Microsoft Surface and competitors' Windows tablets

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In the fast-paced world of tablet technology, one year is considered a generation. A year-old tablet will be outdated: slower processor, using more battery power, and less functional than the latest hotness.

Microsoft introduced the Surface RT tablets in October 2012, 9 months ago at this writing. So the "expires by" date for the first Surface tablets is fast approaching.

To clear out inventory, Microsoft has reduced prices by 30%. Today, the Surface RT tablet with 2 GB RAM, 32 GB flash storage, and a 10 inch, 1366x768 color touchscreen will cost $350. Increase storage to 64 GB, and the price becomes $450.
http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/surface-with-windows-rt/

The Surface RT includes a full size USB port, a slot for micro SD cards, and a port for video output. WiFi and Bluetooth wireless communications are included.

Prices for the keyboard covers continue unchanged. You'll pay $100 for the Touch cover, $120 for the Type cover.

The Surface RT tablet ships with lots of useful software. Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition, including touch-enabled versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint and OneTouch, is included. There's a version of Internet Explorer, Bing search, a Mail program, cloud storage through Microsoft's SkyDrive, and the ability to play music, view photos, and watch video. Outlook will be added to RT this Fall when Windows 8.1 for RT is released.

There is a small number of third party products for Windows RT. Apps are available from Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, Evernote, iHeartRadio, Angry Birds, and (at least a few) more.

Microsoft also has a special price for students. The 32 GB Surface RT costs only $199 to registered students. However, the school must order the tablet and handle the delivery to the student.

How does Surface RT compare to other tablets? Google sells a 10 inch version of its Nexus tablet for $399. The extra $50 buys much better specs:

Google Nexus 10
maunfactured by Samsung
Android 4.2
Google Play store with thousands of apps for tablet
10 inch, 2560x1600 color touchscreen (300 pixels per inch)
1.7 GHz Samsung Exynos 5 dual core processor (ARM Cortex A15 design)
2 GB RAM, 16 GB storage
5 megapixel main camera, 1.9 megapixel front facing camera
micro USB, micro HDMI
9000 aAh battery
GPS receiver included

So even with the reduced price, I think the Surface RT will continue to be a tough sell.

 

[haven]

Microsoft just announced a $100 price reduction on all Surface Pro tablets. The discount will be available at least through the end of August.

My advice is to hold off your purchase decision until this Fall, when we'll see several new versions of the Surface Pro, plus new iPad and Google Nexus tablets.

Microsoft shipped the Surface Pro tablet in late January, 2013. The Pro runs a version of Windows 8, which allows a wide range of Windows applications and utilities to run on the tablet. The Pro was introduced at $899 for 64 GB of storage, and $999 for 128 GB. The latter was recommended, since the 64 GB model left only 20 GB or so of space for applications and data.

The Surface Pro faced several problems. The $999 price point makes comparisons with Ultrabook computers, including MacBook Air, inevitable. The Core i5 Ivy Bridge processor used in the Pro used up its battery in 4.5 to 6 hours. The Surface Pro's graphics were slow, compared to Ultrabooks and tablets like the iPad. Many desktop programs were difficult to use with the tablet's touch interface. The Surface Pro's 10.8 inch screen made using the tablet while on the go awkward. If you don't need the Windows compatibility, the iPad costs several hundred dollars less than the Surface Pro.

For these reasons, the Surface Pro has not been a market success.

Microsoft has been working to improve the Surface Pro. Intel has released a new family of processors, code named "Haswell." The Haswell processors have new microarchitecture that gives them the same performance at lower clock speed. This will make the next generation of Surface Pro tablets use battery power more slowly. I expect 8 to 10 hour run times using Haswell. The next version of Windows, version 8.1, will be available by October. 8.1 promises to make desktop programs more useable on the tablet. Windows 8.1 will enable smaller tablets to be built. I expect we'll see 8 and 9 inch tablets running Windows 8.1 this Fall.