I'm an expert
Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
Yooo this dead pixel in metro ie is killing me lol.
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Surface 2 and Pro 2 |OT| Lap it up
- Thread starter GK86
- Start date
Betta Lines
Member
The fragility of the finish on this product became apparent to me when I saw the paint chipping off after a single use of the USB port.
I wanted to sketch with the Surface laying flat on my desk, and it was clear that the smooth finish would make it slide everywhere, scratching the hell out of it. So I bought some tiny rubber feet, and fitted it like this:
No sliding, far less likely to scratch when I place it down, and (in my opinion) doesn't spoil the clean design too much. I've been very careful so far in terms of picking it up and placing it down, because I'm not sure how well the glue is going to hold the feet in place, but so far they've held up well.
NeOak
Member
Don't know if I should call this a complaint or not, but I do really miss my Android's ezPDF Reader. Haven't been able to find an appropriate(free/cheap) substitute for this thing, and BlueStacks ain't playing nice with me right now(nothing happens after syncing with my google account).
Something that supports the pressure sensitive stylus for annotations would be an added bonus.
Switch to OneNote. The full version.
Print to OneNote and never look back.
so i got my surface pro replaced and got a new one (bad battery)
i bought the pro in the first week, at full price, now, it feels like i bought a beta device
the price of the pro dropped like hell, 900 to 650, and the resell value of this thing is terrible
so sad, i really want a pro 2
what really pisses me off is that there's no trade in/deal for the original pro for a pro 2
Pazuzu9, where did u buy those?
i bought the pro in the first week, at full price, now, it feels like i bought a beta device
the price of the pro dropped like hell, 900 to 650, and the resell value of this thing is terrible
so sad, i really want a pro 2
what really pisses me off is that there's no trade in/deal for the original pro for a pro 2
Pazuzu9, where did u buy those?
I'm an expert
Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
I was going to say, this is what I do for all pdfs, presentations, documents, whatever..
I'm an expert
Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
I definitely don't feel like I got a beta device when I bought this SP1 brand new a month ago.. though I did wait for the value and price to match. This thing is my main workhorse for me right now. Purposely waiting for the power keyboard as well, then this thing will be perfect.
Edit: motherfucker that's twice today I accidentally replied instead of editing, apologies for the double post.
Betta Lines
Member
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171002785046
The smallest ones in black. There's a few options from Eazi-Grip, was tempted by the square ones as they might suit the angular design of the Surface, but they're a bit bigger, would show a misalignment more obviously, and I decided to go for the smallest possible.
Now that I think about it, somebody had a video demonstrating this a short while back. Completely forgot about it.
Betta Lines
Member
There seems to be a problem with live video from the BBC with IE. If I watch any programme on iPlayer to 'catch up', I can make it fullscreen no problem. But if I watch any channel live, and go fullscreen, it's blank. I can pinch zoom the webpage to make it near enough fullscreen, but it's a tedious workaround. However this is even worse on the BBC News/Sport site - video clips go fullscreen, but anything live is blank, even without fullscreen. Like at the moment, the Brazil GP practice is live. Viewed on IE, it's just blank with audio. All other video clips around it play no problem. I guess this only applied to UK folks.. anyone else seeing this?
You probably need to use Desktop IE instead of Metro IE, Metro IE has restrictions on plugins I believe.
It's apparently possible to 'overheat' the Surface 2. Played Asphalt 8 while downloading a Gamersyde video using Torrex and the screen brightness started getting lower and lower until it was stuck on minimum. Stopped playing and it went back to normal as the tablet cooled down. Interesting.
I love the 'precision touchpad' features or whatever it is. Especially the two-finger gestures like scrolling and back/forwards in IE11. Really acts like you're using a touchscreen - even the pinch to zoom works well. I know what I said before about not liking the trackpad but that's mostly due to the size and texture. If it was bigger and made of glass it would absolutely equal Apple's pads, and I honestly don't think that's an exaggeration.
I love the 'precision touchpad' features or whatever it is. Especially the two-finger gestures like scrolling and back/forwards in IE11. Really acts like you're using a touchscreen - even the pinch to zoom works well. I know what I said before about not liking the trackpad but that's mostly due to the size and texture. If it was bigger and made of glass it would absolutely equal Apple's pads, and I honestly don't think that's an exaggeration.
I still intend to get full version of One Note, along with some other office apps, but I just found out that Unidocs has a Windows 8 version of ezPDF Reader coming soon.
Honestly, so much I want to do with this thing's stylus, and I have to wait 'n save up more money to get the stuff that takes advantage of it. ;_; I want to mess around with Manga Studio so bad.
