Microsoft’s first of its kind Surface line of tablets heralded Microsoft’s move to a company offering devices and services from a pure play software development shop was a key shift for the Redmont based giant.
Microsoft is making two versions of the Surface available Surface with Windows RT starting at £399 , which runs a diluted back version of Windows for ARM chip sets, and the soon to be released Surface with Windows 8 Pro, a Intel based Windows machine with all the power you’d expect from a laptop.
Early reviews for Surface with Windows RT from the journalists who were given Surface RT take home and review have been generally mixed. We look at what some of the reviewers have to say :
BGR :“The Surface is light and portable, and the battery gave me a full day of usage without a problem. Functions such as streaming video will obviously cut into battery life, but you’ll still go longer in between charges than you would with any popular Windows or Mac laptop.
Oh and by the way, there is absolutely no bloatware, crapware or whatever else you want to call it on the Surface, which is yet another point in Microsoft’s favor as it enters the Windows hardware market and competes against the very vendors that perfected the practice of ruining user experiences with unwanted garbage.”
EnGadget : “The Microsoft Surface with Windows RT’s $499 starting MSRP means those thinking about making the investment here will be carefully cross-shopping against same-priced offerings from Apple, ASUS and others. Where does this one rate? Very well — but very differently. While those devices are primarily targeted at content-hungry consumers, the Surface is a slate upon which you can get some serious work done, and do so comfortably. You can’t always say that of the competition.
It’s in the other half of the equation, that of the content consumption and entertainment, where the Surface is currently lacking. It needs a bigger pile of apps and games to make up for that and, while we’re sure they’re coming, we don’t know when. If those apps arrive soon, then early adopters will feel vindicated. If, however, the Windows RT market is slow to mature, not truly getting hot for another six months or so, holding off will prove to have been the smarter option.”
TechCrunch : “The Surface RT is a product of unfortunate timing. The hardware is great. The Type Cover turns it into a small convertible tablet powered by a promising OS in Windows RT. That said, there are simply more mature options available right now.
Microsoft needs to court developers for Windows RT. As a consumer tablet, the Surface lacks all of the appeal of the iPad. There aren’t any mainstream apps and Microsoft has failed to connect Windows desktop and mobile ecosystem in any meaningful way like Android or iOS/OS X.”
Gizmodo : ‘But it’s Windows on Surface RT that’s the greatest letdown of all, the lethal letdown, because it’s not Windows 8, but Windows RT. You can’t tell the difference by looking at them, but you certainly will once you use it. Windows RT is underpowered (everything opens and syncs slightly too slowly), under-functional (you cannot install a single app that’s not available through the Windows RT app store, which offers a paltry selection), and under-planned (the built-in apps can’t feel like Lite versions of something better). You’d be right to note that many of those limitations apply to the iPad as well, but no one could mistake iOS for OS X the way RT apes Windows 8. And even if it’s a plight common to tablets, Microsoft—for better or worse—has hyped Surface RT as being so much more.”
Computerworld : “Making matters more difficult for Microsoft is that the 7-inch form factor plays against Windows RT’s strengths. As many reviews of the Microsoft Surface tablet show, a primary strength of Windows RT is that it ships with a version of Microsoft Office. In the case of the Surface, there’s an optional keyboard. So it appears that Microsoft will be touting the Surface as not just a content-consumption device, which is what current tablets are, but as a content-creation device as well. Will people want to run Office on a 7-inch screen? Most likely not.”
