Anyone have both? If so, how do you integrate both of these into your lives? The Surface Pro is on sale at Best Buy for $499 so it's really tempting!
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Any iPad AND Surface Pro/2 Owners
- Thread starter soulreaver99
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
iPad Mini retina and Surface Pro 2 here. iPad is used for web browsing, Facebook, bathroom reading, etc. SP2 is used for home business and active forum participation (typing). Oh and also for children entertainment with the pen and freshpaint. We also use it on the go to watch videos.
I just bought one. It is a great device. Build quality is every bit as nice as Apple. Very fast and smooth operations. I've been very tempted to try one but could not justify it until this Best Buy sale. It is the first non-iDevice I've ever tried that has the same smooth, responsive, and accurate touch response as iDevices. It is *very* fast. Cold boots in less than 10 seconds. To squeeze more battery life out of it, I limited the CPU to 50% while on battery. It is still very fast and I should be able to get 6hrs out of it.
I've been so fed up with Safari crashing on my iPad Air that I just started looking into other full size tablets. Got a deal on Nexus 7 which is too small and horrible touch accuracy and response (knew that from one I had previously), then got a Sony Xperia Tablet Z, good size and light weight, decent touch responsive, but Chrome is just so horribly slow. The AOSP browser is much faster but I can't install it unless I get the .apk from somewhere and side load it which I will never trust.
I've already ordered the docking station and type cover for the Surface Pro. It will take place of my iPad Air and a Windows laptop and possibly a desktop. I still have a Retina Mini. The only real drawback of the Surface Pro is the empty app store. Sure one can run whatever desktop apps there is, but only Metro apps are touch-optimized.
I own a 64GB iPad 4 (running iOS 6.1.3) and a 32GB Surface RT. Even though the RT does NOT have legacy x86 support, I use it basically as a netbook (with the TypeCover2). As a strictly touch device, using it in "tablet mode" falls a bit short. Not because of the limitations of RT but of the Modern UI itself.
I find the MUI to be very inefficient for a large (10.6") touch device. UI elements are too space out so less information is displayed on any one screen requiring more taps to get access to the actual information you want. I think it is fine for devices 8" or less.
In the end, I use my iPad as a "tablet" and the Surface RT as a "netbook". The build quality of either 1st gen Surface (RT or Pro) is outstanding.
I find the MUI to be very inefficient for a large (10.6") touch device. UI elements are too space out so less information is displayed on any one screen requiring more taps to get access to the actual information you want. I think it is fine for devices 8" or less.
In the end, I use my iPad as a "tablet" and the Surface RT as a "netbook". The build quality of either 1st gen Surface (RT or Pro) is outstanding.
Yes, I have both. My job requires me to write up orders and I'm on the road a lot. I use the iPad to look at my emails and PDFs and I use the Surface Pro to write up using PDF Annotator. Great combo although I wish Apple made something with a stylus.
I actually went out and bought the Surface Pro taking advantage of the $499 price along with the Type II keyboard and have been quite happy with it. It is much more worth it at this price!
It makes traveling a lot easier if I need a fully functional computer especially at airport security where I don't have to use a TSA bag or take the laptop out. Also I can leave my MacBook Air and iPad at home on vacations or traveling for work since the Surface Pro can do just about anything.
I tried taking my iPad only but there were too many limitations to the mobile apps such as the web browsers. I now use the iPad for couch/bed surfing and reading the news and books at home.
It makes traveling a lot easier if I need a fully functional computer especially at airport security where I don't have to use a TSA bag or take the laptop out. Also I can leave my MacBook Air and iPad at home on vacations or traveling for work since the Surface Pro can do just about anything.
I tried taking my iPad only but there were too many limitations to the mobile apps such as the web browsers. I now use the iPad for couch/bed surfing and reading the news and books at home.
Same combo here.
Use my ipad for reading, general surfing etc..
