I got mine yesterday, 32GB, finished all the updates and have about 10 apps installed. Right at 15 GB. An SD card will add to it for storage.
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Surface |OT|
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I got mine yesterday, 32GB, finished all the updates and have about 10 apps installed. Right at 15 GB. An SD card will add to it for storage.
That happens on every modern laptop. Also, has anyone tried it with an apple Bluetooth keyboard? I have one laying around and could use that with the soft touch cover as a backup.
Yeah, 64gb.
That's not too bad. I think the 32gb will be sufficient then.
yn-neko hates a cat
Banned
Do you know enough about SSD reader technology to know if that can be updated with firmware?
OK. Hopefully there's still room to grow in that standard.
Yeah, the 128gb cards have been talked about for a long time now. I have no doubt that they will eventually come out I'm just not sure when.
You can only get it from Microsoft or Microsoft stores.
That explains it... So this means it can't be purchased physically in the province of Quebec. Ugh x2.
Is this temporary ? Will retailers carry the tablet later on ?
Performance is good and text is legible without zooming.
Good to know that Zinio works fine, thanks. It's really crappy on Touchpad.
Doesn't seem likely. Ordering online seems to be your best bet.
Quite positive and detailed video review of the Surface: MobileTechReview review
Same concern, for the Surface Pro at least, I'd like to see and touch the thing before ordering.
And order from a retailer that offers other options for the payment (in 3/4/5 times for example).
MrGreencastle
Member
It works without a hitch, and so does the magic mouse and trackpad, too.
Dead Prince
Banned
i know they plan to release a new win8 driver early november (win 7 drivers work though). unsure about RT.
This takes care of my soft vs typecase dilemma!
Windows Phone 7 didn't play very nicely with SD cards from what I recall. After formatting one for it, you typically had to do something special (like use some particular phone or device) to be able to reuse it on anything.
Kung Fu Jedi
Member
Dropped by the Microsoft Store yesterday to check out the Surface and came away quite impressed. The hardware was lightweight, yet felt very solid and both keyboards were easy to use right off the bat. The mix of Touch interface and reliable old Windows was interesting. Obviously I preferred the metro touch layout, but was a little surprised at how easy it was to access the desktop and a fairly standard Windows experience. App store was still a little empty, particularly in games, but I'm sure it'll fill in over time.
The Microsoft Store was absolutely slammed with people, most wanting to play with Surface. The previous times I'd been in there, it was fairly empty, unlike the Apple Store just down the block, which is perpetually packed.
I'm still waiting to hear if I'm going to get a Surface unit sent to me from Microsoft. They've been hinting at it, but no confirmation just yet. I'm looking forward to playing with it more fully in the future. Seems like a great device.
The Microsoft Store was absolutely slammed with people, most wanting to play with Surface. The previous times I'd been in there, it was fairly empty, unlike the Apple Store just down the block, which is perpetually packed.
I'm still waiting to hear if I'm going to get a Surface unit sent to me from Microsoft. They've been hinting at it, but no confirmation just yet. I'm looking forward to playing with it more fully in the future. Seems like a great device.
Video of guy plugging in stuff into the Surface USB port.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH9DHTKAIhU&feature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH9DHTKAIhU&feature=youtu.be
lol, loved the dramatic Nexus shot.
MrGreencastle
Member
Waypoint would look gorgeous on this thing
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Anyone know if bitorrent apps are possible on RT? I couldn't find anything in the store.
Also, RDP is beautiful on this thing, it supports the same gestures if the remote PC also runs Windows 8. Even the home button, too.
Waypoint would look gorgeous on this thing
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Anyone know if bitorrent apps are possible on RT? I couldn't find anything in the store.
Also, RDP is beautiful on this thing, it supports the same gestures if the remote PC also runs Windows 8. Even the home button, too.
I'd love to have a solution where Surface could act as a input device for the PC. RDP still locks the host PC when you are connected right?
