Microsoft Surface Pro review

It's a compelling proposition: all the power and application compatibility of a laptop running a proper desktop operating system, all the portability and convenience of a tablet, all mixed together in one package. That's the core idea behind Microsoft's Surface tablets but, as we saw with the Surface for Windows RT a few months ago, its ARM-based nature resulted in some substantial drawbacks. Namely: app selection.

Running Windows is all well and good, but when you're running the RT flavor, which strips compatibility with the entire, massive and still-swelling catalog of Windows applications, you're left with a desktop-class operating system completely bereft of any desktop apps. Welcome, then, to the Surface for Windows Pro, which promises all the niceties of the Surface RT -- compelling design, build quality, performance -- with full support for x86 Windows applications. (That is: every single Windows app released before the end of last year.) And, adding a 1080p display to the mix doesn't hurt. So, then, is this perfection in a single 10-inch, $899 device? Let's find out.

Read more at source:
Microsoft Surface Pro review
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Another review:

Microsoft Surface Pro Review: Too Much Future? | Gizmodo Australia

And it actually touches on an issue that I've raised previously, albeit in a different but relevant context, and that is the screen resolution. There is clearly a disconnect between touch and other means of using the tablet, especially as screen resolution increases.

On my tablet, the screen resolution needs to be artificially increased so that the apps work, even though the icons look perfect at the native resolution. On the other hand, that artificial resolution increase then kills the desktop clarity. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows Phone 6, Windows CE 5, Windows Vista x32, Windows 7 x32/x64, Windows 8 x64
Considering this tablet is a full computer on the go, and the pricing falls between a poorly made iPhone 5 and a 128GB fat iPod, it's got be reasonably close to perfection, certainly closer than the iPad at $1000.


Oh sorry Ray, you see the glass half empty, I see it half full.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro/Windows 8 Pro/Windows 7 64 Bit64Bit/Windows XP
Those are good reviews. MS have made a pretty decent fist of this thing.

Observant comment here:

The Surface Pro is ultimately the best answer to questions a lot of people haven’t bothered asking yet

Yet? Not clear to me if MS are chasing something that isn't there.

Is there a big market for something that attempts to straddle both camps adequately?

Perhaps.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    7/8/ubuntu/Linux Deepin
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
Those are good reviews. MS have made a pretty decent fist of this thing.

Observant comment here:

The Surface Pro is ultimately the best answer to questions a lot of people haven’t bothered asking yet

Yet? Not clear to me if MS are chasing something that isn't there.

Is there a big market for something that attempts to straddle both camps adequately?

Perhaps.

Steve Jobs was famous for making products nobody had asked for, besides if you hang around on forums like I do, there seems to be a huge pent-up demand for the Surface Pro.

Is everybody going out to buy one, I doubt it, but it should be good enough for millions of people. I even hope the Surface RT makes it, because I see that as more of the future.

Besides the Surface there are also going to be a lot more Windows 8 devices coming out, so interesting to see what comes up.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro/Windows 8 Pro/Windows 7 64 Bit64Bit/Windows XP
Yes, it will be interesting.

There probably is some kind of market for it - but how big is it?

Are a lot of people prepared to pay - either in money or functionality - so it carries the other o/s as well. Or would they rather get something that is optimised for either a desktop style, or a tablet.

They may well take the other thrown in at no penalty - but that is a different question.

I don't know the answer - MS might be onto something. We shall see.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    7/8/ubuntu/Linux Deepin
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
Yes, it will be interesting.

There probably is some kind of market for it - but how big is it?

Are a lot of people prepared to pay - either in money or functionality - so it carries the other o/s as well. Or would they rather get something that is optimised for either a desktop style, or a tablet.

They may well take the other thrown in at no penalty - but that is a different question.

I don't know the answer - MS might be onto something. We shall see.

One thing is for certain, Microsoft is unchaining the desktop, and I wouldn't exactly say this machine is expensive, just a few paltry dollars more than I paid for my first 17" monitor many years ago.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro/Windows 8 Pro/Windows 7 64 Bit64Bit/Windows XP
It's interesting that all I did was mentioned the screen resolution issue and that prompts more negative comment about me as a person. Is that the best that some here can do?

