Interesting Review on Microsoft Surface Tablet RT


Recommended Posts

"Watch the Surface Reboxing" floating in the corner

All I needed to know to know that Chris did not approach this device with anything but contempt, then tried to spin it around later to be 'fair and balanced'.

  • Like 2

"Watch the Surface Reboxing" floating in the corner

All I needed to know to know that Chris did not approach this device with anything but contempt, then tried to spin it around later to be 'fair and balanced'.

The one thing that he said that is very disturbing is the fact that the 32GB model only has 16 GB of space left for the user because the rest is being sucked by the OS. That is not right and I think its a rip-off. No wonder this lawyer is suing Microsoft over that issue:

http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_21997331/lawyer-sues-microsoft-over-surface-tablet-storage

Give me the TL:DW version?

The one thing that he said that is very disturbing is the fact that the 32GB model only has 16 GB of space left for the user because the rest is being sucked by the OS.

Even I had to double take when I read that article too. 50% of space gone with the preload, that's a bit excessive, surely?

Give me the TL:DW version?

Even I had to double take when I read that article too. 50% of space gone with the preload, that's a bit excessive, surely?

Yes it is. Imagine if you buy the 16GB model. What are you going to have left? 6 gigs?...LOL...That is a rip-off and I see more law suits coming. The 50% of what you are promised for space is gone to the OS....not good.

First of all, it's full blown Windows. What did they expect? Second, I've been saying for a while now, they should have stripped out the legacy baggage. There's no reason Win RT needs to include all the legacy baggage Windows still carries.

  • Like 3

First of all, it's full blown Windows. What did they expect? Second, I've been saying for a while now, they should have stripped out the legacy baggage. There's no reason Win RT needs to include all the legacy baggage Windows still carries.

Yes Dot, but do you honestly think the OS takes 16 gigs of space? I have Windows 8 on my test PC, clean, no apps, and it doesn't take 16 Gigs of space!!!!!!

There is something wrong there.

Yes Dot, but do you honestly think the OS takes 16 gigs of space? I have Windows 8 on my test PC, clean, no apps, and it doesn't take 16 Gigs of space!!!!!!

There is something wrong there.

It does come with Office installed.

I already have 60 GB easily taken up space on my Windows 8 installation with only a handful of apps installed.

It does come with Office installed.

I already have 60 GB easily taken up space on my Windows 8 installation with only a handful of apps installed.

Oh it has office? I must have missed that part. Well that explains it then. Still, people are going to be really ticked off that they are not getting the full 32 GB of space, or at least 80% of it. That probably explains why MS put an SD card slot on it for expansion.

By the way, did you see the prices for Skydrive expanded storage? Not bad at all. Compared to Apple. I got an extra 100GB of space for $50.00 a year. Apple wanted $100.00 for just 50GB of extra space and it doesn't have half the neat features that Skydrive does.

Wow, for the first time I have to say.... He is right.... And I wish it could have been good, the hardware is simply awesome, but WinRT.... Or maybe it's the Tegra 3 that is starting to feel slow? And Office 2013 DESKTOP inside a tablet, it's nice but pointless with a finger, you really need the keyboard to use it and navigate the interface.

And Surface Pro will not be $500... So it better be a GREAT tablet and a good laptop replacement for the price they are going to ask...

Yes it is. Imagine if you buy the 16GB model. What are you going to have left? 6 gigs?...LOL...That is a rip-off and I see more law suits coming. The 50% of what you are promised for space is gone to the OS....not good.

There is no 16GB model. They entry level model is 32GB.

There is no 16GB model. They entry level model is 32GB.

I know there isn't a 16GB model. I was just using that as an example (like what if there was) then you would be screwed with it. Just an example.

Oh it has office? I must have missed that part. Well that explains it then. Still, people are going to be really ticked off that they are not getting the full 32 GB of space, or at least 80% of it. That probably explains why MS put an SD card slot on it for expansion.

Yes, and it's a bit of an oddity... Because that space is going to be needed for updates. I saw this problem coming a mile away.

You do realise that the word exists outside of your country? And not all countries have super high speed internet where cloud storage is even an option?

Dude I understand that, believe me, I do, but these companies do not seem to understand it. Apple, Amazon, Samsung and now Microsoft. Everybody wants to use the damn Cloud for everything and they think that every country in the world, that every nation and everyone in the world has high speed internet or any internet at all and they are wrong. There are countries where Dial-up is still being used because there is no high speed internet access, so yes I do understand you, but unfortunately, these companies that make these tablets do not.

I agree with some points, disagree with others. Chris is an interesting character, some people may like that quality about him - I'm not one of those people. I find the points that mattered were quickly glazed over and the points that didn't matter (but were inherently negative) were talked about extensively. This does seem to border a bit on: "I didn't want to like it to begin with".

I'll stick with my Android tablet for the time being though as it's difficult to get a review of the Surface RT that I find has any merit at all. Maybe I'm just being biased and I'm waiting for the excuse to like it, and that excuse is never going to come.

