The MS Surface hardware is its saving grace. It's pretty good.

The screen is definitely sub-Retina but it's "Good enough". What makes it killer is the kickstand and keyboard combo that lets me write this little entry while laying down on the couch.  Try that with any laptop and notebook and it's much much harder.  The MS hardware team deserves kudos.

The problems with Surface comes from the Windows team.  Metro, frankly, sucks.  For example, if you drag from left to right, you can move to the next app. But drag right to left and you bring up the charms bar.  Dumb.   It should bring up the previous app and then had drag top to bottom bring up charms and keep the app specific stuff on screen or with a visual hint somewhere.  It's very annoying.

The other weakness is the available apps.  There's no Live Writer. No Live Movie Maker. You get the idea.  Why would Microsoft not provide native versions of their own Windows essentials? Where's Windows Essentials RT?

No Facebook app is also kind of a let down and the Windows store is terrible to use. No sort by popularity. And while they do have a global Top Free, there's no inclusion of non free.  I have a job. I don't mind paying a couple bucks for some applet. Let me find them.  Why would app developers target a platform that is so blatantly against commercial software?

But I keep being drawn back by the amazing hardware. The Surface hardware is nothing short of revolutionary.  It's just too bad that it's saddled by poorly thought out software decisions.