What I Like About the Surface Tablet

The world is full of iPads, but Apple tablets aren’t the only things going. Microsoft has made some serious headway with the Surface. Even if you aren’t a Microsoft fan, there are some definite bonuses to having a Surface tablet over the iPad. For the sake of this article, we’ll focus on the Surface RT, though Microsoft’s other offerings include most of the same details.

The Really Good Things

Since the Surface is a Microsoft product, it comes loaded with all of those Office programs that you’ve probably grown to love. Plus, if someone sends you a Word file, for example, you can easily open it up without resorting to some wonky app. If you get a lot of files that were created for Office, the Surface really has the upper hand over the iPad. The other great thing about the Surface is that it comes with a USB port.

If you do everything via Dropbox or other cloud programs, you may not understand the need for a USB port. However, it’s really nice to have that port when you want to use a flash drive, set up a wireless mouse, keyboard, monitor, or other extension – you may never have a use for this, but it’s nice to have the option of the USB without looking for some kind of converter kit, app, or other product that you’ll have to buy to go along with your iPad. What about Windows 8.1? How does that function?

8.1 Gets a Bad Reputation

It’s really tough to understand why people hate Windows 8.1 so much. The fact of the matter is that 8.1 is intuitive, easy to customize, and really not a pain at all. In fact, it’s sometimes easier to find what you’re looking for with 8.1 than it is when you’re sifting through a bunch of apps. If you are used to iOS, 8.1 will take some playing around with in order to get things moving smoothly. But, you will get the hang of it, and it will become second nature quickly enough –plus, you’ll get Outlook and Skype right on your start screen, so that’s a bonus if you use those tools.

My overall experience with the Surface RT was that this tablet is really simple to use. Plus, it comes at a much lower price than the iPad. The one drawback here is that you won’t get apps like Instagram, but Microsoft is quickly adding more and more apps to the lineup, so popular apps that you may not have right now are going to arrive soon enough. I’m going to go on record and say it: I like the Surface RT. I like it a lot. If you want to use an iPad for things like FaceTime and apps, I suggest buying both. You’ll get more than a little bit of use out of the RT, and you can keep the iPad for those other things that you love to do.