Surface Pro without a doubt Is the most outrageous venture. Packing incredible ultra book power inside a tight tablet clothing.
I have been waiting for the surface pro for about 7 mounts. For some very stupid reasons , Microsoft has decided not to release this in My country. This meant I had to import it from outside India, and after a very long wait I was finally able to enjoy the machine.
Let me take you through my observations on Surface pro.
I have been waiting for the surface pro for about 7 mounts. For some very stupid reasons , Microsoft has decided not to release this in My country. This meant I had to import it from outside India, and after a very long wait I was finally able to enjoy the machine.
Let me take you through my observations on Surface pro.
1. Design and ergonomics
One word, Impressive and definitely effective. May not look sexy like an iPad but it has the right proportions and features to make it a very effective companion.
The over all dimension of the device is perfect for portable device. The first time you pick the device up you will definitely feel the 900+ gram, but the weight is evenly distributed along the entire device. I would suggest picking up a note book or a normal laptop before taking the surface in your hand. This will help you balance your perception :)
The integrated kick stand has to be given some credit in making the surface line up an edge over the completion.
The over all dimension of the device is perfect for portable device. The first time you pick the device up you will definitely feel the 900+ gram, but the weight is evenly distributed along the entire device. I would suggest picking up a note book or a normal laptop before taking the surface in your hand. This will help you balance your perception :)
The integrated kick stand has to be given some credit in making the surface line up an edge over the completion.
2. Screen
Surface pro packs an impressive full HD resolution at 1920x1080 at an aspects ratio of 16:9 and makes a total PPI count of 207. If you take the device a bit more close you can see the individual pixels. A simple test Is pointing the stylus on any portion off the screen just after the stat menu loads. At this point you should be able to see the pixels making up the tiny stylus pointer.
Indoor visibility is very good but it just not perfect for out doors. If you want to get creative and take the surface for a spin, I'd suggest you find a shady place just to see the screen properly. Also the IPS panel on the device is highly reflective and a finger print magnet. You might want to invest in a screen protector.
Surface pro features corning gorilla glass protection on the screen which should protect it from scratches and extensive use of stylus.
Indoor visibility is very good but it just not perfect for out doors. If you want to get creative and take the surface for a spin, I'd suggest you find a shady place just to see the screen properly. Also the IPS panel on the device is highly reflective and a finger print magnet. You might want to invest in a screen protector.
Surface pro features corning gorilla glass protection on the screen which should protect it from scratches and extensive use of stylus.
3. Touch Cover
From day one I was determined to get the Touch cover long with my surface pro. And so I did. I went with the white colored touch cover. I really like typing on my touch cover. In fact am preparing this entire article using mine. Touch cover includes the standard QWERTY key pad along with some Windows 8 specific short cut keys.
My touch cover had some issues in the beginning. It was randomly registering the key strokes for 1. which made it completely useless. But after two critical updates, It worked fine.
The best part about the touch cover is the way it snaps on to the device. I just couldn’t get enough of it and in fact I have recorded that sound and now using it as my message alert tone :)
My touch cover had some issues in the beginning. It was randomly registering the key strokes for 1. which made it completely useless. But after two critical updates, It worked fine.
The best part about the touch cover is the way it snaps on to the device. I just couldn’t get enough of it and in fact I have recorded that sound and now using it as my message alert tone :)
4. Pen (stylus)
Pen goes as like this.
Just imagine how fun note taking could have been if I had this back at college. The on screen key board also features a handwriting recognizing pad, and it is super effective.
It is not with out problems though, You will have to install separate drivers to enable pressure sensitivity on applications like Photoshop. But there are some very disturbing problem, sometimes the styles just doesn't calibrate correctly. I restarts my Surface if I see this and it worked so far.
Just imagine how fun note taking could have been if I had this back at college. The on screen key board also features a handwriting recognizing pad, and it is super effective.
It is not with out problems though, You will have to install separate drivers to enable pressure sensitivity on applications like Photoshop. But there are some very disturbing problem, sometimes the styles just doesn't calibrate correctly. I restarts my Surface if I see this and it worked so far.
5. Touch
Unlike the Surface RT, the pro supports up to 10 Finger multi touch. Which usually is more than what you need. Not every time you wish for an extra hand right!
What ever you do please don not calibrate the touch input on the surface, for some time it works and then it might go nuts and all taps will be registered on top.
What ever you do please don not calibrate the touch input on the surface, for some time it works and then it might go nuts and all taps will be registered on top.
6. Other Features
camera
There are front and rear shooters, both are capable of HD 720 p recording. Compared to the front camera modules shipped with other Ultra books and Most VGA laptop integrated cams, the front and rear real cams from Microsoft does an exceptional job. The camera does lack Auto focus, which is a disappointment.
Speaker and 3.5 mm Head phone jack
Speaker performance is nothing to write home about. Surface packs stereo speakers but the performance and loudness is below par.
Onscreen Key pad and hand writing recognition
Using the on screen key pad is a joy in the modern interface, how ever on traditional desk top mode it is just can't be used. For applications like Photoshop, there are very significant meaning to shift, alt, control keys. Such keys are not available in the on screen key pad. Of Couse you can use the on screen build in key board application to get thins done. Another annoying fact is, if you have to enter any thing in to the text fields using the on screen touch key pad, the web page/ application will auto align it self to show the text field. But in the desktop mode this is not available. Sometimes you have to guess what you are typing.
