Surface Pro, Sick!

[Abazigal]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I was one of its earlier critics, but after hearing your analysis, I think Microsoft might really be on to something here. It may not be perfect (the ipad1 wasn't either), but it gets the job done and the message across, and provides a blueprint for other manufacturers to follow.

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

Dunno, it works for me. It's not expensive for an ultrabook, sure you can get a $300 hunk of junk laptop at best buy that weights 5 lbs, but that's not the category I'm in. Logically enough the surface pro costs almost exactly what the 11" MacBook air costs, there is a reason for that.

For me the main reason I got one was I now don't have to carry around a laptop and my ipad anymore. It's true, it has compromises on both ends, it could be thinner and have more battery as a tablet, and it could have a laptop type keyboard, larger screen from the laptop end. But it's all a compromise in the end, and I wanted a FULL windows tablet/laptop which had as much power as really any laptop on the market now. It is a niche product to some degree though, definitely for the power user.

That is a major logical flaw. You can literally justify anything and everything using that argument. I also disagree with the power user statement. A power user would not find 3-4 hour battery life acceptable. Nor the keyboard/mouse. Nor the ULV processor. Nor the small SSD (128GB is small for laptops).

Anyhow, I'm not here to argue with you. I am genuinely interested in your experiences. I have my opinions and you have yours.

 

[MuffCabbage]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I was one of its earlier critics, but after hearing your analysis, I think Microsoft might really be on to something here. It may not be perfect (the ipad1 wasn't either), but it gets the job done and the message across, and provides a blueprint for other manufacturers to follow.

This is definitely just the start (or so I hope)

Some accessories they need are a rigid base for lap use and a docking station for enterprise. If they had those and then just updated it when Haswell comes out, this could def be my next.

 

[spinedoc77]

That is a major logical flaw. You can literally justify anything and everything using that argument. I also disagree with the power user statement. A power user would not find 3-4 hour battery life acceptable. Nor the keyboard/mouse. Nor the ULV processor. Nor the small SSD (128GB is small for laptops).

Anyhow, I'm not here to argue with you. I am genuinely interested in your experiences. I have my opinions and you have yours.

Yeah but you can justify any other piece of hardware with your logic as well. Laptop with better battery life? Sure, but it's heavier, bigger and doesn't turn into a tablet, same major logical flaw. I found 3-4 hours of battery life acceptable on my MacBook air for the couple of years I owned one, same as the 128gb hard drive on it, same as the sandy bridge processor, etc etc.

I'm glad for the good discussion and happy to see we don't need to devolve into flaming. I understand where you are coming from, but I think everything is a compromise in some form or another and it all depends on the specific users needs. Do I think MS will take over the ipad space with the surface pro? No, not at all, that's why I say it's a niche product. I'd compare it more with the ultrabook market, I'd be curious to see what percentage ultrabooks take of the laptop market and that's where I see the surface Pro fitting it.

 

[walie]

Would you call this a laptop-replacement option? Also, I heard the Pro allowed for 3rd party installations, so while I know its not a gaming laptop, could you install simple games you buy online (outside of the Windows store)?

This post is an excellent example of Microsoft marketing fail

 

[MuffCabbage]

This post is an excellent example of Microsoft marketing fail

It wouldnt be a Microsoft product if it didnt have marketing or PR messing it up

 

[spinedoc77]

This post is an excellent example of Microsoft marketing fail

It's a shame, MS makes an incredible product like the surface Pro but then screws it all up with the marketing of a 2 year old. The surface RT was a huge marketing error. Not directly putting the Atom powered tablets versus the ipad was a huge marketing error. Windows 8 and it's dual schizophrenic nature was a huge marketing error.

 

[Sylon]

This post is an excellent example of Microsoft marketing fail

Sure, their marketing for the Pro has been terrible, and I knew that it could have been considered a laptop replacement. I just wanted to hear if the OP thought it was good enough to be a laptop replacement in his own opinion.

 

[scott craft]

From what I've read, you really want an i5 for performance reasons.

I agree. For what I do the Asus tablets would probably be fine, but I would rather spend the extra in case my needs change.

 

[SlCKB0Y]

I also disagree with the power user statement. A power user would not find 3-4 hour battery life acceptable. Nor the keyboard/mouse. Nor the ULV processor. Nor the small SSD (128GB is small for laptops).

