[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Review: Surface Pro is the world's best Windows tablet, but still can't close the deal here

[DrSpanky]

Microsoft's marketing department wants everyone to believe the surface is uncompromising. It's a tablet. The very nature of tablets means you need to make compromises. Better display resolution and faster processors or better battery life? More ports or smaller form factor? No one device can be all things to all people, so why does everyone focus on a shortcoming which bothers them and pass it off as the "problem with (insert device name)" or "(insert name of company) should do (insert over inflated opinion)". Get over yourself, there is no one ultimate device for any/every situation which arises.

[TsarNikky]

It is still a tablet with Windows-8. There is no way of getting around it. Those of us who need laptop/desktop functionality will be sticking with Windows-7. Microsoft chose to create the mess. Maybe, they can figure their way out of it.

[contented]

This article was frustrating in its tone. The author complained the tablet was too thick. And also that it did not have enough batterythe graphics were not good enough. The operating system took up too much room. I suppose it was also too expensive.

The sad fact is that we live in the present, not 2 years in the future. Microsoft cannot make processors smaller, cheaper, more energy efficient, and so on overnight. Heck, they don't even make processors. They made a good product to show where they are headed. There are obvious constraints. If you want crazy thin powerful all magnesium designs, go check out a prototype in a lab. For myself, I find this an amazing piece of technology and I am amazed that it is out in the wild.

Now, I personally plan to wait 6 to 9 months to buy something thinner and more power efficient, but if I needed a computer now, this sounds pretty good to me. Seriously, a 2 pound half inch slab of metal and glass that can do all of that for less than a grand is only passable? Boy, we are getting to be spoiled!

[MadMattAu]

This article is something of a worry. comments like "thanks to Windows 8 Pro, it can run all the legacy desktop applications that we need for serious productivity. "

The thing has a 10 inch screen, just how much of that document or spreadsheet are you going to cram in there to be productive with.

It is time for those writing these article to bite the bullet and call the product what they are. Low power web content consumption devices. At a pinch they can write an email or take a short memo, but they are not, I repeat for the slow Journalists, not a productivity suite, or a replacement for a desktop or a laptop.

Windows Surface and all of these tablets are excellent at what they are designed for and that is content consumption. If your creating content. Put the toy down and sit down to a real productivity device.

[karthiq]

Tablets need to be fanless. I hope MS rectifies it with the next gen. It shouldnt hesitate to even throw in a atom based baytrail if only that can guarantee a fanless design.

[karthiq]

That could even make it more thinner and svelte. And since it is more of a consumption device than a productivity device, i am sure a lot of people wont mind if it has a baytrail instead of a haswell.

[karthiq]

And with regards to the last paragraph in the article, there are rumors that MS could launch a 14 inch surface pro. If thats true, it could take care of the screen real estate problem :-)

[max999]

Quote

It is still a tablet with Windows-8. There is no way of getting around it. Those of us who need laptop/desktop functionality will be sticking with Windows-7. Microsoft chose to create the mess. Maybe, they can figure their way out of it.

I agree!

[pahoff1]

Quote

This article was frustrating in its tone. The author complained the tablet was too thick. And also that it did not have enough batterythe graphics were not good enough. The operating system took up too much room. I suppose it was also too expensive. The sad fact is that we live in the present, not 2 years in the future. Microsoft cannot make processors smaller, cheaper, more energy efficient, and so on overnight. Heck, they don't even make processors. They made a good product to show where they are headed. There are obvious constraints. If you want crazy thin powerful all magnesium designs, go check out a prototype in a lab. For myself, I find this an amazing piece of technology and I am amazed that it is out in the wild. Now, I personally plan to wait 6 to 9 months to buy something thinner and more power efficient, but if I needed a computer now, this sounds pretty good to me. Seriously, a 2 pound half inch slab of metal and glass that can do all of that for less than a grand is only passable? Boy, we are getting to be spoiled!

I guess you don't work hard for your money and/or you do not believe in truth in advertisement. If you advertise it as a laptop replacement it better perform as such especially if your competition is 30 to 60 percent less expensive and delivers what you need.

