Surface 2... any thoughts on it?

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bbunnys

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#138832 18-Jan-2014 08:20

Anyone out there rocking a Surface 2.

Im looking for a new 10 inch tablet and prices seem pretty good compared to other tablets out there.

90% of my use is to surf web and watch video. Screen on Surface looks pretty good size for video. Only down side I can see for me is cant sync Plex to Windows 8 yet.

Anyone with one, whats the app store like now. Mainly the gaming side as I do a little of that as well. Are they putting new games out?

Also hardware itself, I have played quite a bit on Ipad air but cant justify the $900 price for 32gb model and screen not best for video. But hardware on Ipad feels real good and battery lasts for ages. Whats Surface 2 like? I have tried original Surface and would say it was ok, is new one better feeling.

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#969230 18-Jan-2014 08:31

I bought a Surface Pro 2 just before Xmas and although not quite used to it yet, think it's a fantastic device. The fact that it's also a full on computer is a major benefit. I think they key is to think of it as that first (a full computer) and then as tablet (second).

Just as an aside, the USB port failed and Microsoft's process for an exchange/repair is painful.

bbunnys

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#969247 18-Jan-2014 09:18

Yea im looking more for a Surface 2 rather than Pro 2.

nathan

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#969258 18-Jan-2014 09:52

rp1790: I bought a Surface Pro 2 just before Xmas and although not quite used to it yet, think it's a fantastic device. The fact that it's also a full on computer is a major benefit. I think they key is to think of it as that first (a full computer) and then as tablet (second).

Just as an aside, the USB port failed and Microsoft's process for an exchange/repair is painful.

id be keen to hear more feedback about your exchange experience. I've returned some myself, you go to a website, the email you a PDF address label, you package up your Surface, call up UPS they come pick it up and its airfreighted to Australia for warranty exchange

tripp

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#969906 20-Jan-2014 10:47

bbunnys: Yea im looking more for a Surface 2 rather than Pro 2.

So far i have had
Samsung xe500T1c (atom cpu device however the keyboard connection to tablet was crap) <-- Atom CPU 2gig of ram windows 8

MS surface RT (first gen) good little machine but did have problems with windows updates and OS

MS Surface Pro 2, great machine until MS firmware in December stuffed it (would turn itself on while in my bag in a hot car and cook itself and battery would only last 7 hours as sleep did not work). Don't think i will ever buy another surface device because of the way MS has been over the fix. Nathan has been very helpful and offered me a loan device while my MS pro 2 was getting fixed but did not want to setup 2 devices and got sick of waiting for MS AU to send a replacement unit. Returned to shop and got a refund.

Now rocking a Asus Transformer T100 (Atom new gen CPU Quad Core) <- I love this machine, the connection to the keyboard is good (way better than the samsung) Had no slow downs however it is only 2gig ram and windows 8.1 32bit

But video's, email, youtube, web stuff etc all good, even plays windows store games really well.

billgates

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#969910 20-Jan-2014 10:51

Bought a Surface 2 at launch. Use it as my daily driver instead of the ultrabook now mainly due to weight and battery life. Not really an app store person. Have my web browser with flash, facebook, twitter and skype app. 2 stage kickstand is nice as now I can put it on my lap. Do get the Type Cover 2 with it.

Do whatever you want to do man.

Handsomedan

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#969967 20-Jan-2014 12:22

I had a play on one at a booth at the airport a couple opf weeks ago.

I was very impressed and it changed my view of them completely.

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loceff13

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#969993 20-Jan-2014 13:28

Sister has one for work, nice unit but I'm not a fan of the glossy panel and how often you have to wipe it for fingerprints etc. Also was occasionally unusable in the sun/outside on a hot(25+) day and would put itself into some crippled mode in direct sunlight, it would get that hot.

For the price they cost ($1400-2500 odd for the pro 2 models) I wasn't that impressed compared to the ultrabook/tablet range available right now(plus soon to include 4th gen processors).

Dairyxox

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#969999 20-Jan-2014 13:44

32GB ipad air is only about $800 on price aggregating sites.
Personally i'd get that, but thats not what you're asking. Mainly because of the app store. Apple has great games like xcom, for their platform. I feel like MS app store gives you a boiled egg for your efforts.

Surface tablets are nice. IMHO they are the only windows 8 tablets you should buy, and are the best by miles.

