do you use your surface as main pc?

[ultra99]

Do you guys use your Surface Pro as your main pc? Are you comfortable with the small screen real estate?

I tend to use it a lot but sometimes go back to my older laptop because it's 14" and a lot comfortable to work on. But sometimes I miss the "newer" hardware of the surface. Plus, using a laptop has a different feeling than the surface...

 

[kristalsoldier]

While I don't have the SP2, I do use my Surface 2 as my primary mobile computing device in the sense that it has replaced my laptop. While I do have a desktop, I find that more often than not I prefer to use the Surface 2 - yes, even for very long document creation activities. I should add though that I have not yet hooked up the Surface 2 to any external monitor/ device.

 

[CrippsCorner]

I do yes, but I mostly use it extended to a bigger screen. On that, I use WMP, Google Chrome, IRC and whatever else... whereas on the actual Surface screen I usually have Twitter & Skype running, and occasionally other apps such as email or the news etc.

 

[jnjroach]

So I did the plunge with both of my Surfaces, I set everything to normal (100%) DPI and set the Modern UI to smaller (its taking my eye some getting used too and I break out my reading glasses late at night). But what I found is now I have all of the Screen Real Estate that I'd been missing and I find I'm using it less with an external monitor when working on the Pro.

 

[Dane]

SP2 is my only computer. I guess I have the option of hooking it up to my television if I needed a larger screen for something, but I really haven't found the need for that yet. I don't find the small screen a problem at all.

Prior to this I had a 17" macbook pro and an ipad, and I found I only used the ipad, so the SP2 is actually a slightly larger screen for me.

 

[Gerke]

I use my Surface RT as my main device. I do have 2 virtual servers and a virtual workstation which I use for remote apps like putty and so on. So everything with de Surface RT

 

[Johntxk]

I use my Surface Pro as my primary machine. It's about a 70/30 split. When the power keyboard is available it will go up even more. The smaller screen size doesn't bother me because of the improved hardware and applications over my desktop and old laptop.

 

[mtalinm]

Surface Pro has replaced my Lenovo x230 laptop and Dell desktop (both core i7 monsters with 16G memory and half-terabyte drives). They're there, but I very rarely use them.

I should qualify that: the original Surface Pro only had 4G of memory, so I needed to revert to the other machines for high-end statistical processing. Not since I swapped the SP1 for SP2, though.

I do use the Dock and have two external monitors (2540x1440 or something like that), so yes I use those whenever I'm in the office. Indeed, the Surface screen is a little small. I wish they would have compressed the bezel to fit a larger screen on a smaller device.

 

[cmergel]

I have been using my SP1 as my primary work machine for two months now. In conjunction with the SP1 I use the Lenovo ThinkPad USB 3.0 Dock to power multiple monitors, a keyboard & mouse, along with the available Ethernet port to connect to corporate network. I love the ability to quickly disconnect the SP1 from my dock and take it to a meeting. I am a huge OneNote and inking fan and it is fantastic on the SP1.

I am a Database\System Admin so my primary work is using Remote Desktop to remote into servers. I do have a handful of programs installed like SQL SSMS to connect to my Database Servers to do work. I am also a heavy Office user along with Visio and Project. My previous computer was a Dell Latitude E6420 laptop and I don't miss it for anything (it is a beast). It is a pleasure to carry around the SP1. I also have a similar setup at home with the same dock, so I can snap in my SP1 and get to it.

I will use the SP1 by itself maybe 5-10% of the time and the screen size and keyboard are tolerable. I am just not a huge touchpad fan and that goes for full size laptops as well.

 

[macmee]

Nope, I sport a 27' iMac as my main rig (personally I could never use Windows as my primary OS). I use the Surface Pro 2 for my goto Windows machine though.

 

[Arizona Willie]

Nah, I primarily use mine as an e-book reader.
I take it with me when I leave the house too for my mobile use.
But, being retired, I don't have any ' work ' to do, except keeping my Quicken and stuff organized.
My desktop is much more powerful than my Surface Pro.
It is an I-7 running at 4.2 gz with 16 GB of RAM.
Love the Surface, no question about that, but for REALLY doing something I use the desktop.

 

[The Toy Man]

When I got my SP1 it took me about two months to feel comfortable about even thinking about making it my main computer.
But I made the switch and I would never go back.

I bought a 256 GB SP2 because I needed the increased disk space for mapping and photo apps.

Being an ancient dude I use them with as 23" Acer touch screen, external keyboard and mouse.
Also have a lot of USB devices plugged in.

Toy Man