Windows Surface 8 RT

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by holymadness

Windows RT Accounts for half of the 32GB Surface's disk space:

Wow, just wow.

Not much different from Sony Tablet S for example.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by holymadness

Windows RT Accounts for half of the 32GB Surface's disk space:

Wow, just wow.

That is the beauty of having an expansion slot. You can have a surface with 128GB.

[Teknikal]

RT taking up 18gb is crazy it's meant to be a simple mobile OS, I really wouldn't want to be downloading updates of that size regardless of it having a Micro Sd slot.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

That is the beauty of having an expansion slot. You can have a surface with 128GB.

Exactly!

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by Teknikal

RT taking up 18gb is crazy it's meant to be a simple mobile OS, I really wouldn't want to be downloading updates of that size regardless of it having a Micro Sd slot.

I beg to differ. Windows RT is meant to be easy to use, but offers a lot more than those mobile OSs. At the moment most of that is still a promise only, of course. It probably will take another 6 months or so.

[Kolenka]

Originally Posted by Teknikal

RT taking up 18gb is crazy it's meant to be a simple mobile OS, I really wouldn't want to be downloading updates of that size regardless of it having a Micro Sd slot.

Keep in mind that 5GB is just a restore partition so that you can restore to clean without a USB drive.

[holymadness]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

That is the beauty of having an expansion slot. You can have a surface with 128GB.

So you mean I can pay extra money to have the hard drive space advertised? Oh boy.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by holymadness

So you mean I can pay extra money to have the hard drive space advertised? Oh boy.

When do you EVER get the hard drive space advertised? You always get less. On every storage media, every OS.

Anyway, what other tablet can you get 112 GB of usable space on?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Teknikal

RT taking up 18gb is crazy it's meant to be a simple mobile OS,

Who said that?
MS has always said RT is full Windows.
Full windows has long run to fairly large Hard Drive installs.
And the size off the install is not news. We've known it for weeks, now.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

When do you EVER get the hard drive space advertised? You always get less. On every storage media, every OS.

I don't think people would expect to get 16GB less out of 32GB though, do you?

[Teknikal]

RT is meant to be the lightweight Arm version which can't run any real windows programs it's what is mean't to compete with the iPad and android Tablets.

Theres no need for any OS anywhere to take up 18gb's of space never mind a mobile one that's locked into a windows store, for comparison IOS is about 800mb's in space so about 20 times smaller.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

I don't think people would expect to get 16GB less out of 32GB though, do you?

It is excessive, no doubt. But we just have established that you could get an additional 5GB, if you wanted, by deleting the restore partition. Which makes sense on a device with access to external storage.

[pl001]

Originally Posted by Teknikal

RT is meant to be the lightweight Arm version which can't run any real windows programs it's what is mean't to compete with the iPad and android Tablets.

Theres no need for any OS anywhere to take up 18gb's of space never mind a mobile one that's locked into a windows store, for comparison IOS is about 800mb's in space so about 20 times smaller.

From what I understand, "Real" Windows is now Metro/Modern. "Legacy" Windows programs are not going to be allowed in the Microsoft store. So in theory most all updated Windows 8 versions of programs will be able to run on the RT (some better than others I would assume), making the RT far more powerful than the other mobile OSs in their current forms.

Of course, theory is all well and good, having new apps that people want and need in the store is quite another thing.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by Teknikal

RT is meant to be the lightweight Arm version which can't run any real windows programs it's what is mean't to compete with the iPad and android Tablets.

Theres no need for any OS anywhere to take up 18gb's of space never mind a mobile one that's locked into a windows store, for comparison IOS is about 800mb's in space so about 20 times smaller.

We have just established that the OS takes up 11 GB (16 - 5), not 18, with the included Office software. In the end I just care what the OS does for me and if I will have enough space left. To each his own, I find mobile OSs rather limiting. More suitable for phones, tablets should offer more possibilities.

Actually, all future Windows 8 programs will be running on RT, as long as they were written for the Metro UI. It is the legacy ones that won't run.

As far as the locked Windows store, it will depend on how they handle it. Will they just check programs so that they are virus free or will they try to keep out the "undesirable" programs? From what I have heard it is not exactly difficult to get programs approved. Though I do agree, I don't like them following the Apple model in this case.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Teknikal

RT is meant to be the lightweight Arm version which can't run any real windows programs it's what is mean't to compete with the iPad and android Tablets.

Sorry but that isn't what MS is doing.
MS isn't trying to match iOS and Android, they've looking to *leapfrog* past them.
That much they've said openly and repeatedly: their vision is one OS and one *app codebase* from phones to mainframes. Tablets that run the same apps as desktops, not two different codebases (say, MacOS and iOS or Linux and Android).

And yes, RT is a lightweight install compared to the x86 install simply because it doesn't carry the bulk of legacy code necessary for backwards compatibility on the x86 computers but it isn't a limited OS.

If that was all MS intended they would've simply put some advertising money to push WinCE instead of betting the farm on a new API set.

Historically, MS OSes have usually demanded high-end hardware resources--faster processors and more RAM than the low-end in use at launch--and then let the hardware catch up. It is only recently, with Win7 and the need to accomodate netbooks that MS developed an OS with low-end requirements.