The booming tablet market was long dominated by the iPad. But that's changing. Google and Amazon have carved out a new niche with smaller, cheaper devices that forced Apple to pivot and offer its own iPad Mini. Still, when it comes to top-of-the-line tablets, the original iPad stands alone. Perhaps that's why tech critics were uncharacteristically effusive when Microsoft announced the Surface — an elite, Windows-powered machine that might finally give Apple some competition. Two versions have been announced: A model running Windows 8 Pro, and a Surface running a stripped-down Windows RT. Microsoft is betting big on the Surface, and the RT version goes on sale Friday. (The tablet costs $499, and another $100 for the optional Touch Cover keyboard.) Could the Surface make a real run at the iPad's throne?
It's a worthy challenger: "This is a great device," says Mat Honan at Wired. I spent several days using the Surface with a keyboard flap as my only computer and did fine, which is something you could never say about an iPad. The gesture-driven interface is "amazingly fluid," battery life is impressive, and the Touch Cover plus Microsoft Office means it can "pull double duty as a functional laptop." Of course, Surface is a "new thing, in a new space, and likely to confuse many of Microsoft's longtime customers." But once its app ecosystem gets more robust, it'll be "a viable alternative to the iPad."
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