Hardware comparison

Important information if you're on a market for a Surface tablet!

Difference between RT's and Pro's

There's a lot of confusion around the Surface RT and Pro models, let's get the facts straight! Surface or commonly known as a Surface RT was the first ever tablet released by Microsoft running the all new Windows RT, a Windows 8 made for ARM devices. The tablet shares the port layout and overall visual looks with its successor Surface 2.

Surface Pro was released later and has the port selection switched around and thicker. Pro models are also x86 based which means they got 64 bit Intel CPU's inside and support Wacom tablet PC styluses.

Surface Pro 2 is identical to Surface Pro with the difference being CPU generation and the amount of RAM + storage you could configure it with.

Surface RT on the left | Surface 2 on the right

Direct comparison

Some people still get confused on which is which so here's a little table of context that compares both spec to spec!

	Surface RT	Surface 2	Surface Pro
Chipset	Nvidia Tegra 3	Nvidia Tegra 4	Intel Core i5 3317U
Screen	10.6" 1366x768	10.6" 1920x1080	10.6" 1920x1080
Casing colour	Black	White	Black
USB port spec	USB 2.0	USB 3.0	USB 3.0
Kickstand*	One stage	Two stage	One Stage
Video out	Micro HDMI	Micro HDMI	Mini DisplayPort
Stylus	NO	NO	YES
x86 apps**	NO	NO	YES
OS support	Windows RT Leaked Windows 10 ARM32 Linux	Windows RT Leaked Windows 10 ARM32 Linux	Any x86 compatible operating system that boots on UEFI
Profile	Thin	Thin	Thick
Cooling	Passive	Passive	Active
RAM	2GB	2GB	4GB
Storage	32GB / 64GB	32GB / 64GB	64GB / 128GB
Keyboard***	Type or Touch cover	Type or Touch cover	Type or Touch cover
Cellular	NO	YES, optional	NO
SD card	YES, under kickstand	YES, under kickstand	YES, on the side

Note: Surface 2 Linux support is there but lacks essential hardware to easily boot and configure.

*Opening stage i.e two open stages.

**Theoretically under Windows RT you can run some ancient WinNT x86 applications using x86emu but performance is not great and does not work under leaked Windows 10 build due to missing files, possible to hack it up to run but not worth it.

***Surface 2 and Pro 1/2 can make use of the uncommon/rare Power Cover that has a built-in battery pack for extra runtime. On Surface RT it works as any normal cover minus the battery.

Side to side comparison

There's confusion online all the time on which is which, let's quickly break it down with some sample photos.

Photos below illustrate Surface 2 and Surface RT right next to each other. Latter being on the right side (black).

Surface 2 on the left | Surface RT on the right

Surface 2 also looks slightly different on the front due to the white trim. Another notable difference is the screen resolution, which is higher so Windows has to scale the UI elements.

Surface RT (commonly listed as Surface) should NOT be confused for Surface Pro. Not only are both tablets VERY different in terms of internal specs and operating system but also physically.