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Microsoft Surface Pro Reviews Arrive
The release date is approaching for Microsoft's Surface Pro tablet, and reviews for the new device have started appearing. The Surface Pro differs from the Surface in that it runs a full version of Windows 8 Pro, rather than the tablet-centric Windows RT. It also has much beefier hardware specs: 4GB RAM, an Intel Core i5 CPU, and a full HD display with 10-point multitouch. Ars describes it as having the expected good performance at the expected costs of heat, noise, and battery life. "This is not an all-day machine. Surface RT probably is. But Surface Pro is not." The review praises the screen and the stylus, but points out some odd scaling issues as well. The Verge's review also mentions the scaling, and notes the strangeness of dealing with issues inherent to a Windows desktop OS — like antivirus — on a tablet. BGR looks at the big picture, calling the Surface Pro Microsoft's "declaration of war" on its hardware partners. All three reviews dwell on how the Surface Pro exists at the intersection of laptop and tablet, and doesn't quite fulfill either role. Ars says, "From the tablet perspective, Surface Pro is not acceptable. It gets too hot for a hand-held device, its battery life is woefully inadequate, and it's too thick and heavy to be comfortable to hand hold for long sessions. ... From a laptop perspective, Surface Pro falls down too. The traditional laptop has a stiff hinge to hold the screen at an angle of your choosing. ... In practice, the Surface RT and Surface Pro have a bigger footprint on my lap even than my old 15-inch MacBook Pro. And if I move a little, whomp, the screen drops off the back of my knees and folds out of sight." The Verge adds, "The real dealbreaker for me was that it's just unusable in my most common position — sitting on my couch, feet on the coffee table, with the computer on my lap."
I've read the Anan review and it mentions pretty much everything that's in the summary. Though he puts a lot of positive spin on some things - the fans and the heat for example. He says you can hear the fans but it is not a problem. And proceeds to say the case hits 40 degrees but that it's not uncomfortable for it to be that hot. I have a hard time believing that.
I think the idea has some promise but a lot of problems in this current form.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
This has potential to rid me of having a separate computer and tablet. The current Pro seems like it will work as a development platform for future applications; the consumers will start buying it more once it gets thinner and lighter.
Why not buy a laptop? They weigh 5 lbs... that's light. They're usable. They run all the software desktops run because they're the same thing. Battery life can reach 6-10 hours depending on OS and model. They come with a USB port (Nexus 7 complaint).
If Google comes out with a phone or tablet it's simply fostering adoption and providing some reference for other hardware makers, if Micro$oft does it they're "declaring war" on their hardware partners. Utter stupidity.
Also, why would anyone think the Surface Pro was supposed to run on battery all day...? Clearly this is a workstation/tablet hybrid that leans farther to the tablet side.
In the longer run Intel will have move entirely into this market, and you'll find that people no longer have PCs at the office, they've got 'surface pro 3' with full blown M$ Office on it - and by that time it will run 10 hours on a charge.
Personally I thought this was going to happen sooner via systems like the Atrix phone and dock - they tried this at SIEMENS a few years back but Android was really the blocking issue, not the hardware. I love my Android phone, but as a full blown operating system it's got a long way to go.
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No, it's a heavy, non-portable tablet with poor battery life and a requirement for virus checkers, rebooting after installation, frequent security updates, and a bizarre, unintuitive OS.
The issue with the surface is, it isn't a tablet and it isn't a laptop. For the price of it, you can get an awesome ultrabook. You can also get a comparable tablet for a lot less.
I think people want a tablet that they can use a keyboard on, but I don't think that this is it. MS has tried for over a decade to convince us it's was of doing a tablet is the right way - and it has been a failure.
I haven't seen any enterprises adopting them, so I am unsure where they actually plan to sell them
I don't think the surface is a "bad idea" it is just terribly executed.
I can't help thinking Microsoft still doesn't really get design. They talked a lot ahead of the launch of this device about the fact that their goal was a design without compromise - see this for example http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/08/31/designing-for-metro-style-and-the-desktop.aspx
But what the mean by no compromise is entirely different from what Apple means by no compromise. Apple designed the iPad to be the a compromise-free tablet - the best *tablet* they could come up with. And it was, and is a brilliant tablet. What it isn't is a laptop. Microsoft's idea of no compromise is a device that can be both a laptop and a tablet. What you end up with is an entirely compromised product - too heavy and power hungry to be any use as a tablet, it is also impossible to use on your lap making it an entirely rubbish laptop.
