Microsoft Surface Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 23, 2012 9:01 PM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Microsoft
- Mobile
- Surface
- Windows RT
Battery Life
Surface features an integrated 31 Wh battery, which is larger than what’s in the iPad 2 but smaller than what Apple used for the iPad 3. Charging duties are handled via a 24W power adapter with a custom magnetic connector.
Of all of the aspects of Surface, the charging connector feels like the least well executed. For starters, the connector is quite long – about twice the length of a MagSafe connector. Secondly, the magnets in the connector aren’t all that strong so the attraction to Surface isn’t very confidence inspiring. The third issue is alignment. Because of the 22-degree beveled edge on Surface, you have to approach mating the power connector to the tablet very carefully. More often than not I’d have the connector match up but not fully connect. It usually required a few minor adjustments to get the connector to actually start charging. My final complaint is about the power indicator LED on the connector itself. The LED only glows white and gives no indication of whether or not the device is done charging. Furthermore, it doesn’t even glow all that bright, making it hard to tell in daylight whether the device is even getting power. I’m pleased with virtually all aspects of Surface’s physical design, but the charging port and connector need to be redone for the next generation.
The power adapter itself is larger than the 10 – 15W units you get with most tablets in this price range, but it is also a considerably larger power supply. You can take Surface from completely empty to fully charged in a little over 3 hours hours. You can also get Surface up to 50% power, while using the device, after just over an hour of being plugged in. Microsoft wanted to prioritize real world productivity scenarios where you had a limited amount of time to charge but also needed to use the device. The larger power adapter and not gigantic battery were the right balance to meet those needs.
The power brick features a Windows RT logo, but is otherwise clean. The surface of the adapter is a nice soft touch plastic. The two prongs for US models stow away neatly in the adapter. The power cable is nice and long at around 1.5m. There’s no built in cable management other than a little U to keep the connector attached to the end of the cable.
To measure battery life I put Surface through our 2012 tablet battery life suite. All tests were run with the display calibrated to 200 nits and with Surface, its Touch Cover was attached.
Overall battery life is pretty competitive with the iPad. In lighter use cases Apple pulls ahead slightly, but if you look at our updated web browsing test the heavier CPU load pushes Surface ahead of the third gen iPad. It’s not clear how the 4th gen iPad would stack up in this comparison.
Video playback is also decent for Surface, although Apple manages to pull ahead with the win there as well. The bigger accomplishment is that we’re seeing a Windows device with battery life that’s comparable to other tablets running mobile OSes designed from the ground up.
Microsoft has the right OS platform to be competitive in this space. With some more power efficient hardware I could see a future iteration of Surface moving its way up these charts.
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Netscorer - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
For a corporate customer RT will never be a solution. And that touch keyboard is non-usable, period. Anand was going round and round about how you must strike with fore and precision to make it count, how you must go through the prolonged learning curve, how you don't have any tactile response. Just trying not to sound too negative on the keyboard. The only positive he said about keyboard (if you remove all the colored words) is that at the end of he day it is better then typing on glass. Big deal. Anything is better then typing on glass.As for the Surface being a hybrid between laptop and tablet and how this is a perfect match, let me agree to disagree with you. In concept, taken abstract device that can work for me in my 9 to 5 life and 6 to 10 life, yes it would be great. This particular implementation of Windows 8 RT with strained hardware and lousy screen (in part because higher res screen would strain that hardware even more) - the answer is no.
xype - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Yeah, it felt a bit that way, didn’t it? But then, AnandTech reviews often feel like they’re written by someone who’s just excited about their newest toy and go a lot into hardware, too. While for other kinds of hardware that isn’t as big of a deal, reviewing smartphones and tablets should go into a different direction, I think.That tablet manufacturers can put in decent hardware and that a company like Microsoft is actually competent enough to produce a well designed tablet should be a given by now.