I have a Fujitsu 9" notebook with a high screen resolution and, as mentioned in one of the reviews, high resolution tends to make desktop programs visually very small. The 1024x600 native resolution of my tablet makes it easy for me to read the screen (with glasses), so the higher the resolution on a small(ish) screen, the more difficult it becomes for me, and likely many others with less than perfect eyesight, to read.

The insecurity, regarding criticism levelled at some aspects of Windows 8, is palpable. I wonder how many Microsoft employees or relations are members of this forum? If none, then there's a team of unpaid Microsoft Evangelists like never seen before.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows Phone 6, Windows CE 5, Windows Vista x32, Windows 7 x32/x64, Windows 8 x64
You are missing the point, Bill.

If people want desktop functionality in a portable device - will they pay extra in money, or in some compromise to use - if they didn't want the tablet stuff in the first place?

If people want tablet functionality, will they be prepared to pay some sort of penalty for a desktop to be thrown in - again they might have no use for it.

That is the question.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    7/8/ubuntu/Linux Deepin
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
It's interesting that all I did was mentioned the screen resolution issue and that prompts more negative comment about me as a person. Is that the best that some here can do?

I have a Fujitsu 9" notebook with a high screen resolution and, as mentioned in one of the reviews, high resolution tends to make desktop programs visually very small. The 1024x600 native resolution of my tablet makes it easy for me to read the screen (with glasses), so the higher the resolution on a small(ish) screen, the more difficult it becomes for me, and likely many others with less than perfect eyesight, to read.

The insecurity, regarding criticism levelled at some aspects of Windows 8, is palpable. I wonder how many Microsoft employees or relations are members of this forum? If none, then there's a team of unpaid Microsoft Evangelists like never seen before.

The problem is Ray, you seem to think that a lot of these things are only Microsoft problems, go out and buy an iPad 2 or iPad Mini, they have the same problems with resolution, yet everyone thinks they're the greatest thing since sliced bread. The iPad Mini is almost unreadable when surfing the net and the iPad 2 isn't worth talking about.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro/Windows 8 Pro/Windows 7 64 Bit64Bit/Windows XP
If people want desktop functionality in a portable device - will they pay extra in money,
I totally think so.


If people want tablet functionality, will they be prepared to pay some sort of penalty for a desktop to be thrown in - again they might have no use for it.
. You'll have to ask the individual on that one, I'd say a lot wont, but some will.

I personally think that if Microsoft can make a decent dent in the market with phones and tablets, we should see some exciting times ahead. If they cant, it looks like I'll have my PC's, Android tablet, Android Phone and iPads to play with.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro/Windows 8 Pro/Windows 7 64 Bit64Bit/Windows XP
. Why Windows 7 is Microsoft’s next ZuneMay 9th, 2009



Why Windows 7 is Microsoft’s next Zune
May 9th, 2009

image.jpg





Daniel Eran Dilger


Every once and a while I get the opportunity to appear brilliantly prescient by pointing out something that is blatantly obvious but which has been so obscured by valiant marketing efforts that it makes me look like a grand wizard at detecting emperor nakedness just to say it. In this case, it’s that Windows 7 is becoming the next Zune.


I don't know why, I just thought this was appropriate here.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro/Windows 8 Pro/Windows 7 64 Bit64Bit/Windows XP
What cause might that be?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows Phone 6, Windows CE 5, Windows Vista x32, Windows 7 x32/x64, Windows 8 x64
Defending Microsoft, isn't that what you said you were doing a few days ago.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro/Windows 8 Pro/Windows 7 64 Bit64Bit/Windows XP
Have you read any of the reviews I posted links to? I think that you assume too much, or are you expecting every review of the Surface to be bad, for reasons only beknownst to you.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows Phone 6, Windows CE 5, Windows Vista x32, Windows 7 x32/x64, Windows 8 x64
I don't have to read anything Ray, I know what most are going to say, that's why I put up the comment about the Zune and Windows 7. As I've said before, the Media hate Microsoft and they'll do anything to put it down.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro/Windows 8 Pro/Windows 7 64 Bit64Bit/Windows XP
Back
Top