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Stu9

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 24, 2012
34
0
To get an ipad 3 over a Surface RT...it'll just be used mainly for the watching vids, emailing and general brousing....no serious work
 

SL4VE

macrumors 6502
Aug 19, 2010
454
10
iPad all day long, its just so easy to use and simple settings etc etc no faffing about just press and play
 

Stu9

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 24, 2012
34
0
Ok....one thing that's putting me of though is the lack of usb....i've got alot of stuff on the desktop and have no idea how to get it from there to an pad
 

rdowns

macrumors Penryn
Jul 11, 2003
27,397
12,521
Ok....one thing that's putting me of though is the lack of usb....i've got alot of stuff on the desktop and have no idea how to get it from there to an pad


There are dozens of ways to get your content on an iPad not using iTunes.
 

Stu9

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 24, 2012
34
0
What's the easiest.....it's mainly films, some music too

The DT's Windows XP pro
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,682
43,740
I'd say get the tablet that you want or best fits your needs.

The iPad is a great tablet but if you need to be "convinced" then its probably not the one for you. I think the Surface RT is too hamstrung to be an affective tablet, why not consider the Surface Pro
 

jamezr

macrumors P6
Aug 7, 2011
16,080
19,080
US
I'd say get the tablet that you want or best fits your needs.

The iPad is a great tablet but if you need to be "convinced" then its probably not the one for you. I think the Surface RT is too hamstrung to be an affective tablet, why not consider the Surface Pro
That is great advice....the Surface Pro is a desktop in tablet form......
 

Stu9

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 24, 2012
34
0
I'd say get the tablet that you want or best fits your needs.

The iPad is a great tablet but if you need to be "convinced" then its probably not the one for you. I think the Surface RT is too hamstrung to be an affective tablet, why not consider the Surface Pro


That's the problem, I don't know......and like both
 

rapicell

macrumors regular
Mar 20, 2013
248
58
Ok....one thing that's putting me of though is the lack of usb....i've got alot of stuff on the desktop and have no idea how to get it from there to an pad

I hate to say it, but file wise, you got cloud storage options to use: google drive, dropbox, ect....
If you need things like word, powerpoint, excel, and ect.. then iPad probably isn't going to work too well. There an app available that allows for a limited use of word, powerpoint, and excel, but that's about it.
 

Michael Goff

Suspended
Jul 5, 2012
13,329
7,422
Emailing is "aspect ratio neutral".
Watching videos is more of a 16:9 type of thing these days.
Browsing is supposedly 4:3, but if you have it in landscape instead of portrait I'd say 4:3 isn't going to cut it.

Why get an iPad 3 over a Surface RT? You're going to be getting much better OS support with the Surface. You're going to be able to use almost any peripheral you want with it.

I know I'm supposed to convince you to get the iPad, but it just seems like an inferior option for what you want to do.
 

thejadedmonkey

macrumors G3
May 28, 2005
9,243
3,501
Pennsylvania
I found the Surface to be a million times more useful than a 3rd gen iPad. Granted I thought they were both dumb and don't own any tablets anymore, but if I had to choose one I'd buy the Surface.
 

gotluck

macrumors 603
Dec 8, 2011
5,717
1,260
East Central Florida
What's the easiest.....it's mainly films, some music too

The DT's Windows XP pro

IMO
http://www.amazon.com/HooToo®-TripMate-Wireless-Portable-5200mAh/dp/B00DTPYRTI

is the best solution for 'extra' storage for ipad. works at home, on the go, anywhere. The tripmate is like a technological swiss army knife. Plug whatever external storage you want in the USB slot. Use a mediaplayer to play/view them (personally I use nPlayer or documents by readdle (for docs) depending on what I'm trying to view)

it works like a smb share
 
Last edited:

ozaz

macrumors 68000
Feb 27, 2011
1,615
577
Well, don't get a Surface RT. 1st gen product that's pretty slow.
If you want to consider a Surface, consider Surface 2.

