Putting the Surface RT through it's paces

The Microsoft Surface sitting on a hotel desk, near a Room Service menu
The Surface is at home on the hotel desk.
I am currently on a business trip and decided to only bring my Surface RT along. Since Microsoft is positioning it as a device that can be used in lieu of a laptop for business users, I figured I would see how well it does.

So far (after a day and a half), things are working well. I was able to get online at both airports (I had a connecting flight) and check/respond to e-mails. One of the airports had a walled garden, and I was able to connect without a hitch. My hotel has free wireless, so no problem here either. One thing to note - from what I read, there is currently not an official Ethernet dongle out for the Surface, but this MS community post has a potential solution.

Since my arrival, I have had to take notes in a meeting and work on a budget for a proposal for my office. Office 2013 RT has worked well for both tasks. Since I have an Office 365 business account, I can use the included Office 2013 for Commercial use, however it is something that could technically prevent someone from using the Surface RT for business without spending additional money on a commercial-use license.

I am working well with the touch cover - I've even been able to turn off the sound feedback for typing. I haven't noticed my typing speed to be any slower than usual, but I haven't done an official speed test either. The SkyDrive integration is great - it works like any other file source and my documents immediately sync to my work machine.

I have not tried VPN to my office computer - it probably won't work since I am having trouble using IE 10 to VPN on my Windows 8 laptop as well, and Chrome is not an option on the Surface RT, but with SkyDrive I haven't been needing to use VPN much anyway.

Battery life has been sufficient for my needs - I had about 4 hours of meetings today and still have power left, but I did dim the screen a bit more than I would have if I didn't need to conserve power.

I do miss Outlook - the Mail/Calendar/People apps work OK, but I do wish I could have a single app that has all that information. Maybe MS will decide to make it (or something similar) available.

In summary, I am initially impressed at how well this is replacing my old combo of a laptop and iPad for business trips. We'll see if it that changes in the coming days.

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