Advice Should el Teed get a Surface Pro??

[Hawkwind]

Waiting for my next trip to LA then will grab a Pro 2. My son can have the Pro and then just need to sell 2 RT's that will be gathering dust.

 

[TdC]

may be worth looking in to the battery enhanced keyboards while you're there mate. They aren't retailing that stuff here in NL on S2 day so I am holding out without a keyboard for the duration.

 

[Tilda]

Very jealous, I have to say, I got mine with a keyboard and it is brilliant, the way it acts as a case, the way it just works perfectly. I love it.
Wish I had a cheeky spare £500 sat around so I could sell mine and upgrade. Alas!

 

[TdC]

You remind me: I went to a techybob shop the other day and tested the touch and type keyboards. it's type keyboard for sure. I hope to get the battery version, but hey ho who knows what will happen.

 

[fettoken]

Waiting for my next trip to LA then will grab a Pro 2. My son can have the Pro and then just need to sell 2 RT's that will be gathering dust.

I'd be very interested in buying one of those RT's. GF birthday coming up How much do you want for one?

 

[Hawkwind]

Problem is shipping to EU would cost quite a bit, I'll check tomorrow whilst at work

 

[fettoken]

Yeah, that's a problem though. Can easily pay for a shipping fee of 20 bucks. Thanks for checking mate.

 

[Tilda]

Very jealous of the Surface Pro2, but one review I read didn't find a massive change compared to a Surface Pro.

Am excited to see what the Nexus 10 2013 refresh is like though, debating buying an android tablet for reading, podcasts etc

 

[Embattle]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7440/microsoft-surface-pro-2-review

 

[TdC]

mine should arrive tomorrow. the barstands removed my product send-off date promise from my order, and I only got an email this morning that it had been sent, rather than launch day on monday

 

[caLLous]

The Pro 2 got a good review, mostly the same but with enough enhancements to make it stand out. A (much) better CPU, a (much) better kickstand. By all accounts they've improved laptop-y bits but haven't done much for tablet-y bits. I do love the quality feel of the Pro though, next to something like a Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 it feels like it's hewn from marble.

 

[TdC]

I'm *really* looking forward to mine, hooo boy

 

[caLLous]

But have you not heard about the iPad Air?!

 

[TdC]

heh, I have no use for a "tablet" tablet; getting the Pro 2 because it's a full OS and I can run an IDE on it

 

[TdC]

it's here! fuck yes

 

[TdC]

all set up. it's awesome! I don't the the win 8 interface though, or perhaps I am now in a transitional phase I don't know. Thing does get pretty warm btw.

 

[soze]

I placed the order for the Surface 2's today and soze does not get one they have decided soze's time is better spent with an iPad Air (I asked for a mini with a Retina but nope it is an Air for some reason) and a MacBook Pro. Boo Hiss some one is getting mac training I think.

 

[caLLous]

Hah, your work must've seen you on FH in the past, wanking over Apple products. Serves you right.

 

[TdC]

ok some things

1. I can type on the screen just fine, but not 10 fingers...more like a two finger pecking and a tad slow. I am wanting the type cover but no shop seems to have it available before I go to Iceland which sucks so I'll have to order when I get back.
2. Any touch off the kbd area makes it vanish, or maybe that's chrome not being nice, I dunno, but a real pain in the arse. Writing is very good but slower than typing on the screen...lets test...
3. Well, that sucked: the FH test box and the Surface's pen did not make the keyboard popup but after some dicking about it's now working. predictive text is a bit of a pain but the script to text recognition is quite awesome. still, like I said ...pretty slow. writing this Sentence took me ages!
4. the finish on the body is somewhat thin: I actually managed a slight scratch simply plugging the charger in to its socket!
5. The screen is really nice. I've not had a tablet screen in front of me until very recently so can't really compare but as for as I am concerned it's the best feature.
6. All my programs installed flawlessly, and I am pleased to see ms has finally caught up with the rest of the world and can mount iso's now.
7. Apps take sone getting used to though some of the screen effects are great, like an app and the desktop view side by side and some apps that can run on the background like the FB one which can pop up and give you handy or informative messages.

You am tell that MS are really trying out some cool stuff with the Surface, and although there's obviously room for improvement and something of a learning curve involved I think they are on to something good. At least with the Pro models.

 

[TdC]

ok sleep on this thing means dick all. power it off completely and you may have some battery left over when you decide to use it again.