Sounds like you're keen on USB support, and since you don't mention 3rd party apps in your original post (which is really the big strength of iPad), I'd say just go with the Surface 2.

----------

why not consider the Surface Pro

Overkill, I'd assume. If x86 apps needed, an Atom tablet would probably suffice.
 

Michael Goff

Suspended
Jul 5, 2012
13,329
7,422
Well, don't get a Surface RT. 1st gen product that's pretty slow.
If you want to consider a Surface, consider Surface 2.

Sounds like you're keen on USB support, and since you don't mention 3rd party apps in your original post (which is really the big strength of iPad), I'd say just go with the Surface 2.

----------



Overkill, I'd assume. If x86 apps needed, an Atom tablet would probably suffice.

I keep hearing about how slow the original RT is. I ... don't really see it. Could it be faster? Of course. Was it dog slow at the start? Yeah. Have they optimized RT a lot since then? Yep.
 

Fernandez21

macrumors 601
Jun 16, 2010
4,840
3,183
To get an ipad 3 over a Surface RT...it'll just be used mainly for the watching vids, emailing and general brousing....no serious work

If that's all your going to do, then save some money and get the Nexus 7.
 

jrswizzle

macrumors 603
Aug 23, 2012
6,107
129
McKinney, TX
To get an ipad 3 over a Surface RT...it'll just be used mainly for the watching vids, emailing and general brousing....no serious work

Why an iPad 3? That would be just about the last iPad I would buy. I'm sure you can find used 4th gens on eBay or refurbished models at Apple.com.

Or you could go with a mini or mini retina (I'd suggest the retina).

iPad all the way for tablets. Battery life is insane, app ecosystem is lightyears better than any other out there and contrary to popular belief, you can be productive on an iPad.
 

jrswizzle

macrumors 603
Aug 23, 2012
6,107
129
McKinney, TX
If you're going to be using an office-type grouped of programs ... you shouldn't go with second best.

I think that's up for debate.....while Office is without question the most popular, there are things about it that drive me insane.

And iWork is no slouch - with cloud support, instant saves and syncs across all my devices + the ability to get on ANY computer, sign into icloud.com and work on the stuff I was working on on my iPad, I'd say there's a lot to like about iWork.

Point being - one can be plenty productive on an iPad. MS Office doesn't make someone productive. And the idea is ludicrous.
 

ozaz

macrumors 68000
Feb 27, 2011
1,615
577
I keep hearing about how slow the original RT is. I ... don't really see it. Could it be faster? Of course. Was it dog slow at the start? Yeah. Have they optimized RT a lot since then? Yep.

Didn't realize there had been improvements to performance. I'm going on early performance. However, I'd still be inclined to go 2nd gen if within budget.

OP, what's your budget?
 

Michael Goff

Suspended
Jul 5, 2012
13,329
7,422
I think that's up for debate.....while Office is without question the most popular, there are things about it that drive me insane.

And iWork is no slouch - with cloud support, instant saves and syncs across all my devices + the ability to get on ANY computer, sign into icloud.com and work on the stuff I was working on on my iPad, I'd say there's a lot to like about iWork.

Point being - one can be plenty productive on an iPad. MS Office doesn't make someone productive. And the idea is ludicrous.

Oh, don't get me wrong. You can be plenty productive on an iPad. But if I have enough to buy either an iPad or a Surface? I'm going for the Surface.

Didn't realize there had been improvements to performance. I'm going on early performance. However, I'd still be inclined to go 2nd gen if within budget.

OP, what's your budget?

Yeah, it's not lightning fast or anything, but it isn't a dog. I don't think I would have bought a Surface 2 even if I did have the money a the time.
 

jrswizzle

macrumors 603
Aug 23, 2012
6,107
129
McKinney, TX
Oh, don't get me wrong. You can be plenty productive on an iPad. But if I have enough to buy either an iPad or a Surface? I'm going for the Surface.

Interesting......I can't imagine using anything other than my iPad.

I have a hard enough time using Windows at work.

To each his/her own!
 
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