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    Surface Pro 3 - Quick Review

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    • garak0410G
      garak0410
      last edited by

      Received my Surface Pro 3 Friday. I've owned (and sold or passed down) Surface Pro and Pro 2 but that said, I will be objective to my initial thoughts and experiences:

      • Screen is amazing. It for sure is not being overhyped. It is very clear, bright and jumps out at you.

      • It is light compared to the other Pro's. Quite noticeable.

      • The 3:2 ratio does make it much more usable in portrait mode, though it still feels a little long and slightly awkward. It for sure is much easier to screen type in this mode.

      • Kickstand is fantastic. So nice to use it in many angles.

      • Desktop Games play well though do I dare say a few were choppier than Surface Pro 2. Time will tell there. It does get just as hot as the other Surface Pro's when playing desktop games and the innovative fan and cooling system kicks in and you can hear it. I fired up Gone Home, Skyrim, Tex Murphy Tesla Effect and a plethora of old classic GOG games and some emulators (Amiga Forever) and all ran fine. The graphic intensive games do need low settings to be playable. Age of Empires II HD ran at full resolution with no problems but again, makes system run hot. Desktop games will suck the battery 3x as fast...not sure if that is normal even on a gaming laptop.

      • Apps. Yes...sometimes it IS about the apps. There simply needs to be more and useful "Modern' apps. This is a whole other subject but it still needs killer apps despite making some headway.

      • Pen - Pen works well. I love the OneNote button (and I defaulted mine to the desktop OneNote so I could do Ink to Text on the spot.) Maybe it is me but doesn't seem as good as the pen on the Surface Pro or SP2. Again, time will tell there.

      • Keyboard. Still has the feel of the last touch cover, the backlighting is nice and I love the option to press it against the SP3 and make it sturdier for laps. It does feel quite sturdy though still not as stable as a laptop. The touchpad is SO MUCH BETTER. Actually useable now.

      • Other Notes - I loaded the desktop app Sony Movie Studio Platinum and it says it was "touch ready" and I have to say they are absolutely right. Finally, a touch friendly video editor that has power to it. Was very surprised by this, even if Adobe Premiere elements is my favorite video editor.

      • Does it replace a laptop? Count me in the group that says "I am not sure." Though I liked the 8" size of the Dell Venue Pro and I think that may be a sweet spot for tablets, I think this will be my device of choice, I love the screen and the scaled desktop works well and I've not encountered any problems with legacy apps. I am going to test some intensive video rendering soon and will see if it can, pardon the pun, handle the heat. If desktop games made it pretty hot, I can imagine video rendering would be just as harsh.

      I am confident I'll be using this as my main machine for quite some time.

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      • I
        ITcrackerjack @garak0410
        last edited by

        @garak0410 Great review, thanks!! I'd love to try one out.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • Minion QueenM
          Minion Queen Banned
          last edited by

          Thanks for the review. That helps me decide if I want to sweet talk any vendors into one 🙂

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          • garak0410G
            garak0410
            last edited by

            I can honestly say I've never used an iPad Air, so I cannot compare. We use Mac's at church for multimedia and I just don't see what the hype is.

            I just like the idea of having the option to TOUCH but also mouse and keyboard. Basically boils down to that. My review copy of my Alienware gaming laptop arrives today with Windows 7 and no touch screen. I'll try to be unbiased about not having touch in my review. 🙂

            garak0410G 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • garak0410G
              garak0410 @garak0410
              last edited by

              @garak0410 said:

              I can honestly say I've never used an iPad Air, so I cannot compare. We use Mac's at church for multimedia and I just don't see what the hype is.

              I just like the idea of having the option to TOUCH but also mouse and keyboard. Basically boils down to that. My review copy of my Alienware gaming laptop arrives today with Windows 7 and no touch screen. I'll try to be unbiased about not having touch in my review. 🙂

              I received my AlienWare yesterday. What a beast:

              Intel Core i7 4700MQ 2.4 GHz
              16.0 GB DDR3L SDRAM
              1024.0 GB 5400.0 rpm Hard Drive, 80 GB Solid-State Drive
              14.0-Inch Screen with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M with 2GB GDDR5

              This thing could replace my desktop if I didn't run Windows Media Center to extend and stream in my home.

              The Surface Pro 3 is more fun to use but this thing is a power horse. Halfway thought that this could be my go to device with an 8" tablet being my, well, tablet. But it is heavy, bulky and more suited for games and it will actually stream with Steam from my main PC quite well. Was very impressed.

              But back to the Surface Pro 3...really can't go wrong with it, So much, well, "sexier" and easier to transport.

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