Microsoft Surface Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 23, 2012 9:01 PM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Microsoft
- Mobile
- Surface
- Windows RT
Pricing and Final Words
Last week Microsoft announced pricing for Surface. The base configuration starts at $499 with 32GB of internal storage, you can get a bundle with a black Touch Cover for $599 and finally there’s a 64GB model with Touch Cover for $699. All versions of Surface come with Office 2013 Home & Student Edition preview, and will be upgraded (for free) to the final build of Office 2013 once it’s available.
Whether or not Surface is priced appropriately really depends on how much you value Windows RT and getting Office 2013 for free. I suspect if you’re already a big Office user, you’ll see a lot of value in the bundle. On the Windows RT side, whether or not that platform has value really depends on how frustrated you are by the multitasking, task switching and lack of screen sharing (two apps on the screen at once) of other mobile OSes. Depending on your feelings on those two issues Surface will either feel like a bargain, or too much.
As a device, Surface is incredibly well executed. It makes sense that Microsoft’s OEM partners are feeling the pressure as there’s very little that I would change about Surface from a design perspective. The chassis is well built and the integrated kickstand is seriously one of the most useful features to ever meet a tablet. The optional Touch and Type Covers complete the package. While a full sized notebook is going to deliver a better typing experience, when paired with its Touch/Type covers Surface results in a more productive platform than any other tablet.
Surface is the most flexible tablet I've ever used. 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. If you're frustrated by productivity limits of currently available tablets, Surface really seems to be the right formula for a solution. It's important to note that Microsoft's execution with Surface establishes the company as a competitive powerhouse in the mobile design market. I can only imagine what multiple revs of the design will give us, not to mention what could happen if Microsoft set its obsessive sights on smartphones or notebooks.
The Windows RT experience, in many senses, is clearly ahead of what many competitors offer in the tablet space today. Multitasking, task switching and the ability to have multiple applications active on the screen at once are all big advantages that Microsoft enjoys. For productivity workloads, Surface is without equal in the tablet space.
Content consumption is also great on the device. Surface's display isn't industry leading but it's still good. Reading emails, browsing the web flipping through photos and watching videos are all good fits for the platform - just as good as competing solutions from Apple or Google.
More impressive than the fact that Microsoft brought competitive parity to the Windows tablet usage model is the fact that power efficiency doesn't seem to be an issue for Windows RT. Microsoft has built a mobile OS that is capable of, at least based on what we've seen today with Surface, being competitive with Android and iOS solutions when it comes to battery life. With lower power silicon inside, Microsoft could do even better.
I don't believe Surface is perfect, but it's a platform I can believe in. What I'm most excited about is to see what happens after a second or third rev of the design. I would have liked to have seen faster hardware inside (I'd love to see an Atom based version). There are also some rough edges that could use smoothing out (e.g. the power connector and HDMI output come to mind) and Windows RT likely needs another round of updates (app launch times are far too long, more apps needed) but overall the device is easily in recommendable territory. The biggest issue I have with recommending Surface today is that you know the next iteration of the device is likely going to be appreciably better, with faster/more efficient hardware and perhaps even a better chassis.
If you're ok being an early adopter, and ok dealing with the fact that mobile devices are still being significantly revved every year, Surface is worth your consideration. If you've wanted a tablet that could begin to bridge the content consumption and productivity divide, Surface is it.
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sungman - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
I'm sorry but could you test if a usb-ethernet cable would work on the surface RT?mike55 - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Do you know if the Surface supports the Logitech Unifying Receiver? It would be neat to have your own mouse and keyboard to use with it at home.Also noticed some missing info in the article: "The power cable is nice and long at around m."
xype - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
How does using Office actually feel? What about other apps? Photos, music, ebooks, magazines?It would have been very surprising if Microsoft made a half assed attempt with the hardware, but aside from slow-starting apps I still have no idea if Surface can actually replace my iPad for the stuff I use it for. Which makes this a purely hardware review and not that practical if we consider tablets appliances. Is a software review forthcoming?
kyuu - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
They were supposed to follow up with a WinRT review, which I assume would also encompass the included Office software. However, that review seems to be a tad past due...beginner99 - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
I'm posting this before having read the review. From the stuff I have already seen and heard about this, I think it makes sense. IMHO you just need a keyboard to make browsing usable and enjoyable. So the keyboard + the fact that it comes with the stand per default (I assume this) seems to me the best solution so far for a tablet. However question is if software (OS) and the lack of it (Apps) plus the expected mediocre performance of ARM SOC kill the experience.sandineyes - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
On the Battery Life page (fourth paragraph) you write:"The power cable is nice and long at around m."
I think you forgot to add in exactly how my meters it is.
sandineyes - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
"exactly how *many*". It happens to everyone I suppose.Netscorer - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
I don't know if it's all that careful marketing presentation that Microsoft forced all the reviewers to go through prior to getting their hands on the Surface or Anand's respect for the company, but this review sometimes reads like it was written by Microsoft insider, looking to smooth all the rough edges and insert as much marketing mambo jumbo that means squat to the consumers but sounds good when you read it.As a result we read about all the negatives but somehow their don't seem like that much of a deal. Low res screen - no problem, keyboard that you can't actually use for any large typing - not a big deal, 1080p out not working - probably just a glitch, no apps in the marketplace and desktop mode that know one needs in the tablet - hey, but isn't it cool that you can open CMD on the tablet! The whole review goes in very similar rosy painted colors.
But let's just try to answer one simple question - what is the audience that Microsoft was targeting with their 'different perspective' of a tablet? It certainly ain't corporate customers who can not even apply AD-based security rules with Windows 8 RT and can't even dream of running any x86 based programs.
It's not consumers either, with that pathetic attempt at camera, speakers that barely puke a sound or total lack of any (ANY!) apps in the Microsoft marketplace.
So who were they (Microsoft) targeting with Windows 8 RT?
kultigin - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Read his last sentence carefully with a neutral perspective:If you've wanted a tablet that could really bridge the content consumption and productivity device, Surface is it.
Surface comes with a keyboard that Anand has written this whole review. And it runs Office productivity suite, it will quickly dominate enterprise application market. It will work extremely well with enterprises deploying MS solutions. You may not be from that target but it shouldnt cause you to not to understand what market it is targeting.
xype - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
"Productivity device" _in theory_. It reads like something out of a Microsoft brochure. It would be great if someone wrote a review with some impressions of how it actually feels to spend half a day with Office RT—because that’s what productivity "on the go", as tablets promise, would be.Just the fact that it _is_ running Office is not saying anything about that.