Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Travel&Dining > Travel Technology
Reload this Page >

I am actually considering a Surface Go purchase...

I am actually considering a Surface Go purchase...

Old Dec 11, 2018, 8:25 am
  #16  
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Southeast USA
Posts: 31
I suggest the VAIO for a lightweight laptop

I would recommend the VAIO S13. It is currently on sale only on their website. It weighs only 2.34 lbs. Until 2014, VAIO was owned by Sony. I have read that when Sony dropped out of the laptop business, some Sony engineers left and continued the laptop business.

The Surface looks like a good lightweight product too. I was also considering the Dell and Lenovo and decided on the VAIO. I am a "very happy" owner of a VAIO S. I took advantage of their, still current, sale prices. Since they left Sony, I can't speak to their viability as a company, but for now, I'm very, very happy having this lightweight laptop for travel. With the new company not being backed by a big Sony, Dell, or Microsoft name, I guess I'll have to wait and see... should the laptop ever develop problems, what will be the solutions/options provided me.
HawaiiCalls is offline  
Old Dec 12, 2018, 9:28 pm
  #17  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 573
That's really interesting - I had forgot about the Vaio. I'm still within the return period of my Surface Go (January 30).
[ looking...]

2 things would make that Vaio not right for me

1) Form factor exceeds space available in my purse
(Surface Go fits and is 9.65" x 6.9" x 0.33")

2) Keyboards that make me press 2 keys to page up or page down infuriate me. Looks like the Sony Vaio would do this.
I PageUp and PageDown all the time. I don't want to swipe:
1) It's imprecise in Excel, Word, etc.
2) It would make me click thousands of more keystrokes per / [ time unit ].
This is 1 of the 2 main reasons why I still use a Thinkpad instead of my maxed out 2TB MacBook Pro for serious work..

I really miss this Thinkpad keyboard. So logical. So fast.



On my MacBook Pro, I researched and purchased BetterTouchTool app to remap PageUp and PageDown to the right side Propeller key + Option key.



However, over time I learned that it doesn't always work. That key remapping works in browsers, but not consistently in Office apps, etc.
Huge bummer.

BetterTouchTool is interesting though; I believe it reports on how many keystrokes the mappings save you and at one point it was in the thousands.
That remapping made the MacBook Pro keyboard acceptable for personal stuff, but not serious work.
I really love the MBP's silky smooth mouse pad and beautiful screen. But the keyboard layout + Finder impacted my productivity too much for the worse. (In an average week I can touch 70 files)

I'm sure Breevy for Windows Text expander for Windows - Breevy has saved me tons more keystrokes. Unlike TextExpander for the Mac, it's a simple license purchase. No monthly subscription needed. In addition to expanding text, I use it as a web bookmarks manager, distribution list manager, and who's who organizer. It's killer feature is speed:

Creating or updating a text snippet takes me < 2 seconds via hotkeys.
It's not like I have to load an app. It's < ctrl-space, ctrl-v, OK > . Done.

Last edited by MareLuce; Dec 13, 2018 at 8:01 pm
MareLuce is offline  
Old Dec 16, 2018, 3:42 am
  #18  
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: MYF/CMA/SAN/YYZ/YKF
Programs: COdbaUA 1K MM, AA EXP, Bonbon Gold, GHA Titanium, Hertz PC, NEXUS and GE
Posts: 5,837
My wife has the Surface 3 and is happy. I had the Surface Pro 2, which was the same form factor as the Surface 3 and Go, and was happy. I've got a Pro 4 now and am considering either the Go or the Pro. The smaller screen may not be something I'm ready to go back to, but the form is nice .
N1120A is offline  
Old Dec 16, 2018, 7:32 pm
  #19  
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: NY Metro Area
Programs: AA 2MM Yay!, UA MM, Costco General Member
Posts: 48,923
I have considered it. I'm a Mac person but I use Dragon voice recognition increasingly and it has been announced as being discontinued for the Mac, I'm running Windows 10 in coherence mode in Parallels and it works pretty well but the small size and cost of the Go intrigued me. One thing that is holding me up, there are several, is not knowing how well it works when you switch it to regular Win 10 so that you can run non MS Store software in it, Anyone have experience with that?
GadgetFreak is offline  
Old Dec 30, 2018, 10:56 pm
  #20  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 573
Originally Posted by GadgetFreak
One thing that is holding me up, there are several, is not knowing how well it works when you switch it to regular Win 10 so that you can run non MS Store software in it, Anyone have experience with that?
That's the first thing I did. Works great ~ 1 month in.

I love being able to access my critical stuff in such a small form factor.
Plus, from a perception point, it feels like it weighs "nothing" to me vs all other travel laptops weighing "something"
I would never have purchased it had I not actually handled it in the store.
MareLuce is offline  
Old Dec 31, 2018, 8:04 pm
  #21  
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: YEG
Posts: 269
I too bought the Surface Go 128gb version but without the LTE feature when the Go was first released. I use it in conjunction with my Surface Book 2. The primary reason I bought the Go was to use it in environments the Book was too large. I am very happy with it. I just went to Hawaii (7 hour flight) and it was the perfect size for the seat. Battery lasted most of the flight. I find I use it quite a bit when I am at Starbucks to deal with email and update spreadsheets. I use Citrix Sharefile and I have had no problems. I also upgraded the system to Windows 10 Pro to take advantage of the additional security features. So far no problems.
AltaBound is offline  
Old Dec 31, 2018, 8:33 pm
  #22  
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: NY Metro Area
Programs: AA 2MM Yay!, UA MM, Costco General Member
Posts: 48,923
Originally Posted by MareLuce
That's the first thing I did. Works great ~ 1 month in.

