Tablet World.pdf

READ
PC ADVISOR
ON THE
SURFACE RT
rear, through which the internals are on display.
The VaporMG chassis, made from injection-moulded
magnesium, makes the slab strong and nice to the touch;
although, within minutes, we’d tainted its absorbent
fi nish with scores of fi ngerprints.
Performance
Windows RT can’t run regular x86 software, making
it all but useless when faced with legacy Windows
programs. It’s designed to run on ARM processors,
and the Surface is fi tted with a 1.3GHz nVidia
Tegra 3 quad-core chip and 2GB of memory.
There’s precious little software available for
Windows RT, which includes our usual benchmarking
utility. Through Internet Explorer 10.0 we were able to
run SunSpider, in which the Surface recorded 1,024ms in
the Desktop mode and 985ms in the Modern UI. Both
scores trail the iPad’s 854ms.
From the user’s perspective the interface is extremely slick, just like
Windows Phone 8. The interface animations are smooth, and tasks such
as pinch-zooming in Internet Explorer are responsive.
Apps don’t launch as quickly as we’d like, though, and we were often left
staring at Windows 8’s swirly dots for several seconds upon fi rst launch –
behaviour we’ve previously noted in Windows Phone 8.
At its comparable £399 price point, the 32GB Surface has twice the storage of
the 16GB iPad 4. A microSDXC slot lets you add up to 64GB more. There’s also a
64GB Surface RT, which costs £559 (including
the Touch keyboard).
The 1366x768 pixel count is common on
15in laptops, but on a 10.6in tablet it gives a
higher 148ppi pixel density. The screen looks
good at a regular viewing distance, matching
the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, but it’s no
Retina iPad; look closer and fuzzy edges are
noticeable in reading type.
More than the usual Wi-Fi, the Surface
has two antennae for better wireless
performance, plus Bluetooth. There’s also
a headphone jack, micro-HDMI, full-sized USB, and a keyboard dock and charging
port. The Surface won’t charge over USB, although this port accepts peripherals.
Our experience of battery life bemused us. We started the day with a full
charge, and used the tablet for 90 mins while shooting our video review, and
30 minutes browsing the web. The next day the battery was fl at. Microsoft touts
a seven- to 15-day idle runtime.
Softwhere?
Most interaction is via the touchy Modern UI with its tiled design. Learn all the
fi nger gestures and it’s a breeze to navigate. One handy feature is the ability to
confi gure multiple user accounts. Logging into the tablet with our Windows Live
account instantly populated the tablet with our contacts, email and calendar. The
Store lets you buy apps, although many everyday utilities, including Facebook,
Twitter, Gmail, Google Maps and Dropbox, are missing.
The Surface includes a preview of Offi ce 2013, which runs within the Desktop
tile. This makes the Surface a great portable productivity PC.
Bottom line
The Surface RT is a very well built and a cleverly designed tablet. The hardware
is mostly sound and Windows RT runs smoothly, but lacks decent apps.
Microsoft Surface RT REVIEWS
“The
keyboard
cover clicks
securely into
place, and
you can even
dangle the
Surface from
its cover
without it
hitting the
ground”
SPECIFICATIONS
1.3GHz nVidia Tegra
3 quad-core ARM;
2GB RAM; 32/64GB
fl ash storage; 10.6in
(1366x768) LCD;
802.11a/b/g/n, 2x2 Mimo;
Bluetooth; microSDXC;
USB 2.0; Micro HDMI;
Microsoft Offi ce Home
& Student 2013 RT
(preview); 31.5Wh
fi xed lithium battery;
275x172x9.5mm; 686g
TABLETWORLD 29