Excited new Surface Pro 3 owner

[Kif]

I'm been circling around purchasing a MS Surface Pro's since the first generation but it's wasn't until the SP3 was released that I was finely convinced to pull the trigger. What won me over is the reduction in weight, improved screen and most importantly the 3:2 aspect ratio. I am not a fan of 16:9/1080p on tablets or laptops. I bought the i5 8GB 256 GB model. After using it for a couple days I realized the extended warranty would be a good purchase since I could see the kickstand having issues after heavy use.

I'm had my new SP3 for a week now and so far I'm loving it. The hardware is really quite impressive and I would rank the quality up with Apple. Microsoft has come a long way in my very short period of time. This is also my first serious venture into Windows 8. I'm finding that Windows 8 is a mixed bag. It's like Microsoft came up with a crazy chimera OS which is a serious business desktop up front and a party tablet on the back (or the opposite). Parts of Windows 8.1 is brilliant like being able to run apps in a re-sizable split screen mode. Other parts are hideous like the awkward implementation of desktop mode and the number of unintuitive gestures. I've been a Windows administrator for 12 years and I find myself struggling to complete basic task. I really hope in Windows 9 Microsoft keeps the good and cleans out the bad. On the Surface Pro 3 Metro is definitely part of the good.

Even though I could keep going on I don't want to bore people too much. So I look forward to being part of this community and contributing where I can.

 

[leeshor]

Glad you're enjoying your Surface, welcome aboard.

 

[mcsenerd]

Welcome! I'm sure you'll be very happy with your new Surface Pro 3. I agree that the schizophrenic nature of Windows 8/8.1 is problematic, but at least they've somewhat improved things in 8.1 and I'm sure they'll make further improvements moving forward. I'd personally like to see them do something with text scaling/resolution independence, but oh well, it's not the end of the world thus far. I just like being able to actually write code and scripts on a device that I can honestly use as my go-to tablet too... that, and inking/handwriting with OneNote ain't too bad either.

 

[Kif]

I'd personally like to see them do something with text scaling/resolution independence, but oh well, it's not the end of the world thus far.

YES!YES! YES! The feature is sorely needed to support high DPI screens and I'm really surprised it hasn't been implemented yet.

 

[scottysize]

... This is also my first serious venture into Windows 8. I'm finding that Windows 8 is a mixed bag. It's like Microsoft came up with a crazy chimera OS which is a serious business desktop up front and a party tablet on the back (or the opposite). Parts of Windows 8.1 is brilliant like being able to run apps in a re-sizable split screen mode. Other parts are hideous like the awkward implementation of desktop mode and the number of unintuitive gestures. I've been a Windows administrator for 12 years and I find myself struggling to complete basic task. I really hope in Windows 9 Microsoft keeps the good and cleans out the bad. ...

Same thing for me. I've been in the IT industry since the 90's. This is my first walk through the Windows 8 environment and I too find myself having difficulties. The steps from Windows 2K to XP and XP to 7 were much easier.

 

[kodos]

Glad to hear you are enjoying your SP3. It also "did all the right things" for me. My SP2, while I loved it - just was a bit "off" in comparison.

However, I am currently struggling with battery consumption / life. I also don't have a Power Cover for this thing, which would be helpful with "all day battery life". Oh well, no such thing as perfection in this life.

That said, I'll do a +1 on the high dpi problems, and I also want to be able to Cast to my XBox One which I spent way too much on to get a third party Miracast adapter!

 

[ipaq_101]

Welcome fellow SP3 user!

Reading through the comments here, I was thinking, is it me or is every other windows version pure crap? Almost like they release it way before it was ready, I will stick to the versions I used for what I thought of them:

Windows 3.1 - Best thing around at the time
Windows 95 - Way better than 3.1
Windows 98 - Good
Windows ME - Pure Crap
Windows XP - Awesome
Windows Vista - Pure Crap x 2
Windows 7 - Awesome - My Favorite to date
Windows 8 - Downgraded back to Windows 7
Windows 8.1 - Not sure what to think yet, not amazed with it
Windows 9 -Here is hoping for "Awesome" once again

 

[strollin]

I have worked in the Technology sector since the mid 70's and had absolutely no problem adjusting to Win 8 since things haven't really changed all that much.

