douglasfurs
Member
I made the jump and purchase an i5 8GB Surface Pro 3. The first surface device I have even owned and I absolutely love it. I’m going to try and break down what I love about it into categories and I’ll also speak about the issues I have with it which are minor…
Lapability – I know how modern laptops work on the lap. The bottom is weighted and the top flips up making it a breeze to use on the lap. The surface pro 3 however has a hinge design. I can honestly say I’ve been using this for a week while sitting on the couch and I haven’t had one issue with the design of the Surface Pro 3. I find it refreshing with the hinge design. I never once had an issue where I couldn’t use it on my lap. Love the lapability on this device!
Screen – Specs aside, the screen is pretty gorgeous. Everything looks great from movies to the web. Good stuff!
Modern UI/Tablet Mode – I love the idea behind windows 8 when in tablet mode. I find the tile based interface gorgeous to look at. I recently installed a program called oblytile which allows me to create custom tiles to my liking. I absolutely love it. I set up tiles for websites (Polygon, IGN, The Verge, youtube, etc.) All work as expected. Oblytile just lets you add that extra level of customization to the tile interface when in tablet mode. Highly recommended if anyone hasn’t used it or heard of it. And it’s super simple to use. My only gripe with oblytile is if I create a custom tile for an existing ‘windows app’ because I want a custom image rather than the default tile image, it does something weird when opening. When you click on the custom tile, it opens up desktop mode quickly and then it goes into the windows app. I find this odd. If you were to click on the default windows app tile it launches the app directly.
Since I’m on the subject of tablet mode, the windows store is very…. Lacking. The apps available doesn’t seem to have the tender, loving care that other apps in other app stores have. I understand the windows app store is newer but I would really like to see some quality apps available. There’s no official Youtube app and the 3rd party youtube apps that are available aren’t very pretty and are lacking. The IGN app is pretty bad. Apps just seem to be an afterthought. I would like to see some really great quality apps in the near future.
Search – This is a great feature. If you’re in desktop mode you simply hit the “F6 key” I believe and the windows search bar pops up. I use this all the time. It takes out the process of having to think where something is located on your surface pro. Want to adjust screen brightness? Just start typing brightness. Want to see if there are updates? Start typing update. This is a great feature. Also a huge plus, when you’re in tablet mode, you don’t have to hit the “F6 key” you merely just need to start typing and it will search automatically with what you are looking for. A great feature that eliminates having to think where you need to go to find something.
Gaming/Heat/Power – I haven’t had an issue with the heat at all like some users have. I’ve installed steam. I played Dear Esther, Half Life 2 and Need for Speed Underground and all worked flawlessly. I mainly bought this device to do some writing and premiere/photoshop work. I have yet to install any adobe programs as I need an external dvd drive to do so. But so far I haven’t had one issue with processing power not letting me do what I want. So I totally love what this thing is capable of doing so far.
Keypad – A great feel to it, backlit, great trackpad. Love everything about it. I even love the pen holder. I have no issues with anything about the keyboard.
Pen – a great little add-on. I don’t use this on a daily basis, but when I do use it to write notes, it works perfect for me. Love everything about it. I usually make notes on PDF documents for movie scripts and this works perfectly for doing just that.
Battery Life – Don’t have a problem with this either. It lasts me a full day with light usage. I usually use it in the morning before work and all evening when I get home from work. It lasts for my usage. Of course depending on how much you use this, it may vary. But personally for me, it’s perfect! All in all, if the battery is low, I throw on the charger. No big deal!
Overall, I love the device. It’s sleek, it’s durable, it does everything that I want it to do and need it to do. My only issue is the Windows App store. It definitely needs a lot of support. I do think I am going to use this i5 8GB model for 30 days and return it so I can get the i7 model coming out August 1st. I don’t plan on buying another portable laptop for years to come so I might as well drop the extra couple hundred dollars and upgrade the processor.
Lapability – I know how modern laptops work on the lap. The bottom is weighted and the top flips up making it a breeze to use on the lap. The surface pro 3 however has a hinge design. I can honestly say I’ve been using this for a week while sitting on the couch and I haven’t had one issue with the design of the Surface Pro 3. I find it refreshing with the hinge design. I never once had an issue where I couldn’t use it on my lap. Love the lapability on this device!
Screen – Specs aside, the screen is pretty gorgeous. Everything looks great from movies to the web. Good stuff!
Modern UI/Tablet Mode – I love the idea behind windows 8 when in tablet mode. I find the tile based interface gorgeous to look at. I recently installed a program called oblytile which allows me to create custom tiles to my liking. I absolutely love it. I set up tiles for websites (Polygon, IGN, The Verge, youtube, etc.) All work as expected. Oblytile just lets you add that extra level of customization to the tile interface when in tablet mode. Highly recommended if anyone hasn’t used it or heard of it. And it’s super simple to use. My only gripe with oblytile is if I create a custom tile for an existing ‘windows app’ because I want a custom image rather than the default tile image, it does something weird when opening. When you click on the custom tile, it opens up desktop mode quickly and then it goes into the windows app. I find this odd. If you were to click on the default windows app tile it launches the app directly.
Since I’m on the subject of tablet mode, the windows store is very…. Lacking. The apps available doesn’t seem to have the tender, loving care that other apps in other app stores have. I understand the windows app store is newer but I would really like to see some quality apps available. There’s no official Youtube app and the 3rd party youtube apps that are available aren’t very pretty and are lacking. The IGN app is pretty bad. Apps just seem to be an afterthought. I would like to see some really great quality apps in the near future.
Search – This is a great feature. If you’re in desktop mode you simply hit the “F6 key” I believe and the windows search bar pops up. I use this all the time. It takes out the process of having to think where something is located on your surface pro. Want to adjust screen brightness? Just start typing brightness. Want to see if there are updates? Start typing update. This is a great feature. Also a huge plus, when you’re in tablet mode, you don’t have to hit the “F6 key” you merely just need to start typing and it will search automatically with what you are looking for. A great feature that eliminates having to think where you need to go to find something.
Gaming/Heat/Power – I haven’t had an issue with the heat at all like some users have. I’ve installed steam. I played Dear Esther, Half Life 2 and Need for Speed Underground and all worked flawlessly. I mainly bought this device to do some writing and premiere/photoshop work. I have yet to install any adobe programs as I need an external dvd drive to do so. But so far I haven’t had one issue with processing power not letting me do what I want. So I totally love what this thing is capable of doing so far.
Keypad – A great feel to it, backlit, great trackpad. Love everything about it. I even love the pen holder. I have no issues with anything about the keyboard.
Pen – a great little add-on. I don’t use this on a daily basis, but when I do use it to write notes, it works perfect for me. Love everything about it. I usually make notes on PDF documents for movie scripts and this works perfectly for doing just that.
Battery Life – Don’t have a problem with this either. It lasts me a full day with light usage. I usually use it in the morning before work and all evening when I get home from work. It lasts for my usage. Of course depending on how much you use this, it may vary. But personally for me, it’s perfect! All in all, if the battery is low, I throw on the charger. No big deal!
Overall, I love the device. It’s sleek, it’s durable, it does everything that I want it to do and need it to do. My only issue is the Windows App store. It definitely needs a lot of support. I do think I am going to use this i5 8GB model for 30 days and return it so I can get the i7 model coming out August 1st. I don’t plan on buying another portable laptop for years to come so I might as well drop the extra couple hundred dollars and upgrade the processor.
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