Surface Tablet with Windows RT
Microsoft is challenging Apple for it’s mostly dominant position with the iPad. Microsoft is doing so with its Surface tablet, Windows RT. Windows RT is appealing to iPad users, with a sleek design, touch driven operating system, and a new television ad filled with snazzy colors and eye candy to lend the new Surface tablets the coolness factor that Apple’s iPad has. Even though Microsoft is after Apple’s market share, the new Surface with Windows RT stands in it’s own right.
The best oranges to oranges comparison available (sorry but apples to apples wasn’t going to work) is the 32GB Surface with Windows RT (pre-order for $499) versus the 32GB Wi-Fi only Apple iPad ($599). The $100 savings of the Windows Surface tablet will please the budget savy consumer.
Rear view of Surface Tablet
Both tablets come in different configurations. The 32GB version of the Surface with Windows RT offers a bundle that adds a black Touch Cover for $599, and a 64GB model bundled with a black Touch Cover for $699. On the other hand, the Apple iPad is available in 16GB capacity for $499 and 64GB model for $699. All three capacities also offer 4G mobile data (16GB is $629, 32GB is $729, and 64GB is $829).
Taken from http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2411035,00.asp
Surface with Windows RT is especially attractive to people who are used to Windows. Apple’s products suck you into the Apple ecosystem by only working well with iTunes and Apple’s app and music stores. This restriction can be stifling and unacceptable to many potential tablet buyers. Even though Windows RT isn’t exactly like Windows 8 (and definately not like Windows 7), the assurance of compatibility with all of your existing files and documents along with the better integration with Microsofts home and business software is a great advantage to the Surface tablet.
The new Windows RT operating system looks and feels just like Windows 8. Windows RT differs from Windows 8 in that it is lighter and faster for use with ARM processors such as the Nvidia Tegra 3 T30 used in the Surface tablet. They lightened it by dropping traditional Windows software compatibility. Windows RT will use Windows Apps. Microsoft Surface tablet includes a preview version of Microsoft Office Home and Student 2013 RT, which has Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote bundled together.
There are differences to be noted between the Surface tablet and the iPad when it comes to hardware. The Apple A5X dual-core processor cant be directly compared to the Nvidia Tegra T30, however, Apple offers 1GB of RAM while Microsoft twice as much with 2GB. There are no benchmarks available as of this writing so performance comparisons can’t be made at this time.
Apple’s iPad Retina display, which has 2,048-by-1,536 resolution, compared to the Surface tablet’s modest 1,366-by-768 puts the Surface to shame. The screen proportions of the Surface tablet are more familiar, with the 16:9 aspect ratio in a handheld format.
The Surface has 720p cameras in front and back. The iPad has a better rear-facing camera (1080p) but inferior front-facing camera, meaning that the Surface has better face-to-face chat video quality, but not the full HD video on back of the iPad.
Lastly, Microsoft’s Surface tablet has a greater selection of ports on board than the iPad, with popular interfaces like USB 2.0, micro SDXC card slot, and HD video-out port. These are the ports that the iPad doesn’t have while also having a headphone jack and Cover port, which compares to the headphone jack and docking port on the Apple iPad.
If you want a tablet thats a little more like your laptop that is the size of an iPad but has more capabilities, the Surface with Windows RT may be the tablet for you!
