Can You Use Your SP3 On Your Lap?

[Moonsurface]

Yes I have used it successfully on my lap. I'm not massively tall but have 31" inside leg, so my legs aren't too short. It just about fits. Most of the time though I use it as a note-pad so I'm holding it with the keyboard folded back or removed and held in the crook of my arm in portrait mode.

I find it a little cumbersome to use the keyboard when I'm sitting on a bed or something like that as when I'm sitting cross legged there's not enough space for the kick stand on my legs so I have to put the surface down on the bed and adjust my position to suit.

 

[Jhn Jeffrey]

I admire Telstar1948's flexibility but the days when I could fold both legs under me are long gone!

 

[sharpuser]

I keep my MacBook Pro Retina handy, because it makes a nice platform for my SP3.

No, seriously - I admit that I do use my closed MacBook to make a lap desk for my SP3 sometimes. Or I use a book. Or a lapdesk like this one (I have a couple).

But I am writing this while traveling, and find that I can use the SP3 in my lap for short periods just fine. For longer sessions, I do need some support. But I like the Surface Pro 3 as it is, because I think it has found a niche between a heavier device, and one that is a keyboard-less tablet.

See Get a Desktop but not a desktop - Lap Desk very useful

 

[ptrkhh]

My entire body was made to go against the SP3, seriously. Let me tell you why. First of all, Im only 5 feet 2 (160cm) tall with unsurprisingly short thighs. Just as if it didn't annoy me enough, I also have an unforgiving big belly. As a result, using the SP3 with the Type Cover is flat out impossible for me. There is simply no enough space.

However, lap-length is not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is finding a seat that's low enough so that the SP3 doesn't slide down on my lap. On a normal laptop, I could just easily hold the whole laptop by the palm rest. Fellow shorter kind of human being can relate, right?
Im now trying to attach a sticky rubber on the bottom of the SP3, where the Type Cover connector is, so that it could hold the SP3 on such steep inclination. Let me know if there is such port-cover for the Surface, since Im not planning to use the Type Cover anyway.

That said though, I am now replying with the SP3 and a BT keyboard on my lap. A living room couch is the only place where I can use the SP3 on my lap. So much for lapability.

 

[lhauser]

I use the SP3 on my lap about 99% of the time. I usually use it with a Belkin laptop tray or something similar when I need to type. I have no place else to use it; things are too crowded where I live to set up regularly at a desk or table. The 1% of the time it isn't on my lap it's on a table at Starbucks.

I rarely use it without a tray or some such; I know it will work, but since I have the tray, I use it.

 

[nalbagli]

I am a new Surface Pro 3 user and I am completely surprised on how comfortably I can use it on my lap, and on any position I want. It is true though that in some positions it takes a little longer to set it up in comparison to a regular laptop, but the new kickstand is just great