Both of my sons (been around computers since the 90s) recently started using Win 8 (within the last month) and both of them have told me they don't understand why many people have issues with Win 8 as it seemed very straightforward to them.

I think each of us has a different tolerance for change.

I'm sick of hearing that "every other release from MS is crap" stuff.

 

[ipaq_101]

I have worked in the Technology sector since the mid 70's and had absolutely no problem adjusting to Win 8 since things haven't really changed all that much.

Both of my sons (been around computers since the 90s) recently started using Win 8 (within the last month) and both of them have told me they don't understand why many people have issues with Win 8 as it seemed very straightforward to them.

I think each of us has a different tolerance for change.

I'm sick of hearing that "every other release from MS is crap" stuff.

Hey buddy we are all users of hardware and software, you have your opinions and so do others. You don't have to work in the Tech sector to have an opinion or critiques about software. I don't find Windows 8 hard to use, far from it, but I do find it incomplete and apparently so did MS, otherwise they wouldn't have released 8.1 so quickly.

I am a fan of MS, one of the very few fans left, but that doesn't mean MS doesn't drop a deuce every now and then. Clearly there is a pattern with their software releases that I have noticed. If you can sit there and tell me Windows ME and Windows Vista were amazing products, then I would have to say you are in the minority of users who think so.

 

[hughlle]

Welcome fellow SP3 user!

Reading through the comments here, I was thinking, is it me or is every other windows version pure crap? Almost like they release it way before it was ready, I will stick to the versions I used for what I thought of them:

Windows 3.1 - Best thing around at the time
Windows 95 - Way better than 3.1
Windows 98 - Good
Windows ME - Pure Crap
Windows XP - Awesome
Windows Vista - Pure Crap x 2
Windows 7 - Awesome - My Favorite to date
Windows 8 - Downgraded back to Windows 7
Windows 8.1 - Not sure what to think yet, not amazed with it
Windows 9 -Here is hoping for "Awesome" once again

I've never understood all the hate for vista. Sure, when it came out, it was a pig, but much like I've been reading about the previous surface pro's, updates were issued and it became perfectly usable, I never had an issue running it on a slightly older machine alongside my main of with 7 on it.

 

[EMINENT]

Welcome fellow SP3 user!

Reading through the comments here, I was thinking, is it me or is every other windows version pure crap? Almost like they release it way before it was ready, I will stick to the versions I used for what I thought of them:

Windows 3.1 - Best thing around at the time
Windows 95 - Way better than 3.1
Windows 98 - Good
Windows ME - Pure Crap
Windows XP - Awesome
Windows Vista - Pure Crap x 2
Windows 7 - Awesome - My Favorite to date
Windows 8 - Downgraded back to Windows 7
Windows 8.1 - Not sure what to think yet, not amazed with it
Windows 9 -Here is hoping for "Awesome" once again

I see this comparison all the time, like it's every other release. While this may be relevant to only desktop users, I feel while not perfect, 7 is not the perfect os for a tablet I want today. 8.1 blows it out the water and is a solid os so far for me both on my pc and Surface, even with all the deficiencies.

I am very glad to be enjoying 8.1 right now. Imagine if we had to use 7 for the whole time until 9 was ready on Surface. That would really suck.

 

[ipaq_101]

I see this comparison all the time, like it's every other release. While this may be relevant to only desktop users, I feel while not perfect, 7 is not the perfect os for a tablet I want today. 8.1 blows it out the water and is a solid os so far for me both on my pc and Surface, even with all the deficiencies.

I am very glad to be enjoying 8.1 right now. Imagine if we had to use 7 for the whole time until 9 was ready on Surface. That would really suck.

I agree that Windows 8.1 is much better than Windows 7 for touch. However, I feel that the Metro aspect of the touch OS is lacking, there a few apps and I find the ones I use often are poorly designed.

Will this improve over time? Absolutely. Until it does, I find myself using the desktop version of Windows 8 more, maybe it's habit, maybe it's because majority of the websites I use don't have an app for Metro yet. I don't really mind using the desktop.

I has been nearly 2 years since the Windows Metro was released, there should be a more robust offering, I am not saying we need millions of useless apps like iOS or Android, but how about we start with same basic ones like Yelp?