Week of 14 October 2013:  For this week, Best Buy is offering a $200 gift card for trading in a Windows Surface RT (version 1).  Since Microsoft is coming out with Surface 2 (RT and PRO versions) next week, rather then accumulate multiple devices, I took advantage of the $200 offer and it will significantly help in funding a new Surface 2 next week.

Although there is much controversy, I found the RT tablet a very nice device, and its aspect ratio helped with the 10.1″ screen size.  Ability to install applications, having the Office suite, and now with Outlook for e-mail, it is suitable for most of my needs.  For me, the ONLY drawback is my inability to install an alternate web browser such as my favorite Firefox. (The two flavors of Internet Explorer are both frustrating to use and are a serious drawback for RT…with the desktop version being better than the “Metro” version).

For me, 10 inch tablets are more of a consumable device, suitable for many things such as some games, some editing Office documents, and accessible to the file system.  Windows 8.1 RT offered some very nice improvements that accommodated my working style better (on the desktop).  I find that doing original or complex productivity work often requires a larger screen…for me, 22″ or greater – with multiple screens open at the same time.

So for now, goodbye Surface RT, I patiently await Surface 2 next week!

ED