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Does anyone have any opinions on this? I am looking for something that functions as a laptop and tablet and this looks interesting. Apparently Windows RT doesn't support macros in Office so the regular Surface is out for me.

I know a couple of, literally 2, people who have one and speak highly of it for business related stuff.

The man in black wrote:Does anyone have any opinions on this? I am looking for something that functions as a laptop and tablet and this looks interesting. Apparently Windows RT doesn't support macros in Office so the regular Surface is out for me.

Unless you have a specific business need that can't be solved with another solution, wait for Windows 9. I know 5 people who have a Surface, including two coworkers, every single one did not (IMO) sufficiently research it beforehand, and they all hate it. Even if you liked the device, the OS is awful.

I suspect this device is even worse than widely believed, and that Microsoft is propping it up with marketing and pressure on the PC press.

What do they love/hate about it?

I'd rather buy a MacBookAir 11", so you can have a real computer with a real OS. Then you can choose between OSX + M$ Office for Mac and going commando (install Windows + Office). Or you might like using OSX and a Windows virtual machine.

The man in black wrote:What do they love/hate about it?

I'm seeing two of them today and can ask.

SubClaw wrote:I'd rather buy a MacBookAir 11", so you can have a real computer with a real OS. Then you can choose between OSX + M$ Office for Mac and going commando (install Windows + Office). Or you might like using OSX and a Windows virtual machine.

My experience using a MacBook Pro and a virtual windows machine --- Parallels --- has been dismal. Windows is unbearably slow and OSX has slowed down too.

The 13" MacBook Air is not much heavier and the interface --- larger screen --- is easier to do real work on than the 11 inch. IMO

I've not used the Surface 3 much, but I have one friend that really likes his. I personally hated the keyboard.

I don't know all your plans for the tablet, but I do have some experience with the Asus T100TA

My daughter had back surgery during summer, and was limited to only carrying 5 pounds, and her school issues laptops, but they were too heavy, especially with books.

This little bugger is a tablet when you disconnect the screen, and netbook when connected. It runs full Windows, not the RT version.
Battery life is all day and comes with Office (not Outlook though).
It boots surprisingly quick, owing to the solid state main drive (don't get the 32 gig version)
With a baytrail intel 4 core cpu, it's not fast, but it's not slow either. Not as fast as a Surface though.
USB 3 built in, plus micro SD card built in. Micro HDMI out to plug into external monitors

Downside is cheap plasticy feel and build, but I got it for $325 at Amazon, so it's half a Surface pro, and has a much better keyboard.

I use it more and more now that my daughter has boys wrapped around her pinky carrying her books and laptop for her.
Recently, I was a conference speaker at an event in Chicago and did not want to carry my whole Dell Precision M6500, with 17" screen and weighs the same as an anchor, in the city and all over McCormick place. I took the little Asus and it worked like a charm, battery lasted the whole train ride from Detroit. I left the Dell in the basement at home with TeamViewer running, so I could connect to it and run it if I needed to.

They also make a slightly larger version the T200TA

seeahill wrote:

SubClaw wrote:I'd rather buy a MacBookAir 11", so you can have a real computer with a real OS. Then you can choose between OSX + M$ Office for Mac and going commando (install Windows + Office). Or you might like using OSX and a Windows virtual machine.

My experience using a MacBook Pro and a virtual windows machine --- Parallels --- has been dismal. Windows is unbearably slow and OSX has slowed down too.

The 13" MacBook Air is not much heavier and the interface --- larger screen --- is easier to do real work on than the 11 inch. IMO

Retina MacBookPro 15", Intel Quadcore i7, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SDD. I use OSX as my main OS for everything, having two VMs running at the same time (a Windows 8.1, using two cores and 6 GB RAM and an ArchLinux server, using two cores and 4GB RAM). Any of the VMs outperform my wife's mid-range HP notebook running just Windows.

My iMacs' (the two of them) and my MacMinis' (the four of them) setup is rather similar and no faulty performance either. My MBA11" (8 GB RAM) runs perfectly with a Windows VM running inside Fusion (no more than 4 GB RAM though).

I've tried VMWare Fusion, Parallels Desktop and VirtualBox and they all run perfectly fine. It seems to me you must have some kind of RAM problem.

If your MBP has 4GB RAM you have to be really careful virtualizing. My first MacBook (not pro, the white plastic one) from many moons ago (Intel CoreDuo2, just 4GB RAM) could virtualize XP no problem. Windows Vista/Seven was tricker but doable (performance was affected).

I have a colleague who uses the Surface. Essentially all of his work is done in airplanes, coffee shops, hotels, etc. His primary needs are: email, Excel, Word, and review of PDF's & CAD drawings. He loves it compared to his old PC laptop.

My needs are similar except I do a ton of PowerPoint and manage photos. I use a Macbook Air for no particular reason except that my phone & laptop communicate seamlessly for the things that matter to me.