What do you define as a "power user"?

 

[A Hebrew]

Went to my 'local' Best Buy today to purchase a Magic Mouse and tried it out...it is impressive...I would buy it if it were $200 cheaper.

 

[Abazigal]

This is definitely just the start (or so I hope)

Some accessories they need are a rigid base for lap use and a docking station for enterprise. If they had those and then just updated it when Haswell comes out, this could def be my next.

What do you mean by docking station for enterprise?

What's wrong with existing hubs? It has a HDMI port, so just plug in your monitor? The keyboard is bluetooth, right? So you can just detach it from the surface and use it as a regular keyboard?

 

[MuffCabbage]

What do you mean by docking station for enterprise?

What's wrong with existing hubs? It has a HDMI port, so just plug in your monitor? The keyboard is bluetooth, right? So you can just detach it from the surface and use it as a regular keyboard?

Something where the user just "clicks in" to his desk and all the connections are already made (power, ethernet, hdmi/monitor, keyboard, etc.)

I just envision it as something that is much quicker than plugging things in and out each time you want to go mobile.

 

[G51989]

That is a major logical flaw. You can literally justify anything and everything using that argument. I also disagree with the power user statement. A power user would not find 3-4 hour battery life acceptable. Nor the keyboard/mouse. Nor the ULV processor. Nor the small SSD (128GB is small for laptops).

Oh young one, for most users doing real work, they are not doing it on the go, they might pop it open on a train, or plane, or in a cafe for awhile, when the " real work " happens, its normally in an office, near a plug, so battery life isn't toatlly important.

I miss the days of 60mhz Laptops running Windows 95, with 2 hour battery life

 

[iPhoneApple]

deleted

 

[walie]

That is a major logical flaw. You can literally justify anything and everything using that argument. I also disagree with the power user statement. A power user would not find 3-4 hour battery life acceptable. Nor the keyboard/mouse. Nor the ULV processor. Nor the small SSD (128GB is small for laptops).

Anyhow, I'm not here to argue with you. I am genuinely interested in your experiences. I have my opinions and you have yours.

Don't Apple "power users" have their macbooks plugged in while at Starbucks anyway?

 

[Liquorpuki]

Jealous, I'm out of the country right now, the gf was supposed to pick one up for me after work, which ended up being way too late.

That is a major logical flaw. You can literally justify anything and everything using that argument. I also disagree with the power user statement. A power user would not find 3-4 hour battery life acceptable. Nor the keyboard/mouse. Nor the ULV processor. Nor the small SSD (128GB is small for laptops).

Power users care more about having a Core CPU and access to the x86 ecosystem than ARM/Atom facilitated battery life. Keyboard/mouse is necessary because x86 software relies on it. Actually I think if iOS has shown us anything it's that a keyboard/mouse is necessary for most productivity tasks period since conventional productivity workflow is based on a desktop UI. And the SSD is small but it's workable.

 

[ChristianVirtual]

But if anyone else has any questions about it feel free to ask.

Congrats and thanks for sharing. Wish I could "touch" one outside US. Really would like to compare. Guess we have to wait.

Do you have by chance a USB3 disk and check see how fast it goes ? I wonder if that would be a good alternative for some use cases.

Is a regular BT keyboard & mouse possible to use ?

Can you make me a picture of the power connector; is that a fragile one (like Sony often do) or a more robust one (i know, slightly stupid request)

 

[skaertus]

How is battery life with screen brightness set at 100%?

The Surface Pro looks awesome, it feels like it could develop into becoming the perfect device.

 

[ra535i]

For years I've only had my MBP as my only portable device aside from my phone. Believe it or not I've managed to resist purchasing a single tablet of ANY kind. Reason being,... my profession. I'm a medical software consultant/trainer and our software runs on windows machines only. I've been running bootcamp on my mac the past 3 years just to demo my software to clients and have found myself in the windows environment wayyy more than osx. Professionally speaking, The surface pro is a perfect device for my needs for windows 8, and for demoing my software to physicians. The stylus alone makes this device unbelievably useful for dermatologists and plastic surgeons to mark on their patients' images taken by the camera in our software. Now that being said, I'm aware of web based applications used by competing companies like Modernizing Medicine and so forth, but using our software natively installed on a tablet sized device under 3lbs is AMAZING. For those who are married to your iPads like my mother in law who just watches thai soap operas via youtube on the couch daily then the surface isn't for you. For professionals who need to get work done with convenience and x86,... no brainer.

