Surface Tablet/Laptop Advice

[A Magic Toaster]

Hey there everyone, so I'm going back to school soon and I need a new laptop for school.  Something lightweight that i can fit in my backpack.

 

I think the Surface would be good for me (not the 2 or 3, don't have that much money to spend), but I'm just unsure on whether to get it or not.  I know the regular surface has Microsoft office programs, but am I able to surf the web and whatnot too (along with regular classes I have online classes I need to be able to get on to).  Battery life doesn't worry me, as I only need it to last me 8-9 hours (not on it all the time so less probably).

Is the Surface Pro really an upgrade? Outside of school work theres not much I'm going to be doing on it, maybe and app or two but that's it.

 

Or would a cheap laptop be better?  I'm a bit skeptical on getting a laptop, given I need something that'll last me a few years (don't really trust cheap laptops, given my $500 laptop started having a ton of problems after 1 1/2 years).

 

Thanks for any help/advice!

[Aniallation]

The Surface RT is pretty good, there are more apps on the Store now that are quite useful, but if Office and web browsing is all you do (that's all I do with my laptop) then it's pretty good if you can find one for cheap. The battery life on them is probably what's going to benefit you the most since it's an ARM chip.

[WereCat]

I dont know how much powerfull laptop you need but if only thing you need is getting notes and browse web then I would pick something cheap with i3/i5 and throw SSD in it. But cheap laptops usualy dont provide you with quality so that is a bummer...

I never owned a Surface so I cant advice you on that as I am not tablet user either.

 

EDIT:

Maybe look on something like ASUS Transformer Book with Windows ?

[A Magic Toaster]

The Surface RT is pretty good, there are more apps on the Store now that are quite useful, but if Office and web browsing is all you do (that's all I do with my laptop) then it's pretty good if you can find one for cheap. The battery life on them is probably what's going to benefit you the most since it's an ARM chip.

 

Good to hear.  Would the surface 2 be worth the upgrade?  The more i research it, the more comparisons i see and the surface 2 performance seems to be a lot better

I dont know how much powerfull laptop you need but if only thing you need is getting notes and browse web then I would pick something cheap with i3/i5 and throw SSD in it. But cheap laptops usualy dont provide you with quality so that is a bummer...

I never owned a Surface so I cant advice you on that as I am not tablet user either.

 

EDIT:

Maybe look on something like ASUS Transformer Book with Windows ?

I'll look into it, but I'm leaning towards the Surface  

[Guest]

The Surface is good, really.

 

I had one for a while. (returned it because I actually needed a new videocard more)

 

I will undoubtly buy a Surface in the future if they are still available then.