Surface Pro

[up.and.adam]

I was thinking of getting the surface pro when it arrives late January.

Will be used for uni and programming. Thoughts?

Does anyone use the RT and enjoy the typing experience?

[Pawsona]

I am currently using the Surface RT with the touch cover to write this post and to be honest. I love it. Yes, the keyboard takes a little getting used to and it certainly isn't as good as my mechanical one but it works, and yesterday I wrote a short 1500 word essay on it with minimalist trouble. However if you are going to be doing quite a lot of typing the type cover would probably be a better choice.

The portability of the device is a huge advantage. I have a Lenovo Y580, and transporting that to and forth from school each day was a hassle, and I was forever worried about my bag being knocked/kicked in the common room; with this I can just throw into a small satchel bag and be happy as Larry and not worry about it. The build quality of the device is really high too, I feel as if I could whack someone with it and do a surprising amount of damage to them, but not to the device (obviously this hasn't been tested). This will most likely be comparable to the Pro

The power of the Surface Pro will be equal to most Ultrabooks out there. With an Ivy Bridge i5 and 4GB of RAM it will be able to run quite a few demanding tasks, I've even seen someone edit videos on an Ultrabook, but it did look painfully slow. Overall I'd say that if that is all the power you'll need then I would recommend it. Hope this ramble helps.

[Ghost]

It seems kinda expensive. I think a netbook is a better option.

[up.and.adam]

@Pawsona Your rambling has been most helpful haha. What battery life do you get with your usual tasks?

​I use a HP Envy 14 Beats Audio everyday. Issues: Heat, even on low intensive tasks the fans are blazing. Battery life is approx. 5 hours with no audio, gaming, no CD and external devices plugged in.

@Ghost Yes the price is quite high but something draws me to this device and I'd like to find out what that is.

[James.]

Personally, I'd just go with either an ultrabook, or one of the atom tablets if you specifically need a tablet. The Surface Pro is only supposed to get a 4-5 hour battery life, and with some ultrabooks having a higher battery life for not much more, I simply don't see the point the the Surface Pro. If it turns out that it has a better battery life than what was expected go for it. But for now, it seems like an ultrabook would be a better device.

[Pawsona]

I get around nine hours on the Surface RT, but to be honest I'm not totally sure as I don't keep track of it all that much. I plug it in when it gets to 50 percent-ish quite a lot so I know I have enough to definitely last me until I can get to another power source. The Pro won't be as long as some other ultrabooks, but 5 hours is still pretty reputable and even on par with some ultrabooks out there (Samsung Series 5)

And I now what you mean that there I something strange that draws you to the device, I was exactly the same with this Surface RT and I was not disappointed. I was contemplating waiting for the Pro then realised I don't need the power of it. I think its the fact that it is a tablet, that runs full Windows 8, that can do everything an ultrabook can do, except it is not an ultrabook. By that I mean that you don't have the burden of a laptop (unless you get a convertible which I have no experience with, so I won't say anything about them), and by burden I mean the fact that you can't really use a laptop whilst standing, or in a confined space, or lying down. Its very much a piece of sitting technology. Whereas I can lay in bed and use the Surface in portrait mode and read it like a book. One last thing I've noticed is that the Surface seems to be really well balanced. Linus touched on this in his unboxing of it, but I can tell you from personal experience; it does not matter how you hold the device, it will always feel the same. Now I'm not saying that this will be the same with the Pro, but I cannot expect it to be much different.

[The Scanner Darkly]

The problem for me is the most likely price. I would love one if it wasn't going to be so expensive.

[LuckyNoS7evin]

Been using the RT since release and it's a tablet with some stuff on you can do work with.

I've used it for:-

1) Meetings at work with One Note

2) SNES emulator

3) Surfing in front of TV

4) NFL Gamepass

5) writing posts on forums and documents.

6) Streaming films over my home network while in bed

It's a fantastic machine and as Pawsona said it's about 7-9 hours of good use with it dropping a bit when playing lots of games and watching films. However I have heard the same about the Pro being a bit rubbish on the battery life because it's got the i5 and a better (more power hungry) screen

[MuZeVII]

I'd be worried about the battery life on the Surface Pro more than anything. Running an Ivybridge Intel i5 processor will run it into the ground. It doesn't have the space for a larger battery like in an Ultrabook. To be honest, If you can hold on, I'd be tempted to wait for a 4th generation Ultrabook with touch.

