Surface Pro Hate

[LJM]

Yup. Tried snipping tools first, the OS forces the item I am trying to screenshot to minimise whenever I go to use the snipping tool. This is what I mean. That has never happened on any other desktop or laptop. Crazy ideas went into this setup.

 

[macmee]

I am a state machine with two states:

SP3 is working: this is the best device ever

SP3 is not working: just give me an iPad already

Right now I'm in between but will be at the latter state soon because this right clicking issue is driving me up the wall.

 

[BillJ]

Taking a screen shot with "Win + volume down" does take some finesse.
In portrait mode, touch and hold the Win button in the right bezel with your right thumb or forefinger, and then, within a half a second, press the "vol down" button briefly with your left forefinger.

My favorite way of getting screen clippings, however, is with the top button of the pen; double click and the screen becomes hazy, and you then can select whatever part of the screen you wish and send that image directly to OneNote.

The alternative is to use "Windows (key on keyboard) + shift + S"; that does the same as a double click on the pen top. I find "Snip" and the "snipping tool" also work, but are a little less flexible for my needs.

There is no doubt that the SP3 offers great flexibility, but the downside of that is complexity. With some perseverance, patience, and practice there are great wonders to discover within your machine.

 

[LJM]

Thanks for your help BillJ and Leeshor. I eventually found an instructing to use FN + space bar. My concerts remain though. As using SPro3 with Win 8 is completely different to any other desktop, laptop or table I've ever used (none of them Apple except for one desktop in the early 90s) why isn't there a comprehensive 'How To' manual with the product? I am fine to look things up and learn but the information itself is sometimes impossible to find. It is also just absurd that clicking on snipping tool to try to use it forces the PDF on the screen that I want to take a shot of to minimize so it is literally impossible to use a sniping tool on a PDF doc. That is simply a crazy incompatibility to introduce. I feel like Microsoft threw this product at consumers to get them to do their user testing for them at customer expense.

 

[BillJ]

Just a Bing/Google search gets you 99% of what you need.
I don't use Snip now; too hard
To add further complexity, the shortcuts are slightly different on different machines (my Spectre x360 is slightly different from my SP3). Consider it an adventure...

 

[sharpuser]

If I compare my Surface Pro 3 to my espresso machine, I like the coffee maker better. Makes wonderful java. I use both devices multiple times daily.

Surface Pro 3, my coffee press, and the iPad are different machines with different uses.

 

[BillJ]

If I compare my Surface Pro 3 to my espresso machine, I like the coffee maker better. Makes wonderful java. I use both devices multiple times daily.

Surface Pro 3, my coffee press, and the iPad are different machines with different uses.

Does your coffee maker use Java Script?

 

[GreyFox7]

Does your coffee maker use Java Script?

Mine uses Javabeans

 

[lennywc]

With my iPad 3 I use CloudOn for Excel, Word and Powerpoint work. This app provides cloud-based (Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, Skydrive) access to your files, and provides a touch-based interface to the Office apps. Yes, you can play games and everything else you mention - but it's also an excellent productivity device when used with a wireless external keyboard. I'm not dissing the Surface Pro, but the iPad most certainly isn't "just a fun screen with a lot of games." Aside from running full blown Windows apps, the iPad can pretty much do anything you want with cloud storage. And Microsoft is still quite lacking with modern UI apps, but hopefully this will change soon.

All of this said, I'm still considering the Surface Pro because I like the direction Microsoft is heading. Having basically a desktop PC in tablet form is something of an achievement. Yes this design will improve, especially with Haswell coming later this year, but I believe the Surface Pro is currently the best tablet-based Ultrabook type device available.

Apple has crippled iPad by not giving it a file system. Terrible.

 

[jrioux]

Mine uses Javabeans

An mine needs lots of dark black java to operate.

 

[MissionMan]

I think most of the hate comes from using the SP3 with Windows 8 which was dismal as far as I am concerned. Start8 saved my sanity. Windows 10 is a vast improvement.

 

[GreyFox7]

I think most of the hate comes from using the SP3 with Windows 8 which was dismal as far as I am concerned. Start8 saved my sanity. Windows 10 is a vast improvement.

Depends on your use case, if you use it as a desktop/laptop then Start 8 made it easier and more familiar.
If you use it as a tablet then 8.1 is much better than 10 and there's nothing to fix that presently.
Had they kept the way 8.1 works for tablet mode in W10 with the W10 desktop mode it would have been better.
There are lots of ways it could have been made better... but it feels like it's only half done... second half next year.