i posted a while back indicating that i've got 3 surface 32gb w touch cover (black) for sale. I've sold two units already and got one last unit left. i'm looking to sell it for $950 although i'm open for negotiation.
Microsoft Surface 32Gb + Touch Cover (Black) - Ad#211939 - HardwareZone.com.sg
the unit is immediately available in an original (unopened) box. please pm me if you're interested and we can settle on the price and arrangement on how to deal
p.s the surface is awesome. i really love my unit even with it's occasional kinks. i'd like to give more details wrt to some qns on this thread but it's late so i'll probably do it tomorrow
egad. due to some miscommunication and an errant buyer over the weekend the unit is still available.
anw my relative is still keen on selling the unit and his final offer is $900 to the first interested and genuine buyer. at that price he'll just about cover cost - at the prevailing exchange rate at money changers (since he is a resident in the us and has to convert it back to USD).
i'm helping him with the selling so please sms me directly through the number quoted in the ad and i'll arrange on the deal asap!
on another note, i'm using the surface primarily for school. the surface is good for your tablet-ish task like playing games (app store is filling up quite quickly), light surfing, music and video etc., and a lot more.
Initially, I wanted to buy a win8 laptop on win8 launch day but so many of the models were not available. Thankfully too, because with the surface I realize I now do many of my tasks on the surface directly (notetaking, paper readings, even report writing!)
just yesterday, I decided to plug in an external wireless mouse that I've always used with my laptop cause I was using word and needed to do quite heavy duty formatting... and it just works! Not exactly surprising, but still nice. Many people don't really think about the fact that there is not even a notion of a "cursor" on an ipad.
(my following comparison with ipad is not very formal and I'd advice you to read proper tech reviews AND actually spending some time with both systems before you actually decide. I've been a semi-heavy iPad 2 user prior to switching to surface).
The screen is longer than an iPad (at a 16:9 ratio) which takes a bit of time getting used to but this makes it great for doing reading in a portrait mode. Much better than an iPad2 at least. Resolution wise.. arguable. The resolution/text rendering definitely beats the iPad2 but probably not the new iPad. I can see the sub-pixels when zoomed in to text (very close up too) but it's really not a deal breaker. Who does any reading that way though?
(Real) Multi-tasking is a big deal for me. I was watching a full movie via youtube yesterday while typing my report (yes both on the surface), with the youtube app being docked to the side. And it just occurred to me that I can never do this ever on an iPad. (Not that I'll do any actual typing on the iPad!)
Touch gestures: I've showed the unit to a few friends and the consensus were the same (quite unfortunately). They all agreed that it's very "pretty" (credit to win8), the hardware feels very good, a bit heavy, and the screen is a bit strange (trust me once you're on the surface for a few days the iPad screen ratio just looks fat and strange). And then they'll lament on how the gestures are so "confusing" and "typically Microsoft" and complain why the five-finger gesture to the home screen doesn't work.
My take on the gestures is that too little credit is given to the swipe gestures. After getting used to and really understanding the different swipe gestures and the notion of charms bar, I really see the iPad in a different light (very much backwards in this regard). Case in point: I was playing some bejeweled inspired game (treasures of Montezuma) and decided to stream some variety show over funshion (风行). so obviously there were competing audio from both apps and I needed to soften the sound effects from the game. And I discovered I can access the settings of the game via the charms bar->settings (or directly through windows-I for the keyboard shortcut junkies), that is kept separate from the game itself. Same for search/share etc. The win8 APIs are well thought out and the gestures really works.
Touch keyboard: gotten used to it and have done rather heavy duty typing on it. That said, I do get tired after a long session of typing. It's definitely not a keyboard replacement and should not be seen as one. Oh and I really really love the finishing on the surface of the keyboard (furry carpet like). Makes the whole Surface extremely classy.
On another note, I actually find frequent comparison to the iPad rather disingenuous because I really believe that the surface is a class above the iPad (in an abstract sense). Take a look at
Coding Horror: Do You Wanna Touch.
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tl/dr: I've got one unit left and I'll sell to the first person who is willing to buy it at $900, immediately.
