This is, by far, the best computer I've purchased in recent years. It's fast, light, beautiful, and it always garners wow's from onlookers.
If you find yourself enjoying the Tablet profile, and touch interface, but wish you could do more with it... the Surface is here to deliver. It has become my primary device, for 90% of all my computing, and I have been thrilled with it.
Pros:
- Jaw dropping display. Among the most beautifully sharp and vibrant available. The touch is responsive and feels great. Honestly, it's a luxury experience.
- Compact, light, and attractive. From the magnetic pen, to the perfect "kick-stand", to the smart cover, to the logo on the back, everything about this design looks and feels modern, convenient, and impressive.
- Amazing pen. I have owned multiple Wacom tablets and I am an avid artist. The pen that comes with the Surface Pro is my favorite, by far. It took a little time to set it up with Krita and Photoshop... but now I'm cooking with gas, and the experience is second to none. The pen is just as amazing for writing and note taking as it is for painting or sketching. And with multiple tips available, you can get the exact feel you are after. Be that a #2 pencil, a ball-point pen, or a felt ink pen!
- Convenient and powerful. I get at least 3-4 hours on the battery (beware power sucking apps), can use it in portrait (touch), widescreen (touch), or laptop (with cover and mouse), and switch seamlessly throughout the day. The Surface is always ready to be used the way I need it at the moment. My iPad has been almost completely shelved since I purchased this (and I did not purchase it to replace my current gen iPad!) While it's no gaming rig, I have yet to encounter and application that I would typically use (Photoshop, browsers, painting apps, video editing, and some indie games) that don't run fabulously. As an added bonus, I discovered that I can stream my Steam catalog from my gaming PC, when I'm on the same network, so I can play my high-end games in bed! How terrible for my health :).
- Cortana, Windows 10, Gestures, oh my! If you take the time to learn and use all the conveniences in the Surface Pro, it is just astonishingly fun and efficient to use. From setting reminders with Cortana, having calls sent to your phone based on internet searches (on Edge), to making hand written notes on a website and sending it to a friend through chat or email, or having the computer unlock upon recognizing your face... there is so much here... reviewing the software would be a whole other article!
Cons:
- Occasionally, the screen will lock up. I thought this was the machine freezing at first, but it turns out it is the graphics driver failing to behave properly. There may be a permanent fix to this, but the workaround is just to turn off the screen and turn it back on again... so it's not really that inconvenient. This happens maybe once every couple of days for me (and I use this about 10 hours a day, I'd wager... since it's my primary work machine as well as personal.)
- The smart cover does not work well in your lap. You're better off using the touch interface if you're going to lounge in bed, or on the couch. I know this review isn't for the cover, but I would guess MOST people plan to get the smart cover.
- It would be great if the battery was a bit longer lasting. But when you realize how much of a complete system experience you are getting, the fact that it lasts as long as it does is honestly pretty impressive.
- Browsers other than Microsoft Edge just aren't that great on the Surface. I use Google Chrome and MS Edge regularly. But I have tested Firefox, Vivaldi, Opera, and IE. MS Edge performs substantially faster (while it's a fast browsers to be sure, the disparity is not this grand on my other computers) and more importantly, it is the ONLY browser that capably handles Touch and Tablet-mode on the Surface. The others all have various problems, instability, or other inconveniences while dealing with the Surface's changing modes of display and input.
- There's not a lot of space on this device. So be sure to lean on cloud storage, network storage, or a usb/Bluetooth storage device. Personally, I use the 1TB of storage provided my Microsoft's Office 365 (which is also amazing.)
Conclusion:
If you want a device that can fill many roles, capably, and conveniently... this is it. There's nothing else quite like it, and imho, it is the idea computing device for this particular consumer era. Taking me off my desktop and my iPad, and being the perfect companion for my Phone and cloud services, I've honestly never felt this close to zen with my computing situation!
I would recommend this machine, especially, to artists, developers, and tablet enthusiasts. I'm an IT administrator, and I have not found this machine lacking in any aspect of my job (beware, network Admins: There is no Ethernet port.)
| Standing screen display size | 12.3 Inches |
|---|---|
| Screen Resolution | 2736x1824 |
| Max Screen Resolution | 2736x1824 pixels |
| Processor | 3 GHz core_i5 |
| RAM | 8 GB |
| Hard Drive | 256 GB flash_memory_solid_state |
| Chipset Brand | Intel |
| Card Description | Integrated |
| Wireless Type | 802.11abg |
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 1 |
| Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 1 |
| Average Battery Life (in hours) | 10 Hours |
