<p>Microsoft is making the new “use anywhere” Surface tablet available in WiFi only! Will that be a deal breaker for potential buyers ? It would have stopped me. </p>
<p>“The way that Microsoft is positioning this product --that its highly mobile but also has the functionality of a notebook – that customer might be more interested in working from any location and not being bound by Wi-Fi, said Bajarin.” </p>
<p>[Microsoft?s</a> Surface Tablet Said to Be Wi-Fi Only At First - Bloomberg](<a href=“Bloomberg - Are you a robot?”>Bloomberg - Are you a robot?)</p>
<p>That is funny that 3g/4g isn’t even an option.
My ipad3 is just wireless but I thought about it long and hard, and it was cost related.</p>
<p>The Surface is DOA for many reasons.</p>
<p>WiFi only is not too big of an issue these days. Ugly and glitchy will be the downsides.</p>
<p>We have been using Mac Air and iPad for few years now. FYI, Apple Air Port can make any room wifi. It’s less $100. We travel with it. No issue here with wifi only equipments.</p>
<p>My iPad is wifi only and I also thought long and hard about it. There have been occasions when I’ve really wished it had 3G, but I also have an iPhone, so I have survived.</p>
<p>My iPad is WiFi too. I am on it way too much as it is.</p>
<p>I will. I have a ATT enabled iPad and I use it 99.9% of the time as a wifi device.</p>
<p>Wifi only IPad owner here too…it has never been an issue. There is wifi almost everywhere.</p>
<p>^^^At least any place where you woud sit down.</p>
<p>I tried to download Windows 8 Preview four times (three times x64 and one time 32-bit) to install and play around with and all of my attempts to install it in VirtualBox have failed. I get a corrupted file error part-way through the main installation process. Some have suggested that I try VMWare instead of VirtualBox and I may give that a try.</p>
<p>The comments on Windows 8 have been negative from the people that have tried it out.</p>
<p>On Mobile access - I have an iPad 1 that is WiFi-only and an iPad 2 that has 3G. We used the 3G last year for a long road trip and it was useful for finding things on the road or getting the big picture on our trip. We had a Garmin directing us but it doesn’t show you the big picture. We also don’t have smartphones.</p>
<p>I did pick up a MiFi this year which provides a 4G Wireless Hotspot but it has a moderately expensive plan which I don’t plan to keep forever. This is a device that can drive a laptop or tablet like the iPad. We already have two iPads so I don’t see a need for buying another tablet, iPad or Surface. I have a MacBook Pro Retina on order right now and that should meet my mobile computing needs for the next five to ten years (it’s a high-spec model).</p>
<p>At home, I find myself using the iPod Touch a lot more than the iPad. I bought tri-focals recently and they make a device like an iPod Touch usable for me. I plan to get an iPhone 5 when they come out and will use that for connectivity where a laptop isn’t convenient.</p>
<p>On the issue of multiple data plans - it appears that Verizon is addressing that with trying to provide one plan for all of your mobile data devices. It will be interesting to see if AT&T and the other carriers will follow suit.</p>
<p>The issue isn’t whether I’d buy one or if you’d buy one but if corporate customers will buy them. If you’re a sales person, you don’t want to look for a Starbucks to connect. If much of the marketing is that it runs Windows - at least the more expensive version - and connects to your corporate software, then that excludes a lot of people. Thing is I see salespeople all the time with iPads. If they’re already using iPads, why would they want to switch and if the salespeople keep their iPads then one question becomes why support two operating systems? </p>
<p>I don’t always use my iPad on wifi. I use 3G in the car or in work places where the wifi is slow. With iOS 6, there will be turn by turn navigation so it becomes a real GPS system.</p>