Why I'm returning my Microsoft Surface RT • Hacker News Board

Re: Why I'm returning my Microsoft Surface RT

#31

Post by garrettlarson » Sat, Oct 27, 2012, 4:50 PM UTC

brudgers wrote: post #24

I bought one of those Microsoft touch mice. I was getting ready to install the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, and after watching the video, it looked like a great option...and simultaneously, my Logitech Mouse had a dying mosfet switch so I was in the market for a new mouse anyway. [Really, I wasn't just rationalizing buying sexy technology]. It wasn't the first time I've bough I Microsoft mouse. I bought one back about…

He encountered problems typing at a reasonable speed, saving a Word document, videoconferencing, and opening the mail client. They sound like issues that can be corrected with a software update, but I don't think they're specific to his workflow.

Re: Why I'm returning my Microsoft Surface RT

#32

Post by BrentOzar » Sat, Oct 27, 2012, 4:55 PM UTC

Anechoic wrote: post #23

"The diagonally-oriented camera is strange. In the one orientation it’s optimized for, it’s slightly annoying. In any other orientation, it’s almost intolerable. " "The built-in front-facing camera for Skype is angled so that it’ll work great when the kickstand is open, but again, only for Danny DeVito, or maybe for people who want to show off their chests in Skype." ------ "The Touch Cover is one of the Surface’s bi…

Hi. Brent here, the post author.

Thanks for making the point. I had hoped that by recording videos of the problems, I wouldn't get attacked as just making off the cuff observations. Readers can see the problems for themselves. Still getting attacked by the fanbois, though, and that's a little disappointing.

Re: Why I'm returning my Microsoft Surface RT

#33

Post by nextstep » Sat, Oct 27, 2012, 4:56 PM UTC

Anechoic wrote: post #23

"The diagonally-oriented camera is strange. In the one orientation it’s optimized for, it’s slightly annoying. In any other orientation, it’s almost intolerable. " "The built-in front-facing camera for Skype is angled so that it’ll work great when the kickstand is open, but again, only for Danny DeVito, or maybe for people who want to show off their chests in Skype." ------ "The Touch Cover is one of the Surface’s bi…

Recently, HN is quick to yell "fanboy" at anything critical of a direct competitor to an Apple product. But from the multiple Surface reviews posted here over the past few days, it seems like the consensus (even among those that aren't labeled "fanboys") is that the surface has considerable drawbacks while costing more than an iPad.

Re: Why I'm returning my Microsoft Surface RT

#34

Post by BrentOzar » Sat, Oct 27, 2012, 4:57 PM UTC

brudgers wrote: post #24

I bought one of those Microsoft touch mice. I was getting ready to install the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, and after watching the video, it looked like a great option...and simultaneously, my Logitech Mouse had a dying mosfet switch so I was in the market for a new mouse anyway. [Really, I wasn't just rationalizing buying sexy technology]. It wasn't the first time I've bough I Microsoft mouse. I bought one back about…

Brent the author here. I'd be really curious to hear which portions of my experience are edge cases - typing in Word, using the camera, and checking my email don't seem out of the mainstream to me on a tablet whose main market purports to be workers.

Re: Why I'm returning my Microsoft Surface RT

#35

Post by grecy » Sat, Oct 27, 2012, 4:59 PM UTC

moistgorilla wrote: post #9

This is the risk you take by being an early adopter.

... of hardware and software that is not ready for prime time.

How disappointed were buyers of the iPhone or iPad 1 ?

Not, I think.

Re: Why I'm returning my Microsoft Surface RT

#36

Post by mgkimsal » Sat, Oct 27, 2012, 4:59 PM UTC

dangrossman wrote: post #14

I'm excited about the prospect of a Windows 8 tablet. I'm willing to spend as much as it costs to get one. Unfortunately, nobody wants my money. Yesterday was the big retail launch. I was on a mission to check out what my local stores had and, if they had anything that could do the job for me, buy it. I've always wanted a tablet, but only if it could be as useful as a laptop when paired with a keyboard. The new Windo…

I got bashed a few days ago for saying that it'd be a few months before real Win8 tablets would be out - that we'd only have the surface RT for the forseeable. I was told that was wrong, and that from Friday there'd be multiple vendors offering multiple options on Intel chips offering the full support for Win8 (not the limited WinRT current stuff).

Come Friday - I went to a couple shops looking around, and saw what you did. I almost picked up Win8 Upgrade disk, but there were two boxes, different colors and SKUs, for the same price (there were others as well), and I'm *almost 100% certain that these were 32bit and 64bit upgrade options, but nothing on the box indicated that. Nothing at all indicated the difference between the skus (should have taken a picture).

And now trying to upgrade online, I'm getting payment processor failures - I can not seem to buy Win8 without brokenness or confusion.

http://gyazo.com/71da564b10515155cd2b1136d0ab6464

This isn't just me - I submitted to HN a while ago - this has been going on since yesterday.

Re: Why I'm returning my Microsoft Surface RT

#37

Post by dzhiurgis » Sat, Oct 27, 2012, 5:02 PM UTC

qwerty keyboards were designed to slow down the typists thus preventing typewriter jamming. Perhaps MS should redesign it again to make it even slower, so the Surface would be able to keep up?

Re: Why I'm returning my Microsoft Surface RT

#38

Post by richbradshaw » Sat, Oct 27, 2012, 5:02 PM UTC

microtonal wrote: post #17

jiggy2011 wrote: post #15

He seems to be using the Surface RT in desktop mode in that video. I thought this was not supposed to be possible, is that untrue?

It currently exists for Office, because it isn't fully ported to Metro yet.

To be fair, it's not as if the Office team had a heads up that a table would be sold with marketing specifically explaining that it runs Office, whilst simultaneously being sold on the new Modern UI. Oh, wait, my mistake.

Re: Why I'm returning my Microsoft Surface RT

#39

Post by richbradshaw » Sat, Oct 27, 2012, 5:03 PM UTC

grecy wrote: post #29

dhawalhs wrote: post #13

I am extremely happy with the surface RT and more specifically IE10. Finally a desktop class browser on a tablet.

Is safari on the iPad not desktop class?

When the iPad 1 shipped, I wished that more people had a desktop browser of it's calibre!

Re: Why I'm returning my Microsoft Surface RT

#40

Post by jamesjguthrie » Sat, Oct 27, 2012, 5:05 PM UTC

dangrossman wrote: post #14

I'm excited about the prospect of a Windows 8 tablet. I'm willing to spend as much as it costs to get one. Unfortunately, nobody wants my money. Yesterday was the big retail launch. I was on a mission to check out what my local stores had and, if they had anything that could do the job for me, buy it. I've always wanted a tablet, but only if it could be as useful as a laptop when paired with a keyboard. The new Windo…

There are other tablets out there. The Dell Latitude 10 is an Intel Atom but does run Windows 8 Pro. I want one of them.