Every review I've seen says the same thing:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324900204578285963270503862.html?mod=djemptech_t
"It’s too hefty and costly and power-hungry to best the leading tablet, Apple’s full-size iPad. It is also too difficult to use in your lap."
http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/05/microsoft-surface-pro-review/
"When trying to be productive, we wished we had a proper laptop and, when relaxing on the couch, we wished we had a more finger-friendly desktop interface"
http://techland.time.com/2013/02/05/review-microsoft-surface-pro-the-surface-thats-more-pc-than-tablet/
"It’s bulkier than Surface RT because its components require more interior space. Microsoft’s stated battery life is five hours, compared to eight for Surface RT. Even the AC adapter is portlier."
And it's main selling point it the fact that it's two inferior devices in one.
There's a key difference: Google devices are built by partners, though they are marketed (badly) by Google. Surface devices are built directly by MS.
The Cloud - because you don't care if your apps and data are up in the air.
My god, I just used "it's" instead of "its". Slashdot is indeed making me dumber, just as I had suspect.
How is, "shorter battery life", "vents", "to warm to hold", "unstable on a lap" FUD? Look if you don't like iPads fine, don't like iPads. But don't go slamming the review for telling the truth. Microsoft creating this abortion of a device to try to marry two technologies, which are separate technologies. We can argue that iPads are too expensive and have other short comings. But there are plenty of Android tablets that can fill the gap. Heck an Asus is much better than this Microsoft device.
"You can't make a race horse of a pig"
"No," said Samuel, "but you can make very fast pig"
$1,100???? My daughter just got a Lenovo, about 3 lbs, 15" screen, delivered for $350. Why would I want to spend 3x the money for a smaller screen and a worse keyboard?
I can equip most of my family with nice laptops for the price of one Surface. :headscratch:
But what's a tablet, besides a giant cell phone that doesn't make calls,is much too large to fit in a pocket, and with terrible battery life, or a tiny, unwieldy, badly crippled laptop?
I don't respond to AC's.
While you may be correct, in this case because of Microsoft's nearly 40 year history as not really being a computer hardware vendor (not talking about mice here), they are telling those they partnered with for decades that their products are inferior and Microsoft can do it better.
Google hasn't been around long enough to create that sort of legacy and has both partnered with and created their own hardware along the way.
I just don't see this as an apples to apples comparison for you to make. But hey, your opinion is as good as anyone's.
I think that's a case of semantics ;).
The Google 'partner' that builds the phone isn't making a profit anymore than the actual manufacturer making the RT and Pro, plus they aren't 'marketed badly' by Google - that's is not their purpose. Neither is it the purpose of the Surface RT or Surface Pro.
It's like complaining back when nVidia and ATI made cards that they were poisoning their hardware partners when nothing could be further from the truth (they no longer need to do this because of the ubiquity of their chipsets.)
Micro$oft is simply putting out a reference design to generate initiative.
I tell you, I'd love to find a way to dual boot the thing and get OpenSUSE on it - otherwise it's a 1080p touchscreen laptop (which is moderately cool.)
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Oh give me a break, Dynabook? Is this Microsoft "marketing" in action? Yes Yes I know the term came somewhere else, but I am doing a jab. I happen to own a tablet (Android and iPad), smart phone (iPhone and Android), and computers (OSX and Linux). The reality of the matter is that the Surface Pro is NOT a device to get things done. It is not a device to program, unless you edit with a text editor, and don't want to compile and debug. I have gone through many of these iterations and the reality is that all of these devices are separate devices. The idea that Microsoft thinks you can create an all in one is just plain stupid.
I have bought more hardware than most and owned my first laptop in 1991. And the reality is that it is like NoSQL databases, where you can have two of three attributes, not all. So you can either have battery and power, but not lightweight ease of carry. Or you can have lightweight and battery, but not power. Only Microsoft would create a half arsed job to try and create something with all three. In fact if I had to critique Microsoft it is their lunatic attitude that you can create software that follows the 80/20 rule and still be cool.
