Surface Pro 3 Announcement
Jul 1, 2014, 5:33 pm
#46
Join Date: Sep 2007
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Why in the world would I do that with ANY device, book, magazine, etc? I cannot think of a single time I've ever done so...
Jul 1, 2014, 6:02 pm
#47
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 160
We are headed to Europe next week, and we picked up the Surface 3 the day of release. My husband's biggest client won't support Apple, and he was tired of traveling with two devices, which added up to over 6 lbs. He plans on docking it in his office, then using it in laptop mode much of the time, then as a tablet a small part of the time.
So far he is very happy with it in laptop/work mode. I confess I am not the techie in the family so I don't know exactly what he's doing, but whatever it is it is working well. No problems with browsing. We experienced a little buffering at the start of "Game of Thrones" but then worked fine. He isn't a huge app guy so I can't really comment on that. We travel as light as we can so I'm glad he's shedding four pounds this way. Now for the chargers!
So far he is very happy with it in laptop/work mode. I confess I am not the techie in the family so I don't know exactly what he's doing, but whatever it is it is working well. No problems with browsing. We experienced a little buffering at the start of "Game of Thrones" but then worked fine. He isn't a huge app guy so I can't really comment on that. We travel as light as we can so I'm glad he's shedding four pounds this way. Now for the chargers!
Jul 5, 2014, 12:40 am
#48
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Seattle
Programs: BA GGL & LTG, EK Silver, HHonors Lifetime Diamond; Proudly Mucci Free - total nonsense
Posts: 862
Do any FlyerTalkers out there actually have a Surface Pro 3 and are using it regularly? I'm keen to order one when I'm next in the USA, but really want to hear what regular travellers think of it. While reviews can be quite helpful, the frame of reference isn't always useful to me; in other words, I don't care how much better it is than the Surface Pro 2, or even whether it's good against a MacBook Air. I do care what a regular traveller thinks of it, as that fits my demographic better. 
In case it matters, my intended use pattern is to have two docks, one at work and one at home, and the unit will spend roughly 75% of its life in one of those docks. When not, I'll be going to/from client meetings, where portability is very useful and most of what I'm doing is delivering presentations or taking notes. At the moment I go on all work trips with my MacBook Pro and iPad Air, and my goal with the Surface Pro 3 would be to be able to do all my MacBook stuff on it (MS Office content creation, email, web browsing, note taking, light games like Civ 5 and Sim City) and do all my iPad stuff on it (Media consumption with VLC or Plex both online and offline, time waster touch games like sudoku or Mahjong solitaire, email, web browsing).
In case it matters, my intended use pattern is to have two docks, one at work and one at home, and the unit will spend roughly 75% of its life in one of those docks. When not, I'll be going to/from client meetings, where portability is very useful and most of what I'm doing is delivering presentations or taking notes. At the moment I go on all work trips with my MacBook Pro and iPad Air, and my goal with the Surface Pro 3 would be to be able to do all my MacBook stuff on it (MS Office content creation, email, web browsing, note taking, light games like Civ 5 and Sim City) and do all my iPad stuff on it (Media consumption with VLC or Plex both online and offline, time waster touch games like sudoku or Mahjong solitaire, email, web browsing).
Keyboard is fine but takes a bit of getting used to. I haven't used the pen much yet but am planning to try to avoid taking paper notes in meetings when I return from vacation.
I've been traveling mostly with my Lenovo carbon plus a Dell Venue Pro tablet. I definitely see me only taking the surface for work trips now. Battery life is better than the carbon and the power brick much smaller.
Jul 6, 2014, 5:45 pm
#49
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 13
The day the Surface 3 came out my truck was broken into. I lost my laptop, ipad, briefcase and everything wlse that was in the briefcase. I has been looking at the Surface (actually bought the 2 for my sales guys) and really liked the Surface 3 so the timing was as perfect as getting robbed can be. I got the Surface 3 with 8gb ram and 256 storage. I use it mostly as a laptop so far and am very pleased. My laptop was an i7 w 4gb ram and the surface has performed as well as the laptop so far though i havent run a huge spreadsheet on it yet. I also am learning to use OneNote. I am not comfortable enough to take notes in a meeting yet but am getting there.
All in all I love it. It is living up to my expectations, eliminated a device and greatly reduced weight. I will be glad when the dock is available for in my offices and at home.
