For example, the $500 Surface offers 32 gigabytes; the 64-gig Surface is $600. At the Redmond press event, a Microsoft engineer argued that despite the lower resolution, the screen beats the iPad's 2048 by 1536 Retina display in some circumstances; he also said that people who are 45 and above generally can't tell a Retina screen from a lower-resolution one. More important, moving the keyboard off the screen frees up the full screen resolution for whatever app you're using — a plus in all scenarios, and close to a necessity with the Desktop Office apps, all of which work better when they don't have an on-screen keyboard in the way. We did manage to break off the kickstand by gradually leaning onto it, but I had to put nearly my full weight onto the tablet before the kickstand snapped off. But this one is razor-thin and disappears completely when you’re not using it. Advertisement 
 
 You can do work, yes. The keyboard's on the inside and draws power from the connector; there's no need to futz with Bluetooth or worry about charging it. If the Touch Cover had been a miracle, there wouldn't have been a need for the Type Cover. It’s not the same speed I hit on a full size keyboard, and I still have typos galore (though far fewer) but given how much I’ve improved in a week, it’s impressive. Flip the cover all the way around, hide the keyboard, and give yourself something substantial to grip like a tablet. On this miniature keyboard, that has no actual physical keys, keystrokes fire as fast as you can type them. (“If you type 80 words a minute on a keyboard and 20-30 on glass, you should be in the 50s on the Touch Cover,” says a Microsoft representative.) Microsoft also offers a Type Cover, that promises actual physical keys instead of the flattened solution, but that will add critical bulk to your Surface experience—along with an extra $130. Advertisement 
 
 And most of the time, Surface is a thoughtful computer. It could also make suggestions to its hardware-manufacturing partners, But it couldn't, you know, try to build the PC of the future. But RT users can't install any of this older software. Sure, there's a Surface Pro version coming up that'll have full, powerful laptop guts, and run the same software any PC can—Microsoft's best shot at being your only computer, forever. As with Windows 8, switching back and forth between new Windows 8-style apps and the Desktop can be an oddly disjointed experience, as if you're teleporting between two very different planets with very little warning. You’ll be thrilled or appalled, depending on your fondness for change. The screen doesn't hold up against the crispness of the iPad's retina resolution, but still manages a lovely colorful pop to suit the colorful, poppy Windows 8. Everything's touch-friendly and fluid. Windows RT is underpowered (everything opens and syncs slightly too slowly), under-functional (you cannot install a single app that's not available through the Windows RT app store, which offers a paltry selection), and under-planned (the built-in apps can't feel like Lite versions of something better). All come bundled with Surface, and all are largely identical to their Windows 8 counterparts, despite being "preview" editions. On Windows 8, the Desktop has a huge saving grace: It lets you use any old-school Windows program. Compared to the 275,000 iPad-optimized apps in Apple's store, though, there simply isn't much there. Or at the very least, with Surface RT, a tablet that you could actually use as your primary computer. That’s not all that’s wrong with Windows RT, either. The Control Panel offers features like typing suggestions and autocorrect, but I couldn’t get them to work anywhere. But I thought it spoke to how easy it can be to inadvertently do bad things with the Type Cover. Maybe the snags will get fixed. Maybe the quasi-vaporware Surface Pro, which eschews Windows RT in favor of the real-deal Win 8, will make all the difference, opening itself up to the open seas of PC software (for several hundred dollars more).
– The creators of the hotly anticipated Microsoft Surface RT have touted it as revolutionary, improving upon the toy-like tablets of today by making it functional, with a detachable touch screen and a snappy design. So is it the future of computing? Not yet, most reviewers agree: Sam Biddle praises the RT's concept and design in a detailed review at Gizmodo that's worth a full read. But ultimately, he says it's "not worth your paycheck" in its current form, which retails around $600 give or take some pricey add-ons. Instead of being both a tablet and a laptop, it's "really just the worst of both worlds." It's also hard to use: "It's just a half-broken death march up the learning curve." Over at Wired, Mathew Honan loves the look of the machine, and like others, drools over the satisfying "snap" of its razor-thin kickstand. It's durable too, but the cameras lag and "the image quality looks about like the last photo you snapped with your Razr V3." Pretty much everyone hates the Windows RT software the machine runs on. It's a departure from Window's old operating systems—it's colorful and swipe-friendly, for starters. But Harry McCracken, writing for CNN, wonders why the new design still includes a desktop. Switching between the two interfaces "can be an oddly disjointed experience, as if you're teleporting between two very different planets with very little warning." The apps are a big letdown, writes David Pogue in the New York Times. You can't use any iPad or Android Tablet apps, nor any of Microsoft's own programs. That means no apps for Facebook, Angry Birds, or Spotify, among many others, and what is available is "bare-bones junky." His advice? Wait a few months for the Surface Pro.