"You can't make a race horse of a pig"
"No," said Samuel, "but you can make very fast pig"
Because I'm currently using a Fujitsu Stylistic ST-4121 running Windows XP Tablet PC Edition and need to keep my Wacom stylus --- I use it for:
- annotating .pdfs
- drawing and sketching using ArtRage, Autodesk SketchBook, FutureWave SmartSketch, Creaturehouse Expression and Macromedia FreeHand
- designing fonts using FontForge
- lightweight programming using Runtime Revolution (I find drawing interface elements easier w/ the stylus)
- writing papers using LyX and WinTeXshell which are then typeset using LaTeX (I prefer to write rather than type)
- notetaking w/ handwriting recognition using Evernote
If the Surface Pro had longer battery life or a replaceable battery, I'd get one. If it's possible to run Mac OS X on it, I'd be tempted, until then, I guess I'm back to pricing a larger SSD for my current machine.
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
TLDNR summary of Anandtech review:
As a tablet it, uh... has really good benchmark results... for a tablet. If you put up with all the heat, battery life and bulk issues it's awesome!
As a laptop it, uh... has really good benchmark results... for a tablet. If you put up with all the ergonomic problems and the crap touchpad, it's awesome!
In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
My big complaint with the review in the post is about how it fits in your lap.
In practice, the Surface RT and Surface Pro have a bigger footprint on my lap even than my old 15-inch MacBook Pro. And if I move a little, whomp, the screen drops off the back of my knees and folds out of sight.
It isn't a laptop and you aren't going to use it as a laptop. Sure, it has a keyboard, but if you're sitting on the couch with you feet up, you'd be using it in tablet mode. But, this is also why I don't think I'll have a laptop as my main "goof off" computer. I'm not going to post to Slashdot or Facebook or Twitter with a device that only has an on-screen keyboard (my phone has a physical keyboard for "heavier" text input). So, I'll likely still have some sort of laptop / dockable tablet so that I can input text. But I'm not going to use the Surface keyboard cover as my keyboard because it doesn't provide the laptop clamshell footprint --- which works quite well.
The rest of the complaints are fairly valid. The Surface Pro is interesting hardware, but I'm not sure they're using it the way it will really be used, so I question any usability points in the review.
I can't help thinking Microsoft still doesn't really get design.
Nothing to do with compromise. Its unashamedly, about using their Desktop [and Office] monopoly, to muscle there way onto mobile [smartphone and tablet] after failing have a compelling product to gain relevance in the new sector, by pretending they are an ecosystem(sic).
It hardly takes a genius to see that the a separation of both Tablet and Desktop for in both hardware and software, rather than some hybrid affair would be an improvement...but its not going to win against Android, or ironically ChromeOS.
I agree and the summary is very negatively biased. I clicked through to the BGR article expecting to find a scathing summary, when in fact it was quite the opposite.
"On an island, the Surface Pro is a fantastic premium computer that is portable, versatile and capable. It is priced fairly and it offers novel features that provide clear advantages over rival devices. But in a market where interest in personal computers is declining and Windows 8 is struggling to gain traction, I fear the Surface Pro might not be the right product right now.
The Surface Pro is not good fit for everyone, but those who do purchase Microsoft’s new tablet for work or for personal use — whether they number in the thousands, hundreds of thousands, or millions — will not be disappointed."
True. However you don't want a 104F notebook sitting on your lap. It makes you sweat quite a bit and is uncomfortable. It absolutely won't burn your or anything like that. But it sucks to have a machine that warm on your lap.
It's a shitty laptop and a shitty tablet. Oh and 41-43Gb of OS gobbling up your SSD is simply a frigging joke.
Nothing new here..... move along.
"TV, a medium as it is neither rare nor well done." Ernie Kovacs
Data-filled indeed. Pages of benchmark results, most of them for some obscure web benchmark (WebXPRT). The results show in so many ways that an i5 tablet is much faster than all those ARM tablets. I learned very little from that review that was not also covered in other less technical reviews. Basically Anandtech is throwing softballs at the companies that the site depends on to a large degree. I can understand that, but they do not exactly deserve praise for it. As for the Ars review, I found it excellent. The extensive coverage of the display scaling issues was the first time I ever read a comprehensive explanation of how this is handled in Windows. Very informative!
and you'll find that people no longer have PCs at the office, they've got 'surface pro 3' with full blown M$ Office on it - and by that time it will run 10 hours on a charge.
