Customer Ratings & Reviews

I've had this for about a month now and love how small and light weight it is. I can carry it in my purse, write documents, save and store documents on the skydrive, and kill time playing games. Some of the photos I've taken are grainy, but that's not why I bought this device. It won't replace my laptop, especially since some websites do not recognize tablets yet, but I am loving this purchase so far.

Got this for a bargain on Black Friday - $199. Perfect for my application - using it at work and home in place of a laptop. Great screen resolution and clarity. Good size and weight. There's a learning curve with Windows 8, but it's easy to see the convenience of using Windows 8 cross platform. Downside - you can't install and run apps that don't come from the Microsoft store, e.g. Quicken, which is Windows 8 compatible and runs on my laptop, but not on the Surface. Be sure to do the free Windows 8.1 Update (from MS Store) to get MS Outlook 2013, which did not come with the Surface RT.

Practical, easy to use. It has everything a computer has in a small version. All the application s and apps are great. Easy to navigate. I would recommend this product to replace a laptop. For the price I dont think there is anything out there.

This Rt is great for work and has all but replaced my pc. I wish I could install a few things, but if it was a real problem I would just get the pro. The marketplace needs more apps but that takes time. No complaints. I love the versatility and the battery life, awesome at school too.

Thought I'd give the Surface RT first generation a try due to $200 price tag sale. I have an iPad 2 and need another one due to kids wanting to use it all the time. Resolution is great on it but it is not as user friendly as an iPad. Not nearly the variety of games on the RT. Browsing the net is good but I do run into slowdown enough to notice it often. The iPad 2 runs faster than the RT on browsing. The RT only runs windows RT programs and not full windows programs. There is no I messenger type app that I have found that compares to the iMessage app. I don't use a keyboard as I'm used to the touch screen and that works fine for me. The keyboard adds about $100 to the price if you get one. That being said this is a good tablet for the price. It is the best non-iPad tablet out there in this price range. I have come to appreciate what it can do but the RT is just a basic iPad with Microsoft office in reality. I like it enough that when I upgrade my iPad 2 I'm going to get a Surface Pro 2. The Surface Pro is more of a competitor with a mid range laptop and runs full windows so it is a good play and work option. No need to run from the Surface RT if you want basic web browsing and office features. Runs Netflix and other video apps nicely. You get more memory for the money here as well. I don't regret the money spent at this price but anymore would be too much.

Overall this is a great product. It is not like any other tablet, it's the only tablet that allows you to work with Microsoft office. Really light weight, easy to use. I'm a mac user, but this is defiantly the best way to work with windows 8.

I love the surface, I got it for work so I can write reports while out in the field working. I like that it has word, and the screen is great to watch Netflix. Over all love product, but I don't like is the App Store and key board price.

With its great battery life, responsive touch screen and windows 8 rt OS, its (in my opinion) the best $200 to $300 tablet on the market. At the time on writing this review it went back up in price to $350 and still worth every penny.

The Microsoft Surface RT is a great value for anyone looking for a highly useful and reasonably priced tablet. It operates just like any windows pc, and runs all the typical software you're already useful. So many more features then the ipad.

Purchased one for my son on black friday at a very good price. I wish I would have bought two! Great product! Long lasting battery, clear pics, easy navigation! It functions as a laptop and tablet! My son and I (lol) love it!

Love the size of this tablet. I highly recommend buying the removable keyboard. It is great for typing and helps to protect the screen when closed.

I purchased this for my wife and after the initial updates I installed the 8.1 upgrade. It took about 2.5 - 3 hours to do the first system updates. I never really ran it as 8.0 but after installing 8.1 it is fast and runs great. She has installed several apps on it that she has enjoyed, but I hope that more apps will become available as it is currently a limited selection. 8.0 has been out for over a year so I would think they would have more developed by now. But it is her computer and she is very happy with it. I would still choose it again over the iPad (which I have one) if I were in the market. I like the features and speed of 8.1 and have it on several other computers. I never really used 8.0 so I can't address any comparisons between the two systems. Over all a great buy.

