Surface surfaces

Surface

Microsoft has just started taking orders for their Surface tablets. While tablets may seem largely irrelevant to NLE users, there's something very significant about Surface that is easy to miss: the more expensive ones are actually PCs.

The Surface line is divided into two sub-brands, which is not immediately apparent because they look virtually identical on the, er, surface.

Windows 8 RT tablets run a version of Windows 8 that does not run on the traditional X86 platform. Rather, it runs on the same class of low-power chipset that powers your smartphone. This guarantees a long battery life while retaining snappy performance but what it absolutely doesn't do is let you run Windows "desktop" applications on your Surface tablet.

A PC you can touch

But coming soon is another version of Surface that does exactly that - because it is a PC in the form of a tablet. All the advantages of touch and a tablet form-factor, while retaining compatibility with conventional Windows applications.

But what about video editing?

Well, if you have to start hooking up external drives then most of the utility of a tablet is lost.

But with Flash-based storage, they should be fast enough for at least short edits.