{"id":938,"date":"2013-02-07T09:50:26","date_gmt":"2013-02-07T14:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=938"},"modified":"2013-02-07T09:50:26","modified_gmt":"2013-02-07T14:50:26","slug":"microsoft-surface-with-windows-8-pro-hotter-thicker-faster-louder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2013\/02\/07\/microsoft-surface-with-windows-8-pro-hotter-thicker-faster-louder\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft Surface with Windows 8 Pro: Hotter, Thicker, Faster, Louder"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Microsoft’s first ever computer, the Surface with Windows RT (or “Surface RT” as I will henceforth call it) is a mixed bag. The design and build quality both impress, and Microsoft’s twin typing solutions\u2014the 3mm no-moving-parts Touch Cover and the 6mm real keyboard-equipped Type Cover\u2014are remarkably effective.
\nSpecs at a glance: Microsoft Surface with Windows Pro
\nScreen 1920\u00d71080 10.6″ (207 ppi), 400 nit, 10-point capacitive touchscreen
\nOS Windows 8 Pro
\nCPU Intel 3rd generation Core i5-3317U
\nRAM 4GB (non-upgradeable)
\nGPU Intel HD Graphics 4000
\nHDD 64GB or 128GB solid-state drive (of which about 25 or 89 GB are usable)
\nNetworking 802.11a\/b\/g\/n with 2×2 MIMO antennas, Bluetooth 4.0
\nPorts Mini DisplayPort, headphones, microSDXC, USB 3.0, Cover port
\nSize 10.82\u00d76.77\u00d70.52″ (274\u00d7172\u00d713.2 mm)
\nWeight 1.99lb (0.903kg)
\nBattery 42Wh
\nWarranty 1 year
\nStarting price $899
\nPrice as reviewed $1128.99
\nSensor Ambient light sensor, Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Magnetometer
\nOther perks 48W charger with 5W USB port
\nThe screen resolution, however, is substantially lower than those of its comparably-priced competitors. The touchpads of those covers are wretched (in the Surface review, having used them for a week, I thought they were poor; with several months under my belt, I now think they’re downright bad). The processor is underpowered.
\nBut the biggest issue with Surface RT is its operating system: Windows RT. Windows RT can only (officially) run applications using the Metro user interface and the WinRT API. These were thin on the ground when I reviewed Surface RT, and they’re thin on the ground today.
\nSurface with Windows 8 Pro (hereafter known as “Surface Pro”) is Microsoft’s second computer. It is a straightforward proposition: take Surface RT, give it an Intel processor, a high resolution screen, and stylus support. Next, make all the requisite changes to cope with the greater power consumption and heat output that the x86 processor implies\u2014and all the software compatibility and performance that x86 brings.
\nFull Story: Microsoft Surface with Windows 8 Pro: Hotter, Thicker, Faster, Louder | Ars Technica<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Microsoft’s first ever computer, the Surface with Windows RT (or “Surface RT” as I will henceforth call it) is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,5,10,11],"tags":[1057,1218,1232],"class_list":["post-938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hardware","category-microsoft","category-technology","category-windows","tag-surface-rt","tag-windows-8","tag-windows-rt"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-f8","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2953,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2013\/07\/15\/microsoft-surface-rt-gets-150-price-cut-worldwide\/","url_meta":{"origin":938,"position":0},"title":"Microsoft Surface RT gets $150 price cut worldwide","author":"NCCT","date":"July 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Update: Microsoft has made the Surface RT price cuts official. The base 32GB model is now $350, the 64GB variant will be $450, and either of them with an included Touch Cover will be $450 and $550 respectively. The new prices are in effect at retail stores worldwide as well\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Microsoft"","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6660,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/10\/17\/microsoft-rolls-out-surface-2-firmware-updates-promises-wi-fi-update-for-surface-pro-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":938,"position":1},"title":"Microsoft rolls out Surface 2 firmware updates, promises Wi-Fi update for Surface Pro 3","author":"NCCT","date":"October 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Microsoft may well be close to launching a new version of its Windows RT tablet, but it's continuing to roll out improvements to its current one in the meantime. The company has today begun pushing out a bunch of firmware updates for the Surface 2, bringing a range of fixes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hardware"","block_context":{"text":"Hardware","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/hardware\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8368,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/06\/04\/standalone-copies-of-windows-10-will-cost-up-to-199\/","url_meta":{"origin":938,"position":2},"title":"Standalone copies of Windows 10 will cost up to $199","author":"NCCT","date":"June 4, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Following the announcement of Windows 10's official launch date (it's July 29th, in case you were wondering), Microsoft has also revealed just how much Windows 10 will cost for those who are building new systems or who aren't eligible for the company's free upgrade offer. Basically, Windows 10's pricing will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Microsoft"","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6348,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/09\/03\/oops-microsoft-accidentally-teases-windows-9-coming-soon-on-social-media\/","url_meta":{"origin":938,"position":3},"title":"Oops! Microsoft accidentally teases Windows 9 ‘coming soon’ on social media","author":"NCCT","date":"September 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Microsoft's internal censors seem to be sleeping on the job this year. In June, the Surface Pro 3 manual included several references to a small-screen Surface Mini despite the fact that a small-screen Surface Mini was never actually released. And now, as rumors of Windows 9 swirl, Microsoft China\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Microsoft"","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6416,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/09\/09\/microsoft-re-releases-withdrawn-updates\/","url_meta":{"origin":938,"position":4},"title":"Microsoft re-releases withdrawn updates","author":"NCCT","date":"September 9, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Microsoft has re-released the remaining August updates that the company had withdrawn. All three were non-security updates. They had already re-released one security update last week. The three updates are: August 2014 update rollup for Windows RT 8.1, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 (KB2975719) August 2014 update rollup\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Microsoft"","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5864,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/07\/01\/some-surface-pro-3-users-complain-of-wi-fi-woes-after-first-day-firmware-update\/","url_meta":{"origin":938,"position":5},"title":"Some Surface Pro 3 users complain of Wi-Fi woes after first-day firmware update","author":"NCCT","date":"July 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Ten days after launch, Microsoft is still trying to squash the bugs in its Surface Pro 3 tablet. As Ed Bott at ZDNet reports, some users have been complaining of connectivity problems over 802.11ac Wi-Fi networks. Complaints have also popped up on Microsoft's support forums, with users noting slower\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hardware"","block_context":{"text":"Hardware","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/hardware\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}