Help Deciding, Surface vs iPad w/retina

[zhenya]

I have an iPad 4, a Surface Pro, a Macbook Air 11", and a Thinkpad T410s (slim 14" laptop).

For taking notes and doing real work, I'd buy a Macbook Air either size or an equivalently small Windows laptop, no question. The new Macbooks really have the advantage of the new Haswell processors giving them a tremendous advantage in battery life.

The Surface Pro has a great screen, but Windows can't handle scaling properly yet, so it's always a compromise. The keyboards aren't great, and the battery life is mediocre at best, meaning you need to carry the power brick with you everywhere, greatly reducing portability.

 

[MattyS]

OP DECISION

Ok so I went to the mall (have both a windows kiosk and apple store where I live)... tried everything out and....

I really liked the surface, it was actually pretty usable to me... but... it's just not there yet. I'd say give it another generation or two.

I was sold on the 11' mac book air. Just so light, so beautiful... I couldn't say no. Its so portable I love the darn thing.

Thanks to everyone who threw in their two cents and encouraged me to look at the macbook air.

Also would like to point out... the retail experience was drastically different between apple and Microsoft. I went to see the Microsoft kiosk and they had bright signs, and enthusiastic retail salespeople, but there wasn't one other person besides me. Countless shoppers just wiz by, completely uninterested. It was a little depressing. then I step into the apple store and it is absolutely packed and there is just a sense of demand, it is encouraging.

 

[Voodoofreak]

I know you are interested in typing up notes...but also keep in mind that you can take notes using a stylus on an iPad. I have been doing this at my job over 1.5 years now. All my notes are hand-written and easily accessible.

You do need to get used to it at the beginning, but it works wonders when I can instantly locate my notes from a meeting a year ago (or series of meetings when working on a larger project). These notes can easily be distributed or printed via email/printer.

I just wish I had these things 13 years ago when I was in college.

 

[scottw324]

I have an iPad 4, a Surface Pro, a Macbook Air 11", and a Thinkpad T410s (slim 14" laptop).

For taking notes and doing real work, I'd buy a Macbook Air either size or an equivalently small Windows laptop, no question. The new Macbooks really have the advantage of the new Haswell processors giving them a tremendous advantage in battery life.

The Surface Pro has a great screen, but Windows can't handle scaling properly yet, so it's always a compromise. The keyboards aren't great, and the battery life is mediocre at best, meaning you need to carry the power brick with you everywhere, greatly reducing portability.

Battery power is one of the reasons I stick with the iPad for my mobile computing needs. I have Windows laptops and a netbook if I need them for power needs but the iPad does 90% of what I use a computer each day for. Definitely worth the money IMO.

 

[s15119]

M$ has warehouses full of Surfaces which haven't sold. Wait a few months and you can pick one up at the dollar store.

 

[Night Spring]

M$ has warehouses full of Surfaces which haven't sold. Wait a few months and you can pick one up at the dollar store.

I think that I don't want to use the Surface even if I were paid to use it.

 

[pogoyoyo]

OP DECISION

Ok so I went to the mall (have both a windows kiosk and apple store where I live)... tried everything out and....

I really liked the surface, it was actually pretty usable to me... but... it's just not there yet. I'd say give it another generation or two.

I was sold on the 11' mac book air. Just so light, so beautiful... I couldn't say no. Its so portable I love the darn thing.

Thanks to everyone who threw in their two cents and encouraged me to look at the macbook air.

Also would like to point out... the retail experience was drastically different between apple and Microsoft. I went to see the Microsoft kiosk and they had bright signs, and enthusiastic retail salespeople, but there wasn't one other person besides me. Countless shoppers just wiz by, completely uninterested. It was a little depressing. then I step into the apple store and it is absolutely packed and there is just a sense of demand, it is encouraging.

I'm glad everything worked out for you. Enjoy your new macbook air, it's a solid machine

 

[Powrie]

When iOS 7 comes out With the new devices, We are going to have much better local speech recognition.

Instead of being sent out to the cloud, it's going to be done much faster on the new hardware.

 

[philosopherdog]

The surface is a piece of junk. The ipad is revolutionary. Get a keyboard or learn how to type on it. Use Evernote. It's better.

----------

I'm glad everything worked out for you. Enjoy your new macbook air, it's a solid machine

Good choice.

 

[racer1441]

Ipad. Had the surface, hated it so much I just tossed it out.

 

[saberahul]

One will do what it is meant to do. The other will be discontinued faster than you can blink.

 

[CrockettGTO]

MBA is a great choice. Glad you are happy with your new device. One thing I've been testing out is the new Zaggkeys line of keyboards. Super thin and light. I am trying to decide between the folio and the keyboard cover for my mini. They are both nicely sized keyboards. Even on the Mini. They use a high quality hinge similar to a laptop versus a groove or slot to rest the tablet in. This allows the keys to be larger as the they don't have to share the space with the stand. I am leaning more towards the folio version as i already had to return one of the cover versions due to the right front corner of the keyboard by the power button separating at the seam. That said they are both extremely thin and like another member stated it is rated at some 2 months between charges, depending on use.
I have tried a ton of different keyboard options out there but they all seemed to either be too bulky, heavy, or some other reason defeating portability.
I really would love to see an iOS tablet with retina and Wacom digitizer technology. An Apple device with an active stylus to offer palm rejection so that it could be used for drawing, sketching, and note taking. Surface Pro and Galaxy Note line both have this and it is amazing, problem is the android tablet apps are simply nowhere near where they could be if they were in iOS, and who knows what the prospects for Windows Apps are or how healthy their ecosystem will be in a year from now, they have a long way to go to catch up to the competition.

 

[MRU]

Personally my decision.

I am more veering between deciding wether to buy myself a

Wacom Cintiq 13HD

Or Haswell Surface Pro (when it comes out).

If they can improve the Wacom digitiser in the Surface Pro - it would seem more 'value for money'.....

 

[Technarchy]

The iPad would certainly be the safer purchase.

If Surface RT is around in a year or two, that would be a miracle.

 

[taptic]

Ok so I'm a student and I want a device to TYPE notes with. I have a laptop that is decent but the darn thing is to heavy I don't wanna lug it around anymore. The reason I considered surface is because I use one note on my laptop and surface has that included and has that snazzy little keyboard and I want to be able to type my notes and sync it to my skydrive.

The opposing side here is that I have read reviews on surface and it seems to be a buggy, slow and mediocre device according to the press. My question is does ipad have any good keyboard attachments and any good note taking apps that might be similar to one note that would basically match the functionality of surface.

Appreciate any advice

My sister is a student. She was using a laptop for a long time. She finally got an iPad. These are her words. "I don't know how I did anything without it!"

Go iPad.