Micro SDXC
Surface pro can be expanded using the Micro SDXC card slot. To keep up with the super fast surface pro, I'd suggest using a class 10 card ( Samsung SDXC Pro is a good option but rather expensive). You may also augment the storage by connecting a high density external hard drive solution.
Micro HDMI Out
If you prefer working on larger displays, you can always connect the surface pro to an external monitor or display via the mini HDMI port. This is very impressive and extremely useful for giving presentations or just casual big screen gaming.
The Bad
Now let me introduce some bad aspects of Surface pro.
Being the first generation of hybrid computing devices, it is like many others is a devices which had to make compromises. If you don’t know about them you better not pick one up, because most of the time you will have to justify that decision. I will not be covering difficulties of the Windows I platform because that’s differs based on personal preferences, in this section ill concentrate more on the difficulties I had with the surface pro as a tablet, PC and an Ultra book.
It’s a device with compromises
Most people compare this device to an iPad or a nexus tablet, and some compare this with the mac book air and other ultra books. The fact is they are correct in some aspects. To be fair ill say its 40% tablet and 40% ultra book and 10 % confusion. For surface pro MS choose to go with core i5 -3317U clocked at 1.7Ghz and 4GIG of RAM. This made the surface pro a bit bulkier than its ARM sibling Surface RT. Out of the box the device itself tips the scales at over 900g, and attach the touch cover makes it about the same dimensions to the MAC BOOK AIR. This could have been addressed with using the much more nimbler Atom processors, but this could mean a less powerful device.
Battery
Am a bit of a power user, Normal tasks in on my pc involves streaming HD contents, Playing games ( am not taking about Angry birds). Drafting documents and sending e-mails. On week ends this trend changes. At full charge the battery bar in the device read out 5.3 hours which is compatible with an average laptop, perhaps a bit better. But compare to some ultra books its not even acceptable.
When the power reaches 10%, surface takes the control by itself and hibernates, after a very short period of 2 minutes. There should be some settings to over ride this but I tend to connect it to the power when that happens. This could be a bit frustrating when you are giving a very long presentation.
Heat
This is a consequence of the power house packed in to the device. When you starts working on some thing more CPU intensive like photo shop, Games, the top half of the back side literally burns. The two inbuilt fans on the pro doesn't keep up as expected, and the ventilation that runs through out the sides of the device is not adequate enough to keep the heat manageable. The effect magnifies if you take the device and use it as a tablet for drawing, sculpting.
Apps sadly still
Am not sure why Microsoft is sitting still when the matters at the market place is just worse than the sales of Windows 8 it self. Am not complaining about quantity, I'd rather have 500,000 Great apps than pushed with 700,000 crappy lesser apps. Bigger titles are still missing here. And one thing that I cant get my head around is the app compatibility. All windows 8 apps are build on the NT frame works so technically they should be able to run in all MS NT frame works. If MS could address this app scaling issue, the windows 8 Platform it self could take off in no time. Imagine using Windows phone apps like Facebook, WhatsApp, Pandora, etc. on your PC, Surface and every where else. If MS is really serious about One experience very where then they should seriously consider this.
Being the first generation of hybrid computing devices, it is like many others is a devices which had to make compromises. If you don’t know about them you better not pick one up, because most of the time you will have to justify that decision. I will not be covering difficulties of the Windows I platform because that’s differs based on personal preferences, in this section ill concentrate more on the difficulties I had with the surface pro as a tablet, PC and an Ultra book.
It’s a device with compromises
Most people compare this device to an iPad or a nexus tablet, and some compare this with the mac book air and other ultra books. The fact is they are correct in some aspects. To be fair ill say its 40% tablet and 40% ultra book and 10 % confusion. For surface pro MS choose to go with core i5 -3317U clocked at 1.7Ghz and 4GIG of RAM. This made the surface pro a bit bulkier than its ARM sibling Surface RT. Out of the box the device itself tips the scales at over 900g, and attach the touch cover makes it about the same dimensions to the MAC BOOK AIR. This could have been addressed with using the much more nimbler Atom processors, but this could mean a less powerful device.
Battery
Am a bit of a power user, Normal tasks in on my pc involves streaming HD contents, Playing games ( am not taking about Angry birds). Drafting documents and sending e-mails. On week ends this trend changes. At full charge the battery bar in the device read out 5.3 hours which is compatible with an average laptop, perhaps a bit better. But compare to some ultra books its not even acceptable.
When the power reaches 10%, surface takes the control by itself and hibernates, after a very short period of 2 minutes. There should be some settings to over ride this but I tend to connect it to the power when that happens. This could be a bit frustrating when you are giving a very long presentation.
Heat
This is a consequence of the power house packed in to the device. When you starts working on some thing more CPU intensive like photo shop, Games, the top half of the back side literally burns. The two inbuilt fans on the pro doesn't keep up as expected, and the ventilation that runs through out the sides of the device is not adequate enough to keep the heat manageable. The effect magnifies if you take the device and use it as a tablet for drawing, sculpting.
Apps sadly still
Am not sure why Microsoft is sitting still when the matters at the market place is just worse than the sales of Windows 8 it self. Am not complaining about quantity, I'd rather have 500,000 Great apps than pushed with 700,000 crappy lesser apps. Bigger titles are still missing here. And one thing that I cant get my head around is the app compatibility. All windows 8 apps are build on the NT frame works so technically they should be able to run in all MS NT frame works. If MS could address this app scaling issue, the windows 8 Platform it self could take off in no time. Imagine using Windows phone apps like Facebook, WhatsApp, Pandora, etc. on your PC, Surface and every where else. If MS is really serious about One experience very where then they should seriously consider this.
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