Is the Surface Pro 3 good for taking notes in the classroom?

[akuma13]

After buying a new iPad Air and Adonit Pixel Point pen i quickly returned both and bought a Surface Pro 3. iOS has a plethora of drawing and note taking apps and all work well. However I was looking for something more precise since i primarily wanted something to draw with. The new Adonit Pixel Point just didn't cut it.

So far OneNote has been perfect for taking notes on (for a Certification program i'm studying for). Also I can finally draw properly on digital medium again. I had the first Surface Pro and for me it was the closest to drawing on paper (I hate using a mouse and table top stylus/tablet
for drawing). Manga Studio works well with the stylus and pressure sensitivity. I can just do more with Manga Studio (figure/building templates, brushes) compared to Adobe Ink and Sketch.

I'm not saying the Surface Pro is not without it's flaws. I did have to do a system refresh when apps didn't load properlyafter first setting it up. Also the camera is horrible compared to the iPad. The lack of apps is obvious, but i'm finally seeing my "go to" apps on iOS finally popping up at the windows store. The keyboard is also meh and since i'm mostly drawing and writing on it i would rather use an old bluetooth keyboard I have.

For me the iPad Air/Mini is a perfect consumption device but so-so at actually being productive on it. There is just too many workarounds in order to get things done. Right now, it's not the right device for me.

 

[theapplefanboyj]

Or, you can handwrite notes and then use an app called quick scanner to scan your notes and then upload to Dropbox or Evernote. Works for me!

 

[sracer]

The Surface is rock solid with the newest firmware

Not according to others

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2369...-fi-woes-after-first-day-firmware-update.html

and this:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfpro3?tab=Threads

I totally get the gadget-lust generated by Microsoft with the Surface line. I myself succumbed to it. It is completely justified. The design of the hardware is impeccable (IMO).

But Microsoft has once again fallen short with regard to providing updates that don't cause more issues.

 

[mKTank]

Been using my first gen Surface for note taking.

It's the best thing that ever happened to me academically. Seriously. This thing became my best friend when it comes to my studies. Absolutely essential and makes note taking fun again. (yay lame marketing language)

 

[spinedoc77]

Not according to others

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2369...-fi-woes-after-first-day-firmware-update.html

and this:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfpro3?tab=Threads

I totally get the gadget-lust generated by Microsoft with the Surface line. I myself succumbed to it. It is completely justified. The design of the hardware is impeccable (IMO).

But Microsoft has once again fallen short with regard to providing updates that don't cause more issues.

Uninstall driver and let windows reinstall the standard windows one, done in about 1.5 minutes. In any event MS will issue a fix for this.

I do agree about some drivers having issues, these can potentially be issues going forward. I don't think overinflating the impact of this wifi bug will really help your case, but in a general way you aren't wrong that issues may pop up in the future. There is certainly some kind of trade off with using a windows machine. Although it's not like Apple or Android don't have similar bugs, I don't believe it's fair to single out Microsoft. If anything, in this case it's an advantage as you can fix the problem yourself, where with iOS and possibly Android you would be stuck waiting for an update.

With that said you will be hard pressed to find a note taking app as good as OneNote paired with the digitizer/stylus combination on the SP3. It's the closest thing you will find to taking handwritten notes, but better with all the features, audio matching, tags, handwriting search feature, etc etc.

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Been using my first gen Surface for note taking.

It's the best thing that ever happened to me academically. Seriously. This thing became my best friend when it comes to my studies. Absolutely essential and makes note taking fun again. (yay lame marketing language)

Yeah they are pretty awesome at taking notes.

 

[sracer]

Uninstall driver and let windows reinstall the standard windows one, done in about 1.5 minutes. In any event MS will issue a fix for this.

I do agree about some drivers having issues, these can potentially be issues going forward. I don't think overinflating the impact of this wifi bug will really help your case, but in a general way you aren't wrong that issues may pop up in the future.

Let's see how you feel after 9 months of Surface ownership.

As for "helping my case", I have no case to make. Although some may have an agenda one way or the other, I have none other to share my first-hand experiences. Accept them or dismiss them. My firsthand experience will not trump anyone else's firsthand experience. Nor do I want it to.

 

[spinedoc77]

Let's see how you feel after 9 months of Surface ownership.

As for "helping my case", I have no case to make. Although some may have an agenda one way or the other, I have none other to share my first-hand experiences. Accept them or dismiss them. My firsthand experience will not trump anyone else's firsthand experience. Nor do I want it to.

I've had windows tablets for a year and a half now, they do have issues but I can't say I'm anything but satisfied and would (and do) continue to buy them again and again. There are tons of little bugs like this in every piece of hardware, I don't think I'd necessarily advise someone away from them because of the vast majority of them.

Firsthand experience, you own a SP3 that has the wifi connectivity issues? I do, and 1.5 minutes of work fixed it. When something that truly breaks the SP3 surfaces I'll totally agree with you, but it's been quite solid overall, at least as solid as any other tablet released these days and more than some.

 

[spinedoc77]

See, it wasn't as big of an issue as it was blown up to be...

http://www.winbeta.org/news/surface-pro-3-wifi-connectivity-issues-acknowledged-microsoft-fix-way

 

[rowspaxe]

I don't understand why people are recommending an ipad with keyboard and a mac book air. .

Because this forum is MacRumors, and posters are largely in total denial about the validity of competitive products and platforms. You think people here bummed out on the bigger iphone--just wait till they see the 12" ipad

 

[hovscorpion12]

The Surface Pro 3 will be exactly what you want. Since the Pro 3 comes with full Windows 8.1, you have the ability of having full Microsoft Word on your tablet and plus you have a stylus to help draw diagrams that your professor puts on the board. I don't have a Surface, but I do use the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 and it was perfect for my needs in the classroom. I took Anatomy, Business courses, Accounting..etc. since around 75% of Anatomy deals with illustrations and most of my business classes deal with charts, my iPad was useless. I had 45% of the whole lecture recorded because I can't draw accurately. Unlike the iPad, I was able to use two apps called S-Note and Polaris office 5 simultaneously using the S-pen stylus to illustrate the written portion as well as the drawings my professors used. Similar to my tablet the Surface Pro 3 will let you "snap" two apps "multi window" allowing you to use Microsoft Word as well as another productivity app.