Saturday, October 27, 2012

Surface RT vs. Surface Pro

Do you think that Microsoft do a good enough job in explaining the differences between Windows 8 RT and Windows 8 Pro?

Even in a review heard on the radio yesterday a well known Windows Guru, Marc Salztman, failed to point out that the Surface RT that has just been released runs a different operating system to the Windows 8 that was released on the same day.

He also failed to mention that the Surface RT currently priced without the keyboard (Touch or Type) and that is the price that most use to compare with the Apple product. For this reason alone there can be no comparison between the Surface and the iPad 4th Generation.

Marc also stated that the Surface, and Windows 8 in general, has a "learning curve". In my estimation that means "a fail". Electronics sold today should be self explanatory in it's use. Only advanced functions need to be learnt and basic operation should be expected "out-of-the-box".

It was also overlooked that the version of Office on the RT is a different one to that you would want to use on a regular computer or one running Windows Pro. Marc did say that the typing using the "touch" keyboard was slow but as this is the Surface's USP (even though it is extra money) it was hardly a compelling reason to purchase a Surface RT.

UPDATE:
Looking at the website that Marc Salzman writes on there was another article on why you should consider the upgrade to Windows 8. This was penned by Lee Mathews.

I also see that Lee has a new article on the differences between Windows 8 and Windows 8 RT - perhaps he should tell Marc!

1 comment:

Seattle said...

surface keyboard problem

I heard that you cannot use the Surface on anything but a flat surface. This makes it useless if you are carrying the "touch" keyboard and want to use the Surface on your lap!