Surface 2 is superior to Surface Pro 2, except for one big thing

[chatterbot]

The Surface 2 gets 10+ hrs of battery life and is powerful enough to handle most applications but there is one huge drawback to the Surface 2 that makes me want to get the Surface Pro 2 instead, or nothing at all since the Pro 2 is sooo darn expensive after MS Office....that is that Windows RT and its browser is not fully compatible with a lot of websites....like dropbox or video sites (CNBC). This is simply not acceptable.

With Windows RT I often cannot browse a website at all. Despite the hardware superiority, Windows RT is not yet ready for prime time....and thus the next tablet or convertible I purchase will be regular windows.

Since I bought Surface RT just last year I'm probably going to wait until next year to buy Surface Pro 3 with Office and the powercover....will cost like $1300, so maybe I'll have to wait until Surface Pro 4

 

[hotphil]

8 or 8.1? Browsing in 8.1 is much improved (but still not perfect).

 

[Rallicat]

The Surface 2 gets 10+ hrs of battery life and is powerful enough to handle most applications but there is one huge drawback to the Surface 2 that makes me want to get the Surface Pro 2 instead, or nothing at all since the Pro 2 is sooo darn expensive after MS Office....that is that Windows RT and its browser is not fully compatible with a lot of websites....like dropbox or video sites (CNBC). This is simply not acceptable.

I think that a tablet like Surface RT or Surface 2 is most fairly compared with other ARM tablets like the iPad or Google Tablets. Those too are hobbled by an inability to run common plugins.

Microsoft provide support for the most popular plugin out there in the form of Flash, but after that building a 'plugin free browser' is hugely advantageous in that it cuts down on security risks, helps to maintain the performance of the browser, and preserves stability. The general impetus is toward a plugin free world where most advanced functionality on websites is delivered through HTML5.

With tablets like the iPad, Android, and Windows / Surface 2, you're explicitly opting for that future leaning experience that largely does away with legacy compatibility. If you rely too heavily on software and services that rely on that legacy layer, then these sort of tablets aren't for you, and you should stick with 'Full Windows'. Alternatively, consider migrating toward other services that are fully supported in Surface 2.

 

[mitchellvii]

Can't believe MS didn't include a pen with the Surface 2. There goes a huge student target market that was theirs for the taking.

 

[oion]

The Surface 2 gets 10+ hrs of battery life and is powerful enough to handle most applications but there is one huge drawback to the Surface 2 that makes me want to get the Surface Pro 2 instead, or nothing at all since the Pro 2 is sooo darn expensive after MS Office....that is that Windows RT and its browser is not fully compatible with a lot of websites....like dropbox or video sites (CNBC). This is simply not acceptable.

With Windows RT I often cannot browse a website at all. Despite the hardware superiority, Windows RT is not yet ready for prime time....and thus the next tablet or convertible I purchase will be regular windows.

Since I bought Surface RT just last year I'm probably going to wait until next year to buy Surface Pro 3 with Office and the powercover....will cost like $1300, so maybe I'll have to wait until Surface Pro 4

You're not making any sense.

The blanket statement in the thread title is irrational. They're different categories of devices. WinRT devices are closer to the iOS/Android space than full Windows.

Not fully compatible with "a lot" of websites--this is nonsense from where I'm sitting because all the websites I use are compatible with RT's IE browser. See what I did there? (You know there's a Dropbox app, right?) I'm streaming The Tonight Show from nbc.com and Bono's impression of Bill Clinton from cnbc.com so I don't know what you're talking about...

And then your logic that "SP3 will be too expensive so I'll wait for SP4" makes even less sense. A new generation will always be at the high point of retail pricing. Unless you mean you intend on buying an SP3 (Office is not bundled) only when SP4 comes out, when we can expect a price drop for SP3.

Weird thread.

 

[SopranoSV]

So basically there are people out there still thinking the Surface RT is a laptop? That was the very first "complain"...no "full" windows experience nor the capability of installing "full" windows applications/programs. Surface RT and Surface 2 are tablets (t-a-b-l-e-t-s) which might be (if you want to) compared to iPad or Android Tablets. Do you want the "full" experience?, get a laptop or the Surface PRO/PRO 2...like Apple fans, if you want the full experience you don't get an iPad...

 

[chatterbot]

yeah, the problem with your analysis is that the ipad may not get the full desktop experience for a website (although most times it can view the website) but the ipad will probably have the app for the website. In the case of the Surface RT...there is no app if the website doesn't work.

 

[BOBELL]

Right on OION I agree with you 100%

 

[olimjj]

I could never understand why some frequent posters who talk about their surface RT or SP1 do not have a My Device listing under their avatar info ?

 

[beman39]

oion you hit the nail on the head! BTW I keep thinking your nick is onion...dunno why lol but anyways I have browsed all over the web and NOT 1 website did not work, so I don't know what chatterbot is talking about! it's false statements like these that make a bad name for the RT, it's really REALLY ANNOYING!

 

[kristalsoldier]

The only thing that I have found IE10 on my Surface RT not to work with is the damn web-based Oracle calendar for my work-place. But then again, I have the same problem with IE 10 on my desktop. So, what should I do? Should I ask my workplace to create an app for the internal calendar that works on Win 8 machines? As it is, the IT fellows at my workplace - most of them, that is - are behind the curve. They also have a marked bias towards Apple systems - though our workplace is Windows-centric. So, I have to find workarounds, which I do. No point in complaining about this - from my p.o.v., that is.

 

[thanibee]

The only thing that I have found IE10 on my Surface RT not to work with is the damn web-based Oracle calendar for my work-place. But then again, I have the same problem with IE 10 on my desktop. So, what should I do? Should I ask my workplace to create an app for the internal calendar that works on Win 8 machines? As it is, the IT fellows at my workplace - most of them, that is - are behind the curve. They also have a marked bias towards Apple systems - though our workplace is Windows-centric. So, I have to find workarounds, which I do. No point in complaining about this - from my p.o.v., that is.

Can't you use RDP there!

Sent from the SurfaceForums.net app for Windows 8