All in all I love it. It is living up to my expectations, eliminated a device and greatly reduced weight. I will be glad when the dock is available for in my offices and at home.
Jul 7, 2014, 9:09 pm
#50
Join Date: Sep 2007
Programs: DL Silver, AS MVP, UA Silver, HHonors Diamond, Marriott Plat, SPG Plat, National Exec Elite
Posts: 3,883
I tried to get used to OneNote but never got anywhere near comfortable enough to take notes in a meeting with the Wacom pen on the SurPro. I've had MUCH better luck with Evernote and using my phone to scan hand-written notes. I considered buying the Evernote Moleskine, but grabbed around a dozen 6x8 notebooks at a trade show with a light grid pattern and some pretty industry-appropriate pictures scattered throughout. With Evernote Pro, the handwriting recognition has been extremely/surprisingly ccurate even with my near-physician chicken-scratch.
Dec 7, 2014, 10:00 pm
#53
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Exclusively OMNI/PR, for Reasons
Posts: 4,188
Dec 8, 2014, 12:46 am
#54
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Seattle
Programs: BA GGL & LTG, EK Silver, HHonors Lifetime Diamond; Proudly Mucci Free - total nonsense
Posts: 862
It recently won gadget of the year award from Stuff magazine: http://www.stuff.tv/my/gadget-awards...s-year/feature
Dec 8, 2014, 11:53 am
#55
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Exclusively OMNI/PR, for Reasons
Posts: 4,188
I've had mine for about 5 months now, and loving it- awesome for traveling, as I just have 1 device (and no need for power adapters either, as I charge my phone off the brick).
It recently won gadget of the year award from Stuff magazine: http://www.stuff.tv/my/gadget-awards...s-year/feature
It recently won gadget of the year award from Stuff magazine: http://www.stuff.tv/my/gadget-awards...s-year/feature
And yeah, I do use all that memory. Right now I'm hovering at just shy of 12GB, with 3 VMs for development/testing and the usual office/business crap in the host OS.
Maybe the SP4 . . . if the lack of interest in the SP3 doesn't kill off the Surface line.
Dec 8, 2014, 12:20 pm
#56
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Bay Area
Programs: DL SM, UA MP.
Posts: 12,729
Sounds like it's selling well enough for MS to continually advertise.
They're obviously not going to give up on promoting Windows tablets or 2 in 1s since it's part of their core business.
With Win 10 launching next year, they'll keep the line alive. Surface RT OTOH seems dead.
They're obviously not going to give up on promoting Windows tablets or 2 in 1s since it's part of their core business.
With Win 10 launching next year, they'll keep the line alive. Surface RT OTOH seems dead.
Dec 8, 2014, 1:57 pm
#57
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Seattle
Programs: BA GGL & LTG, EK Silver, HHonors Lifetime Diamond; Proudly Mucci Free - total nonsense
Posts: 862
It sounds great. I'd buy one in a heartbeat if it supported at least 16B of RAM. Unfortunately the max is 8GB, which is half of what I have installed in my venerable ThinkPad T420 (a laptop that has been available for what, almost 4 years now?).
And yeah, I do use all that memory. Right now I'm hovering at just shy of 12GB, with 3 VMs for development/testing and the usual office/business crap in the host OS.
Maybe the SP4 . . . if the lack of interest in the SP3 doesn't kill off the Surface line.
And yeah, I do use all that memory. Right now I'm hovering at just shy of 12GB, with 3 VMs for development/testing and the usual office/business crap in the host OS.
Maybe the SP4 . . . if the lack of interest in the SP3 doesn't kill off the Surface line.
I do think the surface line will continue/grow, as it is getting more and more traction and seems to be core to MSFT strategy. In last earnings statement surface was close to $1B revenue now.
Dec 8, 2014, 3:48 pm
#58
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Exclusively OMNI/PR, for Reasons
Posts: 4,188
I do think the surface line will continue/grow, as it is getting more and more traction and seems to be core to MSFT strategy. In last earnings statement surface was close to $1B revenue now.
Dec 8, 2014, 4:00 pm
#59
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: PHL / NYC / PSA-BLQ
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Posts: 3,110
I was glad to pick up an i5 SP2 with 8/256GB before they disappear. As much as the SP3 is nice, I prefer the smaller size of the SP2 for travel. There is a demand for both sizes.
Dec 8, 2014, 6:47 pm
#60
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2000
Posts: 37,486