As per what normally happens so often to me (See: Laptops from the past), as of writing this article I am doing some research into a replacement system for my “every day usage” and during my search I finally had the chance to try using a Microsoft Surface Pro and while there was some problems and things I would change – I found the Microsoft Surface Pro to actually be a very good device that I would replace my laptop and tablet.
Now in my reviews, I do not go into all the technical details as I am honestly sure you are intelligent enough to load up Google so I am going to talk about a few things I did on it and if it does it well.
First we have what I am going to call “daily home” things such as browsing the World Wide Web, checking email and social networking and just like any device today that is not very old it can do all of this very well and I did not find any lag or anything that would be off-putting to anyone that would be using it for that purpose.
Secondly, let’s talk about the flagship office on the Surface Pro … I honestly do not know and now would not recommend people to get one for that purpose. The screen size being limited to 7″ I have found it can be hard to see what you are doing and although the “type cover” worked well and I was able to use it as a normal keyboard I would not recommend to get the “touch cover” as there is no physical feedback and it feels like you are hitting a silicon piece of paper.
Thirdly I used it for a bit of light gaming. Game wise it has been able to run Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (all the betas plus the open beta), Command and Conquer 3 & 4 and the odd FPS shooter. While I would not say it is the most powerful device out there – if you are looking to run games are low / mid settings like I do then this would be a nice device to have.
Now the problems I have had with it. The first is the battery life. For typical usage, I have been able to get 3 / 4 hours and this includes browsing the World Wide Web, chatting to people and replying to emails. The battery life when I was playing a game did not last very well although I suppose this is today expected when it comes to people wanting a powerful system. But for a device that I would hope will become my everyday device that I can carry around with me everywhere that it really needs better battery life.
The next was the weight. Now I am not saying the Surface Pro is impossible to pick up but it does start hurting your shoulder a bit should you have it in a bag thrown in a bag and then carrying it. While the problems above you can live with and adapt to quite easily there is one thing that would put most people of it and that is the cost.
The Surface Pro itself cost way too much for what it actually is (even more so when you have to buy a keyboard with it to use it as a laptop). I understand the idea of pricing it high is so they set a “market value” and a “standard” that other OEM manufacturing companies (like Sony) but the Surface Pro really is priced so high like a ultrabook it is not hard to see why it did not do well.
Also, would like to throw out that the Surface RT and Surface Pro is comparing to people who have no idea. Should you hear it runs Windows 8 (or Windows RT) a typical user may expect it to run everything they normally do on a PC and if you are using Windows RT you got a second thing coming and really something that should be scrapped (Windows RT only came around due to Microsoft not being too sure what the fuck Intel is doing).
Overall if you got the money and want a very good Windows 8 tablet but if you are looking for a tablet to just browse the World Wide Web, chat to some people and what not then just get an Android device – only get this if you really need to run Windows 8 programs and even then there are cheaper ones such as the Acer w3-810.
