Surface Pro 3

wallpaper_01

Anyone watching the live stream? This thing looks ace.

12in screen/i7/800g. Looks like an incredible device. Would be great for an IT Pro.

gbdavidx

not for 2000

apr911

Still no 4G as far as I can tell... Either that or they glossed over it in the presentation and the spec sheets dont list it...

A device without 4G cannot replace my laptop/tablet pairing.

I love how they kept going on and on about how great the OneDrive is and how great it is to have access to your data anywhere but the reality is and to have it sync between devices, but you dont. You only have access where you can get internet.

It'd be really cool if you could write a grocery list at home while the SO is out at the grocery store and have them sync but cant do that without 4G.

wallpaper_01

Would you not just plug a £10 USB 4G dongle in it? I can understand people getting annoyed about the RT devices not having 4G but the Pro versions don't exactly need it because it has a USB port.

Expensive though, would have liked to have seen 8GB standard and 16GB as the higher model. I feel like MS always miss out on a few key things.

tpatt100

The prices for the different models are aligned about right with the MacBook Pro/Air line of laptops so I think it's a really nice laptop/tablet and a very good deal. I also can see from a manufacturing price point why they left out certain things because adding things like 4G adds up when it comes to volume manufacturing and I doubt a significant amount of people would use it.

My only issue is that since I am heavily invested in iOS/Apple and Android/Google on the tablet/phone side of things. So any tablet benefit on the Surface Pro would be lost to me from an app perspective. I would primarily use this as a laptop though which is why I think the price is nice for the specs/functionality. I think Microsoft initially trying to sell the original Surface as a tablet that can also be a laptop is what caused them problems. Now that I view the Pro 3 as a laptop that can also be a tablet I think the price is fine with me.

wallpaper_01

Its definitely a benefit owning a Windows Phone / PC if you have one of these. I have the Surface 2 and it all syncs nicely. As someone looking to consolidate Tablet and PC (My PC needs a drastic upgrade), I think this makes sense to me. I can sell my Surface 2 while it has some worth and just use the Surface Pro 3 as my PC (i7 8GB version).

Ultimas

The Surface Pro 3 looks amazing. I have an OG Surface RT and this would be one heck of an upgrade. As far as pricing is concerned I think there is something for everyone in the $800-$2000 range. My only gripe is they need to include a Pro Type Cover by default so that their comparisons with the MBP are more even especially with the claim that it is both a tablet and a laptop. Without the keyboard for the non-prosumer crowd (ie most folks) it is "just a tablet". If I had to choose a daily driver though this would be it hands down.

tpatt100

Yeah I don't think I would "want" to use this as a replacement for my iPad but I could easily replace my MacBook with this.

On the other hand since it runs Windows it probably could run Hearthstone with no issue since it runs pretty good on my iPad. Only issue would be if the game supported touch interfaces in Windows.

wallpaper_01

Thats what I was thinking, surely it can't cost that much to manufacture that keyboard?! You buy PC you get a Keyboard and buy a laptop you get a keyboard... Why can't they throw it in for free with this? Everyone that buys this machine will want a keyboard, it seems like the obvious thing to make people happy. MS make strange decisions though, they are always really close with their products but miss something vital. The keyboard could be the key point I think whether people choose this or Macbook Air.

tpatt100

Not everybody will want to use "that" keyboard though. I would use my wireless one at home primarily. Throwing in the keyboard for every one sold kinda adds up in costs if they sell them in the millions over time. If I was to take this to the coffee shop I would primarily use it in tablet mode and just deal with the touch screen keyboard for quick edits.

People are kinda conditioned already to shop for third party accessories for phones and tablets. So it just creates more of a market for stuff to sell if they didn't include it.

daviddws

I agree. The keyboard should be included. $129 bucks for a cover keyboard ... hmmmmm

Ultimas

I don't want to derail the topic but it's kinda related. I wonder if Microsoft would ever create a Surface/Lumia Hardware Repair course? If they really want people to purchase these for their businesses and their have their own in-house IT Support, won't they want their own Help Desk taking care of the hardware?

exampasser

Looking at a teardown article on the Surface Pro, almost everything is directly soldered on the motherboard, making the device repairablity difficult at best. You would likely need a hot-air rework station if you wanted to replace a failed RAM chip.

iFixit Cracks Open the Microsoft Surface Pro, Slowly.

apr911

wallpaper_01 wrote: »

Would you not just plug a £10 USB 4G dongle in it? I can understand people getting annoyed about the RT devices not having 4G but the Pro versions don't exactly need it because it has a USB port.

Sure I could but then I have to carry a dongle with me every where I might want internet and tie up the usb port everytime I might want internet where Wifi is unavailable. The RT model also had a USB port too for that matter (driver support for 4G dongles on RT is what held back the device in that regard not the lack of port).

Also, while they aren't huge, the 4g dongles currently on the market aren't exactly tiny and unobtrusive either. Id have less of a problem if I could get a 4G dongle that is the size of common USB BlueTooth adapters that are almost flush to the usb port when plugged in.

Even still, the 4G dongles dont seamlessly integrate the way Wifi/4g does on my iPad. So the bulk, need to tie up my usb port and the lack of integration is a major draw back to the 4G dongles. I cant go to the grocery store on my way home from work and receive realtime updates to the grocery list from the SO who is at home looking in the pantry without a rather laborious process involving fishing out the adapter, plugging it in and waiting for it to be recognized, launching third party software, connecting and then finally being able to receive the real time update. (The grocery store example is a practical application to the "instant-sync with OneDrive and from there, all devices on the same account" that they pitched and were so proud of in the presentation)

I just have a hard time believing Microsoft could look at the market and go "we're going to build this sleek, ultra modern, ultra slim, ultra streamlined device and then F' up all that time spent designing this sleek device by forcing you to add a big bulky 4g adapter to get mobile internet"

Just as I have a hard time believing they could look at the device and OneDrive and go "isnt this great? It will replace your always connected tablet and you can use it to get your data everywhere* (except where you dont have internet something your always connected table has no problem with)" and not recognize the flaw in that.

Microsoft kept comparing the differences between laptop and tablet. How a laptop is fully functioned and used to do work while a tablet is used as a media consumption device due to the fact it lacks full functionality. Both are fairly true statements but what they continually glossed over is how the media is consumed. The fact is, most of the media consumption done on tablet devices is done via the internet, a fair amount of which is over 4G/LTE.

wallpaper_01 wrote: »

Expensive though, would have liked to have seen 8GB standard and 16GB as the higher model. I feel like MS always miss out on a few key things.

I would have liked to see 8GB be the standard... or at least see 4GB for the low end, 8GB for the mid-range and 16GB for the top of the line.

The 64GB model just doesnt have enough space for me and really, 4GB of ram on that device is probably more than enough since I dont see the model as being as marketable to the "Power users."

The 128GB model has enough space to dual boot a linux OS, install software, and retain some data on the device itself while using an external hard drive or microsd card for everything else which is perfect for me but at 4GB of ram, I dont know if it'll be enough (every one of my computer currently has 8GB or more and most of the time run at 40-50% utilization). It seems the most cost effective option to me but the 4GB of ram makes me torn between it and the 256GB model.

The 256GB model has 8GB but at $300 more Im not sure it and the additional hard drive space are worth it to me given the low cost expansion capabilities of external harddrives and microSD cards (Id pay $100 more to get a 128GB model with 8GB of ram before $300 for the 256GB).

Hatch1921

gbdavidx wrote: »

not for 2000

I was interested as well... until the $2K price hit.... would rather lug around a great laptop for $2k.