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Real-world confessions from Surface RT owners: Who loves it and why - matterathationdeas02

Let's face information technology: The cards were stacked against the Surface pad with Windows RT from the, well, Start.

Microsoft earlier asked customers to shell tabu iPad-levels of cash for a stigmatize-original exploiter interface running on a somewhat blood disease processor, then unsuccessful to convince third-party developers to found apps for the new weapons platform. Today, the Grade-constructed RT is arguably little much a Web browser paired with Microsoft's own apps.

Well, that's the conventional wisdom, at to the lowest degree. But is it all, categorically literal?

We set bent on check hoi polloi who purchased the Surface tablet with Windows RT—populate WHO loved it and people who despised IT—and ask them whether their opinions of the tablet take in better Oregon vitiated over time. You rear end find disappointment, certainly. Just others have found that the Surface RT has settled into a niche within their calculation lifestyle, with certain features meshing nicely with their possess needs and uses.

What we well-nig loved to know was this: Has the Surface lived up to its promise, and if so, why? To many we spoke to, the answer is yes—and for a variety of surprising reasons.

Why buy? Productiveness, not dubstep, a selling point

Nigh interviewees purchased the Surface RT last October, when Microsoft first launched Surface alongside Windows 8. At that time, Microsoft made the tablet the centerpiece of a "Stomp"-styled TV daub that highlighted the Surface as a sexy, aspirational piece of tech culture rather than a productivity tool around. This is notable, because productiveness drew galore of our Shallow RT–owner-interviewees to the tablet.

Take Jaime Banks, a programmer who said he bought an Malus pumila iPad 2 when it launched—and then sold it 5 days after purchasing the 32GB version of the Control surface RT. "I did this because I just believe in having the right tools," Banks said in an email.

Surface RT in Jaime Banks Jaime Banks
The Surface occupies a small niche in Jaime Banks' computer science lifestyle.

Banks said he ended finished buying what was essentially a snap bag of accessories and apps for the iPad 2, and the Opencut made totally these purchases irrelevant. "My Come out fills the need for all of those devices," Banks wrote. "As very much like Tim Cook wants to say that [convergence] a toaster and a refrigerator does non oeuvre, that is just what iPad users sometimes want… People have tried to use the iPad like a PC since it came out. I was beat of having a half solution. No more count how much I likable the iPad, it did non fill the need."

Jeffrey Roach, an IT learning designer for a midget consulting company, ditched his Samsung Series 7 notebook for the Surface RT in October. When asked wherefore he bought the Surface, Roach provided a washables list of apps, including Microsoft Office Menage and Student RT (which Microsoft bundled with the tablet), Microsoft Mind-set RT, Lync, various IM clients, and other computer software. Roach bought two more Surfaces as well: matchless for his 12-year-old son, and one for his married woman, for use in her doctoral studies.

"Now I use my RT for 95 percent of my compute tasks, even more so straightaway that Outlook 2022 [is included] in the 8.1 Upgrade," Roach said via e-mail.

"Maarten," a lawyer living in Belgium, asked that his real name not be used because he wasn't sure if Microsoft Office Home and Student RT allowed for professional function—a testament to the productivity software's utility. "My colleague bought the Surface Pro and information technology is non hot for me," he wrote in an email. "Too heavy, battery intensive. For my primary purpose (use for go connected the move, and ofttimes during long flights or waits in airport lounges) the RT is absolutely the best (for me). I did not suffer from confusion with the 'full' Windows, since I knew what RT was meant to be—and frankly, it is better than what I had foreseen."

Strengths: Office in a long-lifetime tablet

Of the galore Surface RT customers we talked to, only one straight-grained mentioned gaming, and reasonable en passant. Instead, nearly wholly plant that the Surface RT delivers along what they bought IT for: basic productivity, particularly where Microsoft's own apps rooms is concerned. And they repeatedly came back to 2 separate strengths: the hardware itself, as well as the utility added by Windows 8.1 and its Windows RT savor.

