Microsoft Surface with Windows RT

Microsoft Surface with Windows RT

The Microsoft Surface is a product that Microsoft was able to keep secret right up until they pulled back the curtains on the tablet and when it was announced, it sent shockwaves through the industry. The tablet represents Microsoft’s first foray into the tablet market not only in software but hardware too.

The Surface also represents a strategic shift for the company as they are now competing with the vendors that made the Windows platform so popular. Seeing as no other company has been able to crack Apple’s dominance in tablet market, will the Surface running Windows RT be able to compete, or will it flounder like the competitors before it?

Hardware:

There is no doubt that the Surface is built to compete with the best of the best. The VaporMg case feels firm, confident, and smooth all the way around. Like all other metallic consumer goods, fingerprints do show up but a quick wipe with a micro-fiber cloth and it’s like they were never even there.

The front glass is smooth and runs right up to the edge to give you a seamless front panel for all of your swiping and typing action.

Around back there is a full-body kickstand that is confident and props the display up on a hard surface at the perfect angle if you are sitting in a chair. One qualm we do have is that the stand is not adjustable, so if you work outside the viewing range of what Microsoft deemed to be sufficient, you are out of luck.

Under the attractive exterior is an Nvidia T30 CPU, 2GB of RAM, two 720P cameras, 64GB of storage, Wifi, MicroSDXC slot, one 2.0 USB port, HD video out, and of course the 10.6in display. There are a few more goodies under the hood which you can read about here if you are interested. 

The one item that can’t be overlooked is the magnetic dock on the bottom of the device that allows you to easily attach a Touch or Type cover to the tablet. The dock works brilliantly and is easy to use and works the first time, every time. There is little hesitation about correctly attaching the covers and it will be interesting to see if Microsoft expands the port accessories to other peripherals in the future.

The entire package is lovely to hold in your hands from a quality perspective. Everything about the Surface screams premium and it’s clear Microsoft went all out on the materials as well as keeping tolerance levels tight.

We should note that the Surface does not include some features we thought it might have including GPS and 3G options. Neither are deal breakers as both can be augmented with WiFi location and cell-phone tethering but if you need either of these, you may want to wait until the Surface 2 arrives.

Display:

The 16:9 display comes in at 1366x768 and also uses Microsoft’s ClearType technology to make every pixel appear sharp and text pop out of the screen.

For the most part, we had few issues with the display but do lust for a higher resolution screen. Even though resolution isn’t the only metric to measure a display, resolution dictates how much content you can get on the screen. With an app snapped to the side (which we love to do), it feels as if a significant portion of your screen is taken up by the snapped app and leave little room for the primary app.

Outside of the resolution, the display is brilliant. Colors, viewing angle, and glare were all either matching or exceeding the primary competition and will present no issue to any user. In fact, if Microsoft will opt for a higher resolution, it would give any Retina display a run for its money. But, until they do go down that road, they will have to forgo the best in class moniker.

The display from an interactive perspective was accurate and responsive with scrolling and pinching working well.

Battery Life:

The battery life of the Surface exceeded our expectations with us achieving over 8 hours of use with a mix of email, video, web surfing and writing this review. It would be possible to use this device for an entire workday and have a bit of juice for when you get home. Most importantly, when using the Surface, you don’t feel as if you are always looking for your next ability to recharge.  

On the topic of the battery, the connector to charge the Surface is magnetic but it has a very weak magnet attraction and is a bit of a pain to attach. Trying to attach the power cord in the dark is a task that results in a lot of fumbling; we would have preferred that Microsoft made the cord have used stronger magnets to guide the adapter home.