Side note as to the Surface: some commentators have noted the dearth of apps, with one in particular (David Pogue) calling them out for not having an app for facebook.

Really? I've used the fb app for both iPad and Android, and it flat out sucks; it's one of few apps that I've deleted from both devices. Even using Opera mini/mobile the mobile front end for fb works much better and consumes far fewer resources.

As far as the OS itself goes, Win 8 is pretty solid. It does change the course of things, being tile-based, but it doesn't render the system unusable or anything. It's not like Vista, which wasn't quite ready to be removed from the oven. It's more like Windows 7, which was a solid product even in late betas. Personally I'm not worried about SP1 for Win8, but I do want a touch-screen before I change over to it.