Hi High,
Glad you are enjoying working with the Methodology!
Both those 2 Windows tablets will run RDSS2. I own a
MS Surface Pro, the 2nd link you provided (the original Surface Pro,
not the newer Surface Pro 2). After a year of use, here are the pros and cons:
Pros:
1. It works. RDSS2 works - and fast, Windows 8.1 is barely annoying once I added
Start8 to resurrect the Start button (I hardly ever mess with the new-fangled 'modern interface'). Great full HD (1920 x 1080) display when output to a TV or nice sized monitor: gives the full 3-panel RDSS layout
on an external monitor. Detachable keyboard is fine for casual use, nice pointing stylus.
Cons:
1. Battery life sucks: less than 4 hours.
2.
Battery life sucks: less than 4 hours.
3. Points #1 and #2 make it unsuitable for a full day at the races with RDSS (or any handicapping program, I'd guess).
4. While the tablet display is great, you have to run it at 125% or 150% magnification settings to see RDSS screens. No problem doing that, but you then have to accept the 2-panel layout (using full HD, at 100% magnification means the type is TOO
SMALL to read).
Summary:
I would not recommend the
MS Surface Pro if a mobile RDSS is a major usage.
However, all the battery life negatives above are solved with the new
MS Surface Pro 2 (it uses the new low-power Haswell Intel chipset, i3, i5, i7 4000 series).
Re the
Asus Transformer - note that the screen resolution is shown as 1366 x 768. This also will restrict you to a 2-panel RDSS layout. If that is not a problem (or if you already only use the 2 panel layout and still love it
) then that's not an issue. The specs don't say how much working memory it has (i.e. not storage): 4Gb should be the minimum. You should check out the rated battery life. The price is right
You might also check out new tablets by Lenovo and Dell. I recommend the newer Haswell chips for better batter life.
My original plan a year ago was to get one new computer (e.g. a high powered tablet) to use as both a mobile device and supplementary working desktop (i.e. plugged into external monitor, keyboard, mouse and docking station, encrypted solid-state drive). The MS Surface Pro was not it, due to its
low mobile battery life, but even when plugged in while travelling - it needs an external monitor and keyboard to do extended normal office-type activities (including correspondence and programming) - the tablet screen is just too small for me to do lots of writing, and certainly too small to do programming. It does work great though for casual use, running RDSS in 2-panel display, accessing websites including my ADW, and watching Netflix, etc.
Instead, I have decided to just get another light-weight, high-powered ultra-book computer with a 15" screen and long battery life (possibly the
Samsung ATIV Book 9 2014). Such a computer will work fine occasionally at the track, and on the road, where I hope to be spending a lot more time in the next few years
Hope that is some help, and perspective.
Good luck - let us know what you get, and then how you like it!
Ted