32GB Surface tablets ship with just 16GB of usable disk space

Microsoft has revealed exactly how much free disk space that users can expect to find on a brand new Surface tablet. According to a recently published tablet FAQ, only half of the storage on a 32GB Surface tablet is usable....

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Oops....btw...

It has a microSD card. You can get an additional 64GB. What is the problem. We know Windows RT is not as lean as iOS... considering Office takes up a Gig or 2 and x86 winodws takes up like 18-20GB... getting half of 32 is quite alright in my book.

I'm waiting to see all the offerings for the Win RT tablets and notebook convertables...

I actually didn't know you could use usb's with the Surface, that's actually pretty sick.

All said and good but if this is at an additional cost then that's a bit deceptive. If not then all good.

Deceptive?
windows installation has always been a "bloat" since windows vista.
remember requirements of at least 16gb-20gb free hdd?

Guess this is why they didn't make a 16 gig version

LOL.
indeed, no 16gb windows surface as of yet.

I think android OS consumes >1gb?
iOS = ?
windows ce = ?

Good thing this OS is meant to do almost as much as a desktop, or I would care about how "bloated" it is.
MicroSD and USB is definitely the saving point and a big plus...

LOL...

Does it matter when is has a microSD slot, USB thumbdrive & SkyDive..?

You can use usb with my phones as well like I use things like a keyboard and xbox joypad on my samsung GS2 phone hardly amazing tech for a tablet.

Also my 3/4 year old tablet currently running windows 8 has use full size sd slot and supports simcards and hdmi out kinda owns all these current tablets (using a zoostorm sl8)

"I actually didn't know you could use usb's with the Surface, that's actually pretty sick"

if the surface couldn't use with USB then that's what I called pretty sick.

Oh yes it does sir, it does extremely. Doesn't it have HDMI too?

So RT takes up a bunch of space, but it has card slot, USB and sky drive.... *yawn*

We're really struggling to find something wrong with this tablet aren't we. Has the low app count complaint lost all its steam already?

That's exactly why I haven't bought one. Once the app and games selection is acceptable, then I shall buy me a Surface 64GB.

I am buying 2 x 64GB MS Surface tablets.

One for my mother (62)
One for myself (43)

She is ecstatic about dumping her 3 year old laptop & getting a more mobile "PC". Her st gen iPad lasted about a month, & was deemed "unfunctional" for her. But he called me about this MS surface twice already.

I think she is just excited about Windows8 on her mobile & phone. Familiarity is important for her.

"Doesn't it have HDMI too?" Yes. It does. Are you disappointed for your iPad?

Yes because when a "market" claims to have 700k apps that totally doesn't mean that 650k of those are completely useless junk?
I honestly wish these appstores would filter out all the junk and have only 10k aps in them thats usefull and work well.

In the past systems like Windows CE had their systems on masked roms only. These were NOT upgradeable and these were processor specific. Then came the systems with eeproms based systems which were upgradeable but could turn into bricks if interrupted during the process. Ever since, the systems have become larger and requiring huge amounts of space.

Has anyone figured out how much space would be required for MS Office (part of RT Surface) for iOs based devices? So far as space efficiency and performance are concerned Palm was the best. I have seen demonstrations of Trio with something like 32 applications running simultaneously without any lag in switching from one to another or in their functionality.