attention right now. This is with good reason when you stop and look at the attractive design and reasonably decent price for Microsoft’s first tablet offering. That being said, there are certainly other options out there.
Today let’s take a look at the ASUS Vivo Tab RT and see how it compares to Microsoft’s own Surface. When it comes to pricing the Surface is $499 for a 32GB version with no touch cover, meanwhile the Vivo Tab RT is $599 for 32GB and comes with an optional docking station that would include extra battery life and more.
With about $100 difference in the price, is the Vivo Tab RT a hard sell? It depends on what you are looking for. The Asus Vivo Tab RT and the Surface both have Tegra 3 processors and 2GB of RAM, but there are some pretty big differences under the hood as well.
What sets them apart? Battery power, for one thing. While the Surface isn’t a push over with almost 8 hours of battery power, the Vivo Tab RT manages a very impressive 15 hours of battery life if you buy the optional dock– of course that costs extra money and makes the price difference even more.
Alright, so what else is different on the Vivo Tab to justify the extra money you will spend? The Vivo Tab has extra stuff like GPS, something the Surface RT is missing. The Vivo Tab also offers NFC technology and has more connectivity options with optional support for 3G and 4G wireless.
That being said, the Surface RT is also lighter when you add the touch cover versus the Vivo Tab’s docking station keyboard. A Surface RT with the touch cover weighs about 1.9 pounds, versus 2.3 pounds with the Vivo Tab RT attached to the dock.
There is a reason why the Microsoft Surface RT is doing so well, it is very attractive and despite some complaints, the pricing is better than many of the alternative RT devices we are seeing so far. So why buy the Vivo Tab RT over the Surface RT?
If you want the more laptop-like dock connector (instead of the touch cover) and are attracted by the idea of 15 hours of battery life when docked, you can’t go wrong here. Also, if 3G/4G options are important to you, the Vivo TAB RT might be be a good fit for you.
Are there other differences that I didn’t mention? Possibly. I might have missed something but the battery/dock functionality with the Tab RT is the biggest true difference. Here’s a chart that includes the rest of the specs for the two tablets (base models) to give an even better idea of how they compare:
The extra cost for the Vivo Tab RT might be a little hard to justify for those of us strapped for cash, especially when the Surface is getting more public attention and honestly is more attractive looking aesthetically– still, having options is one of the great things about Android and Windows tablets compared to the Apple ecosystem.
What do you think of the Vivo Tab RT versus the flagship Microsoft Surface RT? Does the Tab RT have enough extra to merit more cost in your opinion?]]>
All Comments
i would rather have surface than vivo tab. actually the best RT tab is the Ativ tab. it has a Snapdragon S4 Pro 1.5 ghz CPU which is much much better than Tegra 3
I would still prefer a Windows tab instead of a Asus Vivo, Why to spend money for just more 7 hours of battery backup…. windows still makes an impressive market product by its innovative color range products available.
Lacking over HD port output, weighting more than RT and costing that much I myself will tilt to Microsoft RT. The best price and good at overall product.
@voleheart:disqus the ATIV Tab has the best specs, but its a massive 11 inch screen. Thats ultrabook territory in terms of screen size. On top of that its expensive as hell at $749.00-. I will lean towards the Surface because of its build quality and overall aesthetics. Wish it did have a 3G version though, but that’s not a deal breaker for me.