Customer Ratings & Reviews

I tried this in place of an iPad and made a huge mistake. This is much harder to use and is much more bulkier. Tried to give to my daughter, she'd rather have the iPad.

Good: Office and Network integration. Why is network integration such a black hole for IOs and Android? Microsoft will use Cloud, home network resources, and business network resources with little effort on the customer's part to setup. My primary reason for purchasing this is my frustration with the hoops I have to jump through to simply read, edit, and save the multitude of documents I have on my home NAS server. I mapped a D: drive for my network. That's it. Now I can open any file on my network, edit it, and save it back to the original location. I have a Samsung Note 10.1 2014 edition, one of the most advanced tablets on the planet, and it can't even do that simple task. Instead Android and IOs slave you to the cloud and rely upon third parties to implement something meaningful in their applications. I haven't seen a good implementation model yet from their party devs on either Android or IOs. I also like the improvements with 8.1. The tablet is starting to feel more like a true mobile experience than the late 8.0 version did. The screen is bright. The Touch and Type 2 keyboards are fully supported. The hardware feels great. I haven't seen any hesitation in my apps thus far. Internet explorer is slower than I would like but it displays everything as I would expect to see them on my PC. Office RT is an excellent inclusion. I realize that Microsoft is targeting students with this platform but it's a great inclusion for anyone interested in an office suite that works. So far everything I can do on Office 2013 on my desktop I can do on the Surface RT. The best part is I can save the doc to my network for sharing across all of my MS devices. The not so good: First, and there is no sugar coating this, the update process to 8.1 is long. You can stick with 8.0 if you want but I'm telling you now that 8.0 was ill conceived, slow, and total garbage. When you log in make yourself a Windows Live ID, log in, and head straight to the store for the 8.1 update. It should be the first thing the pops up on the screen from the store interface. Plug the device into the wall and update. Go eat dinner and watch a movie. The update along with supplemental updates will take a few hours at best. Be patient. Text isn't as clear as I would like it to be. But that's a resolution issue that was resolved with a higher res screen on the Surface 2. The desktop is still around. For 8.1 MS did allow some pinch and zoom functions in some of the native desktop apps like Office. That was most welcome. You don't have strain your eyes reading email anymore. And the kick stand is great if you are sitting at a dinner table at normal dinner eating height. Other than that it can prove to be a challenge finding a comfortable location to read the screen. Again, this was addressed in Surface RT 2. Conclusion: I got this tablet for $199 over the Black Friday month of sales. I am very happy with my purchase. My Samsung Galaxy 2014 and iPad have decidedly taken a back seat to the Surface. Android, minus all the hype, is simply not there yet. I bought the Samsung for some of the specific features of this product and nothing more. And iPad is an entertainment platform. Look around sometime and you'll see most folks with IOs products are playing games. The RT is definitely slower than most 2013 tablet systems but the features and value, even on the first gen platform, are well worth the price I paid.

Overall I like the Surface RT. The Surface runs Windows RT, which is based off Windows 8. Windows 8, being a desktop OS, allows you to have some administrative access and accessory support that's much more diverse then other tablet operating systems, like iOS and Android. Windows RT is no different, and the addition of a real USB port allows you to use a lot of accessories that would also work with your desktop. The Surface comes with Office RT, which is nice for those familiar with Microsoft Office. The biggest drawback I've found to Office RT however is that you cannot run Macros, something that could be problematic for heavy Excel users. Otherwise Office works quite well and adds to the value of the tablet. Unlike Windows 8, Windows RT is locked down and you can't install apps from places other then the Windows App store. Granted, most Windows apps will not run anyways due to it being an ARM machine, but those of us who would be interested in porting Windows apps can't do so. Unlike OSs like Android, Chrome OS, and webOS, you can't flip a switch and allow sideloading. The app selection in the Windows App store is okay, but not great. It's getting better though. For people interested in productivity and versatility and those who like Windows I think the Surface is a good choice. If media consumption, games, and app selection is important, the Surface may work for you as well, but you probably want to also take a look at the iPad and the Android options. If you have the money the Surface Pro and Pro 2 is a better choice as it doesn't have many of the shortcomings of the RT and Surface 2.

Had this tab and the unit rebooted several time befoe I returned it and Windows 7 is not easy to learn

I bought my Surface at Best Buy for $199 and feel like I got the Deal of the Century. I work at home translating Korean and already have both a desktop and a notebook computer and could see no reason why I would need a tablet. In fact, I still use a flip phone. But when I saw the Surface on sale and read that it included Office 2013, a USB port, and SD card slot, I couldn't pass it up. And since buying the Surface, I have found other things I love about it. I love the dimensions of the Surface. It is wide enough to have two programs share the same screen, so I could, for example, have Word opened while a Korean language dictionary is opened right next to it or have two Word documents opened side-by-side. Also, when I use Word, I like to have the Navigation Pane open so that I can easily navigate the chapters of a book or document. The width of the Surface is a perfect size for that. It also seems like a great size for magazines, newspapers, and e-textbooks. I will probably not be doing much writing on my Surface, but, just in case, I still bought the Type 2 cover/keyboard. The Type 2, not the Touch 2, is a great keyboard, but is expensive at $129.99. I can use the keyboard to type Korean in MS Word, but if I wanted to enter a Chinese character into my document, there is no key for it on the Type 2 keyboard, though I can still use the on-screen keyboard to enter the Chinese character. That's not a big problem, but I still wish there were a key combination to do it. Do I need a tablet? No, but I love being able to thumb through my documents, read a book, or surf the Web from my sofa or a patio chair. Finally, Windows rt 8.1 seems to work great on the Surface, much better than I had expected.

