Sold my MacBook Air 13″ 2013 i7. I am loving the Surface Pro 3. I’ve had the Surface Pro 1 and 2 and returned those after trying them out for two weeks. However with the Surface Pro 3 I am instantly in love with this thing.
Here are my thoughts on it so far…
Good
- Much thinner form factor than it’s predecessors. Also lighter
- Screen is much easier to read in desktop mode thanks to the 3:2 ratio
- Windows 8.1 still has it’s quirks but has come a long way
- My work involves a lot of travel – don’t have to take this out of the bag at the airports
- The Surface Pro 3’s pen is the best that it has ever been for note taking. Love how well executed One Note is too
- Don’t need to worry about the compromises of an iOS or Android tablet
- You get the full working desktop experience of a desktop in the form of a tablet
- Battery life isn’t as good as the MacBook Air but it does last through an 8-hour workday
- Really cool when using this hooked up with another monitor and mouse. It knows to use natural scrolling in Metro mode, and standard scrolling in desktop mode!
- Very good overall performance – I have several apps open at once and it has not slowed down
- Kickstand is very well executed and has flexible viewing angles
- Keyboard is great, although not as good as the MacBook Air’s but it’s pretty darn close
- Touchscreen makes a huge difference in working on a computer. Super useful and more efficient to navigate through the OS, websites, etc
- Touch interface for Microsoft Office is well done
- Thanks to the cloud, syncing between my iMac and Surface has been pretty seamless such as One Note, Evernote, and DropBox
Bad
- Swinging back and forth between my iMac and Surface Pro due to different OS took some time to get used to… like 2 hours. For a geek, that’s an eternity.
- It sometimes gets warm depending on the intensity of your applications so I wouldn’t recommend using this on your lap for long periods of time. Look for a desk or table if you are doing serious work, if not tablet mode works great. I value the longevity of my huevos.
- Metro mode still needs more time to develop. For simple apps and to use as a consumption device, the iPad Air is still the best, which is why I am keeping it for bed and couch surfing.
- Third party Metro apps suck for the most part, you are better off using the desktop version
- If you rely heavily on Google calendar, either use the web version or switch to Outlook
Stay tuned for a full review!