<p>I'm a freshman engineering major looking for something inexpensive and lightweight to take around with me to classes as my current laptop is large and heavy, making it a pain to carry. I don't want a new laptop since the one I have works fine, and I'll probably want to upgrade when I get into harder engineering courses that require fancy software around junior year anyway. I plan to use the Surface to check email and social media, browse the internet, and work on papers or online homework during and between classes. I think it'll also be nice to have for trips back home or on vacation, where I don't use my laptop that often.</p>
<p>If you have a Surface, do you like it? Is it with the money? What do you use it for? What's the battery life on a Surface? I'm looking into buying the original (Surface RT) because it's so inexpensive.</p>
<p>If you don't have one, any recommendations? I'm open to anything, but I would really like something with a physical keyboard and long battery life.</p>
<p>The problem with the Surface RT is that because of its different architecture (RT…), there are very few programs designed to run on it. I know on the newer models they are including Microsoft Office, but I don’t know about the original line-up. I would recommend looking up what is available on it that you might want to be able to use.
For the keyboard, get the Type Cover, not the Touch cover. Definitely worth the price difference. I tried them out at the Microsoft Store, and the touch cover was awful - unresponsive, no tactile feedback. Type cover was much nicer and still felt slim.</p>
<p>Alternatively, you could get an iPad or Android tablet and get a third party keyboard for it. This would give you more apps/programs, but could end up more expensive. My plan was to get a physical keyboard when I won an iPad, but I ended up doing most of my note-taking with a stylus and got used to the touch screen keyboard, so I never ended up getting one.</p>
<p>Another option - a netbook. Compact, all the programs you would have on your laptop, but in a convenient, small and cheap package. This is what I used before I got the iPad, but the thing finally bit the dust after 5 years.</p>
<p>I have the Surface, I don’t think it’s worth paying 350 plus. I got for 250 on Black Friday and that’s was the most I think anyone should pay for it. I would recommend getting a Netbook-like computer since you’ll be able to run more on it and their battery life should last you about 5 hours compared to Surface 7 hours. I have trouble with doing homework on it since it’s not a real computer, so the software will get very slow and crashed a little. It’s a good tablet and I’m glad I got it for cheap, but I would recommend a net book.</p>
<p>The Surface RT is horrible and that’s exactly why it’s cheap. If you are considering the Surface , just look at the Pro model. I’ve seen the Surface Pro for $599.99 brand new so look for that.</p>
<p>The Engineering faculty at our school tested various options, including traditional laptops, tablets and ‘convertible’ tablets (screen pivots to be either a tablet or laptop w/keyboard configuration). They ended up choosing the Surface Pro for themselves because it was easiest to interface with classroom display technology and it could run almost any Engineering software. Downside: $1K+</p>
<p>The Surface NT would probably not be a good choice because it does not run a full version of MS Windows, so you can’t simply load most Windows-based applications. The same is true for an iPad, which is fantastic for classroom presentation, but can’t load most Engineering software. Convertible tablets may be a good choice, but they are going to be more expensive than a Surface Pro, for one that has enough power to run Engineering graphics software.</p>
<p>I’m sure that the Engineering Dept at your college has computer recommendations for students, so you should start there. One of the big questions is whether or not you need to install Engineering graphics software, which can be a huge memory and processor time hog. If you do have to install graphics software, you are going to need a significantly more powerful laptop. If not, you could easily get by with a lower-powered laptop or tablet.</p>