I agree with Chris on letting users on an RT tablet access the desktop. From the MOMENT I heard they were going to let users do that on the ARM version of windows I said it was a HORRIBLE idea!!!

I agree with Chris on letting users on an RT tablet access the desktop. From the MOMENT I heard they were going to let users do that on the ARM version of windows I said it was a HORRIBLE idea!!!

You do know that Chris bought his Surface without a touch or type cover.

You do know that Chris bought the Surface without a touch or type cover.

I don't think that matters. it's an ARM based version of Windows. None of your regular apps run in on the windows 8 ARM desktop (Except office and whatever other regular windows apps it has). I just think the arm tablet should stay 100% Modern UI. When you drop back to the desktop on the ARM tablet it just looks TACKY!

I don't think that matters. it's an ARM based version of Windows. None of your regular apps run in on the windows 8 ARM desktop (Except office and whatever other regular windows apps it has). I just think the arm tablet should stay 100% Modern UI. When you drop back to the desktop on the ARM tablet it just looks TACKY!

Why does it look tacky on ARM and not on x86?

My belief btw is Microsoft will eventually extend the WinRT API to desktop apps too, and those apps will be portable between ARM and x86.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Posts

    • Qwen 3.6 is better value per dollar, and you can run it locally for free.
    • I don't believe them that anyone using threads, at least meaningfully. It's the same thing for Facebook, people just don't engage with Meta platforms like they are thinking. This isn't 2006.
    • Not taking AI slop on the go with me, hard pass for me.
    • Same Internet Archive seemed to grab the new version https://web.archive.org/web/20...d/Setup_MakeMKV_v1.18.4.exe Here's the link to an additional file it periodically downloads https://web.archive.org/web/20260213092148/https://www.makemkv.com/sdf.bin I think update's keys, etc. To manually trigger this update, put the sdf.bin file in the root of where the program is installed. When you launch the program it will pick up the file and import it. Typically put it here: C:\Program Files (x86)\MakeMKV\sdf.bin
    • Windows 11 KB5094126, KB5093998 bugging out Office apps but it may not be Microsoft's fault by Sayan Sen Microsoft last week released Windows 11 KB5094126 and KB5093998 as the latest Patch Tuesday updates. Following that the company also published the accompanying dynamic updates under KB5094149, KB5095971, and KB5094156. Although the tech giant did not acknowledge any major problems, some users online reported various issues ranging from OneDrive and Dropbox access problems, BitLocker recovery lockouts, to blue screens and BSODs. You can read about them in this dedicated piece. While there is still no confirmation about those problems from Microsoft the company has admitted to another bug which we did not report on. The tech giant has confirmed it has received reports of an issue in which certain third-party applications may be unable to launch Microsoft Office apps or open Office documents after installing the Patch Tuesday. This affects both Windows 11 as well as Windows 10. The company says the problem impacts a subset of applications that rely on OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) automation to communicate with Microsoft Office programs. According to Microsoft, affected scenarios involve third-party software attempting to open Office applications or documents from within their own interface. In such cases, the Office program may fail to launch altogether, or the requested document may not open. Oddly there may not be any error message, which probably makes the issue difficult to diagnose. The bug affects several Office products, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and other apps in the Microsoft Office suite when they are launched through the affected software. These include tax and accounting software such as CCH Engagement and Workpaper Manager, dental practice management solutions like Dentrix and Softdent, as well as the popular research and reference management tool Zotero. Microsoft adds that other applications using similar Office integration methods could also experience the same problematic behavior. To understand the issue it is important to look at OLE, the Microsoft technology involved. OLE allows different applications to work together and share data, while its Automation feature lets one program control another. Thus this enables third-party software to launch Microsoft Office apps, open documents, and perform tasks automatically without requiring users to switch between programs. Because many accounting, healthcare, research, and business applications rely on OLE automation to interact with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other Office apps, any disruption can break those workflows. As a result, affected software may be unable to open Office documents or launch Office applications even though the programs themselves continue to work normally. At the moment the company has not provided a permanent fix though it has confirmed that engineers are actively working on a resolution, which will be delivered through a future Windows update. As such additional details will be shared once more information becomes available. In the meantime, Microsoft recommends a simple workaround for affected users whic is to open the Office application or document directly rather than launching it through the third-party program. For enterprise customers and organizations managing larger deployments, Microsoft says an additional mitigation is available. Admins experiencing the problem on their managed devices are advised to contact Microsoft Support for business to obtain and apply the workaround.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Reacting Well
      Dys Topia earned a badge
      Reacting Well
    • Conversation Starter
      NovaEdgeX earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • One Year In
      Console General earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Week One Done
      Twozo Technologies earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Twozo Technologies earned a badge
      One Month Later
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      517
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      184
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      106
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      88
    5. 5
      ATLien_0
      68
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!