THE BORE
General => The Superdeep Borehole => Topic started by: Eel O'Brian on December 16, 2012, 01:24:19 PM
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+1 Surface RT with Touch Cover, -1 iPad 3 (I'll get a Mini sometime in the future)
After having spent a day with it, I can now see there was an awful lot of Apple ball-washing going on in some of those reviews. This thing is pretty awesome, particularly in usability and productivity.
Other than games/app selection, and the resolution (although that depends on what you are doing, Clear Type is no joke), this is a much better tablet by far. The fact that I can simply connect to my homegroup/network and drag files over (or, even better, just stream them through whatever app 90% of the time) without using a special app or program or iTunes gives it an immediate leg up.
It's not perfect. I don't know how the app selection will play out over time, for one. The OS and built in apps like Office eat up a lot of space - I had around 16GB free to start. Touch cover takes some getting used to. For the next iteration, they need to etch a white line in the space bar - it's a little hard to see on the black cover, and the line would help. I'd also like there to be a true split screen option for apps (although the current 75/25 screen split is useful with some apps). Dunno if there are underlying reasons for not having a 50/50 split as an option, but it would be nice. Most everything I have quibbles with can be fixed in updates. iPad 1 was bare-bones (no multitask, etc) before they updated the OS, so I'm sure Surface will continue to improve on that front.
I like the iPad and Android tablets fine. As pure consumption devices they're great, and both top the Surface in a lot of ways on that front. If you're someone who wants to actually get some work done while still being able to play with a tablet and your budget is $600 or less, though, this is pretty much the only one you should be looking at (of course the pro will be better, but that's $900 for the base model).
If you're thinking about getting one and have any questions, ask away and I will try to see if I can answer them.
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l33t
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+1 Surface RT with Touch Cover, -1 iPad 3 (I'll get a Mini sometime in the future)
After having spent a day with it, I can now see there was an awful lot of Apple ball-washing going on in some of those reviews. This thing is pretty awesome, particularly in usability and productivity.
Yeah but can you get any daps from your hipster buddies for conspicuously consuming it at your local fair trade coffee shop? Didn't think so :smug
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www.greatwindowsapps.com
You will thank me later.
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yeah, I saw your suggestion over at GAF, thanks for that, very useful
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Anytime.
My only issue with Surface RT or Windows RT actually is there no official way for apps to install on SD cards.
And there is the lag issue in some games because apparently, MS has yet to unlock the potential of Tegra 3 processor.
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www.greatwindowsapps.com
You will thank me later.
whoa, thanks for the link. the current windows store is an incoherent mess.
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+1 Surface RT with Touch Cover, -1 iPad 3 (I'll get a Mini sometime in the future)
After having spent a day with it, I can now see there was an awful lot of Apple ball-washing going on in some of those reviews. This thing is pretty awesome, particularly in usability and productivity.
Yeah but can you get any daps from your hipster buddies for conspicuously consuming it at your local fair trade coffee shop? Didn't think so :smug
:lol
My biggest problem with the iPad was that everything took several steps, or in some cases separate apps, to get done. For instance, something simple like a comic reader. For most iPad readers, you have to transfer files into the app itself through iTunes. I finally found one, ComicGlass, which has a separate desktop server program you can download from their website which lets you transfer files directly. But you still have to download the files to the device before you can open them. Every single one of the Surface comic reader apps I have tried so far lets me draw files from the homegroup and I can either download them to the tablet or just stream them directly. Every single one. I didn't have to download a separate server app, or transfer them through an iTunes-like program. "It just works." This same thing applies to every video and music app I have tried, as well.
Another frustration was word processing. Every writing app on iPad or Android seems to use markdown or plain text as the main format. Plain text gives you dick for formatting options, and markdown just plain sucks assholes. Sure, a lot of them let you save in various formats including .doc, export to Dropbox/Box/iCloud/etc, but 9 times out of ten whenever I would open the file in OpenOffice the formatting would be broken and I'd have to spend time correcting it. Then it would get broken again when I imported it back into the tablet app. Everything seemed to be a workaround for using the actual Office program, and was a pain in the ass to use. Google Drive/Docs worked the best out of all of them, but you had to be connected to the internet to edit. I heard Office RT sucked at launch, but I updated it (568MB!) and it works great, so I never experienced any shitty performance.
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http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1061646928/vlc-for-the-new-windows-8-user-experience-metro
I don't care about Kickstarters but this is one app I would love to see.