Oh yeah,... When traveling from office to office I play League of Legends quite often. I'll be able to do this on the Surface Pro.

 

[ReanimationN]

What's the point? Surface Pro has few to none of the advantages of either device category it's competing in. It's very expensive for a laptop yet the cheaper laptops are better in many areas (battery life, performance, peripheral I/O, keyboard/mouse, etc.). It's also extremely expensive for a tablet yet tablets are also better in many areas (battery life, size, screen, pen input, apps, etc.).

This is cool no doubt. But not very practical. It's trying to be everything when it's good at nothing. If I had ~$1000 extra cash lying around, I might try this. But from the reviews I've read, some praising it and others not, it doesn't seem to stack up well at all compared to any competing device on either PC or tablet side.

Nevertheless, I might be wrong (I really looked forward to Surface Pro actually), so if the OP could continue posting about his experiences, I'm very interested in reading about it and I might change my mind.

You could have easily said that about the iPhone when it was first released. It had terrible battery life compared to other phones at the time, it was overpriced and had barely any storage for an MP3 player, it lacked 3G when plenty of other phones had it, it had no games or apps etc.

The Surface Pro is similar- give it one or two more revisions and your qualms about battery life will be greatly reduced, it'll be faster, most likely lighter, have an app store full of apps, plus full x86 compatibility. It may not be perfect now, but it (and other full x86 tablets) could very well become almost impossible to say no to in the future.

I love the look of it, I'll most likely get one when MS gets around to releasing it here.

 

[akuma13]

I will pick mine up at bestbuy later today. I see the Pro as my laptop, tablet and wacom input replacement. So the pro's out way the cons it obviously has.

 

[Saturn1217]

Does the surface work well/ok-ish in a lap?

Does it work well as just a tablet (and how are the windows store apps on it?)

Would you consider it a full laptop replacement even with the small battery life?

I'm curious about this as well.

I think it is pretty clear from comments and reviews that the surface pro can work well as a laptop replacement which is great.

But how good is surface pro for use on the go without the keyboard? I assume in this usage scenario you'll probably want to use the touch optimized apps. Could you still get office work done in this scenario?

Just curious. I kind of hope the surface pro success might push other mobile OSes to push the tablet concept a bit further.

 

[sentinelsx]

While Apple and android fanboys want surface pro and the products it will inspire to crash and burn simply due to bias, i like where MS is heading with that product.

Hypothetically:

I am eagerly awaiting for the day when i can use a 10-11 inch tablet/PC combo device to do both casual and real work with an 8-10 hours battery life. You connect it to a keyboard and mouse, it switches to desktop mode automatically and you can do "real" work on it. Time to do couch surfing or movies or take outside? take off the peripherals and it switches to tablet mode (it also allows switching on demand for people who want that mode). It would be sleek, lightweight etc. I think the surface pro is heading in that direction and i like it.

I want the era where my PC is also my tablet, and my smartphone is just an extension of it. And MS seems to get it so far.

I hate how i need a PC, an iPad (or nexus 10), and a smartphone currently. The tablet in the middle is that awkward compromise. After thinking for so long on buying either an android or iOS tablet, i finally figured that i actually want a full blown OS on a tablet with the portability of a tablet too. That may not be far.

Google can do the same, merge chrome OS with android (by the way anyone notice the chrome webstore actually looks nicer, and seem to have more productive apps than google play?), allow a chrome book to be used in tablet mode without a keyboard when wanted, and we can use our android phones as a smaller extension of that setup (since due to their very nature, a phone still needs to be able to be fit in our hands, or else all we would need is just a tablet device only).

If google and MS can pull this off, may be Apple will speed up their integration of iOS with OS X (the updates are hinting at the potential merge). I have no problems with OS X due to it being a proper desktop OS with barely any restrictions, it is iOS which i dislike. Hence me wanting an OS X tablet instead of an iPad.

 

[ceva321]

wow i wish i could get one..maybe for my bday in July