Got surface questions? Reddit AMA with Surface GM right now

LOL

Paid_for_WinRar:

1. How big is the install of Windows RT? Meaning if I get a 32gb unit, how much free space will I have?
2. Can I save downloaded Apps to the SD card so it doesnt take up primary storage space?
3. How awesome is the Surface on a scale of 1 - Awesome?

You_butt_pirate:

I call bullshit on your username

@blowdart: Awesome Q&A! Lots of details for us nerds. The tech behind the keyboards was fascinating and shows how Microsoft does still care about the little details. Thanks for sharing.

That said no NFC (copying Apple again really?) and no GPS? That's weak. Also the memory conundrum of 20GB free space on a 32GB unit with no apps on the SD card (c'mon! didn't you learn from Android that model was bad) is a bit more butt hurt than I believe many will take. This may be more of an issue on the PRO where you can actually run legacy apps. But on the count of music, movies, and photos that 20GB will run out fast. Telling people to use the SD card for that is a bit disingenuous because those files can't be part of the library system and thus aren't auto discovered by most apps. It's this kind of shortsightedness that really frustrates me about Microsoft. You could be great but you leave enough on the table to make people feel frustrated and disenchanted. Nothing is perfect but really are some of these things that hard not to notice and fix?

*Edit: Typo*

No NFC and no GPS?  Thats strange since the Intel/Samsung Tablet I received from Build last year has both.   That tablet has been pretty good even though I still like my laptop for doing work.  But the whole family can use it (pass it around ) and we all have our own logins.   I really want the GPS for travelling.

A portable device at that price with NO GPS is pretty much useless for me.
Hopefully the Pro version will have one. I've never been interested in an RT tablet anyway.

I'd say the lack of GPS limits the number of apps I'd be able to use with it, so that's a bummer, but the real disappointment for me is the fact that you can't install apps on SD.

I didn't think that'd be an issue at first, but my Android phone has become next to useless because of this exact issue. If I want to try a new app, I have to get rid of one I already have. Since I use the ones I already have, I can't install any new apps. In fact, I regularly have to remove updates for built-in apps like Maps because every month or so my phone will say it's out of memory and then refuses to download new emails, text, or voice messages. In other words, I have to perform regular maintenance to make my phone less useful, because otherwise it stops functioning as a phone. This all despite having 2GB of free space available on the SD. It's the main reason I dislike my phone.

Now, I understand that the phone has, I don't know, maybe 100 or 200MB of available built-in storage rather than the Surface's 20GB, so the difference is orders of magnitude bigger, but I also expect to use bigger, more elaborate apps on a tablet compared to a phone, so I don't know. Also, I realise there are Surface devices with more available space, but I'm not made of money.

Regardless of those drawbacks though, I still really want one. So they obviously did something very right.