Use my surface pro 2 for drawing / illustrating
Just ditched my Air due to the shocking performance when browsing. From day one i was experiencing, tab reloading at 3-4 tabs, crashing and slow browsing with nothing else open in the background.
Looking to get a Surface Pro 2 the 256GB SSD & 8GB ram config. Will use it for setting up my virtual labs, Annotating PDF's, Browsing, gaming, miracasting to my TV and more.
A retina mini would be a nice device to compliment it but Apple has really burnt me with the Air so my 2013 nexus which has done a quite an admirable job for me so far (touch response issues in chrome aside) will essentially be my reading device.
Looking to get a Surface Pro 2 the 256GB SSD & 8GB ram config. Will use it for setting up my virtual labs, Annotating PDF's, Browsing, gaming, miracasting to my TV and more.
A retina mini would be a nice device to compliment it but Apple has really burnt me with the Air so my 2013 nexus which has done a quite an admirable job for me so far (touch response issues in chrome aside) will essentially be my reading device.
I am pretty much the same here. The surface pro 2 also gets used for taking notes etc in lieu of a notepad for meetings and such.
My Microsoft rep provided me with a free Surface Pro 2 w/8g RAM and 256g SSD. I'm still trying to find a reason to carry this with me as a daily commuting device. The screen is terribly small and the aspect ratio is rather wonky. Most apps look pixelated unless they've been specifically engineered for the Surface screen dimensions.
It is pretty fast, but no faster than my Air. Battery life is nowhere near as good as it should be for such a thick device. Keyboard is nice and responsive, but makes quite a bit of noise considering how short the travel path is on these keys. Trackpad is purely a love-it-or-hate-it affair. My hands are so big that I end up accidentally bumping the trackpad while typing and sending my cursor way up on the screen somewhere.
If not for getting it for free, I'd never buy one. I think its basically a netbook with a somewhat-useable tablet form factor. Much prefer my Air and OSX to Windows 8 anyways.
Oh and the real thing that ticks me off? Dropbox won't work on this thing the way it will on a normal Netbook or Windows device. You've basically got this iPad-esque version of Dropbox running on your otherwise full Windows device. No offline access to files. No folder synching. Just as bad as the iPad version. This is almost full WIndows 8 device...why they'd do that?
The MS Store is, in general, a barren wasteland as well. Don't get this as a tablet. Stick to your iPad.
It is pretty fast, but no faster than my Air. Battery life is nowhere near as good as it should be for such a thick device. Keyboard is nice and responsive, but makes quite a bit of noise considering how short the travel path is on these keys. Trackpad is purely a love-it-or-hate-it affair. My hands are so big that I end up accidentally bumping the trackpad while typing and sending my cursor way up on the screen somewhere.
If not for getting it for free, I'd never buy one. I think its basically a netbook with a somewhat-useable tablet form factor. Much prefer my Air and OSX to Windows 8 anyways.
Oh and the real thing that ticks me off? Dropbox won't work on this thing the way it will on a normal Netbook or Windows device. You've basically got this iPad-esque version of Dropbox running on your otherwise full Windows device. No offline access to files. No folder synching. Just as bad as the iPad version. This is almost full WIndows 8 device...why they'd do that?
The MS Store is, in general, a barren wasteland as well. Don't get this as a tablet. Stick to your iPad.
None of what you are saying jibes with any review I have read about the Surface Pro 2.
How is it limited in any way preventing one from using any full "PC" program?
I've had a Surface Pro from near release that I use at work. I have an ipad Air I use at home, although increasingly more for work of my own choosing. I've never really come to think much of the Surface. It's a really mediocre tablet for anything but stylus input, and even there it's a mixed bag - I actually do most of my stylus note taking on the ipad. Even with excellent vision the screen is too small to be comfortable to use for desktop without scaling this which causes inconsistencies or fuzziness. It just is, like most all hybrid devices, a significant compromise over the two devices it tries to replace. A laptop and a smaller tablet is a far better combination in my experience.
Have you ever downloaded a non-app store application on your Mac or Windows machine? How is that any different?