So...has the SP3 replaced your laptop?

[kristalsoldier]

TabletPCs replaced my laptop in 2003....there was about 6 months that I was using a Touch enabled Samsung Ultrabook with a Surface RT but I used the RT 90% of the time....

Has this changed in any way how you think about how to do things? To use digital technology to do things (the emphasis is on the "how" rather than the "what") that you thought were not possible before - front-end and back-end?

I get the sense that devoted TabletPC users talk about a cognitive shift - sometimes, frankly, it sounds like the attainment of satori! "You just get it"!!!

On a more serious note, I suspect that while this cognitive shift involves - at the material and practical end of things - a not-so-radical change in "what" we do, in a more abstracted sense - and I think this is what dedicated TabletPC users may be referring to when they say "you'll just get it" - this cognitive shift involves a transformation in how we relate to the world - a "new" (or, at least, different) practice of everyday life!

Can you say whether "how" you relate to the world has changed by your use of TabletPCs? (when I say "relate to the world", I mean this is in the most mundane of senses - Can you say that your primary interface with the world is digitally mediated?)

 

[mcsenerd]

Well... I'll put it this way. I just tried the SP1 on whim back when it was on fire sale at BB just to see if I could "fit" it into my workflow. It "fit" so well, that my workplace supplied i7 15" MacBook Pro has been sitting on it's dockstand in my office ever since. It literally never leaves there and I do ALL of my mobile computing on the Surface Pro now. Upgrading to the SP2 and now the SP3 have just made things better. If I really needed the increased battery life of the power cover, then I'd have gotten that as well, but I've found that the battery life on the SP2 was more than sufficient to get me through any amount of non-plugged in day that I'd ever want to accomplish. Now, am I saying that I do EVERYTHING on the SP1/SP2/SP3 that I "could" or "did" do on the MacBook Pro? No... but for that... I'll just remote into the MacBook Pro and get it done over the wire.

 

[kristalsoldier]

Well... I'll put it this way. I just tried the SP1 on whim back when it was on fire sale at BB just to see if I could "fit" it into my workflow. It "fit" so well, that my workplace supplied i7 15" MacBook Pro has been sitting on it's dockstand in my office ever since. It literally never leaves there and I do ALL of my mobile computing on the Surface Pro now. Upgrading to the SP2 and now the SP3 have just made things better. If I really needed the increased battery life of the power cover, then I'd have gotten that as well, but I've found that the battery life on the SP2 was more than sufficient to get me through any amount of non-plugged in day that I'd ever want to accomplish. Now, am I saying that I do EVERYTHING on the SP1/SP2/SP3 that I "could" or "did" do on the MacBook Pro? No... but for that... I'll just remote into the MacBook Pro and get it done over the wire.

Interesting! Thank you for sharing this.

So, another question: When you say "fit", what do you mean? Do you mean adequate/ appropriate, an enabler (if yes, enabling in what way?) etc.? And, a follow-up question: Would you say that the use of the SP (1/2/3) (representing a TabletPC) has transformed the way you do things and the ways in which you prioritize "how" you interact with the world (here "world" means both the world-as-such AND/ OR the "space of your workplace, home, etc.)?

 

[mcsenerd]

By "fit", I mean the being to adequately accomplish the tasks that I demand of a PC on a day to day basis in my course of business. I'm a consultant for a large enterprise storage company, so:

I travel a fair bit visiting clients and customers (size and weight MATTER to me)
I'm tasked with producing architectural designs and documentation (MUST be able to run Visio and many other corporate-based in-house Windows applications)
I'm in meetings far more than I care to be (I take copious notes and LOVE OneNote... and I DO use Pen-Based input when appropriate)
I must read insane amounts of white papers, technical and project documentation, quotes for service and hardware, etc. (being able to read in a portrait position pays off here)
I must be able to run away from an outlet for at least 5-6 hours at a time occasionally (battery life is important, but I don't NEED 16 hour battery life...8 is more than enough)
Outlook for Windows > Outlook for Mac (there's just no question here in my opinion)

"Transformed" sounds like a big jargon word for me in this situation. Really, the Surface Pro hasn't MADE or ALLOWED me to do anything that I couldn't really do before (other than pen input), but the size, speed, battery life, and other items have made it easier to do certain things. If I had started with a MacBook Air...I think I might have thought differently, but moving to what I consider to be an ultralight laptop that happens to do some tablet functions pretty well has certainly gotten me to pretty much ditch the MacBook Pro boat anchor for the most part. (It's crazy that I think of the MacBook Pro as such a burden now, as I remember hauling around plenty of old, damn near 10 pound laptops in the past and thinking that it was great...I guess expectations have just changed over the years.)