[StephenCornelius]

So it's too thick and too heavy, but more importantly it's too late - they've already ruined the reputation of Windows 8. MS had decades to be revolutionary with their OS and didn't really change it at all - they need a lot better than Win 8 to make an impression now. As it stands if I ordered a new PC I'd insist on Windows 7. Everyone knows Win 8 a mess, trying to be all things to all devices and achieving merely adequate.

Surface Pro isn't revolutionary so it can't stand out against MS's own background noise of mediocrity - it's just the quiet whimper as they kick themselves in the gut while they're already down.

[SElope]

Let´s think a little bit:
Surface was a complete flop did not even sell a million.
Now this one:
- costs twice as much
- weighs twice as much
- is twice as thick
- needs to be charged twice as many times

and it will be a sucess???? Are you kidding?

[mipakeli]

The Surface Pro disappoints in being too small for sure and too lousy battery life. Hopefully the upcoming Intel low power chips will sole that with 40% better battery life. Then this same Surface Pro could have a 10 hour battery if they bump up the battery to over 50 watt hours.

So I'll skip this years stuff and wait for the best tablet PC in 2014.......

[RobRoy312]

"So it's too thick and too heavy, but more importantly it's too late - they've already ruined the reputation of Windows 8. MS had decades to be revolutionary with their OS and didn't really change it at all - they need a lot better than Win 8 to make an impression now. As it stands if I ordered a new PC I'd insist on Windows 7. Everyone knows Win 8 a mess, trying to be all things to all devices and achieving merely adequate.

Surface Pro isn't revolutionary so it can't stand out against MS's own background noise of mediocrity - it's just the quiet whimper as they kick themselves in the gut while they're already down."

Windows 8 is a mess? Let me guess you are one of those people that maybe tried the beta and have not used it since, and therefore the foremost expert on it? Windows 8 is a very good operating system if you just immerse yourself in it, accept that MS is not going to tailor it to whatever you want in an OS, and learn how to use it. With very little tweaking and a small learning curve you will be able to do everything you do in wondows 7 with less effort and faster. Other advancements in it are beyond brilliant like being able to refresh your PC without losing data. So there is no start button, go download one or learn to do without it.

As for the article, fairly well written piece, and seemingly an honest opinion of the product. There is one thing that I would like to address in the article and in all of the responses. I have had a Dell Inspiron Duo, the original hybrid one with a 10.9 inch screen for 2 years now. I got it with Windows 7 and as soon as I could I installed Windows 8 on it. I have used Office 2007 Pro for the majority of that time as well. I do not understand the complaints about the screen size or the claims that you can not do anything on a 10" screen. I have written numerous college papers in Word, I run my own gradebooks in Excel on my 10 inch screen and I have no problems at all being productive. Do I like my 24" monitor on my desktop? Of course I do, but it is not portable. Is a 10 inch screen smaller? Well naturally it is, but it is also portable, and in my exeprience perfectly adequate for accomplishing work. The claim that a tablet will ever replace the PC entirely to me is a silly one. Tablets have their place as do PCs, and in the future I think the ideal situation will be some marriage of the two technologies, maybe a tablet that mounts to, or docks in a desktop and seamlessly integrates the two together in some way will be the next big thing. Wonder which OS maker is closer to making that happen.

[Marcolorenzo]

This guy clearly has no idea how to review a product in this category. He wants a bigger screen? Buddy, this is a tablet. A bigger screen would make it heavier and have even worse battery life. Why don't you just get an ultrabook? Throughout this review, that was the feeling I got. He would be far more happier if he just got an Ultrabook. Sure the Surface Pro wasn't supposed to directly compete with tablets, but it also wasn't meant as an actual laptop replacement. Personally, I think this would be perfect for me. Whilst I am generally very happy with my iPad, every now and then its limitations can really be felt which is where the Pro would've been good. The battery life is a bit of a nuisance though.

Also, what the heck made him think he could run any game at 1920x1280? That's a no brainier. I have a laptop with a HD 6990m and I often don't even run games at my native resolution of 1920x1080. Running on integrated graphics, of course it would be necessary to drop the resolution. This hardly warrants criticism for a device of this class.