But a tablet or smartphone are not something you stuff into your PC tower and forget about it, like a graphics card or CPU fan. Is it comfortable to use on the lap, is the lack of USB charging annoying in day to day use, is Excel really usable for something like bookkeeping without being annoying after 5 minutes, does it work well as an ebook reading device, etc?
To be fair, ArsTechnica’s review is a bit better but still doesn’t go into software _at all_. That’s not confidence inspiring to me…
phexac - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Agreed. Just look at iPad reviews. They ALL state "it's a pleasure to use" and then go into zillion reasons for why. This review spent more time raving about a kickstand (btw how do you kickstand it in your lap? so this is desktop only portable device???) than about the experience of actually using Surface. Could always be because using it is actually pretty meh and nothing to write about.phexac - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Definitely agree with this. Anand's negative points seemed to be pretty close to deal breakers, and yet they were completely skimmed over. As was the fact that apps take 2.5-5 times longer to start than on a tablet. And a complete omission of actually using software on the tablet. Just looking at the pictures with typical desktop tiny menus in the programs and desktop interface makes you wonder how practical it is to it is as a touch device wen anything bigger than a mouse pointer would be too big for those menus.seapeople - Saturday, October 27, 2012 - link
So what is it then? Is Anand an Apple fanboi because he made the Surface seem boring, or is he a Windows schill because he glossed over the down falls of Surface?It's got to be one or the other, right? It's not possible that this review is actually accurate to the product?
WP7Mango - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Why should you care who Microsoft are targeting with this device? Think about it for a second...If you don't know who it's for, then it's clearly not for you. But it might fit someone else's requirements perfectly, and if it does then that is of no consequence to you - so don't worry about it.
B3an - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
I had a good feeling about this tablet, and it was right. Surface RT is clearly an excellent tablet.But i would have prefered one with Intel Clover Trail. As mentioned, we need to see battery life with this SoC, but i very much expect it to be close to the ARM based Surface.
Surface would be perfect with Clover Trail. Same form factor, fanless, better performance than ARM, and the full blown Win 8. And yes i know theres the Pro version of Surface in 3 months time, but the Core i5 is overkill for many, it needs a fan too, and obviously will have much lower battery life. Clover Trail would have been the perfect balance for most people.
Such a shame, so close to my perfect idea of a tablet, but i'd happily still have ARM + Surface RT over a iPad or Android tablet for so many reasons.
Netscorer - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Completely agree with you. Good and usable Atom-based Intel CPU, which is x86 compatible, married with Windows 8 and all that effort that Microsoft clearly made to make you feel like you own a premium product with Surface - this would have been wonderful. This is what Microsoft should have released at the beginning, leaving Windows 8 RT to the sub $300 bargain tablets from 3-rd party vendors.Clearly, Intel could not commit to the Oct.26 release date and it forced Microsoft's hand at developing this half-baked solution. We also don't know how good Clover Trail Atom will be. Because if it's really going to be good, this will be the first actually usable Intel Atom processor. Especially if they will marry it with HD4000 GPU.
karasaj - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Honestly, if Surface had launched with Tegra 4 (not possible sadly) or S4 Pro (should have been possible) or even S4 Krait, it would be insanely nice. Performance is only barely "below" what it really needs to be to be unnoticeable - a tablet/notebook that runs office, netflix, and the occasional game (and internet browsing). An ARM cpu with better IPC would have been a better choice over 4 cores, imo.I wish Surface would re-release with the S4 Pro or something. I would completely buy that. Atm, I'm deciding whether or not it's worth it. I certainly like the idea of it, it just seems like it -might- be a tad under powered.
beginner99 - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
$699. Thats more I paid for my already overpriced Asus T91 netbook (has touchscreen and can be used in tablet form) over 3 years ago. While Surface sure has better battery life and Win RT is better suited for touch device, I don't see a reason to replace it with surface. but then I hardly ever use it anyway.$699 is the price I would pay for the version with real windows and more capable CPU. Wasn't following the rumors so don't know if that actually will be made at all?