Nerdery - MS Surface Pros

ddraver

Morning all

This didnt work in Cake Stop so I'm hoping that the mods don't notice that I ve reposted it here having seen the number of IT guys in here...

I am looking for something to replace this "normal laptop" that I have now which is your standard cheap 15" Windows laptop. I travel for work every now and again and I have to take a massive big laptop with me which I obviously have to be a bit careful with in terms of what I view on it so I am looking for something small and sleek that I can carry around easily then and also day to day, watch films on on short haul flights etc, or even play less performance heavy games, which means I need it to run things like office.

Now the Surface Pro series seems to be the best option that I can see but I'd be interested if anyone has any experience of so called Tablet PC's. Alternatively, I'm sure the vast majority of you have ipads (or similar) and wonder if you could run normal Office 365 on it or is it the super simplified version i get on my iphone? Essentially, how good are ipods for doing "proper" work?

Much thanks

DaveK

dhope

I have a Surface Pro 1 (will probably sell) and a Surface Pro 3, (its replacement, the Core i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD version, which I'm using at the moment).

Don't compare it to an iPad, it's not. An iPad is a big iPhone. A Surface can do what a normal PC does. In my case, it has Windows 8.1, the full Office suite, Visual Studio 2013, Steam (for Civ5, X-COM and a few others). I have my iPhone and an Android tablet for consuming stuff. The Surface is for making it.

Personally, I love it. It's extremely light, morelike an small A4 pad than a laptop. And it fits nicely in a Rapha musette (no clunky laptop bag).

/advertorial

anthdci

For me the surface pro 3 is too big to be a comfortable tablet to use. I have also tried using every model of surface on my lap and they are too wobbly with all the weight being in the screen. A decent spec surface pro 3 is not cheap either. If I was choosing I'd get a 13" laptop and an iPad mini then you have a device that is designed to do a job, one a jack of all trades and master of none.

dhope

To be honest I don't really use it as a tablet. The touchscreen is largely left unused and the pen stays mostly in the bag. The keyboard is as good as a similarly sized laptop for me, and it looks cool. Maybe a Macbook Air looks as pretty, but a slim Lenovo, Dell or Asus just looks clunky by comparison. Performance-wise, it's up there with similarly sized laptops. There's a bit of a premium on the price, but I knew that when I bought it. And if you were getting a laptop and an iPad mini then you're already spending the same or more as a good Surface 3 anyway.

ddraver

I don't own a tablet so maybe I'm missing something but I don't envisage myself using it on my lap much at all but on airplane tables or the like. I suppose maybe curled up on the couch watching telly but then i can rest it on my lap or something...

timothyw

A mate has one and loves it so much that he wrote a review for his blog:

http://www.lukecjdavis.com/surface-pro- ... ld-review/

But yeah, essentially it is a laptop that is so compact that it renders your tablet pointless.

vermin

Have you considered the Asus T100? I have one and, for what I need (and your description sounds similar), it's perfect. Unless one is planning to use it for processor-intensive tasks like video editing or gaming, it does everything a Surface can just as well for about a quarter of the price. It's also smaller, lighter and has much better battery life.

dhope

vermin wrote:

Have you considered the Asus T100? I have one and, for what I need (and your description sounds similar), it's perfect. Unless one is planning to use it for processor-intensive tasks like video editing or gaming, it does everything a Surface can just as well for about a quarter of the price. It's also smaller, lighter and has much better battery life.

Isn't that Android? Vs full blown Windows.
I wouldn't say the T100 can replace its functionality, not unless it could replace every laptop in the market too.

Surface (Pro not RT) is a laptop alternative, not an ios or android tablet replacement

vermin

dhope wrote:

vermin wrote:

Have you considered the Asus T100? I have one and, for what I need (and your description sounds similar), it's perfect. Unless one is planning to use it for processor-intensive tasks like video editing or gaming, it does everything a Surface can just as well for about a quarter of the price. It's also smaller, lighter and has much better battery life.

