The $10 Microsoft Surface

I recently picked up this Surface RT for $10 at a garage sale. So today, we're going to see how usable it is in 2023!

Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
00:22 - Retrospective
04:31 - Demo
19:07 - Outro

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● Music/Credits:
Background Music:

Outro Music: Silent Partner - Bet On It

Some materials in this video are used under Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, which allows "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, commenting, news reporting, teaching, and research.

#MichaelMJD #MicrosoftSurface #Windows8

[steelplasma]

$10 is an absolute steal when you consider most Digital Photo Frames sell for similar prices at thrift stores but with <480p resolution.

[Windows-likes-old-tech]

Yes, Microsoft did indeed shut down the store. But still 10$ is a great price for the surface RT

[rpst]

Before the store got completely shut down it was in a weird state where you could view all of the available apps but it wouldn't let you download anything.

[N....]

Fun fact, Qualcomm still has some developer documentation available for the Surface RT if you sign up with a developer account and poke around. One of the documents shows they had a game running on it. The Surface RT is also the reason that modern Windows on ARM devices have a "Program Files (Arm)" folder for backward compatibility since the Surface RT was 32-bit ARM.

[makogiron]

Ugh I love this tablet. I saved up all that money and bought it my junior year of hs. It made everything extremely convinuent. All my school work and everything I needed to do. I loved it. Specially the specific reading mode. When you read articles it made it look like a simple text like a Kindle.

[Globalnet]

At $10 dollars, this thing can still play video with the edge browser. It's definitely worth $10 as I recall these early surface tablets having a very good screen for media consumption

[simonro]

Damn, good job making me feel old. I remember being super excited on Christmas, because I got an Asus Windows 8 tablet. Luckily my dad did his research and stayed clear of an ARM-based device. Being 19, "retro" tech usually is stuff from before my time, but not here - I still vividly remember all those apps working.

[sriharshabhv]

You should definitely consider booting a Linux distro on this! That would be a really fun video to see.

[yjk_ch]

RT was also the first time MS tried enforcing digital signature for applications. It wouldn’t have been a huge problem if MS store was comparable to other mobile platform’s offerings, but we all know how it went 😅
They also made the same mistake with Windows 10 S Mode. Again, only allowing MS store applications.

[_framedlife]

this device would make much more sense in 2023 than it did in 2013 with more webapps in use everywhere, x86 emulation in place and more workplaces using tools like Citrix and windows 365

[jamesvalentine]

I picked one of these up a few months ago for a similar (but slightly higher) price. Bought it to frame on the wall for running a bespoke app for various home automation, still a work in progress so it's not yet on the wall. They run Raspberry Pi OS very well, gives it a new lease of life.

[agizm]

I'd be interested in seeing Linux on the RT. I've got Win10 on a Surface RT, but the experience isn't much better. It's a leaked Chinese arm32 build, not arm64 like Surface X devices. The biggest issue is lack of modern web browser.

[kalark]

Something like a decade ago a friend gave me a surface RT because it was so bad at the time and I only used it to watch anime and play emulators on it, the full size usb port was really nice as it allowed me to plug in a wired Xbox 360 controller

[aaaalex]

I still think Windows 8 is one of the most underrated versions of Windows ever and it would have been much more accepted of they allowed the Metro-style apps to be in a window and backported the Start Menu from Windows RT 8.1 (the one that the early prerelease versions of Windows 10 had back in late 2014)...

[curiousfox]

There's an ARM32 version of Windows 10 that you can install on the Surface RT. I have it installed on my Surface 2. I was stupid and thought that I could try to install the ARM version of Windows 11 before I bought it because it has an "ARM PROCESSOR", but I was wrong and the processor was ARM32, not ARM64. I have a Surface Pro 2 now and I'm happy that I was able to upgrade from Windows 8.1 to Windows 11.

[stormgirl]

i have the Surface Go 3. its pretty decent. I like how today's Surfaces can run full windows! i also have an Ipad. its hard to chose which one i like better because i like them both for different reasons. Surface is close to a windows laptop but even more portable and can multitask better. where as the Ipad seems to be a lot faster and has a way better battery life.

[kelvinstokes]

I've got one of these. It has one really great use: it has a copy of Remote Desktop built in. If you use it to remote into a Windows desktop, it gives a pretty good experience.

[-Tylermsa]

9:30 Microsoft actually announced this if you were one of the few people who got the Windows 8.1 EOS screen. In that screen they stated that making new purchases after January 10, 2023 on Windows Store was now impossible, and the last updates to be made on Windows apps needed to be released by the end of June 2023. Given that we are in the middle of October of 2023, it's safe to say that Microsoft was eluding for the silent shutdown of Windows Store.

[theshadowdirector]

One thing they did really well was the touch optimised web browser. It was very smooth and responsive to use and unfortunately they never carried that feel over in later versions as they moved away from emphasis on Metro.

[jonathangmallender]

I've still got my surface RT that i bought in 2013, is currently attached to the wall, and I'm using it as a nixie digital clock, i managed to get some click apps before the store closed. I'm amazed the battery still works well, and the screen is not scratched and it looks brand new. Weirdly netflix still works on it and a random selection of apps. All credit to Microsoft for building a solid machine!