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Who Loves their SP3 - Positivity Thread

Fast-T

Member
I was very cautious before deciding to go for the SP3. I had the 1st RT - returned it after a week because fo the lack running a simple Cisco VPN session. Went to the 1st Gen SP later but sold it because the battery life was not suiting my needs.
I was working with a Sony Vaio Duo 11 for a while but weight & battery life was a issue here. So now I have the SP3 since a couple of weeks.
Sure it has some flaws, mainly caused by s/w and background processes, but being in the marketing & product management - man, this device pushed my creativity and productivity to a whole new level. Doing product demos with customers ... I have the supporting presentation always handy - being in a plane from east to west I can do stuff from start to landing and the pen with OneNote integration is awesome. Doing a presentation and need to note a thing ... one click and onenote opens... doodle it down and continue my presentation. Doing market research ... just share pages and articles with onenote for later, capture screenshots It is just awesome. I actually do not know where to start when talking about things that I like about the device. The Typecover is awesome, have it fully integrated in my work environment, can run everything I can on my PC, but I can also use it on the couch browsing web sites and forums. It is so flexible and convenient. And yes, it replaced my laptop, my ipad (well had a Samsung Note 10.1 before) and my paper notebook.
And yes, I run Photoshop on my tablet ... and Publisher ... and a video editor ... and connect to my companies sharepoint crunching massive amounts of data via Access and Excel. I write my press releases using the real Word. I look though project plans using MS Project. I create my own touch friendly apps using Project Sienna - AMAZING in this form factor.

The only thing that sucks is the Marvell WLAN ... sometimes not waking up - sometimes limited connection only - not reliable at all. Hope MS fixes it.
 

BobG

Member
Love the hardware, not too impressed with the software. There is still too large a disconnect between desktop and MUI to make for the kind of fluid use I'm after. Not going to complain though, as a device it's still better than the alternatives imo.

I see a lot of posts like this about Windows 8. I think many people don't seem to understand that we are most definitely in a transitional period between the mouse/keyboard era and the future, which will absolutely embrace touch. Transitions are *by definition* a less than perfect situation.

We all need to keep compatibility with many older programs with relatively tiny buttons and other UI elements. How many of you would want any Windows machine that couldn't run ANY of your existing software???

Until all software is updated to be touch-centric what we have is pretty much the best we can have. If you want to be disappointed with something/someone be disappointed with Adobe for letting PhotoShop stagnate so badly. With Microsoft for not having *really* touch-friendly versions of Word and Excel. I could go on and on with major software titles that are outdated in the Tablet era, but the blame rests squarely on the Transition, not on Windows 8.

Bob
 

malberttoo

Well-Known Member
One day with my Sp3 (i5, 8 GB, 256 GB) and my marriage is falling apart. It's not that I spend too much time with my SP3 and neglect my wife. It's because I ordered only a SP3 for me and not a second one for my wife. My wife loves to sketch and is quite envy about my new toy.

Just kidding :)

Don't lie! She'e making you sleep on the couch until you get her one....:D

I'm also surprised how well the touch support works Windows 8.1 desktop mode...

I don't like touch on the Desktop at all. But I was amazed at how much I came to enjoy the Metro environment. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, Microsoft DID make the Surface devices to show off Windows 8 touch.
 

HarnessTech

Active Member
Love love love my SP3 i5 8GB! I've completely bought in to the entire scenario with the Type Keyboard, docking station and Arc Touch Mouse Surface Edition.

This replaced my Asus i7 8GB screamer laptop and I've not looked back. I suspect that I wasn't utilizing all of the power my Asus had to offer because the SP3 seems to perform at least as good as the Asus in every way so far.

It's not just a tablet and Microsoft is right when they claim it to be a laptop replacement.
 

fonzman78

Active Member
Love my SP3 (i7, 8GB, 512SSD). I've had all the Surfaces since they came out. I've dabbled with tablet/laptop convertibles for 10 years and have always liked them. But they were always to heavy to really use as a tablet. When the Surface was first announced and I watched the video, I instantly knew that MS had finally created the perfect form factor for a tablet/laptop. I bought the SP1 on day one and haven't been disappointed. It was everything I thought it would be. And now the SP3 is just right for everything I do. Like most, my SP3 is with me all the time, wherever I go.

I went on a road trip with my daughter and her friend. They are both students at the UofU. I brought my Surface/MIFI along so I could work while on the drive to LA. As we drove, I took out my SP3 and my daughters friend looked over and asked if that was 'one of those Surfaces things'. 'Yep', I said. She replied 'Way cool. I've seen some students in my class using them. They are great for taking notes. When I get more money, I'm going to buy one to replace my Mac'. It's good to see that students are taking note of the SP3 and seeing the advantage of having a single device.
 

raginrogue

New Member
Huge fan, I sold my 2011 macbook pro and switched over to the surface and I haven't looked back. I haven't even picked up my ipad very much since getting my surface.
 

MartyB

New Member
I'm rather happy with it. Mine is the i3 model, which means I'm required to keep a clean house, but it's responsive, runs what I need to, miracasts admirably well into the classroom projectors we use, and has a battery life that allows me to leave my charger at home without a worry in the world. In the price class, I don't believe a better screen is to be had. In addition, the new keyboard is lovely. I could never really use my RT on my lap, but this works just fine, which means I get to sit outside on my couch to do some editing. This is my first SSD, so I've been especially impressed. Visual studio runs a without a hitch, and so does Access. I'm told the i5 and i7 are faster, but I'm frankly not in any kind of pain at all. My daughter is happy as well, because she inherited the RT and likes it a lot. It does all the YouTube you can waive a stick at ...
The app store still sucks, though.
 

unruledboy

Active Member
I'm rather happy with it. Mine is the i3 model, which means I'm required to keep a clean house, but it's responsive, runs what I need to, miracasts admirably well into the classroom projectors we use, and has a battery life that allows me to leave my charger at home without a worry in the world. In the price class, I don't believe a better screen is to be had. In addition, the new keyboard is lovely. I could never really use my RT on my lap, but this works just fine, which means I get to sit outside on my couch to do some editing. This is my first SSD, so I've been especially impressed. Visual studio runs a without a hitch, and so does Access. I'm told the i5 and i7 are faster, but I'm frankly not in any kind of pain at all. My daughter is happy as well, because she inherited the RT and likes it a lot. It does all the YouTube you can waive a stick at ...
The app store still sucks, though.
so you are also a .net developer?
 
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