Birthday Best Buys

Saturday, I picked up two Surface RT tablets at Best Buy in Florence Ky.  One for E.D. my tech buddy and one for myself.  E.D. stopped by on Sunday to pick his up.  The Best Buy Black Friday deal was $199.99 ($212 with tax) and well worth the saga (and hassle) to get it.  That saga is too long a story for a blog (although in past years I would have detailed it completely).

Little did I know how fun a birthday present to myself getting the Surface RT would be!  All evening Saturday, all day Sunday, and good part of Monday, I have been playing with the tech toy!  So what is the good, the bad and the ugly:

The good:
(1) I've finally crossed the line into the world of tablets - no more ipad envy
(2) This will incent me to "virtualize" my files, calendar, and email into the cloud
(3) The design is cool, the productivity tools (e.g. Microsoft Office and even Outlook 2013) at my fingertips (literally), HDMI output to big screen monitor, and YES (for you Appleheads) a USB port (find that on your tablet!)
(4) Remote Desktop Access is a snap (too bad for GoToMyPC)
(5) Dancing tiles (again - raspberries to the iworld gruppies)
(6) Immediate integration with my Windows Phone and synchronization

The bad:
(1) It's not a Surface Pro so some software can't be loaded (Chrome, Firefox etc.)
(2) Not enough Microsoft Apps
(3) Only 32 gig - but can be expanded with the microSD card and/or USB flash stick
(4) No keyboard, cover, or HDMI cord (what do you expect for $212)
(5) Only 2 gig of Ram

The ugly:
(1)  The time it took to update the old operating system and security patches - 3+ hours


And the unexplored includes the Windows 8.1 upgrade features, the voice commands, the script capabilities etc.


So this Birthday was dominated by gadget heaven.