Who's getting one?

[mseck99]

I am to hold and possibly buy the Surface book 2nd generation. I like the Pro keyboard but the surface Book is Sick. I am Happy with my 8GB/256 Surface pro 3.

 

[hughlle]

Is this a joke? MS copied Apple? A. Why does anyone really care who copies who. B. I think the ripping off has been mainly aimed at MS lately. Agreed on the SP4 not game changing but to be fair, USB 3, windows hello and Skylake make it worth the upgrade.

I mean purely in these POS buzzwords for their new technology. As in face time stupid terms. I just can't stand it when companies do that. Apple is the king.

I can appreciate that it's not as griundbreakibg as we had hoped though. That's what the book is for.

 

[leeshor]

It does seem that thew other manufacturers are doing their best to copy the Surface's success.

 

[Eanderson]

What happened to ditching the fan on the SP4? Microsoft very briefly glazed over the "hybrid" cooling system. If the SP4 didn't have a annoying fan i'd be more apt to upgrade.

 

[kc912]

What happened to ditching the fan on the SP4? Microsoft very briefly glazed over the "hybrid" cooling system. If the SP4 didn't have a annoying fan i'd be more apt to upgrade.

To be fair if they ditched the fan I personally wouldn't buy it. Sorry but you just cannot get the level of performance we have become accustomed to with fanless CPUs. The whole point of it being a pro was that it was a full x86, full OS, i-series CPU beast. Although no-one told Apple that.

 

[CrippsCorner]

Think of the Wireless Display Adapter just as the same thing you would get by having a wired monitor (it includes audio in the stream - you dont need to purchase anything else). You use the normal Windows settings to either extend, mirror or just use the second monitor. I typically sit in my couch and have my coding environment (IDE) open in my Surface screen while I either have video tutorials or browsers open in my living room 55 inch TV.
For entertainment purposes a Google Chrome (they released a new one last week) is good enough. It has apps such as Netflix and it connects to your home router to fetch data, so it doesnt drain your devices batteries. You control it through mobile apps or the Chrome browser add ons.
In the other hand, the Miracast devices do a P2P Wifi connection to your device, it doesnt even need a router. Hence, the battery in the Surface suffers because it is constantly keeping the Wifi connectivity to the adapter. It basically makes up for a HDMI cable not being there, there are no apps or anything like that that could be installed to the adapter.
My experience with the Microsoft adapter has been excellent. No noticeable lags or quality loss. I highly recommend it to anyone that is used to working dual screen and wants to be moving around the house without being constrained to a docking station. If you only want to watch online content on the TV and your TV doesnt have built in apps, get a Chromecast, its only $35 in the US.

I used mine yesterday to watch the Microsoft event and actually I found it performed very well. It only crashed out once and luckily that wasn't when anything particularity interesting was happening... the only thing that annoys me a little bit is the initial faffing about. I need to change my internet connection to 2.4GHz rather than 5GHz (for reasons I can explain if needed) then manually disconnect my HDMI connection to my monitor, as well as changing the source on the TV (such a shame this thing doesn't have HDMI-CEC)

I tried watching some TV later on just to test it out a bit more and whilst performance was good, there was some digital break up no matter what I sent through.

Overall though for £25 I really can't complain! Would be a viable alternative to AirPlay... but I have that already and man it's just so much easier/quicker for audio. Swipe up on the iPhone and hit AirPlay, and change the source on the Hi-Fi. Done.

 

[CrippsCorner]

Performance should be good if your primary WiFi connection is on 5GHz....

It is... but the MWDA can only use 2.4GHz with the original Surface Pro

 

[hughlle]

I used mine yesterday to watch the Microsoft event and actually I found it performed very well. It only crashed out once and luckily that wasn't when anything particularity interesting was happening... the only thing that annoys me a little bit is the initial faffing about. I need to change my internet connection to 2.4GHz rather than 5GHz (for reasons I can explain if needed) then manually disconnect my HDMI connection to my monitor, as well as changing the source on the TV (such a shame this thing doesn't have HDMI-CEC)

I tried watching some TV later on just to test it out a bit more and whilst performance was good, there was some digital break up no matter what I sent through.

Overall though for £25 I really can't complain! Would be a viable alternative to AirPlay... but I have that already and man it's just so much easier/quicker for audio. Swipe up on the iPhone and hit AirPlay, and change the source on the Hi-Fi. Done.

That's how mine works on my phone. The WDA that is. I just click output media and select from a list of various Bluetooth and miracast devices. Works like a charm for watching the event yesterday although holy cow did my phone get hot. Was depleting the battery despite being plugged into the mains.

 

[CrippsCorner]

Ha well I don't think it's compatible with iOS... sucks for me I guess I just streamed it from my Surface which was in another room, pretty cool! Even my girlfriend was impressed and she very rarely lifts an eyebrow to anything technology wise.

 

[InspectHerGadget]

I'm pretty happy with the SP3 but if I had unlimited money, sure I'd get the SP4. I might wait a few months though as I expect bugs.

One thing I think could be better is the pen operation. I always felt that the SP2 was better using the passive pen, it was smoother and never gave issues whereas the SP3 is temperamental. I have stopped using the pen though so I guess it isn't an issue now. I have to say I really ENJOYED using the pen on the SP2...but not the SP3.

 

[daveyp]

As long as reviews are on point, im def getting the new cover with FP reader and pen for my i3 sp3.

 

[dgwoodward]

Just returned from Best Buy where they had a demo unit on display. I have an SP3 and S3 and love both devices. On the launch day I ordered the new keyboard with fingerprint reader and the pen as daveyp did. Now today I got a chance to touch and feel the whole shebang. I am happy with my choice as the new keyboard feels AMAZING and the pen is great with the way it feels on the screen. (I may need to pull off the glass screen cover it felt so great). The pen definitely has some weight to it which has an excellent feel. Still cannot get over the feeling of the keyboard though.

As far as the SP3 vs 4, I will not need to justify the upgrade as it is not a big enough jump for me to make the upgrade. Yes, it is a bit thinner, but not enough of a difference for me.

Just my 2 cents.