Please donate.
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I kind of regret spending $25 on that 32GB micro SD card, now that I know I can just stream things. It's a Class 4 card, too, so if I did the mounting trick it would probably just slow down the system :(
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http://wrtapps.com/2012/12/snes-games-on-windows-rt-now-playable-courtesy-of-snes8x/
Grab a micro HDMI cable and enjoy full SNES library*
*Once they fix the audio stutters and add USB controller support (X360).
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I haven't installed a single game, RT app store selection is kind of dire in that category.
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I have been a victim of Windows Phone since launch. This is normal.
Please wait.
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where's the gaf surface thread
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http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=496741&page=56 -- found it
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After getting my Windows Phone 8 I cannot wait to get myself a surface
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Wikipedia app is really slick, and works well in "snap" mode.
Coolest thing so far is when I plugged in a Logitech unifying receiver for my mouse and it just immediately recognized it. I guess I could just pair a keyboard to it on the same receiver, just like on a regular desktop. I like the touch cover all right, but sometimes I want to sit a bit further back.
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I can't wait until they release the pro. I want one now but I don't want RT. Will I be able to use the home network drag and drop with a pro? I assume so. But that's gonna be so damn convenient
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Sure, it's basically a Windows 8 laptop.
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I'm going to use all of you guys' money in the form of a Pell grant to buy a Pro next summer. Thanks guys!
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Saw a Surface RT at Best Buy yesterday.....love messing around with it. Wife roller her eyes and walked away.
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Messed around with the Xbox music app tonight. You can stream music for free on RT and Pro tablets. You can't pick specific songs, but you can play artists and such. After 6 months free streaming is limited 10 hrs a month. Still a nice little throw-in.
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Don't update the Netflix app, unless you like seeing "Network request timed out" 100 times in a row. I see I'm gonna have to start checking app reviews after every update, just like every other app store.
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The 360 pad does work on RT though- just maybe not with that emulator. I used it to play reckless racing
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yeah, the more i get used to it the more i like it, people just need to be less sloppy about releasing jank app updates
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Xbox music store has a great collection. Also, it's got higher bitrates than any other streaming service. $100 yearly is a good deal.
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http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1061646928/vlc-for-the-new-windows-8-user-experience-metro/posts
(http://f.cl.ly/items/460h0d2E3u160Q0J3R3c/app-tablet-surface.jpg)
Only 7000 or so to go. PLEASE DONATE.
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Xbox music store has a great collection. Also, it's got higher bitrates than any other streaming service. $100 yearly is a good deal.
Yep. Very rarely will they not have something I want.
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Is the game collection for Surface the same as W8 phones'?
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Nope. Separate entries.
Good for stacking achievements though.
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Nope. Well I think a lot of the same games are there because Microsoft funds them on both and they're fairly easy to port, but the app stores are totally separate and nothing "automatically" works on both platforms.
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Snes8x just added support for X360 controller:
Changes in 1.1:
- minor bugfixes
Changes in 1.2:
- bugfix regarding the virtual controller
- added support for XBox 360 Controllers
- added multiplayer support for up to two players (using XBox 360 Controllers)
http://apps.microsoft.com/webpdp/app/d0c894c3-67a3-47e0-95df-405fb8eb9e25
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Has a port of DOSBox been done for this thing yet?
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http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-rt-flash-player-tool-lets-you-easily-white-list-websites
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http://www.ebay.com/itm/32GB-Microsoft-Surface-RT-Tablet-bundle-with-Black-Touch-Cover/181164214746?customid=FRFy9hGYEeO4CP6O_rB4ogou01_IQ8h3_0_0_0&pub=5574652453&afepn=5337259887&campid=5337259887&pt=US_Tablets&hash=item2a2e3a89da&afepn=5337259887
$199 with a Touch Cover, seemed like a good deal so I snagged one. I don't mind the lack of apps, I'll probably use it as a travel quazi-laptop for when I need to quickly remote in or write some code. I see that someone ported Notepad++ over to it, so that's the dealmaker for me.
Is this site still working or am I looking at some well-written satire? http://www.greatwindowsapps.com/browse/top/games
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It's not working anymore.
The store got a massive redesign in 8.1 so that is longer needed.
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Damn, is there a good source of reviews/a list of apps that are actually RT-compatible?
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RT compatible = Windows App store only.
As for reviews, just pick the top apps in each category and search for whatever you want.