...in my personal and professional opinion.
Now that things are becoming clear about the Surface device and Windows 8 launch, I can't help but feel that Surface is going to end up like another bastardized piece of hardware like the Zune.
Here are my issues with it:
1. Windows RT - Why does this thing even exist? Seriously... It doesn't run any Windows legacy software and has bugs and performance issues when running Windows on the selected Tegra 3 hardware (multiple Surface reviews stated this). It doesn't even share the ecosystem with Microsoft's other ARM based platform, Windows Phone. 120,000 launch apps that WP has would go a long way filling the gap while Windows RT app ecosystem grows to respectable levels.
2. No benefits over x86 tablets - Couldn't Microsoft sometime in 2010 just take the billions they were about to spend on porting Windows to ARM and give it to Intel, telling them..."Here! R&D some Atom chips to use a bit less power and have them ready for mid 2012". An Acer W510 tablet which is launching on Oct 26 with a dual core Atom processor with similar specs, dimensions and weight to the Surface, only has 2 hour less battery life. Intel should bring bring battery life down to ARM level within a year...
3.Price - $499 without cover, $599 with cover. Pretty obvious it's too much money for a Win RT device. This should be $299/$399 Win RT, 499/599 Intel Atom and 799/899 Inte i3/i5 to compete with the market value for these devices.
4. No x86 version until January - I want a killer tablet for Christmas, not in January. Surface Pro sounds like it will be this killer tablet but Microsoft won't let me buy it until January.
Before people misunderstand what I am trying to say, I think Windows 8 is great. I've used it for a while on a tablet and dekstop and there is no way I can go back to Windows 7 or an iPad over a Windows 8 device. I was really looking forward to getting the Surface few months ago.
With that said, I am most likely not buying the Surface (RT or Pro) as one is not what I want and the other comes 3 months too late. With lots of other no compromise Windows 8 devices on the horizon, I dont think I will have issues finding an awesome tablet.
For anyone that is preordering the Surface and getting it day 1, do think about your purchase and what you are looking to buy versus what you are getting. You may come to the same conclusion as me.
