A balancing act. Microsoft's Surface Pro will entice customers with a potent array of components, a high resolution display, and a full-fledged version of Windows 8. The core idea of creating a tablet PC with good processing power which can be used for productive tasks seems to have become a reality. How well this works in practice was extensively tested by us.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Microsoft-Surface-Pro-Tablet.90881.0.html
Something's missing. I have 24" Full HD touchscreen running Win8 and a lot of times the touch icons are smallish for a regular size hand -- like the X-mark to exit the program. With this 10 incher, I see a lack of comment in this area a sore spot. Win8, although designed for a touch screen is nowhere near as finger-friendly as a 7" Android (I have Kindle HD Fire).
No IPS display and 1:30 hour limit for movie watching does not cut it for me.
I bought one, and its too heavy to use as a tablet.
The display angle is too low with the stand.
And Microsoft should have put a hdmi port on it.
Non upgradable hard drive or memory is a big mistake.
A holder or internal sleave/slot should have been made for the pen, the magnetic holder is not strong enough, and where do you put the pen whilst charging.
The external keyboard/mouse sometimes disconnects for no reason, so you have to reboot to activate it again.
The rotation landscape/portrait is slow, and sometimes doesn't happen, because the o/s thinks the external keyboard/mouse is still attached.
The volume/sound is too low.
Apart from all that, it's an ok laptop, but a poor tablet.
Microsoft, the design flaws are inexcusable. What were you thinking?
Email me
[email protected] if you want to know how to design a real hybrid laptop without making these basic errors.
Hang your heads in shame rather than patting yourselves on the back. Your job ain't finished.
Regards
John
We have been waiting for a full fledged version of Windows to run on a tablet for a long time, but with such a large OS, I'm concerned about how much resources it uses up. Still, it is a dream come true for me. I want something more versatile than my iPad, but just as powerful, so I can use it for both my work I do at DISH and entertainment. Now I use my iPad to watch my TV shows by using DISH Anywhere and my DISH Hopper DVR at home. I love it because I can watch TV while I'm on the train, through the internet and get caught up on TV watching when I usually don't have time at home.
I have two of these and have to say I cannot recommend until they fix the Wifi problems. Makes it nearly unusable even if using a RJ45 dongle. Just search Surface Pro wifi problem before you buy.
Regarding the temperature section, I will add that although is true that on the backside the temperature is not really annoying, the heat is also transferred to the screen, being very unpleasant for touch handling. I have seen ipads never behave like this, they get hot on the back but heat is not transferred to the touchscreen.
It is somewhat heavier than an ipad or android tablet, battery life is very good for a laptop but poor for a tablet. Touch sensitivity seems a little less sensitive than iPad/Galaxy. However, it runs full blown Windows, and it runs it FAST. It blew away my 2 year old i7 based HP monster loaded with 8Gb of RAM. What a Surface Pro really is geared for is a micro-laptop. The size and keyboard/touchscreen combo makes it usable almost anywhere. Set the stand up and it is very usable on your lap (even in a middle seat). Battery life is around 5 hours with wi-fi. This will be a great device for those who want a really portable laptop and need the extra input capabilities that a full keyboard gives. If you need to use it as a tablet it can do that too, but if you really just want an entertainment tablet then probably look at an RT, iPad, Galaxy, or Nexus.