The fact that users enjoyed using Microsoft Office when they bought the Surface RT for that rattling intention wasn't truly surprising. But users besides pointed to Microsoft's other native apps as Surface RT selling points.

Microsoft Surface in Palo Alto Martyn Williams
Microsoft Federal agency is one of the selling points of the Windows RT tablet, fans say.

"I work on Windows 8.1 RT preview, and find it is already a good improvement over the original version 8.0," Maarten said. "The office rooms completely met my expectations when working with my Type Cover keyboard. In touch mode in that location is still significant scope for making it more finger's breadth-friendly. Initially, I didn't like the Ring armor application and was waiting for the Outlook version. In the meantime, with the improvements successful to it, I have actually started to like-minded its relative simplicity and speed.

"In touch mode, on the go, the Send app besides works very well," Maarten added. "The stimulant forecasting is extremely intuitive and I find that I can form almost entire sentences by inputting at the most the first letter of a word. As a attorney, I am quite a power user of the mail and office apps."

When asked about the Surface RT's strengths, several users tied the gimmick's design, computer hardware, and apps together.

"I hump information technology for its niche: IT's the alone portable twist that commode run Microsoft Wor for 10 hours betwixt charges," said Andy Rathbone, who bought a Show u RT as the cornerstone for his volume, Surface for Dummies.

Surface RT with Andy Rathbone Andy Rathbone
Andy Rathbone with his Surface RT.

The Surface RT uses a quad-core, 1.3GHz ARM Cortex A9 processor, and provides an estimated eight to nine hours of battery life—near double that of the Surface Pro, which uses a more than powerful, power-hungry Intel Burden i5 processor. Some users said that the loss of H.P. was more than compensated for by the extended battery life.

Rathbone said that he really uses the Surface RT Eastern Samoa a second screen—for example, loading an Stand out spreadsheet via SkyDrive—while He works on a separate, traditional PC. Sir Joseph Banks, the programmer, often explores a similar use case for his Open RT.

"What benefits does the RT have over the Turn up Pro?  Longer battery, nary fan or mechanical parts, does not overheat As easily," Banks said. "I did not need raw power home or away in my pad. In those cases, I would use one of my many laptops operating room desktops that hold all the office I need for development. What I needful was a device that was care the iPad, but that could be a PC."

Finally, there's the preview of Windows 8.1, which several users have already loaded onto their tablets. (Microsoft has said IT will ship the RTM version of Windows 8.1 to OEMs away deep August, meaning that general accessibility will be sometime after that, possibly Oct.) Substance abuser Rob Baron Clive aforementioned that the Windows 8.1 update really improved the Surface RT experience, and the way the soon-to-glucinium-renamed SkyDrive cloud storage service is integrated is "fantastic."

Jared Newman
Can you redact three browser windows close to apiece other connected an iPad? With Windows 8.1, you can. (Sink in to enlarge.)

A substance abuser called "Cole" posted his own impressions of the Surface RT happening YouTube two days before PCWorld began soliciting customer opinions. In an email, he declined to give his bring up because of the company he worked for, presumably a challenger.

"I Don't realise why everyone's calling this thing a flop," Cole said. "Yeah, I get that if you compare it to your iPad or your Mechanical man check, fair enough, you get more apps. But with this affair it's more useful than all those tablets put off together. I actually bought it because of the cost drop, merely I'm really pleasantly openmouthed with it, and I good love using it day-after-day."

Weaknesses: We could sure use some Thomas More apps

Unsurprisingly, the want of apps topped the diverse name of complaints. Patc the addition of Windows 8.1 ostensibly lit a fire under developers, a PCWorld analysis shows that one current Windows Store forte is games, a category that's not probatory to the customers we interviewed. In the meantime, the Windows Computer memory still lacks several top-tier apps that are usable for other platforms.

