I believe it was from the Microsoft store, I ran across it when looking at the Black Friday deals. If you search them you'll probably find it quick, but it was from a major big place, like Microsoft, best buy or some big place like that.

FWIW: I believe they improved the plug in keyboards on the 2's and the new ones don't work on the old and the other way also. That might make a difference to some people. You probably would want to try out the keyboard/s before purchase if you plan on using the keyboard a lot.

Here is a link, they show some differences between the original and the 2's, there is a lot more difference than I thought, including screen resolution.
[Link: microsoftstore.com]

Also Some info: "Meanwhile, Microsoft is joining a couple of other retailers in discounting its own first-generation tablet. Like Best Buy, it will be offering the original Surface RT 32GB for $199 on Black Friday via its online store. (Staples will have it for $249.99.) But unlike those stores, it will also have a special for a 64GB version, which will sell for $379, though that's only a $20 price cut."

hopefully better build quality? i have read allot of very good things on it, including a very good write up here [Link: engadget.com] i love the ultra high res screen, but users are complaining of allot of software not optimized to run at that resolution. about the only complaint i have seen was color tinting on screen, which was fixed with firmware, resolution which support will eventually come, and battery life. battery life is so subjective. it is only .08" thicker than surface pro without its snap cover so very close. when you flip back the keyboard disables so not to worried about it.

what did you find to be king of the hill in the ultra book category? did you look at convertibles? i want a tablet or a convertible device that can function as one.

anything new?

I've got one- Is there any that you have run across that has a detachable screen, Haswell i5 or better processor, 6GB+ of RAM, 256GB+ SSD hard drive, SD card slot and active digitizer? I've been looking for a long time, any several have come close, but I haven't been able to find something that fits those parameters.

TY

I think HP might have something like that but I haven't seen it in a store and I'm not sure about HP quality these days, not saying good or bad, just not sure.

Thanks. They have a few that are convertibles, but unfortunately none of them have over 4GB of RAM.

CJ

helix?

 
Honestly... even with all its problems, the Surface RT at $199 seems like a pretty good deal for a 10.6" tablet. I'm probably going to pick one up for my mother, who has vision problems and now seems to need a bright screen in order to read (she has a Kindle DX, but can't really use it anymore). I'd rather a QHD model, but they're $500+ and I'm not actually sure a tablet is even going to work for this purpose... and worst case, it can just be a web surfer for the family room or something.


Sorry, I've been *completely* ignoring detachable convertibles since that's not what I want. The problem is most of the guts has to be stored in the screen side, and there's not typically room or desire for fans so most stick with low-end CPUs that don't need active cooling.


Oh, it's great for the price, no question. But it's not a Thinkpad in terms of quality.

Plain plastic enclosure, some complaints over keyboard quality/travel, pentile LCD screen with offset pixels (granted that's the only one available in that size/resolution), battery life not even close to claims, some reports of QC issues including paint problems, warped frames and premature touchpad coating wear. The yellow color problem is improved, but the screen has color rendering issues with most colors, not just yellow, and that hasn't been corrected, likely because it can't. But for general non-critical use, nothing too major to worry about, really. Despite what it may sound like, I do like this model.


About the only convertibles I'd buy today is the Yoga 2 Pro or the Thinkpad Yoga, as I feel it's the best hinge system yet - I'm not a fan of the center swivel screens, or the sliders, or the exterior frame flippers, or the stranger flip hinge designs like with the Sony Flip. I didn't look at detachables at all.

Honestly, this current generation of notebooks is disappointing to me. Not in base technology (Haswell is great), but because companies have suddenly removed a number of base features like wired Ethernet, fingerprint readers, discrete graphics, user serviceability... and so many of these ultrabooks are almost identical hardware clones of each other with minimal differences to set them apart. I had a much easier time finding what I wanted a few years ago.

The MacBook Pro Retina 13 is actually one of the best priced and spec'd traditional ultrabook systems out there (no "Apple price premium" like usual) - but since its Windows driver support is poor at best (likely on purpose), it's a bad choice for a Windows-only user like me.

In the end, I looked at the business end of the ultrabook spectrum, as they still had the features I wanted - although not at the price I really wanted to pay.

Thanks. I knew there was one spec I forgot to mention- at least a 13.3" screen :) I think I've given up on detachable screens for the reasons Daniel mention. Any type of convertible will work. Right now I'm looking at the Sony Flip 13. The only issue I've really seen with it is that quite a few people have complained about a loud fan.

CJ

Daniel, Not sure why you don't actively consider the MacbookPro for windows. I'm running the retina macbook pro with windows and it's fine. It's the best Windows machine you can buy today. I haven't had any windows driver issues, Apple gives you all of the device specific drivers as part of boot camp so it's fully supported.

I completely agree with you on the lack of ports and serviceability. The manufacturers are chasing 1mm slimmer chassis and removing any chance of service or upgrades in the process. How Apple can call a machine without built in ethernet a "pro" machine is insane. Or maybe I'm crazier for buying another one?

About that Sony Flip. . .
I did buy one of those and ended up returning it. Sony did a very nice job on the hardware but I just could not deal with windows 8.1 on a daily basis.
The flip screen is actually really slick and well built, I thought it was great.

There are a couple drawbacks on the hardware. The lack of dimming on the backlit keyboard, it's either blinding or off in a dark room. There is flex in the middle of the keyboard that was annoying but not a deal breaker. They did release a Bios update to fix the fan running ALL The time, but it still runs hot and the battery life is not great. The trackpad is decent but falls well short of a typical Mac trackpad. But it's a nice machine and the screen is fantasic.

Of course, they put a pen sensitive screen on the machine, but don't include the pen for it in the box, arrrgh.

it doesnt even have a damn touchscreen! its almost 2014. no touchscreen? LOL.

do you use it solely in the field? ever run into a situation where compatibility issues have reared there heads? i just bought one for my wife and i do not like OSX at all.im sure i could get used to it but, its just not what im used to. how does the track pad work with left/right clicks of windows? i rarely pull out my bluetooth mouse. i like the built in track pad on a laptop.

i use my windows machine 365 days a year. it has never failed me! it has ports out the wazoo. its a big ole sum bitch though. tired of lugging it all over houses.

I spent quite a while researching that, and it seems that the general consensus was that if you plan on Windows being the primary OS (so not a virtual machine running under OSX), Apple's dedicated Windows drivers are rather sub-par compared to their OSX drivers, particularly for the touchpad.


Wired ethernet is being dropped from almost all smaller consumer-level machines (I've even seen 15.6" models lacking it). Crazily, quite a few business models are dropping it too, but thankfully a few still do think it's important enough to include. I think my favorite concept was Fujitsu's 14" Ultrabook, which is as thin as the thinnest ultrabooks, but has a special pop-out RJ45 port - so no dongle.

Also, I did pick up one of those ultra-cheap Surface RT tablets. Not bad for the price, really, especially since it's a 10.6" screen. Even with 8.1 it has some gotchas, and you aren't going to be running any business desktop programs beyond the bundled Office, but it's kind of halfway between Android/iOS and full-blown Windows in functionality.

What programs are you guys using? Are you using these for documents, network testing/apps (like Inssider or other similar ones), remote control setup tweaks, testing music streaming? Something lighter than a laptop would be a good change. I'm at the point where I may need to replace my Dell Vostro- the battery doesn't last as long, the OS has some issues (I have a copy of Win7) and the hard drive is suspect, but it tends to work pretty well. I bought it in early '08, so its time may have come. I wouldn't mind having an HDMI port to test inputs, but it's not an issue, yet.