It's a good tablet. However I feel iPad is higher quality as well as more versatile. It's hard to find accessories for the surface tablet.

I have both the Surface RT and an IPAD 3. Yes, if you compare the products the IPAD 3 will win. It does what it does very well; but I liken it to a toaster. You want toast, it'll give you toast. It won't break; you'll get golden brown toast every time! You'll love that toast and then when you want something more you'll realize you're holding a toaster. Don't kid yourself, the RT is an amazing toaster, the hardware is fantastic and the software is much better than professional reviews have given it! It is not cheap by any means; in fact I think the case is better than the IPAD. The IPAD wins in categories that I think are boring. Yes, you turn it on, and you see your apps, your boring static apps. You turn on the RT and it shows you email, weather, news articles, etc... The tiles are alive. You quickly know what you'd like to touch. Moving those live tiles isn't a problem either when navigating the screen. Yes, the IPAD has always been smooth, but it's doing it with static content. The IPAD store does have more apps, a lot more! But the Microsoft store isn't bad and you get some things that might really matter to you, like Office. The IPAD store has seemingly unlimited kids apps, a must for my children. The RT apps are more adult and limited but haven't left me disappointed at all. I mean, you go to a specialty store, look for shampoo, and there are three good brands you'll be happy with. You go to the IPAD store and you see isles upon isle of shampoo, now you're standing around reading all the labels, popping the top to smell, putting it back on the shelf, oh how fun! This kind of shopping only works for kids where they can throw stuff in your cart all day long. IPAD does win for FaceTime. If you're older and you want to see your grand kids, just get your IPAD toaster, Face Time is definitely a Toaster app. Surface does have Skype but I think Face Time wins for ease of use. Want to see your pictures in the highest resolution possible? Get the IPAD 3. I like photography and pictures look spectacular on it. The Surface RT is not bad at all though! The screen is still HD which beats out the comparably priced IPAD 2, same with almost any laptop screen you've ever owned. The IPAD display is just really good if you're super picky, which I am. Most people have a really hard time seeing the difference. Look, you’re going to go to the store, play with either of these tablets and just kind of be like “touch, swipe swipe, open app, close app… play game for 5 seconds, close, open picture, close, etc…”. You won’t really feel the experience of what it’ll be like to have one. You’re not going to feel what it’s like when you hear your tablet ring, pick it up and you’re talking to your family. These things are great! I promise that you will not regret a Surface RT. There are plenty of things to love that I haven’t mentioned such as the USB 3.0, mini HDMI out, desktop mode…. The one thing I have really failed to mention here is why I like my Surface RT the most. I just love it, it’s addicting. I really like our IPAD 3, it's fantastic. But when I sit down and the IPAD 3 and Surface RT are sitting on my ottoman, I always pick up the RT. The cheaper price doesn’t even play a factor here, however it is compelling. I probably should have compared Android as well; I love what Android should be, when they’re new they are extremely feature rich. But if you've owned as many as I have you know that your device was designed to frustrate you to death after a couple years. Manufactures stop updating them (cough cough galaxy Note 2). I’m not blaming Google, I’m blaming the manufacture. Admit it Android fans, we root our devices for a reason, it becomes necessary. I’ve just become sick of spending hundreds and feeling like my device has become absolutely worthless. You won’t feel that way with either a Surface RT or IPAD. Both companies are really good at updating their products for the life of the product. It’ll always feel like the product you purchased the day you got it. I promise you won’t regret getting a Surface RT. You’ll absolutely love it!

Not for an old man. Too difficult to guess what any instructions are and I feel like I am operating, literally, in the dark.

After working with it and my hubby's new iPad for 2 days, I returned it and got an iPad. Might like the next generation!

Purchased this to get my kids off my laptop. Cannot find a way for them to play Roblox or Minecraft on the Surface.

I bought this Surface Windows RT tablet a while ago and I like it a lot. I think that it works great. It's really fast and has good battery life too. I would give this five stars except for the app store is quite lacking and you cannot install x86 programs on it either. However, it does come with Microsoft Office so that was a plus. I have to say the start screen in Windows 8/RT isn't really too bad once you get used to it. I think it's really pretty easy and I like how the tiles show updates. I especially like how you can expand the memory by adding a mini sd card in the back. That is a good option and the usb is also a plus too. Overall this is a good computer on the go and I would recommend it to anyone. You can easily watch Netflix, Hulu and listen to Pandora with ease. Although there is not a Pandora App the web browser has a full set of features. I hope that this helps you in making your decision.

Has wifi issues... Is very slow....have to restart many times

I hated this product. We returned it. It's super slow and VERY frustrating.

Returned and exchanged for the Samsung Gallaxy 3 tab. Not user friendly. The office suite was nice to have.

It is ok good for something's, does not replace laptop. If laptop what need get it. Functions, go with I pad

This did not serve a purpose for me. I needed something for work and this did not work out for me.

Does not have many features or apps. Slow to load apps and webpages. Camera is not great quality.

Limited Can't installed regular programs, Only good for microsoft office and searching the web.

I was looking into getting a tablet for myself. I went to the mall and looked at the ipads at the apple store. It was basically my iPhone, just can't call people. Then I walked into the windows store and looked at the surface. It was sleek, new, bigger screen, upgrade my storage with a microsd card up to 64GB, native keyboard that acts as a screen cover as well. Cheaper, only because of its features vs ipads. Basically the best tech product I ever owned and I have a 1300 gaming pc. Which has windows 8 and I can install games via surface which is nice. I can also play media to my Xbox via surface which is also awesome, I can just turn it on and control my music via surface so I don't have to walk to my tv from the other room. I wish I could get one for every in my family, but unfortunately I'm not made from money.

i could only get it to delet one email at a time . so i got a ipad insted. and i love it.