Surface Pro 1 still a decent machine?

[tblrsa]

Hello Community!

Let me introduce myself first. My name is Eric and I´m an avid user of anything technical that could benefit my workflow or lifestyle. This being said, I´ll own a Macbook Pro as well as an Xbox One, iPhone or even a Kindle. Tech is not a religion for me and I use what suits my needs best, no matter the brand.

As an Apple User, I would probably benefit more from their ecosystem by buying into an iPad, yet I can not justify this gadget, because with an iPad I can pretty much do the same things my iPhone already does. The Surface on the other side is small and portable, while still being a full blown Windows Computer, whereas the iPad only runs iOS not OSX.

Being honest, the Surface Pro 2 or even 3 are beyond my budget at the moment, so I wanted to buy the first one with 128 Gig of Space for the following usages:

- Stream Movies to the Xbox One / Connect the Surface to my Flatscreen TV via HDMI and run Movie Files via VLC on the big screen.

- Use the Office Suite, especially Word. I do love Apples Pages, but for compatibility sake, Office is just the standard that is being used out there on Universities and Companies.

- Remote Control my Macbook and my remote Windows Server (RDC Protocol) when I am abroad.

- Connect the Surface Pro via HDMI to my Flatscreen TV and play Flash Games (Farmville 2 ) and other not too demanding Games (iE Age Of Empires 2 HD) via a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard on the big screen.

- Taking Notes with One Note while being at the University

- Browse the Web / Check E-Mails while being abroad by using my iPhone as an WiFi Hotspot for Internet Connection

- Being able to use the whole plethora of Windows Apps out in the Wild, without being restricted by an App Store.

- Connect the Surface to an external Monitor and being able to work in a full Windows Environment

I´m sure there are even more usage possibilities for this nifty little gadget out there, but these are the first situations that come to mind.

So will the Surface Pro 1 still be a good choice for me? I heard the Battery Life is pretty bad compared to the newer models. Can I compensate this with a Power Cover perhaps?

Thanks for your time and suggestions

Eric

 

[TunaSurface]

I bought my surface a couple of months ago. I think it's pretty great, even though as a laptop it's a bad one, and as a tablet it's just as poor. The battery life lasts a couple of hours max, doesn't really matter what you're doing or how much it claims it has in it.

As the surface doesn't have a hdmi port, you'll need an adapter, they're not expensive since you don't have to get the official one.

Word and other office programs work great, no complaining, but using Onenote to take notes is something I could never do. Typing is much faster and clearer. Personally I had trouble getting used to typing since I got the touch cover.

Overall the surface is a PC, it works as a PC and does what you want it to do, as long as you don't want to play newer, more demanding games. Even though the slight annoyances I have to deal with every day, mostly battery or heat related, I'd still recommend it.

EDIT: 200th post!

 

[tblrsa]

Thanks for your reply and congrats to your 200th Post!

So it would be possible with an HDMI Adapter to connect the Surface to the TV and connect an external hard drive to the device to stream movies and games to the TV?

I think this would propose an interesting possibility for all those Windows and Flash Games. Being able to play them with a Bluetooth Mouse and Keyboard on a huge Flat would be rather cool.

Yeah, the battery life is a bugging issue, but is it really that much better on the new Surface Revisions?

 

[TunaSurface]

So it would be possible with an HDMI Adapter to connect the Surface to the TV and connect an external hard drive to the device to stream movies and games to the TV?

Yes. And playing games on the big screen is great, with a keyboard or a wireless xbox controller.

 

[Matt]

Battery life can be improved with power plans but best I got was just over 5 and a half hours. admittedly in this plan demanding gaming was not part of the work.

If you can stretch to an sp2 I would recommend it but the sp1 is still a great machine.

 

[MDS]

Pro 1 is a good machine. I still use one at work. I also owned, then sold my Pro 2 to purchase a 3.

Had a I owned a Pro 1 when the 2 came out I would not have upgraded. The battery life on the pro 1 is similar to a moderately priced lap top and yes the power cover helps. Personally, I just keep the power cord handy on my Pro 1. Now if I could get a Pro 2 for maybe $150 more than the Pro 1 I'd buy that.

 

[CrippsCorner]

Welcome to the forums.

It sounds like quite a lot of your use case is when the Surface could be connected to a power outlet, so battery life shouldn't have a massive affect on you? Mine's plugged in most of the time... when it's not I get around 5 hours until it dies.

I'd say it's still a great machine, I'm still running the original lets be honest, most of the tweaks have been small ones in the later models, apart from the obvious like screen size. Then again the smaller screen size suits me better anyway! The only thing I would like is the new kickstand...

Good luck with your purchase.

 

[TunaSurface]

Bigger screen, thinner, and the amazing kickstand are the only things I'd want on my surface.
I hope to keep my Surface Pro until the 5th or 6th model comes out
(If they keep coming out every year).

I still use the Iphone 4, and will probably buy the iphone 6 when it eventually comes out.

 

[TunaSurface]

Battery life can be improved with power plans but best I got was just over 5 and a half hours. admittedly in this plan demanding gaming was not part of the work.

If you can stretch to an sp2 I would recommend it but the sp1 is still a great machine.

5 AND A HALF HOURS? WHAT?
Seriously, what did you do with it? I can't even watch a full movie with mine, even while doing nothing else and in airplane mode.

 

[lparsons21]

5 AND A HALF HOURS? WHAT?
Seriously, what did you do with it? I can't even watch a full movie with mine, even while doing nothing else and in airplane mode.

I get about 5 hours if I don't play games or do video. Social and other 'net stuff doesn't put too much of a tax on the battery.

With the Power Cover, I get a little over 7 hours under the same circumstances.

But games, even the simple Modern UI ones, sure warm things up and start the battery counter down in a bit of a hurry!! Same for video.

 

[TunaSurface]

I get about 5 hours if I don't play games or do video. Social and other 'net stuff doesn't put too much of a tax on the battery.

With the Power Cover, I get a little over 7 hours under the same circumstances.

But games, even the simple Modern UI ones, sure warm things up and start the battery counter down in a bit of a hurry!! Same for video.

Wow, I get 2 hours max, all I do is browse the web.

 

[lparsons21]

I don't surf very much, mostly discussion forums and usenet.