Windows 8 hardware - so much choice!!!

It seems that I am one of the few that is getting excited about the new hardware, I really cannot decide what to get! The Dell and Surface systems look very good!

Im 99% decided on getting a Win RT device as I think that the x86 hardware will be more expensive and have worse battery life and also be heavier and hotter. Not sure how true this assumption is. However the 1% thinks it would be good to run visual studio on a tablet so a hard choice!

Can I use a 64gb micro sd to bump up my storage capacity as i have music, movies and books that I like to carry with me? Do all apps access the sd card as part of the file system?

Don't think you'll enjoy running visual studio on an RT. You'd wait for the Surface Pro version, I believe.

You can remote desktop to a development machine with it, however.

6 minutes ago, JohnAskew wrote

Don't think you'll enjoy running visual studio on an RT. You'd wait for the Surface Pro version, I believe.

You can remote desktop to a development machine with it, however.

I didnt think visual studio would run at all on arm devices?

Buy RT now, and x86 when a version with Intel's Haswell CPU comes out later next year.

13 minutes ago, Proton2 wrote

Buy RT now, and x86 when a version with Intel's Haswell CPU comes out later next year.

Not a bad thought... though the current Atom Z2760 based tablets look to be at least as good as the ARM based tablets, running Windows 8 instead of Windows RT. I'm not convinced this is a great option for desktop applications, but it may work "well enough" for occasional use. The Asus Vivo Tab is supposed to get something like 8 hours battery life when undocked, and 16 when docked (different reviews have the numbers slightly different... for instance PCMag claimed they got over 9 hours of video playback undocked, and while they could test when docked reported it should be 15 hours, but that sounds off to me, as when docked I'd expect a x2 increase).

Yeah, Windows RT will NOT run normal desktop applications. Just Windows Store apps, and the Office 2013 that comes with Windows RT.

Wait for the Surface Pro, I think in March. The screen is a bit bigger, the resolution is 1920x1080, and you can run VS2012 in it all day long if you want.

@123tax: I believe you *all* are correct.

@Harlequin: All day long? Last I checked they weren't reporting battery life. Or price for that matter. Did I miss something?

38 seconds ago, wkempf wrote

@Harlequin: All day long? Last I checked they weren't reporting battery life. Or price for that matter. Did I miss something?

Maybe they can be plugged in to an electrical outlet...

Of course they can, but what's the point of that?

My buying decision would be sooo much easier if Microsoft would release these two specs (battery life and pricing) on the Surface Pro.

Wait for the Surface Pro, I think in March. 

Source? I thought it was due before then. 

March is only 1 month off what was originally stated (3 months after Surface RT launch).

4 minutes ago, Proton2 wrote

March is only 1 month off what was originally stated (3 months after Surface RT launch).

So... November (1), December (2), January (3)......... Febuary(4) March(5) I'm confused 

October 26th + 90 days = January 24th

Not sure where you're getting March from.