Anyways, compared to the iPad 4 128GB which I believe is selling at $799 for the wi-if only version, I'd say the surface pro is a pretty good deal. They should however drop the price on the accessories which they've really shot themselves in the foot with and figure out a way to improve the battery life.

[platform]

Once again, a reviewer focused on the lack of "apps" for the surface pro. Try to remember this is a full version of Windows and can run these things we computer users call "programs", and the last I checked, Windows had about a billion of them.

[ChatTn23]

I’m no genius, but it’s not hard to figure out that the major problem with Surface Pro is that it suffers from an identity problem. The author of this article and most of the comments here magnify this. Is it a toy or is it a work machine, or is it trying to be both. It has characteristics of both but falls short of stating what its real purpose in life is. As far as I’m concerned it’s an overpriced toy, but that’s my opinion based upon what I need a computing device for. Even though it may be capable of running something like MS Office, how many people that use that software for productive business use will actually purchase it for that purpose? Screen size, available memory, and battery life alone can be problematic. When you get to the full price of this gadget along with keyboard and memory expansion you can buy a very good laptop with a much larger screen, memory, and battery life. Yes, I know laptops are larger and heavier, but the point here is “What do you want your computing device to do for you.” If your buying it to use as many people use other tablets, the RT is probably a better choice if you are hung up on Microsoft.

I know the whole Windows 8 thing is an attempt to steer people in the direction of the Windows gadgets that would all function similar in nature. One of the Problems is even if a business was to move towards Windows 8 as an operating system, only in rare cases are they going to be used in touch screen mode. There would have to be some specific need for it. Most people that have purchase desktops and laptops with Windows 8, or have upgraded, don’t use the touch screen function either. In the touch screen desktop setting it’s a pain, literally. Don’t get me wrong here. I’m far from anti-Microsoft. I use Windows 8 nearly on a daily bases with the keyboard and mouse functions and get by just fine. Yes, there are things I would change, but returning the start button is not one of them. People who make that their major issue have no business being around computing devices.

Microsoft is trying to compete in an area here that is well established by others. I believe their efforts would have paid of in the end if they had marketed their gadgets like they did the Windows 8 operating system. Bring them to the public at a price that a lot of people would consider paying, or better yet, consider abandoning an Android or Apple device for. But then, Microsoft is really a software company. Maybe the plan was to shoot this stuff out there and let the competitors pick up the software part of the ball and run with it.

[pallentx]

Quote

Windows Surface and all of these tablets are excellent at what they are designed for and that is content consumption. If your creating content. Put the toy down and sit down to a real productivity device.

I think that depends entirely on what you do. I know a lot of folks who's "real work" and content creation consists mostly of writing emails and showing power Point Presentations. A high res 10" screen does the job just fine.

As a database admin, I carry a Surface RT. Sure, when I'm in the office, I have three monitors and love my screen real estate. If I'm out at the coffee shop or visiting in-laws and get an alert, I'm pretty happy with my trusty, highly portable Surface that can be right there with me wherever I am and ready to do some "real work".

[mipakeli]

It's too bad Dell is still up to the same old tricks--offer a carrot and a stick and shaft the users with garbage. Their new duo is still obsolete before it hit the market. Why? Too heavy, too low battery life, no GPS (the Surface has GPS as does the new Sony tablet), not enough ports, and way to thick (about an inch). To be competitive it needs to be no more than .5 inches Dell !!!

[GetReal]

Good review, but the author placed the stress on the wrong points. An 83 Gb "usable" HDD can be adequate for probably +90% of users, if not, they need to reassess the apps, docs and pics they apparently routinely carry around - I would bet that much if it is useless!

For me the sticking point is screen real-estate. Simply put, a 10 inch display, a any resolution, is NOT adequate for anything more than very casual use and certainly not for major apps as would be on say a 13 or 15 inch screen. I already went through this display-size mess with a netbook. And yes, I do have a tablet >>> for trivial apps.

That's a deal breaker, as I'm not going to also carry around a second display - of any size!