Isn't that Android? Vs full blown Windows.
I wouldn't say the T100 can replace its functionality, not unless it could replace every laptop in the market too.

Surface (Pro not RT) is a laptop alternative, not an ios or android tablet replacement

Nope, it's Windows 8.1. It's a proper laptop/tablet hybrid.

http://www.asus.com/in-search-of-incredible/uk-en/asus-transformer-book-t100/

roger_merriman

I use my ipad like you say, though I use Pages/numbers which so far has coped with any of the dreadful documents that work uses, rather depends on what you end up doing.

Pufftmw

I have an Asus VivoTab, which is similar to the Surface except it runs full Windows 8, not RT. Has all the MS & windows software I want and is ultra portable. Either has a softscreen keyboard or you can get a cover/stand/keyboard. Obviously fits nicely in my rucksack too.

Only slightly redundant at the moment as work gave me a MacBook Air which also fits nicely in my rucksack...

elbowloh

Wow, just looked at the prices of these things. I know they're all spangly, portable and slim, but the top of the range i7 version is a grand more than my laptop that also has an i7 processor, twice the memory and a graphics chip (not to mention dvd drive).

dhope

vermin wrote:

Nope, it's Windows 8.1. It's a proper laptop/tablet hybrid.

Ah, hadn't known that. Would have checked but was writing the message on the phone.

Pufftmw wrote:

I have an Asus VivoTab, which is similar to the Surface except it runs full Windows 8, not RT

Surface Pro is full Windows, not RT
Macbook Air is what I'd cast as being the competitor to a Surface Pro 3. In that it's same size, spec and price.

elbowloh wrote:

Wow, just looked at the prices of these things. I know they're all spangly, portable and slim, but the top of the range i7 version is a grand more than my laptop that also has an i7 processor, twice the memory and a graphics chip (not to mention dvd drive).

DVD drive? Does it have a floppy disk too?

elbowloh

dhope wrote:

vermin wrote:

Nope, it's Windows 8.1. It's a proper laptop/tablet hybrid.

Ah, hadn't known that. Would have checked but was writing the message on the phone.

Pufftmw wrote:

I have an Asus VivoTab, which is similar to the Surface except it runs full Windows 8, not RT

Surface Pro is full Windows, not RT
Macbook Air is what I'd cast as being the competitor to a Surface Pro 3. In that it's same size, spec and price.

elbowloh wrote:

Wow, just looked at the prices of these things. I know they're all spangly, portable and slim, but the top of the range i7 version is a grand more than my laptop that also has an i7 processor, twice the memory and a graphics chip (not to mention dvd drive).

DVD drive? Does it have a floppy disk too?

I wish I didn't need a bulky DVD drive, but it's handy for things like Office 13 software disk etc and all my DVDs that I still have! A lot of my favourite movies aren't available on download (I watch a lot of Hong Kong cinema).

ddraver

That is outstanding guys. Thanks very much for your help. Looks like its the thing for me unless I can be pursuaded by one of the asus ones

dhope

ddraver wrote:

That is outstanding guys. Thanks very much for your help. Looks like its the thing for me unless I can be pursuaded by one of the asus ones

If you do get one, you can get £100 off (well, cashback) through Currys at the moment
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/student-te ... ml#claimcb

And you'll need to buy the type cover keyboard. Annoying that it's not bundled as it's a must have really.
At at the risk of stating the bleedin' obvious, you'll want a mouse. The Surface is pretty minimalist in terms of extra ports and only has one USB port so I ended up getting a Logitech M557 as it doesn't need a bluetooth dongle (so doesn't tie up the USB).

Also got one of these
http://www.amazon.co.uk/HooToo-Gigabit- ... B00HWMP9FA
on the odd occasion I need a wired connection, and it doubles up as a USB hub if needed.

Also got an AcmeMade Skinny Sleeve for Macbook Air 11" as they're basically the same size. It's very slightly too snug though and a bit of a faff, so would advise getting something marginally larger - literally a few mm on either size would be fine.