Traveling with the SP3, +1

[B'midbar]

I'm a road warrior with 1M frequent flyer miles long gone from my rear-view mirror. Last five laptops in the past three years from most recent to oldest were an HP Elitebook 840 G1, Gigabyte P34G, Sony Vaio 15, ThinkPad T430s and ThinkPad W520, with the first two having a 1TB Samsung EVO SSD in them, so - in other words - I'm always, constantly tweaking my mobile infra.

That being said, the SP3 was a conscious decision when it came to giving up grunt on storage and memory in exchange for the lesser weight. I've mitigated the storage with a 128GB microSDHC and a 256GB PNY, and on the memory I'm very deliberate about my VMs' usage, but I gotta say - dropping from 22# in a CaseLogic backpack on my shoulder to 5# in a VanGoddy satchel in my hand, trundling through airports and whipping this thing out any time, any where - FREAKING LOVE IT. It definitely is a notebook replacement for my usage, use cases and when I'm not actively working on it I'm lobotomizing myself with IBM Redbooks.

Just wanted to throw that out there and say a 512GB unit is definitely in my future. Now, if I could just get the scrolling on my Arc mouse to quit flipping out and having to close and click it back open...

 

[Aurelio]

You are using the Arc Touch mouse (The one you flip "click" flat to turn off and bend again to turn on???)

I have this one, sometimes have this issue that I need to turn off and on again.

 

[B'midbar]

The Arc Touch Surface edition, yes, drives me nuts.

 

[Jeff Au]

+1 to SP3 for traveler or just on-the-go. Went to two conferences - one of them a 3-day event - and I found it's so easy to just remove the type keyboard and use the SP3 as a tablet (with the pen) for recording event notes etc and yet when needed, I know I still have a proper laptop in my hands (and not a tablet).

The only downside is the battery can be a stretch to last the entire 8-hour (or longer) day....

 

[nipponham]

...The only downside is the battery can be a stretch to last the entire 8-hour (or longer) day....

I find that I can get 2-days of battery usage at a conference if I stick to email, PowerPoint, OneNote, Skype, and browser, with the occasional use of a media player.

I just got back from a 1-day event in Tokyo, and with six hours of mixed use of the above apps and utilities, I still had 52% battery left when I got home at midnight.

 

[Moonsurface]

I gave my SP3 a proper workout yesterday at a day long meeting, going from updating powerpoint slides in full desktop mode the night before, then recharging overnight then to sitting and writing notes, checking emails etc all day for the day of the meeting (probably 5 + hours with screen on (though about 40% brightness). I was very, very impressed with it. At the end of the meeting I still had over 50% battery left and was able to play games while waiting for a delayed flight home.

Not once did it spin up the fan all day either and it stayed calm and collected (i7 ).

 

[sharpuser]

To make traveling with the Surface Pro 3 even more convenient, check out what I do here:
How I Pack My Junk

 

[B'midbar]

To make traveling with the Surface Pro 3 even more convenient, check out what I do here:
How I Pack My Junk

Doinking around with mine today. Figure it'll be about the same as all the laptop backpacks and satchels over the years where I farble around repeatedly with adapters, cables, etc. in the pockets and compartments 'til I get it just the way I like it, but have looked at your pics and am assuming it took you a few runs to get it to how you liked it as well.

 

[sharpuser]

... I ... am assuming it took you a few runs to get it to how you liked it as well.

I've wasted lots of money on finding the perfect bag over the years. As it turns out, the problem was not the bag, but the way accesssories are organized, and available. Most bags have pouches, zippers, or bins, but they hide contents from view, are not removeable, and produce acute pressure points which bind on the computer being carried, rather than distribute the volume of accessories evenly, without tangle or randomness.

This lightweight device has proven to solve all that. I have one in my Surface Pro 3 case, and one in my MacBook Pro Retina case. Always ready to go.

 

[B'midbar]

I've wasted lots of money on finding the perfect bag over the years. As it turns out, the problem was not the bag, but the way accesssories are organized, and available. Most bags have pouches, zippers, or bins, but they hide contents from view, are not removeable, and produce acute pressure points which bind on the computer being carried, rather than distribute the volume of accessories evenly, without tangle or randomness.

This lightweight device has proven to solve all that. I have one in my Surface Pro 3 case, and one in my MacBook Pro Retina case. Always ready to go.

Yeah, I hear you. I have one VanGoddy, two Tragers, a CaseLogic, a Lenovo, a Targus and a couple of sleeves sitting in my office right now. After thirty years IT and almost twenty-three as an itinerant consultant if this goes down the way I think it's going to (want to?) I'm going to ride out the duration with a Surface, a ton of cloud storage and a handful of gadgets. The days of a 15.x" or 17" beast with slice battery and all the accompaniments are gone.

 

[Jeff Au]

I find that I can get 2-days of battery usage at a conference if I stick to email, PowerPoint, OneNote, Skype, and browser, with the occasional use of a media player.

I just got back from a 1-day event in Tokyo, and with six hours of mixed use of the above apps and utilities, I still had 52% battery left when I got home at midnight.

Oh man, I need to learn how to conserve power as per your use case. I switched off wifi (unless when I need to connect but mostly I used my phone for wifi / internet) and I'm mostly using writing notes on NOTES using the SP Pen. There's no way I'll get 50% batt left at end of day and I start the day full charged.

 

[GreyFox7]

So who or what is the +1? I was expecting a significant other in this story. I guess you meant it as a vote of confidence. +1. Headline should read: Traveling with the SP3. +1

Now that I'm done nitpicking I couldn't agree more, I've been on a 10 day trip with only the SP3 since there's no cell coverage in the forest I only had wifi available indoors and still was able to do everything needed. Skype calling covered my phone needs. Otherwise the SP3 served as a digital oasis in hostile territory serving up every thing called upon, entertainment, reference, productivity, shock and awesomeness.