Microsoft is dropping the price for the 32 GB Surface RT to $199 this weekend. I have always been interested in these due to the claim that they run office. I am a student and MUST have Excel, Word, and PowerPoint on my portable device. I have a 17" laptop and an IPad right now. On days when I need my laptop at school to work on Excel or PowerPoint, I dread carrying that big thing around. The IPad productivity apps just don't cut it because they have a quarter of the functionality and are difficult to use on the touch screen. I am hoping that the surface can fill in for the laptop when I need it at school. I am willing to take the chance at the $199 price point, but I was looking for information from people who have actually used Office applications and can tell me if they really work.

I have used a Surface tablet all the time for about a year now. I see no difference in the Office on it compared to the one on my computer at work. This tablet does everything I used to do on my old Dell laptop other than allowing me to install 'extra' software from cd's. I rarely used those anyway. Really like this tablet and have no problems with Windows 8 or 8.1.

Got the original Rt and I have used it for simple Office applications. So far I haven't missed not being able to use 3rd party software. I got the touch keyboard and like it a lot.

I'd be leery of getting an RT right now. That platform was the odd man out from the beginning and I doubt Microsoft will continue to support it.

Anandtech has a pretty thorough review of Office RT.

cougar55 wrote:I have used a Surface tablet all the time for about a year now. I see no difference in the Office on it compared to the one on my computer at work. This tablet does everything I used to do on my old Dell laptop other than allowing me to install 'extra' software from cd's. I rarely used those anyway. Really like this tablet and have no problems with Windows 8 or 8.1. Do you have the RT OS version?

User experience with MSOffice on Windows Surface RT tablet?

strollin
Explorer
Nov 28, 2013
Personally, I wouldn't buy an RT at any price. What's the point of having a Windows tablet if it won't run the majority of Windows software?

Dell has the Venue 8 Pro tablet that runs the full version of Win 8.1. The 32G version of this tablet, which comes with the Home and Student edition of Office 2013, sells for $299. Walmart was selling these a few days ago for $229. I ordered the 64G version of this tablet the other day from Dell for $280.

I would watch the Black Friday ads and buy a Dell Venue before I would buy the Surface RT.
Camp__Forrest__
Explorer
Nov 28, 2013
1492 wrote:
You can get a refurbished WIN Surface RT for $169. But I'd be cautious as to whether Microsoft intends to drop the RT in 2014? See article Microsoft ready to kill Windows RT.
Interesting article. I can see the point of dropping RT. once tablets have enough power, it would be better for everyone if they ran the desktop OS. They are essentially there, and RT was the first OS to try (successfully in my opinion) to mimic the desktop experience. I'm not worried about support as I've never relied on manufacturer support for electronics. In fact, I still haspd Windows 98 (1st Ed.) on my media server until last year when I switched to an old XP laptop to save space.
1492
Moderator
Nov 28, 2013
You can get a refurbished WIN Surface RT for $169. But I'd be cautious as to whether Microsoft intends to drop the RT in 2014? See article Microsoft ready to kill Windows RT.
Camp__Forrest__
Explorer
Nov 26, 2013
TeeHouse wrote:
Camp, Forrest, Camp:

Where can you get the 32 G Surface RT for $199 this weekend? Only through Microsoft or perhaps Best Buy. Is it a special Friday offer or is it Saturday and Sunday. Input appreciated. Thanks.
I've been previewing the black friday ads and have seen it in several places from $199 to $249 with the keyboard cover. I know Microsoft, Best Buy, and Staples have it for sure.
cougar55
Explorer
Nov 26, 2013
Camp - I have RT. Just looked again at the Word and Excel offerings on here since I used both on my work PC today and don't see any feature missing on here that I'd want to use at home. Can't run micros in Excel but that's no great loss for home. Word seems essentially the same. No complaints here and we've had this for about a year now. I also have the touch keyboard.
strollin
Explorer
Nov 26, 2013
MS does offer Office 365 in the cloud but Office 2013 still runs on your local machine as does the version that comes with the Surface RT.

If you have a computer with a browser and an internet connection you can create, view and edit Office files (doc, spreadsheet, powerpoint) for no cost using Skydrive.
1775
Explorer
Nov 26, 2013
MS has moved Office into the Cloud. Will you always have wireless access when you need to use MSOffice? Will you have a data connection? There is a big advantage to having software on your device. There are many office compatible apps for Android (Polaris Office is one, there are others) and these give you Excel, Word, and Powerpoint read and write compatibility - and they are located on your device and do not need to access the almighty "cloud" to use them. The same thing can be done on a pc netbook with Libre Office. Consider other tablets and netbooks before jumping on board MS's fiasco attempt to compete in a market they are just getting their feet wet in.
sch911
Explorer
Nov 26, 2013
I'd go for the Dell Venue Pro with Windows 8.1 including MS Office Student. Intel Atom processor, so it's not the Windows RT variant. List is $300 but there will be Black Friday deals on them...
TeeHouse
Explorer
Nov 26, 2013
Camp, Forrest, Camp:

Where can you get the 32 G Surface RT for $199 this weekend? Only through Microsoft or perhaps Best Buy. Is it a special Friday offer or is it Saturday and Sunday. Input appreciated. Thanks.
sh410
Explorer
Nov 26, 2013
Here is a FAQ for Office RT. Not all of the features in the student version of office is available in Office RT.