Can Surface pro be used in place of laptop

[arbj]

Hi,

I am planning to replace my laptop (lenovo) with a Microsoft Surface Pro (running on Windows 10). I was thinking of an intel i7 with 8GB RAM, possibly 256 GB SSD

My work mainly involves embedded software development and using several legacy softwares used to program PLCs (programmable logic controllers), most of my work it involves communication with external devices using Serial RS 232 port and Ethernet using the computer.

My question is ..

1. Can the surface pro can be used for such a job, at present I use Windows 10, and have no problems. Will this be the same with the surface pro.

2. For serial comm I use a USB to serial adapter (Prolific chipset), will this work with surface pro ? It works with my Lenovo (Windows 10 OS).

3. Also as I develop linux applications I would be using Virtual Box software to run linux in a virtual environment, is this possible with the surface pro ? I know it works on my Windows 10 laptop. I was thinking if there were any issues with hardware capability of the Surface Pro.

4. I would also be connecting an external HDMI monitor to the surface pro, is this possible ?

5. Can the Surface pro be upgraded to another OS ? Say microsft comes up with another OS, will this be compatible with the Surface Pro

thanks
a

 

[Compusmurf]

Yes to all , but your usb prolific adapter, make sure its real and not the knockoff clones. I prefer Ftdi muself. If it works on your current win 10, should be no issues on any other win 10 machine. For vm, watch drive space.

 

[jnjroach]

If you are considering the Surface Pro keep it mind it a 4 year old device - The Surface Pro 3 or 4 would be a better choice. It will do everything you need it to do, VirtualBox will break Miracast due to the way it handles its Virtual Network.

 

[leeshor]

As for point #5. If you get the current generation Surface Pro 4 Windows 10 will most certainly outlive the Surface Pro. Should Microsoft come out with something else it might be a super set of 10, maybe 10.5 but they intend to continue adding features and functionality to the existing OS for quite a while.

 

[Compusmurf]

I assumed op was referring to the pro 3 or 4 by default considering i dont recall the original ever having an i7.

 

[kundas1]

^^ exactly

 

[arbj]

sorry I was refering to Surface Pro 4,
Buy Microsoft Surface Pro 4 - Microsoft Store United States

thanks for the comments though