Microsoft Surface RT
 

I just got a refurbished Microsoft Surface 7ZR-00001 RT Tablet 64GB and am trying to put HeroLabs on it but not having any luck. It keeps telling me that it doesn't run this app. I mostly picked this up for gaming. Have I purchased a brick?

If I understand it all correctly Windows RT is not actually "windows". Well not the same as the desktop version. It requires very special "Apps" that are designed from the ground up to work on Windows RT. Hero Lab is not one of those as it is a full windows program.

So its sort of like trying to install a Windows program onto a Apple iPad and it won't work.

Wow... that just hurt my soul.

Yes, Shadow is correct. A machine with Windows RT is not a real PC.

The chip at the heart of the machine (CPU) is not the same as (nor compatible with) the one you find in a standard PC, and so -no- application written for standard Windows will work on Windows RT (and vice versa).

Microsoft knew this confusion would happen, but wanted to sell very cheap things that they wanted to call PCs.

I don't know if it helps you much, but there is a free-for-non-commercial app & server program called TeamViewer that makes it easy to remote into a Windows PC from a Surface RT.

Similarly free-for-everyone VNC and its many forks

It is this king of total misinformation that skews perception. I am by no means Microsoft's biggest fan, but FUD is far worse then being a Fanboi.

ONE: Surface RT was not created to be cheap. It was conceived to be MS's answer to the Ipad and android tablets. Guess what? they share the same ARM based CPU architecture.

TWO: Although cheap may used to describe many products it must then be used to describe the buyers of them. So by Farling's logic if we do not all own 13,000 CAD computer workstation we bought "a cheap" product.

NO. See the world of retail is broken up into what we normal people call "budgets", this little term is extremely important for those in business of selling to the general public to understand. Ever person does not have 13k for a computer, so they make them, from low end to high end price points, exactly the same idea was put to Surface tablets, we have many different configs and prices.

NEED/WANTS: The next most important concept. Not everyone0 needs nor wants a $2000 i7 based Surface 3 Pro, including me, which is why I own the 128GB SSD/i5/4GB ram model. It serves my needs perfectly with a little room to grow.

Microsoft simply wanted a piece of the Android and Ipad tablet market with the RT. I consider this a poor choice, if they had done their research better, they would have known the bottom would fall out of this market. And as I stated on many occasions, it did. That's why it has been dropped.


To fit the low end budget slot that the RT held, they have now introduced the new Surface 3, with an Atom based proc. So for those with a lower budget, and it fills the need/want, you can get a surface running full windows for a lower price point.

You can call it el cheapo, but some people actually purchase with their brains, not me mind you, but some people do. Thus they maybe cheap, or they may be know that the hundreds they saved just went into the RRSP for retirement.


It is a pity people bought the RT thinking it was a PC, but it was never ever marketed as one. In store or online stores market what they want how they want, but Microsoft was pretty clear on this.

I am sorry you bought an RT thinking it was a windows tablet. But this exemplifies one thing I cannot stress enough to all buyers, do your research, ask friends or people you know who are in the know before buying. Almost no one I know personally buys computers or any electronics before asking me, I am not all knowing but its been my field of expertise since I booted my brand new TI99/4A computer. Like I have a friend banker, I go to him for advice before ever making big loan inducing purchases, because that's his area of expertise and he saved me a bundle with advice, over 5k on my 2010 Explorer Sport-Trac Adrenaline loan.

Can you take it back? you may find a use for it, but the RT was a failed market investment for Microsoft, hence there has not been an RT version of the Surface 2 or 3 and none for the 4 coming with Windows 10 release either.

That's just not true. We sold the RT version of the 2 at the store I work at. It didn't use the RT in the name, but the design was the same. A tablet only able to run Windows Store "Modern" apps. They came with Office RT because people complained that the original RTs couldn't run Office, and that's why they got a Windows device in the first place.

We had quite a few Surface 2's returned because of this, and these people almost invariably either got a laptop, or a Surface 2 Pro (depending on their budget).

What Microsoft should learn here is don't put the Windows name on something that isn't actually full Windows.

This!

Something to remember this summer if you're looking to buy a small Windows tablet, since there will be a similar distinction between Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile.