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Like the Surface RT, the Surface Pro uses its signature kickstand to prop the tablet up when standing on a flat surface. Of the three, the Surface Pro feels the most comfortable in hand. The Acer W700 and Surface Pro both weigh about two pounds, with the Sony Duo 11 tipping the scales about a pound heavier. Since the screen only measures 10.6 inches, it's a bit more manageable to hold than the larger 11.6-inch Acer Iconia W700-6465 ( at Amazon) (Opens in a new window) or Sony VAIO Duo 11 (D11213CX) ( at Amazon) (Opens in a new window). The extra thickness of the screen is needed to house the higher-powered Intel Core i5-3317U processor, cooling fans, "perimeter vents," and extra battery capacity to power it all. The Surface Pro has the same all-metal VaporMg construction as the Surface RT, with the same black visage. (Opens in a new window) Read Our Acer Iconia Tab W510-1422 Review It's one of the faster ultrabook-class devices out there, it's much more portable than an ultrabook convertible, and it runs the Windows XP/Vista/7/8 programs your household or business needs to run. Then there are systems like the Surface Pro, which balance the price/performance/feature equation well. You can permanently attach the keyboard for convenience and make the screen do acrobatics, but then the system will be heavier and only let you use the screen as a tablet part of the time. You can get 10+ hours of battery life, but then you need to run a low-power processor that either runs a mobile OS (Windows RT, Android, iOS) or it runs Windows 8 slowly. Of the handful introduced lately, the Microsoft Surface Windows 8 Pro ($698.98 at Amazon) (Opens in a new window) is the one to beat.Įverything in the portable world is a tradeoff. But if you need compatibility with older x86 programs in a slate tablet form factor, then you need one running Windows 8. Tablets with mobile operating systems like Android, iOS, or Windows RT are perfectly adequate if your tasks center on the Internet.
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