10-02-2013, 01:09 PM | #106 | |
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The aspect ratio (16:9 or 16:10) is weird... too narrow in portrait, too wide in landscape to use it as a tablet. The touch responsiveness and accuracy is barely acceptable. But for productivity use, it is surprisingly good. I know that many can't see a reason for the RT, but I can't see a reason for the Pro. Honestly, 10.6" is way too small to use as a primary device. I can't think of any legacy software that would be comfortable on that sized screen. That's netbook territory. Netbooks were good in a pinch but not something to be used as a primary computing device. In my opinion anyways. |
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10-02-2013, 02:16 PM | #107 | ||
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10-02-2013, 03:08 PM | #108 | |
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In landscape, it's great for browsing some websites. In portrait, I favor the narrowness. I loved my Sony 900 for example for the very same reason. I'm not so much a fan of iPads almost quadratic 4:3 ratio. But I admit: I'm not reading much on any tablets. For an entire book, Surfaces probably really would be too narrow and offer not enough information per page. But for my Zinio or Spiegel magazines or stuff like that it's fine. Probably, I'm a special kind of user: One hour with this unit, one hour with another one. Right now for example I've switched from the tiny Nvidia Shield to the enormous Surface Pro. Different tasks, different tools... Last edited by mgmueller; 10-02-2013 at 03:10 PM. |
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10-02-2013, 04:00 PM | #109 |
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10-02-2013, 04:42 PM | #110 | |
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But that's all subjective based on what you are used to and what you use it for. |
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10-02-2013, 05:53 PM | #111 | |
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10-03-2013, 02:45 AM | #112 |
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4:3 is a much better fit to the aspect ratio of an A4/Letter sheet of paper than 16:9, hence a 4:3 screen has less wasted space when reading A4 PDFs. That's why my iPad remains my PDF reader of choice.
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10-04-2013, 04:07 PM | #113 | |
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surface pro battery replacement
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Laptop batteries can be replaced, often for $100-200, in contrast to the MS Surface Pro. Also, as far as I can tell, the MS decision to prevent user-servicing is not required by the specs/dimensions but by a decision to use servicing as a source of dollars for MS. The major reason it can't easily be user-serviced is the abundance of glue inside it, as the following source documents: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/cra...than-a-tablet/ Last edited by bobcdy; 10-04-2013 at 04:09 PM. |
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10-04-2013, 05:40 PM | #114 | |
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Of course, the tablets only are 3 years old or even less. Anyway... I never took any unit to repair. Not a single one. A few laptops died on me. But only after 2, most after 3 and more years of usage. Why would I want to repair such an old unit? With the exception of iPads, most units drop so drastically in prices, that you can have a new unit for replacement for about the same price as you'd pay for repair of the old one. Most users will have their tablets for about 2 years, if I look at my friends and colleagues. Vast majority of all units should make that long. There's always the risk of your typical "Monday unit". But this normally will occur within the first weeks of usage, not after 1 or 2 years. So, is it really such a problem, if units are hard (or even impossible) to repair? We're a "throwaway society". This certainly is disastrous from an ecological perspective. But re. usability, durability and such? But of course I agree: The exchangeable battery on my Dell Latitude 10 is way preferable to the none-exchangeables on Surface Pro or iPad. But not because of repairs, only because of doubling the battery duration while on the road. I wouldn't trade this convenience though for added weight or increase in depth or something like that... |
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10-04-2013, 08:38 PM | #115 |
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This is a short video of my tweaked Surface RT (running 8.1 RTM) opening Office RT apps. In the background is a video that someone took at a Microsoft Store of the performance of the Surface 2 opening Office RT apps.
The response to the original video of Surface 2 performance was universally applauded as a giant improvement from the RT. But I noticed that it didn't appear to be any different from my RT running 8.1 RTM and having a few tweaks applied. So I ran a test and here's the video: So all that to say, if anyone is interested in a Surface 2 but has the opportunity to buy a Surface RT at a firesale price... give some serious thought to the RT. |
10-04-2013, 09:40 PM | #116 |
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I don't know why the Surface RT 2 still exist. Isn't losing about 900 million dollars on the original Surface RT enough pain already?
The Windows 8 ecosystem for apps is still very underwhelming. Microsoft has to much more to attract developers or it won't win the fight against the Android Play Store to and Apple iTunes Store. Microsoft should dump the RT system and focus on the Pro all together. -------------------------- I have to admit the Surface Pro 2 is very tempting. My Android tablet is good for light stuff like checking e-mail and playing Angry Birds, but I need a tablet that can do more grunt work like running Adobe software. I don't like the weight of the Surface Pro 2 is it at the edge of being too heavy to hold with one hand and easy to use mobile device. |
10-05-2013, 02:43 AM | #117 | |
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10-05-2013, 10:20 AM | #118 | |
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It's fine for charging my Nvidia Shield, iPod or iPhone and the likes. But for tablets, I found it problematic. For one, lots of tablets don't charge via USB but have some §&(/))=" proprietary connectors. (Let's hope, the EU attempt re. standard connectors will change this asap). And last but not least, most tablets simply consume too much power. You can charge your iPhone at least twice with such an external battery. But a tablet only can be charged by 50% or so... If I take, let's say, my Nvidia Shield, iPhone and Surface Pro with me on a trip, a single external battery won't help much... |
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10-05-2013, 11:35 AM | #119 | |
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People seem to assume that since RT doesn't run x86 programs it's worthless. But the fact is most consumers don't need x86 programs. RT gives these people what they need without the additional bloat and security concerns of full Windows. |
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10-05-2013, 11:42 AM | #120 |
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It gives people what MICROSOFT THINKS they need, and if history is any indication of how good a job MS does compared to Apple and Android in that space, then I agree: Microsoft should dump the RT system and focus on the Pro all together.
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