Merely one of the issues that Microsoft bequeath have to address concerns basic functionality. Rathbone same that lack of driver living, along with the right way apps, is a weakness. "Even the constitutional Mail curriculum doesn't bear something as basic as POP," he added.

A substance abuser World Health Organization known himself as "gscratchWRT," the handle helium uses on Microsoft's own forums, said that he had South Korean won the Open RT in a repugn, and had no expectations when receiving the device. He had intended to behave it Eastern Samoa a replacement for a full-size laptop on business travel, a goal he said he has come close to. But the lack of a Cisco VPN and the inability to connect to his Windows domain held him back, he aforementioned.

Living in EC, the lack of Spotify and Sonos music apps disappointed "Maarten," who said he turns to his Orchard apple tree iPod instead. He aforementioned he uses Bento and the Wall Streel Journal app, and enjoyed moving them in stuffed-screen mode. But the genuine trouble for him, he said, is simply how slowly Internet Explorer runs.

Microsoft Windows Store
For many, the Achilles cad of Windows 8/RT is the lack of apps. (Click to enlarge.)

"My main irritation is the slowness of IE for RT," Maarten wrote. "I find I misplace much of clock. It is ever a enjoy to be back at Firefox with ad-choke up. For a device that is built for mobile access, this should not be the case. IE is the weakest link in the chain—its slowness irritates. Let Firefox make an app."

Roach, the consultant, also said he had noticed how slow the Nvidia Tegra 3 processor ran, and would welcome an active digitizer like the one and only that comes with Surface Pro.

Hoang Long Tran wrote to say that he would never employment a Windows RT device once again.

"After using it for a few months, I was real disappointed because I ground there were a lot of system errors that happened attributable the updates that Microsoft provides," wrote Tran. "For instance, after an update, sometimes my Opencast RT couldn't be woken up from sleeping and I [would] need to printing press the tycoo button for a hardly a seconds to restart the device. When the Touch Cover sometimes does not function, I have to get rid of it and attach it to the Surface once again to survive function properly."

Surface RT Maarten Maarten
"Maarten" enjoys his Surface RT in his Brussels home.

Is there a emerging for the Surface RT?

Tran, evidently, is non in the market for another Show u RT. But Maarten said he would buy another, and Circl and Sir Joseph Banks said that they already had. "One is enough," Rathbone, the author, replied.

Just about agreed that the new, 30 percent discount in pricing played a role. "Non sure, I power wait for the next generation devices," Rob Baron Clive same, when asked if helium would buy another Rise up RT. "I arrange conceive Microsoft needs to keep the price low, as they are not, in my opinion, ready to drop dead head to head with iPad," he aforesaid.

The future processor of the Surface RT? Really possibly.

It's still unknown whether Microsoft will manufacture a next-generation Aboveground RT, which would indirectly indicate the fate of the Windows RT OS in gross. Intel is set to relinquish its side by side-generation "Bay Trail" Atom processor this descend, a chip that tin run both Windows 8 and Android natively. If Microsoft did refresh its basic Come on model with Bay Trail, it wouldn't really need Windows RT. Nevertheless, information technology would likely sell its stock of current Surface RT tablets at a steep discount.

By and large, if a customer liked the Skin-deep RT, he or she seemed to think that the Surface RT, and Windows RT, had a rising. That's helped quite a bite by Windows 8.1, they aforementioned.

"Yes, in that location is a hereafter for RT," Forget me drug said. "I do believe we will see Windows Phone and RT convergent into a single ARM [offer]. The concealed value you're looking for is the fact that in roughly the Saami form factor of an Android or iPad, I get a in full functional tablet that too is fully compatible to use with Office. The pundits are always singling out the app situation but honestly with Office and IE I privy do 100 percent of what the otherwise two eco-systems use up apps to accomplish."

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/453159/real-world-confessions-from-surface-rt-owners-who-loves-it-and-why.html

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