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Forbes Revisits the Surface Pro 3, Which May Face LG Competition
Forbes writer Marco Chiappetta revisits Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 half a year after its U.S. debut, and finds the tablet-laptop hybrid has held up pretty well, but suffers some dings worth knowing about before jumping at holiday sale prices, pointing out a number of scenarios where a full-fledged notebook, even if it’s roughly the same size, will be the better choice. I’ve found that the Surface Pro 3 is ideal for users that will likely fire the machine up when sitting at a desk or when in a conference room-type environment that has a table. The Surface Pro 3’s performance is plenty good for everyday computing and office applications, and the screen is top notch. Using the Surface Pro 3 as a notepad with its stylus is also very useful. In fact, over the course of the device’s life, Microsoft has issued a number of firmware, driver, and OS updates that have improved the overall responsiveness and usefulness of the Surface Pro 3. For those who want a laptop, though for actual laptop use, the Surface is an awkward fit. However, a thin, tablet-convertible, touchscreen laptop may appear soon from LG, as well.
Is that Windows display scaling is unsatisfactory. Either I can read the screen and the display is too small or the display is so high resolution and has enough real estate but I can't read anything.
I'm not sure the larger screen of the 3 makes this any better. Maybe a little, but from the one I've seen it seems to suffer from a similar problem.
And the worst part is that display scaling seems broken in some way that causes it to scale external displays, making a laptop/desktop two display setup obnoxious.
That's pretty much the problem with Linux on any machine. If you buy the machine specifically for running Linux, there are plenty of options that will run without problems. However if you pick a random machine at the store, odds are there will be some part of the hardware that has less than optimal drivers.
I suppose I must have been really lucky then. Or didn't get my Linux distros in 2000. The past three years or so, I haven't had any installation problems at all. on dozens of random machines. Shortly before that, my last problem was a sound driver on a Toshiba laptop. It was new enough that I had to wait a day for a Linux driver to come out for it.
In general, people who have problems with installing/running Linux these days are trying to impose their Windows experience on it.
As far as how they work, my wife's Acer touch screen laptop runs Linux (Mint) much better than it ran Windows 8. Right now I'm running a Chromebook that dual boots between Linux and ChromeOS. Have not found one single thing that didn't work in either of them. My most recent converts are an eePC netbook running Lubuntu, 3 Toshiba Satellite laptops of different vintage,and an Acer Desktop, and zero installation or use issues. That' is significantly less trouble than the Windows side of those computers.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
I'm having trouble understanding what the point of this product is. What useful niche does it fill?
In a fully managed enterprise environment, using OneNote to take handwritten notes in meetings - including creating quick To-Dos to send to Outlook, using handwriting to mark up Excel, Word, or PowerPoint files stored on a collaboration server so everyone's changes are synchronized, then go back to your desk and dock it so you have a full keyboard, mouse, external monitors (I have two), auto-switch from corporate WiFi to corporate LAN without losing mapped drives. In the enterprise space its competition is likely a Lenovo Helix model, not a Miix. For home users, it's probably overkill, unless maybe you do a lot of docking-and-undocking at home, but that's likely a niche market.
But if your company, like mine, allows a certain degree of personal use of the corporate device and allows you to take it home evenings and weekends, it's a lot lighter to carry and more fun to use than a traditional laptop. It's my laptop at work and my tablet at home (and yes, I know how to encrypt and back up my personal data in case my job suddenly disappears, and I still have a home PC as a second unit). It's the most satisfying and seamless personal computing experience I've ever had, and I've been in the business since the 1980's. This feels like the computer I've been waiting for all my life.
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I used a Surface Pro 3 for about a week before deciding to return it. I took it back because it didn't quite fit my needs, and I found it to be just an awkward device.
I had mostly hoped to replace an aging Macbook Pro and have a mobile sketchpad. The device works well as a laptop, although I found it tiresome to have to extend the kickstand every time as opposed to just opening a laptop lid. I did not find it a good device for sketching; the interface in Photoshop CS5 (my usual painting program) was absolutely tiny and a pain to navigate around in with the stylus. You often have to switch between the brush, zoom, pan, and layers menus while working in Photoshop, and it quickly became clear that this setup wasn't going to work. This isn't a failure on Microsoft's part, just evidence that mobile sketching either needs to be on a dedicated app - such as the included OneNote (not quite up to snuff) - or on some old tried-and-true pen and paper.
That said, it is incredible what sort of power they've managed to pack into such a thin device. I just think the whole "jack of all trades, master of none" schtick is the wrong route to take.
In general, people who have problems with installing/running Linux these days are trying to impose their Windows experience on it.
If by "Windows Experience" you mean having working sound after the installation is completed, then you are right.
You figure that's what I meant Sparky?
Sorry, but I have supported Linux, OSX, and PC's for years.
The Microsoft OS PC is the most fragile, the most work intensive to keep running of the three.
Linux some years back was a problem with drivers, now it supports devices that Windows doesn't any more. The biggest thing with Linux is that it still helps to know some command line. Big deal.
OSX is generally much less maintenance than either of the others. Once again, understanding unix like command lines opens up a whole world of abilities.
Windows on the other hand, can be an absolute nightmare on Wednesday morning after Patch Tuesday. If all you support is Office, it's usually pretty simple. But If you support multiple progams and AV on the PC, it's another story. One of my favorites was when Patch Tuesday knocked out some Codecs that stopped WMP from showing anyone's video. Nothing like 10 conference rooms calling you at the same time because your "working sound" Windows PC's now refuse to show any of their videos.
You know what the burn rate is in 10 conference rooms with 25 to 50 suits? So I have to real time install new media players on each one, in real time. Functional Windows machines my bright red rosy. And it was a new treat every month. And don't get me started about the forced updates.
So spare me the unctious Windows ubber ales. It's not quite as good as your fanboi fairy tale, Sparky.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.