Touch Cover vs Type Cover

[bosamar]

I've had a Type Cover since November 23rd and like it very much. I had the opportunity to try the Touch Cover at the San Diego MS store and settled on the Type Cover. IMO it is superior.

[derausgewanderte]

I purchased the 64Gb Surface with the touch cover. I was surprised that it worked quite well, but never got to comfortable with it and had kept having problems with hitting the correct keys, especially around the space bar and the space bar itself. This went all away with the type cover that I purchased a week ago. I am extremely happy with it. Doesn't add too much extra and I can type just as fast as on a regular keyboard.
cheers

[jneikum]

I went to Best Buy the other day and tried out both keyboards. If you are like me, and have to look at your hands to type, then the Touch cover should work just fine. If you type the way you should type, without looking at your hands, then I would recommend the Type cover. I found myself typing pretty much the same speed on both. Hope this helps!

[J515OP]

Generally the keys people are having trouble with on the Touch cover are the space bar and the shift keys. Even with practice the shift keys are still the ones hanging me up. I can still type quickly though and it isn't enough of a distraction for me to opt for the type over the touch.

At first I found myself using the RT as a laptop and barely touching the screen. I sort of had to force myself to start using it more as a tablet and using the on screen keyboard more (it's just so easy to default to the touch cover). The experience with the on screen is going well so it is another reason I am glad I didn't go for the type cover if I'm just using the on screen instead anyway it would have been a little more of a waste. Of course for heavy input and real laptop like functionality the type cover is the way to go.

It is nice to have choices but don't get what you are use to just because you are use to it. Sometimes going with an alternative can work out for the better with a little readjusting.

[R0bR]

I jump between the touch screen and touch cover and can do both at pretty good speeds, even with my onscreen keyboard scaled down a bit from the 4 tile hack. The issue I have with the touch screen is that I miss letters on my left hand at times because of my guitar calluses, touch screen doesn't seem to respond well to them.

[pvtpyle75]

I picked up the type cover at Best Buy yesterday as part of the Master Card fiasco, so $50 off, figured was a good time to try. I'm really liking the type cover and I feel I can be much more productive when I'm actually trying to do real work (write and review reports in word and do calculations in spread sheets). So I think the type cover will be my daily driver and the touch cover will be my at home/travel cover.

[1031982]

I picked up the type cover at Best Buy yesterday as part of the Master Card fiasco, so $50 off, figured was a good time to try. I'm really liking the type cover and I feel I can be much more productive when I'm actually trying to do real work (write and review reports in word and do calculations in spread sheets). So I think the type cover will be my daily driver and the touch cover will be my at home/travel cover.

That's not surprising. Congrats on getting in on that marketing glitch! Great thing to get with it. I would have gotten more and re-sold them at something around $100. You make a profit, and whoever buys them get's a deal.

[Ashles]

I tried the touch vs type cover in John Lewis. No competition in my opinion.
Touch cover was better than I expected, but a few typos. But the Type cover was amazing! Felt like a completely normal keyboard. I wasn't expecting much key travel due to the thinness of the keyboard, but there was ample to give a normal typing experience. In my quick test I made no typos. Very impressed.

One note for anyone hoping to test them in John Lewis - have a look in the display case first. I asked if I could have a look at the Type cover, the assistant said they only had the 'different colour' keyboards. I pointed to the display case and said 'That one - the one that says "Type Cover" on the box.'
He looked confused. Clearly he hadn't seen them before or realised there was actually a different type of keyboard.

[ehuffaker]

Used the Touch cover for the first two months. Caught the boss in a good mood three days ago and he came back from lunch and dropped a Type on my desk. The Type cover totally transformed the Surface for me. I was wearing out the backspace key on the Touch, with the Type I'm back to my normal fast-typing self.

With the Touch I had to slow down and watch my fingers. With the Type I can keep my eyes on the screen.

Gorilla Glass -vs- plastic? I ain't chancing it. I have a piece of fabric cut from one of those reusable shopping bags that I insert between the screen and the keys during transport. When/if I get a film protector for the screen I'll ditch the fabric but 'till then...

E

[Corrosive]

I figured I'd chime in here:

I do a lot of typing on my surface in class and the touch cover was starting to get to me. I was good enough but only at about 70% of my usual typing speed. After reading through this forum, I ordered a type cover on ebay (about $85) and am EAGERLY waiting for it to come in.

I know ehuffaker mentioned cutting a fabric cover (GREAT IDEA!) but has anyone just left it as is for some time? I don't mind the whole fabric thing but it seems like more of a hack to what is already one of the best designed products in years.