Oh the irony of seeing the Nexus plugged into the Surface.
fluffydelusions
Member
Those who have it, how is the battery life?
Reviews normally seem to list 7-10h, with most coming in at around 8.
(Doesn't completely answer your question I guess
fluffydelusions
Member
Reviews normally seem to list 7-10h, with most coming in at around 8.
(Doesn't completely answer your question I guess
Sounds about on par with current iPad
I got about 9 hours with mine. But what's a big improvement over my current ipad is recharge time. It was much faster to recharge. I think the new ipad fixes this though!
Particle Physicist
between a quark and a baryon
Meh, you can get apple shit at bestbuy, amazon, walmart, target, etc. I'm sure I am missing some other major stores.
EDIT
Oh, just noticed you said laptops. You can get the ipad in all those stores, but I think macbooks and stuff are limited to amazon, bestbuy.. not 100% sure though.
MrGreencastle
Member
As far as I know, yes. You wouldn't want to use RDP for that, though, anyway. I'm sure some htpc oriented touch/keyboard apps will show up soon though.
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- Touch cover is taking some getting used to, I can actually type faster on the on screen keyboard. I'm used to typing on the iPad and the on screen keyboard here seems better. I type quite fast on screen, probably at 90% my normal typing speed, so no issues there. Will have to practice with the touch cover.
- One awesome thing I noticed was that keyboard shortcuts like copy and paste work on the on screen keyboard as it has a control key right next to the space bar. VERY handy. I love this so much. The keyboard sound is the same dynamic tapping sounds from Windows Phone, which I love and find much easier on the ears compared to the static iPad keyboard sound. Small detail, but really nice, nonetheless.
- I played around with the built in options for the keyboard, too: full screen like iPad, thumb keyboard, where its split, and then one that converts ink into text. The ink input works flawlessly, considering how abysmal my handwriting is, it just would not screw it up. I could see myself using that a lot actually, even with a capacitive stylus with how responsive the screen is (I use a jot pro). Very excited to test it out on the Surface Pro.
- Surprised at the lack of an official Facebook app, but as a Windows Phone user, the People and Messaging hubs are more than adequate for my needs, and quite beautiful, too.
- I opted for the 32GB model, with the touch cover as I ordered a 64GB microsd card last week. We will see how nicely that plays with the device. I'm left with about 25GB of usable space out of the 32GB, which I imagine is due to the way the data is measured, as well as swap and windows/office installed. After installing some apps, etc, I'm down to about 16GB of storage, so that sd card can't come soon enough.
- Being able to plug in USB devices is really freaking cool. My laser printer worked no problem. Same with a wireless mouse. I'm a student in IT, so I always carry around a lot of gadgets in my bag, one of them being an external hard drive, so my data space needs are quelled by that handy little port.
- SkyDrive integration throughout the OS is a godsend. I'm a fairly heavy SkyDrive and Office user, as well, so having 2013 included is a really sweet deal. Make sure you update from the preview version that ships with the device to the final version, though, as it improves performance and touch elements considerably.
- Side note: I accidentally pressed the back button in the browser and thought I lost all this, but it saved it within the text input field. Nice one.
Very pleased with this device. Still on the fence about selling this in January to put towards the Surface pro, as all my x86 needs are dealt with via RDP. We will see.
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Edit: Additional thoughts:
- Metro, or Modern, is fucking beautiful. I've been a Windows Phone user for almost 2 years now, and damn does this interface work well on a tablet. The gestures take a little getting used to, but once you get the idea of it, it makes the traditional iOS/Android interfaces seem downright dated. I've been using Windows 8 RTM via MSDNAA since early September on my desktop, so I'm already fairly familiar with a lot about the OS, which I suppose helps (and makes RDP kick ass).
- I'm excited to see how this will play with Windows Phone in the future. I own a 7.5 device, so as of right now I can only charge the device, as the Zune desktop client doesn't run on RT. I have heard that Microsoft will be releasing a WP8 app in the near future, though, perhaps we will find out on Monday during their press conference.