[Aether176]

There's a rumor floating around on The Verge that claims that Intel's new 7W Ivy Bridge chips will be in the Surface Pro. I hope it's true because that would pretty much eliminate any battery life problems.

[Winther]

I think the surface is a very interresting possibility, for me personally I just think there are better, just as portable and more produktive options out there, or rather there will be. For me it comes down to the flip stand, that probably works ok, but I just think the old laptop hinge works just fine still. Plus the keyboard, just doubt the typing experience is as good as a good chicklet keyboard.

on the pro side though it looks good, the quality looks good and its small but still with a FullHD display, so I see why some people would prefer it.. :)

mainly thinking of the Transformer Book if you where wondering.

[Dustin1706]

I've been impatiently awaiting the arrival of the surface pro. I think it would be so much more useful to me than an android or iOS tablet. however, for around $1000 and with a sub 4 hour battery life..... I think I will just wait for haswell and get an ultrabook instead.

[dchen12]

I would prefer an ultrabook over the surface pro for that price point.

[GoodBytes]

Surface Pro all the way!

I had an opportunity to experience a bit the Surface RT, and honestly I almost crap my pants on the build quality of this thing. It felt better than my Zune... and I have mine since 2008, I dropped it, kicked it, used everyday.. and still works today above and beyond. No bad for a 5 year old brick of an MP3 player. :)

So because of my experience with my Zune, and the Surface RT build quality that I felt by touching it, I am confident it won't break on you, if you toss your bag around, with the Surafce inside, or drop it by accident.

Ultrabooks are not worth it against the Surface Pro, unless you prefer a 2-3h more of battery life, over the portability, touch screen (for most models), and also no digitize pen support.

The digitize pen support is, to me, a killer feature for the Surface Pro.

While a laptop is nice for school, when it comes to graph, math, phsyics, you will wish you had a digitize pen support. Trust me.

More than 4 years ago, I got myself a nice laptop for University. At the time, trying to get a tablet computer (the convertible laptop/tablet ones), cost 3000$ for the ones you won't need to fight as you use it (Dell Latitude XT). Well I didn't have 3k before taxes in my pocket, so I went with the Dell Latitude E6400, ~2000$ after taxes (still using today by the way). I can tell you... I wish I had pen support. Many classes I use pen and paper, and my writing sucks when I write fast.

Get the Surface Pro, and get Microsoft OneNote (Best note writing software, your notes are also sync between your computers). If you are in engineering or Computer Science, or in College, check with your school if they are registered to MSDNAA, where you'll have access to all Microsoft products for free, except Office (I guess Microsoft has to make money somehow). OneNote 2010 and 2013 are in there.

The only shameful thing about the Surface Pro, is that the keyboard, not even the physical keyboard has a battery inside. That would have solved it's 4-5h battery life limit. Lucky, the tablet power adapter is small, light, and charges the tablet fast, so that you can have all day computing with it with bit more ease.

[Prettyfinej]

I'm rarely in a situation where I don't have any means to plugging in my devices for more than a few hours at a time so the battery life doesn't seem to be to big an issue for me personally. I may pick one of these up when it's released, mostly for fun, I couldn't do any of my actual work on a screen that small.

[HK6]

Will be used for uni and programming.

Although I think the Surface is a fantastic product, I would never go near a tablet to do any programming on. As a programmer, an actual laptop (not a netbook, nor an Ultrabook) is the best option. If you are concerned about the start-up time of a laptop being too slow, compared to a tablet/Ultrabook, buy a laptop and put an SSD in it.

[Zappy]

Well my first thought would be getting a laptop with an excellent keyboard for typing for hours if you're going to be programming, I doubt the Touch Cover or even the Type Cover would be good for long periods of typing. For that reason alone i'd lean towards an ultrabook with a solid keyboard.

[wing2k5]

I had thought about getting it day 1, but I am reconsidering. Surface Pro is getting alot of criticism for its price and battery life. The impression I am getting is that the newer notebooks are comparably the better choice overall.

[Konn]

I'd rather just get an Ultrabook, better everything almost.