From what I've seen, I'm sure some technology execs are smoking the same thing you are. However, I see no point in the future where a tablet is going to replace my workstation. I can see myself having a tablet to augment my workstation (e.g. having manuals on a tablet instead of on paper), but the actual work is always going to be done on a proper computer.
http://blog.nexusuk.org
The hardware is interesting. But...
-it's got the battery life of a laptop
-it weighs as much as an ultrabook
-it doesn't have a proper keyboard
-you can't balance it on your lap
-it's too heavy to hold in one hand
-it's got a full blown wasteful Windows installation that eats greatly into the available disk space
-has cooling vents
To me that reads: all the drawbacks of both a laptop and a tablet
It propably is an amazing piece of kit and I honestly want something like that more than my next breath. But I would have preferred if they had gone the way Asus went with the Transformer line. Detachable clamshell keyboard with an extra battery. No need for a sleeve. Does not tip over as easily. All the benefits of a laptop and a tablet. Should have been a winner. Maybe the next batch.
Also I'm not quite sure about the choice of CPU.
I love the convergence of tablet and laptop. That is a truly, truly great thing. But normal laptop innards conveniently rearranged will not quite cut it. We are currently moving away from the old Intel x86 architecture and into happy RISC land for a reason. My Transformer has replaced my notebook for all but heavy typing and dev work. For everything else I actually prefer the plucky little bugger and take only that with me on business trips. No worries.
20 minutes into the future
You can twist anything to be undesirable by asking questions like that. What's a car, besides a horse needing gasoline and which can't be eaten after it dies of old age? What's a hoover, besides a brush needing electricity? What's a house, besides a tent which cannot be moved as necessary?
"First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist..."
Plus, what exactly are you referring to as crap?
The hardware's not crap - although it doesn't serve my needs.
The OS isn't crap - although I primarily use *nix.
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But is the same temperature as a jacuzzi. TOTC.
I come here for the love
Because full Windows isn't meaningful if one can't run ancient old Windows programs --- this worked out so well for the Compaq TC1000.
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
I should hope they are, otherwise they're going to go out of business.
They may not be making all of the profits, but if they're doing manufacturing without making any profit, they'd be idiots.
But Microsoft has typically let their partners design the boxes to run Windows, with this Microsoft is entering actually designing and selling Microsoft branded hardware. Except for keyboards and Mice, they've never actually had their brand on the hardware for the most part.
'Declaring war' might be a little strong, but Microsoft is definitely moving into competing with their former partners.
Part of their reasoning for this is that they want to compete with Apple and get the money on the hardware too, but part of it might be that the manufacturers weren't lining up to create new devices around a platform they don't know if anybody wants -- so why should they take the risks ?
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
I don't want chunky and heavy --- I see no reason to haul around a keyboard and optical drive I almost never use (I have docking stations for when I want to use it at a desk at work or home) and it wouldn't fit in my favourite laptop bag which I've been using for about 2 decades now, and don't want to replace.
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
Well considering that Win 8 is a hybrid OS that requires a user to have a keyboard for certain tasks, complaints about the uncomfortable keyboard positions is valid.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Given that the lowest end (12WX) cintiq is around $900, and this seems to have much of the functionality of that, without the need to lug a laptop or desktop around as well, this suddenly becomes more interesting. I'd like to see more info about it's usability in that respect.
Forget the Surface Pro - get an Atom-based Win8 tablet. I'm quite satisfied with mine (ATIV Smart PC): easily gets 10 hours of battery life during PDF annotation or OneNote (usually more - I haven't gotten it below 50% in a workday yet), sufficiently thin and light so as not to be noticeable in a bag, and Wacom stylus tech.
I'm coming from a Thinkpad X41T, which had a bit more CPU grunt than that ST-4121 of yours, and the Clover Trail Atom is quite a bit faster than the Pentium M in the X41T... so you should be fine in terms of processing power as well.
It isn't a laptop and you aren't going to use it as a laptop.