 

[jnjroach]

Has this changed in any way how you think about how to do things? To use digital technology to do things (the emphasis is on the "how" rather than the "what") that you thought were not possible before - front-end and back-end?

I get the sense that devoted TabletPC users talk about a cognitive shift - sometimes, frankly, it sounds like the attainment of satori! "You just get it"!!!

On a more serious note, I suspect that while this cognitive shift involves - at the material and practical end of things - a not-so-radical change in "what" we do, in a more abstracted sense - and I think this is what dedicated TabletPC users may be referring to when they say "you'll just get it" - this cognitive shift involves a transformation in how we relate to the world - a "new" (or, at least, different) practice of everyday life!

Can you say whether "how" you relate to the world has changed by your use of TabletPCs? (when I say "relate to the world", I mean this is in the most mundane of senses - Can you say that your primary interface with the world is digitally mediated?)

The first shift was removing 90% of the paper from my life, I can't remember the last time I owned a paper based folio or notebook, read a paper based book and even magazines are all now digital. During the heyday of the 4:3 convertibles I spent so much time in portrait that using landscape felt unnatural, with advent of 16:9 I switched to landscape for most tasks. 3:2 brings that portrait view back.

I also "think in ink" meaning I find my self jotting ideas and thoughts in OneNote, or with the Screen Clipping being so easy with the Pen now I find myself clipping an article make a couple of notes and copy the URL into the note. I use a tablet 12-18 hours a day, it has impacted and shaped my professional and personal workflow, even in my church life, I have the Book of Common Prayer in both Kindle and PDF versions, as well as my Bible (I have versions in Nook, Kindle and PDF). All of my Vestry Notes are in OneNote.

 

[Nuspieds]

I successfully replaced my laptop (ThinkPad W700) with my SP1, so this was doable even with the first generation, not just starting with the SP3.

 

[sirchris]

+1 for YES

 

[kwright]

In very short order the Surface Pro 3 replaced my Yoga 13 and my SP2.

 

[Seneleron]

Actually, yes it has. I have a brand new 2014 Razer Blade Pro, but the one game I play [FFXI] runs BETTER on the SP3 (For some reason, i CANNOT force the game to run on the nvidia card)

Outside of that and Hearthstone, it's all I'm playing, and it's a lot more convenient to reach for and I can dock it to my 27" cinema display [RBP only has HDMI]

So. . . yea. It's the perfect combination of personal media consumption device and mobile workstation. It does everything I need a mobile desktop environment to perform.

For everything else, there's Mr. Desktop >

 

[ZachBui]

Definitely yes! It has replaced my macbook pro

 

[mohcho]

Yes, I ditched my Dell laptop a few months ago for the SP2, but once hearing about the launch of the SP3, I returned the SP2 and worked off a desktop for a month or so. Not a huge pain point, but surely different in the way I worked.

 

[puma]

The test for me was birth of my first child. I was in the hospital, brought my thinkpad because I thought I was going to need a full "laptop" and normal keyboard vs the sp3 I just got.. First night at the hospital trying to get some quick work done in the middle of the night when the nurses took the baby.. just kept thinking "I bet the sp3 would be great right now". I was laying on the couch in the room, waiting room, out in the cafe, at a table in the room.. various other places. The laptop was just clunky in those situations. I went home on day 2 to shower and grab some items.. and swapped out the thinkpad t440s for the sp3. Next night, I was more productive. I was able to take notes on care for the baby on the fly, .. it just FIT into all the situations I found myself in. The instant on, and ability to scan emails quickly using Mail app was awesome. Using the mail app on a tablet is what it was designed for and works so well. Also.. much smaller lighter package. Not to mention being able to use it for watching movies since the hospital tv sucked.