New Tablet manufactured by Microsoft - 'Surface'

[ofcorsa]

My OH has the RT. Great tablet alternative with Windows functions

[sparkyhx]

both wifey and I have a surface RT - perfectly adequate and the bonus of actually being able to do real work on it.

WinstonWolf said:

Yup, the Pro is absolutely horrible without the proper keyboard IMO.

ALL tablets are horrible without a proper keyboard IMO

Edited by sparkyhx on Thursday 17th April 12:40

[dxg]

I use mine daily and it's a love/hate relationship.


Love:

Portability.

Note-taking in meetings straight into OneNote, using the stylus.

Using the stylus to create podcasts (although fan noise requires a separate audio recording).

Then editing the podcasts in Premier on it, just because I can.


Hate:

The screen is just that bit too small. I find myself constantly having to switch back and forth between 150% magnification when using it with a monitor and when not. I wish there was a quick way of doing this.

The single USB port.

The mini displayport that, due to the wedge edge profile, never really feels secure.

The power lead that, due to the wedge edge profile, is just really fiddly.

Windows 8.

Carting an Apple bluetooth keyboard everywhere, because I'm too cheap to buy one of the Surface-specific ones.

[devnull]

I use a Surface Pro 128 as a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) computer for my work at a corporate. It's great having a very compact laptop with full enterprise functionality - no compromising, as opposed to limited features when I take my ipad with me.

[sparkyhx]

dxg said:

I use mine daily and it's a love/hate relationship.

Hate:



The single USB port.

The mini displayport that, due to the wedge edge profile, never really feels secure.

The power lead that, due to the wedge edge profile, is just really fiddly.

Carting an Apple bluetooth keyboard everywhere, because I'm too cheap to buy one of the Surface-specific ones.

Power is fiddly - but its design means they don't get worn/bend/loose

USB - at least it has one!!!!!! and it can access extra storage on a portable hard drive - I don't know if android can do this now but they couldn't at the time the Surface was brought out.

keyboard - you have to get one its the law. its not just a keyboard it does clever stuff as well.

[Luke.]

Ordered the 128GB gen 1 Pro on the XP deal. Seems a bit of a bargain for £439 or so.

[clonmult]

sparkyhx said:

dxg said:

I use mine daily and it's a love/hate relationship.

Hate:



The single USB port.

The mini displayport that, due to the wedge edge profile, never really feels secure.

The power lead that, due to the wedge edge profile, is just really fiddly.

Carting an Apple bluetooth keyboard everywhere, because I'm too cheap to buy one of the Surface-specific ones.

Power is fiddly - but its design means they don't get worn/bend/loose

USB - at least it has one!!!!!! and it can access extra storage on a portable hard drive - I don't know if android can do this now but they couldn't at the time the Surface was brought out.

keyboard - you have to get one its the law. its not just a keyboard it does clever stuff as well.

Android could do it at the time surface was released (I had it on a rooted Advent Vega), but for the most part its a pain in the backside - you have to mount the volume, some solutions don't give you a lot of control .... which is ridiculous when even Symbian just let you connect up a drive and it just appeared as another drive, no hassles.

[dxg]

So, what do we think of the Surface Pro 3?

Looks like it solves my main problem - the screen being just that bit too small.

And it's cheap too!

[Anubis]

Surface Pro 3 Spec Sheet

[Polariz]

I was soo tempted, as a Surface Pro 2 owner, to upgrade having watched the livestream.

Be careful - many people will have purchased a Pro 2 within 6 months and found that the new model has already outdated it. Haswell chips, as great as they are, are pretty old now and I wouldn't be surprised if the Broadwell replacement chips end up in a Surface Pro 4 within the next 8 months. If it's thinner and lighter (Which I'm hoping it will be!), the dock might not fit etc.

Those who are looking to replace a laptop and iPad at the same time - it's perfect. Pro 2 is ace and the Pro 3 looks even better.

[dxg]

That's my thinking too.

Despite the niggles above, I have grow deeply attached to my (mark 1) Surface Pro. It's now core to my workflow.

However, although the Pro 3 addresses my main want - a bigger screen - the actual specs of the machine only offer a notional improvement at best. Anandtech have a good set of performance graphs that highlight this.

I think I too will wait - at least for the reviews and perhaps to see what v4 might bring.

[BHC]

I ended up buying the Dell Venue 8 Pro and I find it brilliant, but it doesn't directly compete. I bought a decent aftermarket tablet keyboard which I use with my PS3 too.

I've stopped carrying my laptop completely.

[Polariz]

I quite fancy an RT if I can get one for cheap. I loved mine, but sold it to put the cash towards my Pro 2.

[va1o]

Polariz said:

I quite fancy an RT if I can get one for cheap. I loved mine, but sold it to put the cash towards my Pro 2.

This is the same as a surface rt and only 149 - https://www.svp.co.uk/dell-xps-10-tablet-windows-r...