Buy Tablet and Smartphone

The Surface looks great. It is definitely a well-made device, and you can tell a lot of thought went into every detail. It may be heavy compared to a Kindle, but to me it feels like a computer should. If this is too heavy for you, then you probably need to go to the gym more. In landscape mode, the Surface is short and fat, which works well for some programs, and not so much for others. In portrait mode, it's long and narrow. Again, sometimes this is good, and sometimes not. The material feels smooth and high quality. However, when you are holding up a $1000 tablet, that smoothness is a bit unnerving. I'd recommend a case if you're going to be carrying it around a lot.

This is what you buy a PC for. I immediately loaded MATLAB, started my Office 365 trial, set up all my email accounts, and got to work. I've pushed this thing pretty hard; having simultaneous programs running doesn't even make it flinch. I've had multiple downloads going, Netflix streaming HD movies, and MATLAB and Excel running all at once, and I didn't notice any significant lag. Working on the small screen takes some getting used to, especially for coding or spreadsheets, but the fact that it's even possible on a tablet is impressive. The Surface won't be replacing your 32 GB RAM desktop power-horse work station, but it can generally get the job done.