- IE 10 is really awesome, and really fast (even with flash!) though I wish other browsers were allowed in the Store. I like tab syncing from Chrome.
- One thing I love about IE is the flip ahead feature, where, on a multi page site like neogaf or reddit, it allows you to "drag" the page to the left in order to advance to the next page rather than having to tap the small next link that is often at the bottom. Same goes for going back to the last page, just swipe it to the right. Very slick.
- As far as I can tell, tabs also load in the background, which I don't remember my iPad doing.
- I like that pressing the capacitive home button makes the Surface vibrate. I also like that it wakes the device, too. So many devices with capacitive buttons require use of the power button exclusively to wake the screen.
- I forgot to mention the battery. It seems as good as my iPad, maybe a bit less. I got around 9 and half hours of fairly heavy usage from 100%. It then took 1 hour, 48 minutes to charge from dead to 100. That's a lot faster than my iPad, which took over 4 and half hours to fully charge.
- Multiple users is nice, however as far as I can tell, your apps are tied to one account, so you'll have to buy them again for each account. Hopefully that is changed in the future, especially with the higher price of RT apps compared to their iOS counterparts.
- As far as the screen is concerned, it looks considerably better than other screens of this resolution, but not as sharp as the iPads. I will say, though, the colours and contrast seem better on this screen than on the iPad.
fluffydelusions
Member
I kind of want one but will wait for more apps. It won't replace my laptop because it's I use that for gaming. I already have 8 on that and quite like it but needs more metro apps which I know will come in time.
I agree, they're not going to match the app store for volume of apps but get the important ones on there and people will come.
I love the USB port and upgradeable memory. Also as much as my wife loves her ipad I could see her preferring this more because of office. Her ipad is nothing more than something to check FB, twitter and let the kids do jigsaw apps.
If MS can nail this down she will jump over without a seconds thought, it's just too expensive at the moment.
Sounds pretty obvious to me, but I am sure MS thinks different than me. Make Smartglass work across all platforms, done. I am sure you can amp up the uses for the PC's.
It seems like people would want to get their apps out there as soon as possible. There will likely never be another version of Windows released that doesn't feature the store prominently. Even if the PC market never grows again that will still be a massive userbase in only a couple years.
DataStream
Member
On the start page type in speech recognition. Windows speech recognition is included and works in the metro interface. I'm not sure why it is not featured with a new metro application so people use it.
This post was typed using windows speech recognition.
Being able to dictate or just say "open *app name here*" at any time for is pretty awesome.
This post was typed using windows speech recognition.
Being able to dictate or just say "open *app name here*" at any time for is pretty awesome.
fluffydelusions
Member
I don't know...this is Windows we are talking about. It has a HUGE userbase. The only apps I can't see making their way there will be one from hardcore Apple devs who refuse to have anything to do with Windows.
Xplatformer
Member
Christmas isn't going to come soon enough.
Right now I've got $300 saved up, which means I'm half way to a Surface RT.
Question.
I have a ton of .mp4 movies and shows on an external hard drive.
Is Xbox Video the app that would be used to view them? Does it run .mp4 files very well?
.avi files?
I'm assuming Xbox Music will play any .mp3 files you have stored on the RT?
Right now I've got $300 saved up, which means I'm half way to a Surface RT.
Question.
I have a ton of .mp4 movies and shows on an external hard drive.
Is Xbox Video the app that would be used to view them? Does it run .mp4 files very well?
.avi files?
I'm assuming Xbox Music will play any .mp3 files you have stored on the RT?
brotkasten
Member
There wasn't even an official Facebook or Twitter client at launch.
Wait, what? How the hell does MS expect to sell these things if they only sell them in their stores. There is no MS stores in my city or in any nearby cities. Someone would seriously have to go out of their way to purchase one.
Does the MS online store take PayPal? I don't have a credit card so if they don't take PayPal I can't purchase a Surface. :/