You get that tight integration of all windows features thanks to the same company being in charge of the software & hardware. Not saying they're perfect (I had some "showstopper" problems with the original surface RT which was resolved with updates) but way better than asus & samsungs attempts.

rokki

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#972294 22-Jan-2014 15:00

Hi i got given one just before xmas and am really enjoying it love the size and form factor no need to lug my macbook pro retina to work now :) More functionality than my ipad 4

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mattwnz

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#972326 22-Jan-2014 15:56

Dairyxox: 32GB ipad air is only about $800 on price aggregating sites.
Personally i'd get that, but thats not what you're asking. Mainly because of the app store. Apple has great games like xcom, for their platform. I feel like MS app store gives you a boiled egg for your efforts.

Surface tablets are nice. IMHO they are the only windows 8 tablets you should buy, and are the best by miles.

You get that tight integration of all windows features thanks to the same company being in charge of the software & hardware. Not saying they're perfect (I had some "showstopper" problems with the original surface RT which was resolved with updates) but way better than asus & samsungs attempts.

If you are a windows user, I think the surface is possibly a better option, just because it can do so much more. The fact that internet explorer runs flash is a major advantage in itself,and the web browser is more intuitive than ipads safari. Also have windows explorer on it make file management and moving files around so much easier. It is frustrating on the ipad. But RT does have some limitations, but so does ios. The main downside of the surface over the ipad is it's lack of support for google apps, like maps. Micorsoft have their own version, but they aren't as good, and quite laggy on the surface rt. They may perform better on the surface rt 2. That said, the ipad air is a very nice device, but is more cosumption then productive.

Batman

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#972352 22-Jan-2014 16:26

i have android tab ipad and windows tablet. here are my thoughts

- if you want to do proper computing you need windows tablet WITH A KEYBOARD AND TRACKPAD.
as in - select cut and paste, flash, surf web pages that need you to key in words and numbers, surf any web page, do work like MS office, etc
but don't even thnk about äpps". there are no apps that are any good. waste of time browsing the store.

- if you want to do all the cool things your ipad friends can do with their ipad, then only an ipad will let you do that. but don't hope to do anything other than reading on a lot of web pages on web browsers. also, can't copy files to it. well not easily anyway.

- android - umm ... i'm not sure why it even exists. a glorified portable harddrive? it has millions of apps. but nowhere near as good/fluid as ipad ones. not sure why. maybe the platform? but at least you can copy things onto it easily. and there are lots of free apps that can do things you want to do, just not as fluidly as ipad, and be prepared for 99% shameless plugging of ads ads ads

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mattwnz

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#972399 22-Jan-2014 17:57

joker97: i have android tab ipad and windows tablet. here are my thoughts

- if you want to do proper computing you need windows tablet WITH A KEYBOARD AND TRACKPAD.
as in - select cut and paste, flash, surf web pages that need you to key in words and numbers, surf any web page, do work like MS office, etc
but don't even thnk about äpps". there are no apps that are any good. waste of time browsing the store.

- if you want to do all the cool things your ipad friends can do with their ipad, then only an ipad will let you do that. but don't hope to do anything other than reading on a lot of web pages on web browsers. also, can't copy files to it. well not easily anyway.

- android - umm ... i'm not sure why it even exists. a glorified portable harddrive? it has millions of apps. but nowhere near as good/fluid as ipad ones. not sure why. maybe the platform? but at least you can copy things onto it easily. and there are lots of free apps that can do things you want to do, just not as fluidly as ipad, and be prepared for 99% shameless plugging of ads ads ads

As the windows rt web browser has flash built in, you don't often need apps. eg You don't need the tvnz ondemand app, as you can view the ondemand website. There are some good apps for windows, and many of the games are now in the windows store. But it is missing some of the essential ones, things like google now, maps, imdb, youtube. But some of the thord party app replacements aren't too bad, and there are some good youtube and video replacements.

Dairyxox

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#972445 22-Jan-2014 19:34

imho flash is on the way out. Google no longer want it on android. Adobe have said they're not going to persist with mobile flash anymore, and because of apple, a good portion of web developers have been making their sites work well without flash for many years now.

I'm trying to think of a killer app that needs flash, and i can only think of friv.com for free children's games. Even then there that many (many, many) free kids games in the app stores.

Some people on geekzone have talked up the penguin browser on iOS which has (limited - hence my timid mention) flash support. (Haven't tried it myself).

Of course its nice to simply have it without any fuss.

Batman

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#972451 22-Jan-2014 19:43

give you an example.

tried to set up dad's ipad 4 (ios 7) with flickr.

says need create account takes me to website.

after half an hour could not create account. some click button was not clicking due to something not showing/working.

i handed him my win 8.1 asus transformer and created the flickr account in less than a minute.

*APPLE FAIL*

nathan

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#972465 22-Jan-2014 20:05

All browser plugins are definitely on their way out, but Flash just like Java will be with us for years to come

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