I love being able to access my critical stuff in such a small form factor.
Plus, from a perception point, it feels like it weighs "nothing" to me vs all other travel laptops weighing "something"
I would never have purchased it had I not actually handled it in the store.

Thanks for the info.
GadgetFreak is offline  
Old Jan 2, 2019, 7:17 am
  #23  
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 142
No Google Play Store

Originally Posted by GadgetFreak
One thing that is holding me up, there are several, is not knowing how well it works when you switch it to regular Win 10 so that you can run non MS Store software in it, Anyone have experience with that?
My Surface 3 serves me well for travelling. But I am unable to run the Chrome OS, and Google Play Store is not available. Instead I use the Google browser, installing a few extensions. I can sync everything (e-mail, contacts, bookmarks, etc.) between my Surface 3, my Win10 desktop (with Chrome OS), and my android phone.

What else is holding you up?
getmethere is offline  
Old Jan 3, 2019, 7:47 am
  #24  
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: NY Metro Area
Programs: AA 2MM Yay!, UA MM, Costco General Member
Posts: 48,923
Originally Posted by getmethere
My Surface 3 serves me well for travelling. But I am unable to run the Chrome OS, and Google Play Store is not available. Instead I use the Google browser, installing a few extensions. I can sync everything (e-mail, contacts, bookmarks, etc.) between my Surface 3, my Win10 desktop (with Chrome OS), and my android phone.

What else is holding you up?
Well I suppose it's a couple things. First, a big part of it is probably because I absolutely hate Windows. All my other devices are Macs or iPad, iPhone etc. My main travel device, not that I'm traveling as much as I did previously, is an iPad Pro (the small one). The main reason I've been looking at the Surface Go is that a major app for me, Dragon NaturallySpeaking, is being discontinued on the Mac. I still don't know if that app will run well on a Surface Go. In fact it is below the specs that the software asks for. Right now, when I need it I'm running it in Windows 10 professional in coherence mode using Parallels on a maxed out new MacBook Air. So I'm basically trying to decide whether to just go with the MacBook air when I need to travel with a full computer or whether that Surface Go would be a lighter but still adequate substitute.
GadgetFreak is offline  
Old Jan 3, 2019, 6:15 pm
  #25  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: IAD/DCA
Posts: 31,805
any others use surfacebook? or similar detachable? have found it to be good combo with older macbookair
Kagehitokiri is offline  
Old Jan 3, 2019, 6:27 pm
  #26  
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Detroit; Formerly Dubai
Posts: 3,652
I have a Surface Pro (5) LTE. I have three Macs.
Dubai Stu is offline  
Old Jan 3, 2019, 6:43 pm
  #27  
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: NY Metro Area
Programs: AA 2MM Yay!, UA MM, Costco General Member
Posts: 48,923
Originally Posted by Dubai Stu
I have a Surface Pro (5) LTE. I have three Macs.
Use scenarios for one vs the others?
GadgetFreak is offline  
Old Jan 24, 2019, 12:20 pm
  #28  
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Caracas
Programs: Former AA PLT/GLD, A3 *G, Priority Pass
Posts: 1,144
Well I am pairing a MacBook Pro 15" with a Dell XPS 13" 9370.

I bought the XPS 9370 a month ago for $1200 new. It comes with 4k ,i7/512GB/16GB Ram as I was looking for a cheap secondary computer. I even was thinking about the iPad Pro with the pen, but needed full operative OS, saw many options. Even SurfaceBook 2, Surface Pro 6, Surface Go, Matebook X, but saw that for $1200 these specs where the best I could get. As I would be using Adobe Suite on it and needed something very portable for travel, that my MBP 15" couldn't offer when you compare the footprint of the XPS 13.
mvtm is offline  
Old Jan 24, 2019, 7:45 pm
  #29  
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 3,344
i have a one mix yoga (1st gen)

(1st gen, CPU is too slow and sleep drains too much battery, cpu issue. 2nd gen fixes both)

there's also GPD Pocket 2

$600+



works very well for productivity @ work when I need to roam around different areas, taking notes/responding to emails (vs typing on phone)

larger laptops are too bulky, 10" (windows/apple) tablets aren't good enough (on-screen typing is slow or inferior when using bluetooth keyboard)


no dedicated page up/down key though (sorry OP). wonder if it works if you pair it with a bluetooth mouse that has dedicated scrolling wheel/mappable-button? I use a trackball with my one mix 2 yoga, very effective (try precision aiming in windows excel on a 7" screen using your finger on a touchscreen)

Last edited by paperwastage; Jan 24, 2019 at 7:52 pm
paperwastage is offline  
Old Jan 27, 2019, 10:13 pm
  #30  
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: SFOSJCOAK
Programs: AA-EXP & 1MM+, AS, MR-LTT, HH Gold
Posts: 7,574
Originally Posted by mvtm
Well I am pairing a MacBook Pro 15" with a Dell XPS 13" 9370.

I bought the XPS 9370 a month ago for $1200 new. It comes with 4k ,i7/512GB/16GB Ram as I was looking for a cheap secondary computer. I even was thinking about the iPad Pro with the pen, but needed full operative OS, saw many options. Even SurfaceBook 2, Surface Pro 6, Surface Go, Matebook X, but saw that for $1200 these specs where the best I could get. As I would be using Adobe Suite on it and needed something very portable for travel, that my MBP 15" couldn't offer when you compare the footprint of the XPS 13.
Just curious enough to ask:
1. What's form factor dimensions? and weight of XPS 9370?
2. How about the AC charger size & weight? (DELL used to have really BIG & heavy BRICKS).
3. Does it have HDMI?
4. Re Adobe Suite, how does it perform when running LR & Photoshop?
Thanks
allset2travel is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.