Windows RT Tablet Showdown: Asus Vivo Tab vs. Microsoft Surface

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2411428,00.asp

Hey Harley, I took a look at the link you provided and neither tablet is a clear winner.  To me they are much of a muchness and either would fulfill my portable computing needs, though at present I'm probably leaning towards the Surface slightly more.  I mean, both tablets are admirable and capable devices, but something about Surface just grabs me that bit more.  However, it will be a while before I can make a purchase, and who knows, things could change between now and then.

As for the Asus being thinner and lighter than Surface, I noticed in the PCmag article that it is actually thicker and heavier when combined with the keyboard cover.  However, it isn't such a big difference that it would influence my decision.  For me, thinner and lighter isn't necessarily better as I have big clumsy hands and don't mind something a bit meatier to get my hands around.  It was like when I was choosing my mobile phone and deciding between a thinner/lighter iPhone or the thicker/heavier Nokia Lumia 820.  The Nokia felt better in my hand, like I had something to get a firm hold of... and less likly to drop. [BTW, I had no intention of buying an iPhone, just picked one up for a comparison, that's all]

I don't think GPS would be an issue for me as I no longer drive because of disability and use public transport or a taxi [when required], so what's on offer in the Surface would be more than adequate.  Besides, my W8 phone has excellent GPS thanks to Nokia, so I'm not likely to ever get lost, am I.

Actually, that is a feature of the W8 phone I really like.  The missus and I both have one, and we are forever exchanging things between phones to save double downloading, etc. Yeah, you just place them back to back [don't have to be touching] and voila, press the share button on one phone and the other one gets it.  It's amazing stuff... and how I love new toys.

The Asus is a very nice tablet. I had a Transformer until I dropped and broke it.

I have a Surface and really like it a lot. I don't think you can wrong with either one. I really like the Touch Cover, very easy to type on and adds almost no weight or thickness. The Asus keyboard dock however does have an additional battery to power the tablet longer than it's internal battery.

Advantages either way. Both are great machines.

I have to agree on all accounts I think either are excellent machines and no matter the choice anyone should be very pleased after a hands on experience!

Sometimes it is so funny to see the technology today being ahead of what sic-fi could even dream up a few years back(well maybe a few times 10).I used to think a StarTrek communicator would be the coolest thing ever, then I had 1 almost 10yrs ago now flip phone with push to talk! Then remember the tablets they carried around in StarTrek the next generation now I'm typing on 1 lol. Now if we only had one of those cool gadgets to instantly heal cuts a bruises.😉 

Yep, I am always amused at how real life often catches up with science fiction.

As for the Win 8 tablets (or Win 8 in general), just the other day I was using my Surface while sitting at the counter in a diner and had a couple of people ask about it. Before I knew it I had several people crowded around me as I showed them the OS and how it worked. 

Several people commented that Win 8 was nothing like what they read in online reviews. Some even commented they had no idea it has a desktop "just like my old Windows".  More than one commented that they were going to upgrade to Win 8 now that they had seen it, and a couple said they were going to go buy a Surface LOL.

I'm still waiting for transporters to replace cars and replicators to replace hunger. I'm hopeful it will happen!

That's the thing, you see, reviewers and 'other' product fanbois say so much negative stuff that sometimes it near kills a product...because the general public places too muck stock in what the 'experts' say.  Like with Vista, the public stayed away in droves because the 'experts' said it was rubbish.  Thing is, when Win7 hit the shelves, which in essence is a refined version of Vista, the public couldn't get enough of it, but that's because the 'experts' realised MS wasn't going back to XP and said it was the best OS since sliced bread.

Fortunately, I like to find stuff out for myself.  Admittedly I didn't like the Metro UI initially, particularly on the desktop, but having had plenty of time to become accustomed to it, I have to say that I quite like using it now.  As for phones and tablets, I prefer Metro over Android and IOS any day of the week... it has a more natural feel and is more fluent in operation. In fact, the iPhone/IOS never stood a chance!  I'd already been given a Nokia Lumia 820 W8 phone to 'road' test, so when the assistant handed me an iPhone 5 it fell well below expectations and I handed it back within a couple of minutes... and not because I'm a MS fanboi.  The iPhone was lacking in too many areas and simply didn't impress me at all, not like the W8 phone... that just jumped straight out and said: "Buy me, buy ME!"

Now if I had taken any notice of various fanbois and reviewers opinions, I'd likely be stuck with an iPhone that I'd be nowhere near as happy with, so here's for going in and getting a first-hand, hands-on experience/comparison before deciding on tech buys

I agree as a mobile device hands down . Faster more intuitive etc........

i played around with the asus in the at&t store quite a bit today. i'm leaning toward that one over the surface. the keyboard is definitely more robust. if i decide to get the asus, it won't be at at&t. they want $800 for it. i think frys has it for $500, maybe $550.

maybe the extra cost is because it has a sim card in it. they said i could add it to my data plan for $10 a month. i didn't see a sim slot, though. the samsung tablet they have definitely has a sim slot but the price of that one is $950. that's far too salty for my taste.