malberttoo
Well-Known Member
Me too. That's at least 50% of the reason I'm in the Desktop...
My SP3 thoughts
- Thread starter raqball
- Start date
Me too. That's at least 50% of the reason I'm in the Desktop...
Thanks for the write up
Out of curiosity, did you have a 13" or 15" Retina MacBook Pro?
I owned a mid 2012 15" Retina MacBook and have been thinking about getting a Surface. I went to a Curry's/PC World store here in Dublin today to check out the SP3 but I found the device to be a lot smaller than I expected. I'm trying to decide between the new 15" Retina MacBook and the SP3.
The main pro points for the MacBook are the dedicated GPU, larger keyboard/trackpad and that it now comes with 16GB RAM, the main con is the price tag
I feel like it will be too small for me, but maybe I would get used to it? I would be mainly using it for Photoshop and I'm not sure there's enough screen real estate in comparison with the rMBP. I wish there was a 15" Surface!
The store demo units were really busy since it's the launch weekend so maybe I'll try it again when they're less busy.
Last edited:
malberttoo
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the write up
Out of curiosity, did you have a 13" or 15" Retina MacBook Pro?
I owned a mid 2012 15" Retina MacBook and have been interested in getting a Surface, I went to a PC World store here in Dublin today to check out the SP3 but I found it to be a lot smaller than I expected. I'm trying to decide between the new 15" Retina MacBook and the SP3.
The main pro points for the MacBook are the dedicated GPU, larger keyboard/trackpad and that it now comes with 16GB RAM, the main con is the price tag
I feel like it will be too small for me, but maybe I would get used to it? I would be mainly using it for Photoshop and I'm not sure there's enough screen real estate in comparison with the rMBP. The store was really busy since it's the launch weekend so maybe I'll try it again when they're less busy
Welcome to the forum!
Unless you have a desire to take advantage of the mobility of the SP3, it may indeed be the wrong machine for you.
You can of course connect the SP3 to external monitors. But if you already feel like it may be too small for you, then my advice to you would be to do a bit of research on this forum and the web, and see if the SP3 has any features that you really want, features that would overcome any unhappiness you might have about switching from a Mac.
Hope it helps!
Thanks! I still love the fact that you can easily pick it up and go anywhere and have a full Windows PC, so I'll definitely consider that mobility factor
I also really like the touch features and potential to draw on the screen in Photoshop. If I can, I may wait and see if a 15" Surface comes along in the future.
OP
raqball
Active Member
Thanks for the write up
Out of curiosity, did you have a 13" or 15" Retina MacBook Pro?
I owned a mid 2012 15" Retina MacBook and have been thinking about getting a Surface. I went to a Curry's/PC World store here in Dublin today to check out the SP3 but I found the device to be a lot smaller than I expected. I'm trying to decide between the new 15" Retina MacBook and the SP3.
The main pro points for the MacBook are the dedicated GPU, larger keyboard/trackpad and that it now comes with 16GB RAM, the main con is the price tag
I feel like it will be too small for me, but maybe I would get used to it? I would be mainly using it for Photoshop and I'm not sure there's enough screen real estate in comparison with the rMBP. I wish there was a 15" Surface!
The store demo units were really busy since it's the launch weekend so maybe I'll try it again when they're less busy.
I had the 13" rMBP with 8gb RAM so the screen size difference is not very noticeable to me. For my needs, I don't really need the dedicated graphics card that comes in the 15" rMBP.
Obviously the keyboard and trackpad on the rMBP demolishes the SP3 version but I find the SP3 keyboard and trackpad to be very usable.
Thanks! I still love the fact that you can easily pick it up and go anywhere and have a full Windows PC, so I'll definitely consider that mobility factor
I also really like the touch features and potential to draw on the screen in Photoshop. If I can, I may wait and see if a 15" Surface comes along in the future.
I've seen internet rumors of a Surface Mini, but never of a larger Surface... so I probably wouldn't wait around
Also, having owned an SP3 for a few days now, I think my general recommendation to folks is that it's a great device if you think you will use it in tablet mode frequently. If you think you will generally being using it as a laptop, I would probably just get a laptop.
The SP3 keyboard cover is actually pretty great, but nowhere near as comfortable a typing experience as, for example, a ThinkPad X240 or a MacBook Pro. But for me that is outweighed by the fact that I can carry the SP3 around like a notepad and take notes on it, and I can keep hundreds of PDFs on it rather than carrying around a bunch of thick, heavy binders.
Thanks, that's true! I have a good desktop PC at home so I guess I don't need something huge for the road
I'll check out some videos of people using Photoshop on SP3 to see what the workspace is like.
Do you guys think the on-screen keyboard is similar to a Nexus 7 or iPad, or is it harder to use? Can it pop up automatically if you tap a field or text area etc or do you need to tap it on the task bar each time you need to enter text?
I'll check out some videos of people using Photoshop on SP3 to see what the workspace is like.
Do you guys think the on-screen keyboard is similar to a Nexus 7 or iPad, or is it harder to use? Can it pop up automatically if you tap a field or text area etc or do you need to tap it on the task bar each time you need to enter text?
OP
raqball
Active Member
In metro the keyboard automatically pops up when you tap in a text field. When on the desktop, you have to tap on the keyboard icon in the task bar to show it.
I find the virtual keyboard to be just as usable as the keyboard on the iPad. It's ok for short use but I would not want to type anything lengthy using it.
I find the virtual keyboard to be just as usable as the keyboard on the iPad. It's ok for short use but I would not want to type anything lengthy using it.
A 15" Surface would be an enormous tablet! Problem would then be that it just wouldn't be very practical in tablet guise for most users. though I could definitely see a subset of users wanting one as a graphics interface. The market would be quite small though so I can't see Microsoft themselves wanting to go that way. It may inspire Wacom to update their Cintiq range though.
Dell and a couple others make 18-20" All in Ones... they aren't really tablets but do have batteries and can be used independent of their charging stands.
The thing with the screen size though is a laptop will be used from a further distance than a tablet generally. I know I was skeptical about these sizes after using 14-15" laptops you think I couldn't use a smaller screen but I got used to a 13.3" although it still seems squished and I felt the same way using a 9.7 or 10.1 tablet but 10.6 is much better and 12.1 quite nice. Actually 10.6ish would be better if they used 16:10 aspect ratio vs 16:9, the letterbox is suboptimal.
The thing with the screen size though is a laptop will be used from a further distance than a tablet generally. I know I was skeptical about these sizes after using 14-15" laptops you think I couldn't use a smaller screen but I got used to a 13.3" although it still seems squished and I felt the same way using a 9.7 or 10.1 tablet but 10.6 is much better and 12.1 quite nice. Actually 10.6ish would be better if they used 16:10 aspect ratio vs 16:9, the letterbox is suboptimal.
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