Did i make the right choice? (surface pro)

lemonz54

Honorable
Feb 8, 2014
3
0
10,510
Last week, there was a sale at best buy on the surface pro 128gb for $500 ($540 w/ tax) and I jumped on right on the deal thinking its the best tablet for the price at the moment. But now I'm beginning to realize how expensive the accessories are ($129 for a keyboard is just absurd) and its really hard to come across a keyboard for the surface pro for under $50 used. I mainly bought this tablet for educational purposes (programming, online classes) and some entertainment on the side. What disappointed me the most about this tablet is the battery life. Previously coming from an iPad 2, its kind of sad of how the battery is so horrid the battery life is on this (max ~6 hours with screen brightness on the lowest) all I did is read eBooks and a some programming on the side with about an hour of internet usage.

Previously I was considering the asus t100 but those were no where to be found and since I do a lot of multitasking, the performance would have been pretty bad. So I guess my question here is did I make the right choice for going with the surface pro 128gb? Or is there another, better alternative for a tablet, preferably with a keyboard for the same price I paid ($540).
 
Solution
I don't think you are going to find anything similar in terms of hardware specs and performance for the price you paid. The Asus Transformer T100 is a pretty decent alternative, however, it has a Bay Trail Atom CPU instead of an Ivy Bridge Core i5-3317u and it has a lower resolution (1366x768 vs. 1920x1080). You would also be limited to just 2GB of RAM instead of having 4GB.

The Bay Trail Atom CPU probably provide enough processing power since watching online lectures and program are not very CPU or GPU intensive. However, 2GB of RAM can be a bit limiting and a 1366x768 resolution screen does cut into your multitasking abilities. Therefore, I recommend you still with the Surface Pro.

As for the keyboard, yes they are expensive...
I don't think you are going to find anything similar in terms of hardware specs and performance for the price you paid. The Asus Transformer T100 is a pretty decent alternative, however, it has a Bay Trail Atom CPU instead of an Ivy Bridge Core i5-3317u and it has a lower resolution (1366x768 vs. 1920x1080). You would also be limited to just 2GB of RAM instead of having 4GB.

The Bay Trail Atom CPU probably provide enough processing power since watching online lectures and program are not very CPU or GPU intensive. However, 2GB of RAM can be a bit limiting and a 1366x768 resolution screen does cut into your multitasking abilities. Therefore, I recommend you still with the Surface Pro.

As for the keyboard, yes they are expensive depending on the color you want. On Amazon new MS keyboards range from $66 (red) to $135 (black). There are many 3rd party keyboards / cases are generally less expensive, however, they do not magnetically attach to the Surface Pro.

Here is a Logitech Bluetooth keyboard you can buy for $35. The keyboard comes with its own protective case which also doubles as a stand for the Surface Pro (which only as one kickstand position). Not sure if the case can lock into multiple angles or there is simply one angle.

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Tablet-Keyboard-Windows-Android3-0/dp/B009JPBPWO/ref=sr_1_21?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1392048736&sr=1-21&keywords=surface+pro+keyboard

The following is a combo case and bluetooth keyboard for $40.

http://www.amazon.com/Detachable-Removable-Bluetooth-Microsoft-Tablet-black/dp/B00H965IGE/ref=sr_1_9?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1392049207&sr=1-9&keywords=surface+pro+keyboard
 
Solution