Threesixty
Getting closer to the point of departure? People like phones with touch screens and computers with mouse and keyboard. Blending them detracts from both. C'mon microsoft...you did the world a favour with windows 1 2 3 4 aaaand 5 6 7 & 8! Where's the next ground-shakin innovation?
Alan Belardinelli
I have been using a Surface Pro 128 for the last few months and find it to be lightning fast and an incredible machine for everything I do. I take it to work and use it more than my desktop there because it is way, way faster than my work machine. It is not a glorified cell-phone like almost all of the tablets I have tried, it is a take you to hell and back and not leave your butt smoking computer. The only downside I can see so far is that Adobe and Trimble have not kept up with the game (huh... wonder why Google makes me revert my driver to run Sketchup?. . Jealous much?). This review also failed to highlight the digitizer. It is awesome! My only beef is that the stylus feels super cheap and is not even near the build quality of the machine. Make a tactical(Ti, Au, Mg, whatever) one and I'll buy it.
Dan Barkley
Good review. I see this type of device becoming the norm in the next few years and Win 8 isn't all bad. Roll on cheaper next-gen devices though.
Peter Van Aken
Yes, it's a PC, but it's not something a 3D artist doing content-creation would use because of the lack of GPU/CPU power. Only discreet graphics and a much more powerful CPU fits that bill. And, that is not possible to fit currently into tablets. Maybe never. It's frustrating because 3D artists drool over the idea of working directly on the screen with a Wacom stylus (such as with the expensive Wacom Cintiq line) but the tablets with the onscreen Wacom capability don't have anywhere near the oomph for serious content-creation. What can be done with Surface Pro is light model building, simple lo-to-med res texturing in traditional 3D software and actually quite a bit more in Pixologic ZBrush because it has less dependence on GPU. What does hold promise is the Lenovo ThinkVision LT1423 Wireless Monitor with Wacom stylus running off a workstation, shipping probably in Sept. 2013... so long as there is no noticeable stylus lag.
pmshah
Recently my daughter abandoned the Windows platform for Mac. One of the major contributing factors for this transition was the charger / laptop interface. She had to replace 3 chargers because the connector broke and one paid through the nose to get the laptop socket fixed.
Looks like what came to Mac ages ago is finally showing up here. Magnetically attaching the charger PLUG to the laptop. Jobs copied the idea from a Japanese gizmo. Why did the Windows notebook manufacturers not jump on the band wagon ? I will never understand !
notarichman
at first glance I hate the idea of power switches mounted on the edge of equipment. i have a cell phone that turns itself on with just the slightest bump. either that or install a power switch "lock" that requires two different movements to turn it on or a finger print? but don't use a plain old push button switch.
Vince Pack
I have the Surface Pro 128 with a touch cover. First, I really detest the touch cover. Second, I'm not a fan of the power cord interface. It's too finicky to quickly line up - especially at night with low light and trying to get it on the charger before bed.
Those complaints aside, I LOVE the thing!! I ended up with this instead of the iPad (day one iphone user) because I've re-enrolled in school and some of the school's online content is Flash based.
I have been building a video edit crunching desktop for a while, and finished it about the time I got the Surface. My desktop is awesome. I seldom boot it up, though, because the Surface does so much, so well, so conveniently. When I need access to intensive photo/video CS stuff, I boot the desktop. The other 90% of the time I'm either on my iPhone or the Surface (with a realistic 60/40 split respectively).
We can all speculate about where we think the computer is heading, but this sort of device certainly feels "right" to me. Except the Touch cover.
Oh, as for storage, install a 64 gig micro-sd and move your recovery partition to a flash drive. Problem solved.
Lewis M. Dickens III
Bill Gates said it sometime back...
He envied Steve's taste and sure enough it still applies.
Looks to me like Pmshah has an awfully smart daughter, particularly since Windows runs faster on the Mac platform.
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Matthew Harden
I hate my Surface Pro. I program and it's the worst. The screen is tiny with high resolution. Even DPI settings don't help much. I'm just sick that I bought this instead of an Asus ultrabook or Lenovo yoga
Jerry Peavy
Photoshop on a Surface Pro? Really? I can't imagine any photographer using this, a sRGB screen, not enough RAM! A completely useless product for Photoshop!