The question should be which is capable of running PC software (x86 code)? Surface runs on a full PC based OS and can run a full package of PC based software for business users. You also have to pay an extra premium to access that software.

The tablet market is targetted for consumers to... well... consume content. You have some tablet devices that have keyboards, but they don't run classic PC software and are only designed to do some light editing work rather then full blown PC software like Photoshop.

They're two different market segments. It's like comparing an iPad with a Mac, it's just that Microsoft have blurred the lines a bit with Windows 8.

I use Chrome exclusively now at home and only use its apps. That's why I know a ChromeOS device will be fine for me and my family. (wife still needs win as she is a teacher and the district she works for has a specialzied program she has to use)

K-12 is all pre-college in US and I would bet they would all be fine unless its specialized school where its more of a special interest pre-college scenario.

Tried "MX Player"?

I don't understand you ubuntu comment.

G+ is awesome, I think better than FB or other. Simpler, more under your control, and capable of unlimited storage of all pics/videos. I have over 7000 digital pics (my entire photo library) on there as well as most of my video. Slowly getting it all up there. Its permantly protected to my view only and can never be lost in some house/pc accident. If it ever gets lost from there somehow, then we as a society/world probably have some bigger issue going on.

There is no question, there is only one tablet on this topic which can run x86 code.

Okay, I'll compare.

iPad

Mac

No... that comparison does not feel the same as comparing a tablet to a tablet. Maybe I am going blind, but those things are quite different.

All I can see is you whining about the price and that it is unfair that one operating system happens to be superior to others. I don't know why you whine about the latter part, is it because you think it is unfair?

Well, that is good for you. I believe you now.

Yes, isn't mx player like one of the most popular players on google play?

Ubuntu one is a cloud storage. I thought you were talking about those...

Wow, I was wondering why there were so many new replies to this thread. Now I see why...

Anyway, not everybody wants a full blown laptop in a tablet. The Intel HD 4000 is still not very powerful for actual pc gaming. My old MacBook Air (2011 model, 1.7ghz i5 SB) had the intel HD 3000 and even though the 4000 is more powerful both are not that great for gaming. (I had Win7 installed via bootcamp.) I ended up using my win7 desktop (i7 2600k SB, sli gtx 580, 27" Dell u2711) and my iPad, so I gave away my MBA (to my sister.)

The iPad suits me great when I don't want to be at my desk on the desktop.

Anyway, my black 64gb wifi iPad 3S (oops... I mean iPad 4) has shipped. Looking forward to trying it out tomorrow.

To me that line really sums up all our quotes above and even your dislike of iOS/Android. You have a firm belief that Win is very much superior and they rest are "garbage".

Yet, in our talks the only things you've really brought up are tech that is on its way out, already dead, or only used by a minority of the populace for specialised cases.

Point 1:
If we focused on one system being better than the other because it was 100% supported or still ran ancient tech, then Internet Explorer would have always been called the best. But it wasn't, it sucked in comparison and thankfully it is no longer the #1 browser world wide. It was only more supported because it broke standards and dumb asses coded for those specialized features. Now that, that is largely unexceptable in the dev community... well Chrome is now #1.

Point 2:
The only reason Windows has more supported software, especially those specialized software for high-end business etc, is because of its marketshare. The only reason its had the dominant market share (which is falling) is because it whored itself out to every OEM on the planet.

As soon as Android/ChromeOS continue to catch that marketshare you'll see the same exact full support. Guess what, its going that way. Android dominates mobile OS market and continues to grow each year. ChromeOS is still new and still growing, but due to its kinship with Android is already gaining a lot of dev support and has tons of applications.

Windows isn't "Better" than everyone else. Its just the current market leader and has benefits directly from that position. In 5 years, it may not be, especially as ChromeOS and Android merge and Google moves more into the desktop space.

Superchunk man, what are you doing...these last 10 posts completely destroy the credibility of this thread and your OP.

Essentially it becomes clear that you love Google. Not Android, not Chrome...but anything Google. It's hard to take your opinion seriously when you want Google to be the next Microsoft from the late 90s early 2000s.

You posted a comparison of specs for these tablets, knowing that Google's nexus 10 device compares favorable on specs alone and said...Look at the specs. Why would you buy anything else but a device with best specs and 100 dollars less to boot?...which is fine if specs really matter to you.

However in these last few posts you say Chromebook and Google docs, while not the best, are good enough, and a solid choice for average consumer. Even though they clearly aren't. Why aren't the iPad and Surface "good enough" and a solid choice? Surface and iPad have their own strengths and can be considered better than Nexus 10 in some aspects, while Chromebook and Google docs do not have a single advantage over a PC and Office other than price. That's quite a double standard.

Real world performance and user experience. On paper the iPhone 5 is slower than the Galaxy S3 for example (haven't compared any tablet benchmarks yet) but in real world performance the iPhone 5 is quite a bit faster. Apple devices give you the same performance with less resources because of Apple's integrated hardware and software approach. (1GB of RAM is more than enough for an iPad, for instance).

As for user experience many people don't want a lot of features and would rather choose Apple's simple OS. Apple devices shine when it comes to the combination of high quality hardware and easy to use software. Just use one of their products for a prolonged period of time and you'll notice they do take their job seriously. It's just a different approach (open vs closed). I'm not saying Apple is better, btw. I'd say both Android and iOS devices are equally great today - they just have different strengths.

OT: I still can't justify buying a tablet. The new Nexus looks really nice and so does the iPad mini but damn I'd only use a tablet to browse the web and nothing else. And with the Wii U on the horizon and myself being a Kindle user already I think buying yet another tablet-like device (even if it's a real tablet, haha) would be overkill. 

And the prices for storage upgrades on Apple products (and some others...) are still ridiculous! I'm NOT going to pay $/€100 for an additional 16GB of space! If you make a tablet with a super high res screen give customers enough storage to put a full HD movie on there... 

Your post pretty much confirms the line you quoted.

All those things which work on ios/android, work with windows tablet too. Then there is that extra, which only (this is counting os x/linux) Windows offers.

I listed video players, which a lot of people use. Web browsers, which a lot of people use. Office suite, which a lot of people use. And so on, I did not bother to list every single thing which is superior on Windows. That would be a looong list.

Can to tell me one program which is better on ios/android than on Windows? Any program will do.

Oh and your personal speculation of the future is irrelevant to this discussion.

I see your point, but I think you're confusing two things. I did show the specs and laid it out as is. However, I also conceded that people will argue over the virtues of each OS and that is exactly what these last pages have.

Problem is I only created the thread to compare the tablets and their OS. The last few pages have been comparing those vs a full desktop OS, i.e. Windows and the fact that most people can live without a full desktop OS.

But that argument doesn't detract, IMO, from the purpose of the OP and the comparison between three tablets. I also never said those others were not "good enough" for some people. But they do cost more and give you less.