But the fanboys keep saying 'hey, this is great, I can use it as a tablet and a laptop'.
Sure, it has a keyboard, but if you're sitting on the couch with you feet up, you'd be using it in tablet mode.
Unless you want to do actual work with it, as you would with a laptop.
But I'm not going to use the Surface keyboard cover as my keyboard because it doesn't provide the laptop clamshell footprint --- which works quite well.
So, uh, why buy one when there are much better tablets available for less?
iPad looks like a good reader, film viewer and game console, but a dead-end for anyone who wants to write, program or get real work done.
For the main iPad use cases, you missed "web browser" and "email reader".
The addition of a Bluetooth keyboard (which are getting better and better) moves it squarely into the sweet spot for writing.
For "programming and real work" you can use the keyboard plus some of the increasingly excellent remoting software. While it's a compromise (so is a laptop for that matter) you can use the full power of a beefy desktop or server. With a decent network connection it works well.
I like laptops as well, but the point is that even the iPad is becoming more and more viable as a laptop replacement for many people.
Galileo: "The Earth revolves around the Sun!"
Score: -1 100% Flamebait
Ever hear that old joke that a camel is a horse designed by committee? Surface is the new horse. It's not quite a tablet, it's not quite a laptop, it's not quite...I don't know what the hell it is I just know I don't want one. It's too hot, it's too heavy, the battery life sucks (compared to an iPad anyhow), and it's way too expensive. If I wanted to run old Windows programs then why not just get a laptop at about half the price and not have to deal with the overheating issues? This thing is DOA.
We're discussing the Surface Pro which runs the Win 8 Pro operating system on pretty capable x86 hardware with a Cintiq-class digitiser system built in, not the Surface RT which runs a cut-down OS on a non-x86 architecture with no pen digitiser. Do keep up at the back, there.
Commas don't go, where you think they go.
"There can be little doubt that union activities lead to continuous and progressive inflation." F. A. Hayek
Metro apps follow strict sandboxing, backgrounding, multitasking, and power management rules, which allows Microsoft to make some performance guarantees about Windows RT systems. As soon as you start installing legacy applications which can sit in the background and suck up as much juice as they want, all battery life claims are compromised.
If you want full Windows in a long-battery package, there are Atom chips for that which last over 8 hours.
Please show me the ultrabook that gets 10 hours of battery life. Hell show me the laptop with an intel (not atom) chip that gets 10 hours.
The only laptops I have seen that give that kind of life all have to use an extended battery that ruins their form factor and adds quite a bit of weight.
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
What is this I don't even...
You realize that the Surface Pro doesn't run Windows RT?
...I think customers will be equally confused :)
True. However you don't want a 104F notebook sitting on your lap. It makes you sweat quite a bit and is uncomfortable. It absolutely won't burn your or anything like that. But it sucks to have a machine that warm on your lap.
And to generate all that heat requires current, which is why the batteries aren't lasting as long as they should for something like this.
Steve Jobs, for all his evils understood the concept of a complete package, get everything right (aside antennas, apparently) before rolling it out. This thing smacks of rushed to market.
Expect big sudden price drops.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
You know, this argument that "you can't enter lots of text on an iPad with the on-screen keyboard, it's a toy," would be a lot more compelling if there weren't cheap & readily available bluetooth keyboards that will pair with the iPad and let you type to your heart's content.
Also, the argument that "real work" somehow requires lots of typing is more than a little silly. Not every job is programming. Not every job is writing novels and screenplays.
I haven't had to play with it, but our desktop support folks say that the XP virtualization in Windows 7 is fairly seamless. If they did something like that for an ARM version to have backwards compatibility I could see it working out. I don't know if that's even feasible though, since I assume hardware virtualization is a pretty big leap from OS virtualization.
Be careful to not confuse virtualization with emulation. To run x86 apps on ARM you'd need emulation which is an altogether different thing than virtualization. (at least in the common IT use of the terms) Unlike virtualization, emulation is very CPU-intensive so they'd be cutting the battery life of the RT down to at most that of the Pro while providing the user experience of a Pentium II. Their real mistake is taking their chance to start with a clean slate (ARM, RT) and slapping the Windows brand on. If they hadn't done that, every RT review wouldn't have an obligatory paragraph about how the thing runs "Windows" but it can't actually use any of the software you already have.
