So how about that Microsoft Surface?

[GeneraL CyberFunK]

I updated a few of my PCs and finally my surface... so far the surface does seem to be better.. which is good.. just need a browser that isn't IE.

[Madmya]

You don't think IE works well with Surface? I probably use it as much as chrome. Chrome when I've got a mouse, IE when I'm just touching it without its consent.

[Mavy]

Can you force Windows 8.1 to use Metro IE in Metro without having to make IE your default browser? I prefer chrome as my desktop browser.

[Madmya]

I THINK you still need to do that.

[GeneraL CyberFunK]

So I have been using my surface a lot more since 8.1 and I gotta say that it is a LOT better. Responds better... the 50/50 screen split is fucking sweet. Having outlook 2013 means I can professionally respond to an email or forward a document via email.

The only things that let ir down is lack of decent apps and the camera is still shit. But otherwise it is very usuable. Oh I wish it had a better standby battery life.

[General Chaos]

Grabbed a Surface Pro 2 with Type 2 Cover last night.

Latest Firmware upgrade puts its battery life to 8.33 hours when web browsing with screen at 65%
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7478/micr ... ttery-life" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This was enough to get me off the sidelines. I've been using a work Acer W510 (atom with keyboard dock) and have not parted they dock from it in months so am used to the weight. Not to mention I can't actually remember the last time I actually held a tablet in the air where weight would become an issue.

The other thing that got me off the sidelines is the fabled Bay-Trail x86 tablets are still not hitting the market in configurations I would like. OEMs are taking the piss and either releasing them in low res cheap mass market gear or adding the extra features like stylus support and pushing them too close to Haswell tablet prices to be worth the effort. Hell even then it looks like Dell are skimping on the screen res making it even less appealing.

I very nearly got a Surface 2 (Arm) since the Wifes Surface RT has been excellent with the 8.1 update but being a tinkerer I couldn't let go of x86.

[General Chaos]

Or if anyone is kind of interested in a feature rich tablet at a cheap price (and can find one in their area).


http://www.dicksmith.com.au/laptops-not ... sau-xc8628" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Samsung XE700T1C

Intel Core i5 3317UB Processor
1.7GHz - 2.6GHz CPU Processor Speed
11.6" Full HD Touch Display
4GB RAM
64GB SSD HD
Windows 8 OS
HD web camera

[Madmya]

Ah, very jelly about the Surface 2.

[General Chaos]

I only got the 64GB.

Have been running a 64GB Win8 tablet with full corporate bloat including office 2013 cached .pst and all my personal stuff in an offline profile and was never wanting for space. Will grab a SD card if I want more space. Hell I see this getting offloaded as soon as they release next years refresh and probably cut the thickness in half.

Realistically if you aren't a heavy user you could probably save the coin and get the original as there isn't a lot of difference. Though I am not a fan of the original kickstand at all. New one is made of WIN!

[Madmya]

Fair bit of difference in grunt though, right? I guess the extra grunt could really only be noticed in games, because I sure as hell have never found my Surface to be slow. Would be cool to check out a game running on it though..

[General Chaos]

Don't think so. Perhaps the GPU is a bit better? Didn't look at benchmarks. Reviews pretty much say much better battery life with similar performance.

[Cletus]

.

[Cletus]

.

[Gamma]

That is some fine handwriting, sir.

[Madmya]

Was that done in Fresh Paint Cletus?

That is excellent.

[GreyWizzard]

Looking at the background texture I'd day Fresh Paint.

[Cletus]

Both in Fresh Paint. The first is a textured paper and the second is plain.

[jizzlobber]

Original surface RT is $223 at Harvey Norman and some other retailers... yeh it's flawed but fuck that's cheap!
I love mine

[Cletus]

Santa gave Nicole a Surface 2 for Christmas. She better love hers too.

[pilonv1]

Threaten her with an RT version if she doesn't

[Cletus]

Surface 2 is an RT version.

She already prefers it to her iPad. Thing is the RT is similar to an iPad in you can only install apps, but she can also plug in her camera and transfer photos without hooking it up to her laptop and fucking around with iTunes. She still has the apps she needs like Kindle and a few others and she can plug her HDD in and watch pretty much any media format she has. No need to convert anything. I've ordered an extra 64GB card for both hers and mine. Oh and she has the new Type 2 keyboard, backlit, purple. Sweet.

The iPad does have a billion more apps but it can't do any of those very simple things. The Surface fills a lot of the gaps.

[GeneraL CyberFunK]

And they are really big gaps. Yeah the app store is fucking terrible but a lot of the basic and fundamental stuff is there.

I'm typing this on my laptop and I now have the desire to go play with the surface and see what apps are on there now.. haven't checked in months.. which again shows how much use most apps give you.

[GeneraL CyberFunK]

Holy shit... megadrive and master system emulators at last... fuck yes

[GeneraL CyberFunK]

http://au.ign.com/articles/2014/01/03/m ... -processor" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I hate when this happens. BUT I guess it works out well for me since I won't be jumping for a surface until the 3rd gen. By that stage.. it should be pretty fucking sweet.

[Cletus]

Owning a Surface Pro leaves me with mixed feelings after the significant upgrades the unit has seen since it launched early last year. I'm not looking to upgrade any time soon but at least when I do I know it'll be worth it. Either way, I'm not looking at jumping ship from Windows 8 on a tablet.

Side note - I changed to a new phone last week (as mentioned in the Android thread) being the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. The S-Pen works on the Surface Pro. The Surface Pro pen works on the Note 3. Even the buttons work appropriately on each device. It's pretty sweet.