 

[TdC]

ok, here's some of the stuff I did to start to make the Surface more...workable:

a) disable the frankly POINTLESS sleep and enabled hibernate...so now I actually have battery left when I press the power button after having the thing in my bag all day
b) installed a shitload of software, mostly consisting of PDF architect, MS office 2010 (which I own a license for), GIMP, Astah, Visual Studio 2012 and some other gubbins. About to install Adobe's Lightroom 4, which I also have a license for.
c) installed the Wacom Feel driver for the pen, because MS's own driver was not letting GIMP (or any other proper graphics program btw) use the pressure sensitivity options. Actually, it's since I installed this driver that I learned that the magnet thingy on the side of the pen is actually a button. Cool beans.
d) bought a cheap and cheerful bluetooth based keyboard in lieu of a type cover. If the battery enhanced TC ever makes it to Le Yurp, I will consider it, but as this (tbh awesome) keyboard was 35 euros, and the normal type cover is 129 euros, and I keep the surface in a protective case anyway...well...I doubt it's gonna happen but hey ho you never know.

 

[Trem]

I really want one, trying to convince myself that I don't but it isn't working. Will this replace my laptop Teedles? Will it make me happy? I use the laptop for very little other than internets stuff.

 

[Ch3tan]

I really want one, trying to convince myself that I don't but it isn't working. Will this replace my laptop Teedles? Will it make me happy? I use the laptop for very little other than internets stuff.

Then get a android tablet, a hell of a lot cheaper. You don't need something as expensive as a surface for internets.

 

[Embattle]

I agree with Ch3tan, while much more powerful the Surface is heavy still and to justify it you really have to utilise its full potential otherwise it is a waste. Personally I'm interested in the next Nexus 10 which will hopefully be announced tomorrow along with the Nexus 5.

 

[TdC]

What @Ch3tan said @Trem. I have the Surface for very specific reasons, many of which do not allow me to have an Android or iOS based tablet. I'd say that a nice Nexus or something would be sufficient for all your needs

More Surface idiocy:

- Choose NOT to use skydrive and the Surface kinda freaks out and every time you want to copy or create a document or whatnot, it will want to ask you about fucking Skydrive. Fuck off man
- You CANNOT print directly from the desktop. (erm, wtf?) Yesterday I selected a bunch of PDF's, did the Surface equivalent of a right-click and wanted to send the files to a printer on a network somewhere (which I had connected to beforehand). NEIN! screams the Surface, it claimeth : Thou Shalt Only Print From Apps! So, I had to open each one of the files in pdf reader and print them from there. What lunacy is this? (NB this was before I had PDF Architect installed so maybe things are different now.

Also, re Skydrive and Onenote... I have no clue where the Surface is putting my onenote files. I presume either on itself or in my skydrive, whereas I want them to be in my Dropbox. Must research this...

 

[soze]

I do not know that I can agree with all that. I have never found either tablet to be capable of replacing a laptop with a mouse for certain internet needs. I have just spend the last hour tracking down prices and options for a new hobby. Comparing sites ect in excel to see where I am best off buying it. And to do the same on a iPad would have taken days, If I did not play games on my laptop both my laptop and tablet would have been sold as it is the best of both worlds.

 

[Tilda]

As has been said before.
I love my surface pro, but it fills a specific role - onenote, office, sound recording and waacom pen input for uni work.
Its perfect for document creation.
It's less good as a media consumption device.

TdC - have you installed like adobe or something on it? I haven't actually tried, but I'm sure you must be able to print from desktop - its normal windows.

About onenote, I moved my dropbox into my skydrive, so it plays nicely with Skydrive.
What I wish was that there was a decent podcast app that would sync with my android podcasts!

 

[Trem]

Why the holy piss fuck does eeryone hacnve a Moderator thing under their name but I dont, well not everyone but the moderators I mean. Fucking hell its hard typing on a laptop when violently pissed. I bet a surface vcan do drunk typing

 

[TdC]

tbh the surface is too expensive to violently throw across the room and I must say today I have been tempted... 0o as to the mod thing. tis odd. you *are* a mod. Best to hassle @Deebs I think.

@Tilda: I have installed PDF Architect and from that it *will* let me print. I think the issue came from the fact that the only PDF handler was an app, thus W8 forced me to use the app. Bit like Chrome's Win8 app / desktop split personality (grrr hate that).

Re the advice to put Dropbox in the skydrive...I shall consider that. Cheers.