Surface 2 vs. Baytrail devices

[EddySnoozah]

I showed my Surface 2 to a friend who is looking for a replacement for his netbook. He liked it and was thinking about buying one. Then, a couple of days ago, he came back and asked what I thought about the new Baytrail tablets that are starting to appear like the Asus Transformer Book T100. He asked me if it would be better to buy one of those rather than an S2?
I wasn’t really sure what to say to him. The previous generation of Intel Atom processors were not very fast – my mother’s got a 2-year old netbook and it is SLOW. But apparently, from everything that my mate has read – that is not the case with these new Baytrail-powered devices. I told him that if it was me, I would want to go and have a good look at one of these new devices and play around with it a bit to reassure myself that these new devices are as fast as claimed. Considering that the T100 comes with a keyboard and with MS Office home/student edition, it doesn’t sound like a bad deal.
I’m not sure how the Surface 2 is going to be able to compete with such devices.
One point in favour of the Surface 2 is that with the Touch cover, it is a very slim and light device – great to just throw in your bag and take on trips. The design and build quality are very good too. Also, and I don’t know how much of a plus point this is, - but I feel a bit ‘safer’ using my Surface 2 for online purchases and banking than I do when using my big, old Dell Studio PC – this is because of Windows RT and the fact that it is new and relatively few hackers/internet baddies etc will have bothered to write viruses and malware for it yet (reasonable assumption?).
Can anyone else think of any other reasons why someone should buy a Surface 2 instead of a Baytrail device like the T100?

 

[ctitanic]

Very simple, as soon as he start to load those "semi" x86 devices with Antivirus and anti malware the performance will go down. And there is nothing he can do about it. In a Surface 2 the risk of virus is very low and perfectly handled with MS antivirus. It's an easier and less heavier task to control virus for ARM than for X86.

That's one point. The second point is that the ARM processor runs cooler and the battery last more time. To achieve the same battery live in an Atom the device size will be bigger and heavier and it will run a little hotter.

 

[WillysJeepMan]

Time and time again I've heard about the promises of the next generation Intel mobile CPU. In each instance what was delivered fell short. Forget about spec sheets and theoretical performance... wait for actual devices to appear and see how it actually performs.

If a decision needs to be made now, then I'll stick with what is actually here (rather than hope in some yet-to-be proven technology).

 

[jnjroach]

Bay Trail Systems are running much better than previous Atom CPU's from Intel, but two big struggles they are facing is Power Management and Video Driver issues. The other big problem people run into is when (because they can) install legacy Win32 Applications the system becomes less stable due to those applications not being Connected Standby aware, impacting both performance and stability.

 

[Deleted member 10837]

I have never found virus or heat to be very strong arguments. For the keyboard, it will be up to him depending on his uses and what he prefers. His hand size typing on a 10.1" or 10.6" keyboard, portability and weight or a more tactile feel. The battery life seems good enough to get a day of use out of it. Again, depending on his uses, new Chromebooks with dual core Haswell 2955U CPU and 4GB of RAM is also something that's available.

 

[ctitanic]

I have never found virus or heat to be very strong arguments. For the keyboard, it will be up to him depending on his uses and what he prefers. His hand size typing on a 10.1" or 10.6" keyboard, portability and weight or a more tactile feel. The battery life seems good enough to get a day of use out of it. Again, depending on his uses, new Chromebooks with dual core Haswell 2955U CPU and 4GB of RAM is also something that's available.

AVs are never a strong argument until you have to clean an infection, that's always the case. As an IT guy to me it's a piece of mind to know that that part is covered.

But, the main thing is, if the guy is happy with the extra weight, he heat, and the battery life, what are we debating? You should buy whatever makes you happy!

 

[EMINENT]

It's easy. Ask him if he needs those programs on the go. If it's not his only device and he has a desktop, he can remote.

Surface 2 is unmatched for me as no other tablet will stand on it's own. Also, having the keyboard easily stowed away and folded under or detached is a must for me. I don't want a keyboard in front of me sometimes so most others won't do.

 

[EddySnoozah]

Thanks. Yeah, I guess it all depends what he wants to use it for and I tried to explain that to him. I think that people are getting too hung up on the issue of running ‘legacy’ programs but I've only come to appreciate that after using my Surface 2 for a few weeks.

 

[TheJokker]

I learned back in the 80's that the hardware is less important in deciding which system to buy than the available programs. If he is interested in running legacy programs than I would recommend looking at a Bay Trail tablet or maybe buying the First Gen Surface Pro at a discount (or going all the way with a Surface Pro 2!!). If he is just interested in getting a great tablet than I would recommend the Surface 2.

The first step is determining his expectations and than finding a machine that matches.

 

[demandarin]

CPU wise, they are basically neck and neck. With bay trail slightly edging tegra4. But gpu wise, tegra4 beats out bay trail by alot. Asus t100 is cool and so is venue pro8. But surface 2 all around is a better built device.