I’m currently writing this article on a Microsoft Surface running Windows RT and I have to say I kind of like it. The construction is on par with the iPad. The case is nice and stiff, it doesn’t twist or bend. I like to twist tablets from opposite corners. The iPad doesn’t deflect at all, nor does the Surface. The Samsung Galaxy tab on the other hand deflects quite a bit and feels cheap by comparison.

I’ve had an iPad for quite a while now and one of the nicest features of the Surface has to be the keyboard. I thought it wouldn’t be hold up for typing lager amounts of text, but it is surprisingly responsive. I do think that it has a lot to do with the fact I can touch type, a hunter-pecker may have greater difficulty using the keyboard. And I kind of wish that the indents on the home keys were on the top of the key instead of the bottom. Maybe it is because I want my fingers to be resting in the groove instead of finding the groove and moving my fingers up. I do like that I’m not smudging my screen while I type, and don’t loose half the screen to a keyboard. I can’t imagine that I’d ever leave the Surface keyboard cover behind, like I would the Bluetooth keyboard I have for my iPad, so it is very useful. Because the OS is Windows, it is also nice that they included a trackpad with left & right mouse buttons.

The screen is quite nice with a good resolution and nice and wide and with the kickstand far more stable than an iPad with it’s cover rolled up for it to stand up. The kickstand even works well on a lap, although it would be nice if the keyboard were a bit stiffer. The white on black keyboard almost appears backlit in a dark room from just the light off the screen, making it very easy to use in low light.

l don’t have a stylus, but even my cursive with just my finger was recognized very well. Well enough that l decided to write two sentences with the handwriting input. The only error was a spelling mistake on my part. Now either it is very good at handwriting recognition or maybe my cursive is textbook, I’m sure it is something in the middle, but I’m very impressed.

The battery life is on par with the iPad. I found I could get 2 days of occasional use out of it before having to recharge.

The one problem I have run into over the past few days, is that the Surface doesn’t load applications like a tablet. It is slow to load. There are a lot of loading screens. The unlocking feature, is also slow, there is a wait indicator and it takes 5-10 seconds to get going. Coming from an iPad, that’s a long time to wait just to pick an application.

Overall, I think I’d hold off on a Surface until the Pro has come out. It is supposed to run full Windows 8 (not RT) and have a Intel i5 processor. It should significantly cut down on load times, and offer a wider range of software.