel333

Thoughts on this?

How much do you have to pay to use Office 2013 RT for work? | ZDNet

ptilsen

Microsoft should build whatever margin they need into the product's total cost. Nickel-and-diming small/medium businesses is not a realistic product strategy. The reality is that almost no one is going to actually look at the license and say "Oh, no, I can't use this for work." They will use if for what they need.

It's generally going to be a non-issue, that being said. Most people using it for work will realistically be licensed for it through enterprise agreements or Office 365, in the long run. The rest will use it anyway. No one will ever, ever, ever get caught breaking that license term. MS will use it in sales pitches to get some business on 365 or using Pro versions, but that's about it. Ultimately, it's not going to affect too many purchase choices.

it_consultant

I want the asus convertible.

jibbajabba

Am I seeing it right that it runs the preview of Office 2013?

Iristheangel

jibbajabba wrote: »

Am I seeing it right that it runs the preview of Office 2013?

Yes. I humbly have no idea what is limited on "preview" but I've been able to write my presentations and papers for WGU on it without issue. It probably limits the templates or something.

jibbajabba

Preview normally means "Technology Preview" which is not RTM - properly shonk if that is the case with Office 2013.

Edit: indeed a preview, but can be 'RTMd' via Windows Update

http://winsupersite.com/article/windows8/microsoft-surface-upgrade-final-office-2013-rt-144650

tpatt100

I think for the majority of the public this device could easily replace laptops since most people don't really do much with their computers anymore anyways. Having Office is a big plus as well as the SD port.

A guy at work bought one for his wife who wanted more functionality than the iPad. I don't think apps are as important to this device as the iPad because the split app screens greatly increases the ability to do some work on it.

J_86

Interesting, thanks for the review. I seems to be better and more functional then I though it would be. I can see a lot of people in the "business" world taking a liking to the Surface because they can get full access to all of the MS Office products and it have a similar feel to a Windows desktop computer/laptop. They just opened up a Microsoft retail store at the local mall near me, I'll have to go check it out in person.

Roguetadhg

Well it seems that it's definitely the right tablet. I just want to make sure that I can get my ethernet port

Just imagine all the portable po- ...documents at our finger tips... Hell, I can almost smell a Linux install with the x86 chip! *drool*

Iristheangel

Roguetadhg wrote: »

Well it seems that it's definitely the right tablet. I just want to make sure that I can get my ethernet port

Just imagine all the portable po- ...documents at our finger tips... Hell, I can almost smell a Linux install with the x86 chip! *drool*

I have noticed that streaming videos play just fine off the browser. All Disney videos of course.

J_86

What's the battery life like on the Surface?

Iristheangel

It's standard of most tablets and iPad. It charges fairly quickly and I can leave it on standby for a day or two or use it constantly for about 8-9 hours before it drains

Death Dream

I haven't really followed the tablet news lately but can this run full blown exe files? It would be pretty cool to run packet tracer on it for people without a lab.