The XP mode is still running x86 programs on an x86 processor though. To do it with ARM you have to emulate the entire x86 cpu and instruction set.
Anti-virus is basically useless now, they don't update enough, virus writers test to make sure they can bypass them. How often do you see a machine with Symantec or McAfee installed completely pwned by viruses. Windows Defender (the built in av for windows 8) is probably enough as long as you surf smart.
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
Say what you will about Apple devices (like the iPad), their devices don't run hot and they are silent or all but silent.
So why did Apple have those things right 5 years ago, but MSFT still can't do it?
A tablet with a screen that bests every single tablet out there in quality
Please elaborate. The "new" (I'm not sure what it's supposed to be called anymore) iPad and Nexus 10 beat it in PPI; the Transformer Infinity has slightly more vertical pixels and IPS+ mode that allows it to be used outdoors with ease. How does this best every single tablet out there?.
Except the MacBook Air isn't a tablet. That's the point here. In the Surface Pro, you have a crappy tablet (I.e., laptop level heat) and a crappy laptop (tablet form factor, limited specs, floppy hinge that isn't, you know, actually lap friendly).
Im failing to see how... "Cortex A9" is remotely similar to "Core i5"
Well, they're both a word that starts with "Cor", a space, and then a single letter and a single digit. Really, if you can't see how similar they are, there's just no hope for you.
Ok, so basically the reviews are ripping it to shreds. Just re-read the last few sentences of the summary. That's the nice way of saying "This is total trash, stay away from it. I don't know who would want one, because either you need a tablet, or a notebook, and this one tries to be both and fails at both."
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Say what you will about Apple devices (like the iPad), their devices don't run hot and they are silent or all but silent.
So why did Apple have those things right 5 years ago, but MSFT still can't do it?
Microsoft are scared to death that markets are abandoning them for mobile computing - i.e. tablets and smart phones, which is largely true. Dell and HP have seen sharp declines in demand for desktops and laptop computers. Most peopl never needed them, but got them because these devices allowed them to do some thing which were important to them, such as social networking, checking email, reading news, shopping, etc. Microsoft is very late to the dance and are trying to wedge themselves in the same way they have in other markets. They will likely hemorrage cash for a while and either carve out a piece or concede defeat.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I see many parallels too:
Apple: iPod/iPhone/iPad
Microsoft: Zune/Windows Phone/Surface
Yes indeed. Many parallels.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
The funny thing is, your list of "it'll run..." items is also true for Windows RT (Windows on ARM). Surface RT already has software to do all that, and it's not even a particularly cutting edge ARM chip. That said, since Atom has now managed to put itself in the same power-demand range as ARM, it is debatable whether the slightly increased price of the Intel chipset isn't worth the far greater library of available software.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Microsoft launch a "Surface Home" (or similarly named) device that has a Surface RT-like form factor (thinner than the Pro, no active cooling), 3 or 4 GB of RAM (Surface RT is fine with 2, but that's short for an x86 machine today), at least 64GB of storage, an Atom CPU, and a 1366x768 display (which is lower than I'd like but is a tolerable DPI on a 10" screen). It would probably cost $600-$700 as described, a bit more if they included a stylus digitizer (which would also probably make the case a bit thicker) or a high-res screen (which is an option I'd pay for if at all reasonably priced). Yeah, it wouldn't be a computing beast, but it would outperform the Surface RT (not by much with the current crop of Atom chips, but by enough to matter), could run just about anything, would have the RT's 8 hour battery life, and would be priced in a range acceptable to students and home users. It would come with Win8 (not Pro) but could be upgraded to Pro for the relatively low in-place upgrade pricing MS offers; this would make it suitable as a BYOD machine above and beyond the capabilities of RT, as it would be able to join domains and such.
There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
It's a nice device, but with PDF Annotation & OneNote both available on Android. It has competition. And you lose anti-virus, gain a future OS upgrade (if you go with a top name), have a thinner, cooler (temperature) device with days of instant standby. All for about the same cost, or less if you can handle a smaller screen size (which Android works sufficiently with).
Science & open-source build trust from peer review. Learn systems you can trust.