Easy to use and has Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. I'm sold.

I bought the Surface RT to be a hand-held internet device to use around the house. I haven't used it for the traditional Windows products (Excel, Word, etc.), so I am not factoring that into my review. A criticism of Windows tablets is the lack of apps available. For me, that isn't important because I connect to my home WiFi. I use Netflix, Facebook, and email through Internet Explorer, I don't need the apps. I downloaded the Kindle app, and that has worked fine. I have watched tv shows using Netflix through IE, and the picture quality is fantastic. Microsoft has changed enough things about the interface that has caused getting used to the Surface RT difficult. There were settings that came activated at purchase that I wanted to change, but found doing so wasn't intuitive. I had to call Microsoft support, which took a couple of hours to get through. At least the technician that helped me was nice. I bought the Surface RT at Thanksgiving, so Best Buy had the price drastically marked down. I feel this was a great value purchase. I wouldn't pay more to get an Apple or Android tablet because the Surface RT accomplishes what I wanted.

The Surface is a very classy little machine. I smile every time I use it. The construction quality and design are sweet, the size is amazing - small enough to take anywhere but big enough to work as a computer. It has replaced my old computer, which I primarily use for documents, spreadsheets, email and web surfing. The Windows 8 operating system is overall quite effective and easy to use, although there's a bit of a learning curve. This tablet/laptop hybrid works great for me - feels like the future of portable computing.

This is my first experience with a touch screen and I love it. The processor is on the money with speed. Having Microsoft Office pre-loaded is a very real added bonus. Microsoft's technical support is outstanding (which I took advantage of because I am such a novice here). It's very easy to learn and use. Super price! It picked up my wireless printer in the house and automatically downloaded the app. to use use it. How easy is that! I'm old enough, it seemed like magic to me. I don't know why I waited so long to buy one.

Great tablet at a nice price, with a lot of perks and if you add the keyboard then you have a pretty decent tool to work and play at the same time!

I got this for my wife for Christmas, and she cannot stop using it. She loves how she can easily add or remove the keyboard. Battery life has been great for her as well.

The only real complaint I have with this particular unit is with the OS, Windows RT. The apps are limited and I wish I had opted for the Windows 8.1 model. For example, I had hoped to watch some movies in my downtime. I have Dish network with Sling and Vudu. Neither have "apps" that will work with the RT version. I should have researched RT more before buying this tablet. Other than that the Surface works great. I bought it Black Friday for $200 and it is a great tablet for that price. I like that it comes preloaded with Microsoft Office.

My daughters were looking at the nook HD and HD+ just before Christmas, but thought those might not offer enough and be just a slightly larger version of their iPods. Saw the surface on sale at BB during black Friday weekend for $200. Thought this would be a steal at that price and offer games, e-books, plus word, excel, power point, and be useful to them for writing papers and doing homework. 3+ hours of Christmas morning was spent setting up and downloading updates--eventually I got everything updated to Windows 8.1. Being familiar with Windows 7, XP and Mac iOS, navigation through Windows 8.1 on the touch screen was not intuitive. I had to search the web to find out how to things like delete apps, turn-off the live squares, etc. Also the App offerings at the Microsoft store is dismal. No Mozilla Foxfire browser app available, or Google chrome app for the 8.1 touch screens--Internet Explorer is your only option. ( I was hoping my Google Chromecast would work with the Surface, but so far no luck. I'll have to purchase the cable Microsoft sells to get images onto my TV.) I was hoping to find some of my favorite iPhone games at the app store, like Candy Crush, but no luck--a few Angry Birds games and a few Disney games are some of the biggest offerings. I thought I would be wowed by the Surface, but so far it has been just an OK experience. I guess if you are expecting to just search the web, use Word and Excel, then this might be a great product. If I had paid full price for it I probably would have returned it by now. I am optimistic that it will come through as a useful e-reader and homework tool for the kids. That remains to be seen.