Microsoft Surface Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 23, 2012 9:01 PM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Microsoft
- Mobile
- Surface
- Windows RT
WiFi Performance
Microsoft made an unusual choice for Surface’s WiFi hardware, it uses a Marvell AVASTAR dual-band MIMO (2x2) 802.11n wireless network controller (88W8797?). Marvell tends to be one of the more cost effective players in the industry which could help explain Microsoft’s choice.
Despite the rarely used silicon, WiFi range on Surface is quite good. Subjectively I was able to hold on to 2.4GHz signals at greater distances than I could on both the 3rd gen iPad, ASUS’ Transformer Pad Infinity and even compared to the VivoTab RT based on some short time I had with the device. Surface also maintains good distances on 5GHz however the performance drop offs are far more significant.
The sweet spot for Surface’s WiFi appears to be around 40 feet away from an AP, with minimal obstructions (doors/walls are fine). Within this range in my testing I was able to maintain speeds of around 20 – 40Mbps. Add another 20 or so feet and you’ll see performance cut in half again.
Although range is good on Surface, at the outer edges of coverage you’re looking at 2 – 4Mbps, which is only really enough for casual web browsing.
The only real downside to Surface’s WiFi performance is its peak performance. I wasn’t able to get beyond 42Mbps when copying files to the device from a local server on the network. It’s possible that I was limited by some file sharing protocol overhead, but without a good suite of network performance tools for Windows RT it was the best I could do for now.
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Dev69 - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
The current Surface RT price point \functionality exemplifies the Microsoft products stereotype of not purchasing the first version.Let the early adopters beware :)
frabber - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
too expensive, unless we can see, unlike Apple, price falling after some months,samiur666 - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Anand so is it possible to connect the tablet to a TV and stream a movie from netflix or a thumbdrive? I find myself often doing doing with my ASUS Transformer and I see you mentioned some issues with HDMI output but I wasnt sure.Thanks
WP7Mango - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
I'm not Anand but I can answer the question -The answer is yes! You can do it via HDMI or wirelessly via DLNA. I think the HDMI issue might be a sync thing, because HDMI output to my Samsung 1080p TV works perfectly.
agentbb007 - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
This was a really great review thank you Anand! The editors at cnet need to learn a thing or two from you. I got so upset after reading another praise Apple bash MS article on their site I have sworn I will never type that URL in my browser again. Instead I will come to your site to get a true non-biased review of hardware.OldAndBusted - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
"Through two seemingly simple additions to the design (but incredibly complex to actually develop and implement), Microsoft took a tablet and turned it into something much more. "It's funny, but those are the exact two features that I care the least about. I don't have one at present, but when I had an iPad, I used it as originally demonstrated by Steve Jobs - in my easy chair in front of my TV. I can't imagine using a tablet as a desktop computer, so the kickstand and keyboard cover just come across as silly to me. Without the kickstand, could Microsoft have made the Surface a millimeter or so thinner?
That said, I still find myself interested in the Surface. I do wish though, that Microsoft would allow third-parties to skin that start screen, it's ugly. It may work brilliantly, but aesthetically, it's an eyesore. Bright primary colors, monochrome icons, tiny, tiny typeface on the tiles. It's a mess. And the tiles/icons for Office are even crazier. Yes, they've at least added color to the icon within the tile, but the icon is tiny. With the tiny typeface. Just a horrible interface.
And yet. I think I still want one.
kyuu - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
Can't disagree more. Especially compared to the ugliness of iOS's chiclet app icons on a grid.WinRT/8 is definitely the best looking of all the touch-based OSes by far. The last thing MSFT should do is allow OEMs to start screwing with the UI (and introduce performance issues as OEM skinning and bloatware always does).
bronopoly - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
This may seem like a silly question, but can I plug the surface into my pc via the surface's USB port? I really wouldn't like transferring something to a usb drive and then transferring it to the surface (even though I can't even do that on my iPad).lhotdeals - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
I have always been a fan of Anandtech reviews, this one on one of the most anticipated tablet does not disappoint. This is how reviews are supposed to be done rather than some filled with subjective judgements and unfounded claims.bd1 - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
is visual studio available for RT ?