Honestly, so much I want to do with this thing's stylus, and I have to wait 'n save up more money to get the stuff that takes advantage of it. ;_; I want to mess around with Manga Studio so bad.
Betta Lines
Member
There are better laptops (for gaming or otherwise) than the Surface Pro 2. The Surface (in any form) is actually not a very good laptop at all. Is there another reason why you're considering it?
I'm an expert
Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
Yeah..I get this is gaf but I seriously don't see the appeal of this product for gaming, even light gaming. It's a productivity workhorse. Sure, it can run games, but any game enthusiast with a bit of pc knowhow would know they could spend their money in a better way if they wanted a portable gaming machine. I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from getting an SP, it's awesome, just realize you'd be making a few fair sacrifices that you wouldn't have to if you just got something designed more for your needs.
So i posted this in the Nexus 7 thread:
Where VanMardigan pointed me to the Surface, as it is more apt for "productivity" related tasks.
So i figured it was more appropriate to post here.
Watched a couple of reviews for the Surface 2, and despite the price bump (from the Nexus 7 i was eyeballing before) it looks like a damn fine piece of hardware.
However my reservation is, when people mention the lack of apps, compared to the Android ecosystem, what exactly are they referring to? Because in the reviews they mention the Surface having about 100.000 apps, which sounds like an insane number already to me, so what is that i'd be missing? Again, consider that i've never had a tablet nor a smartphone before, so it's all pretty confusing to me.
--
I also took a look at the Galaxy Note 10.1(2014) but the price is just too high for me, and while the wacom stylus is cool, if i want to draw i'll just use my intuos on the PC; that price for what would essentially be sketches, it just ain't worth it for me.
I usually have my physical sketchbook around, anyway.
Where VanMardigan pointed me to the Surface, as it is more apt for "productivity" related tasks.
So i figured it was more appropriate to post here.
Watched a couple of reviews for the Surface 2, and despite the price bump (from the Nexus 7 i was eyeballing before) it looks like a damn fine piece of hardware.
However my reservation is, when people mention the lack of apps, compared to the Android ecosystem, what exactly are they referring to? Because in the reviews they mention the Surface having about 100.000 apps, which sounds like an insane number already to me, so what is that i'd be missing? Again, consider that i've never had a tablet nor a smartphone before, so it's all pretty confusing to me.
--
I also took a look at the Galaxy Note 10.1(2014) but the price is just too high for me, and while the wacom stylus is cool, if i want to draw i'll just use my intuos on the PC; that price for what would essentially be sketches, it just ain't worth it for me.
I usually have my physical sketchbook around, anyway.
Ian
Member
What?
I agree it isn't the best for anything other than light gaming, but as a laptop for general use it's awesome. My desktop machine has been relegated to being a games machine only, I do EVERYTHING else on my Pro 2. I'm trying to convince my boss to get me a docking station and a couple of monitors so I can use it at work, it's more powerful than my work machine!
I'm an expert
Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
First, do you understand the difference between the Surface and Surface Pro? Do you understand the difference between Windows RT and 8? Do you know which one suits your needs?
If you've never been in an app ecosystem, you probably wouldn't notice what the big deal is, but even for someone like me who is not a big app guy on my iPhone I still hate that my brokerage doesn't have a Win8 app and I have to pull up the site or my phone. Small stuff like that. If you plan to use anything but Office for productivity then you want a Pro in the first place and the app issue isn't that big, just more about convenience.
Yeah, I too disagree that it's not a good "laptop," but to be fair out of the box it definitely isn't. Investing in a mouse/keyboard or even a dock isn't a huge issue for most of us, but it does need to be taken into consideration if you're making the purchase.
If you've never been in an app ecosystem, you probably wouldn't notice what the big deal is, but even for someone like me who is not a big app guy on my iPhone I still hate that my brokerage doesn't have a Win8 app and I have to pull up the site or my phone. Small stuff like that. If you plan to use anything but Office for productivity then you want a Pro in the first place and the app issue isn't that big, just more about convenience.
Yeah, I too disagree that it's not a good "laptop," but to be fair out of the box it definitely isn't. Investing in a mouse/keyboard or even a dock isn't a huge issue for most of us, but it does need to be taken into consideration if you're making the purchase.
Portability and for the (wacom?) pressure sensitive display. My last gaming laptop was a beast and was huge. It'd be nice to have something simple with a light footprint. The gaming aspect would be minor, basically only if I'm traveling or planning on staying somewhere for a while.
I hear that it can play BF4, which I'm not going to be playing, but if it can run that, it should run just about any other game I'd want to run.
Betta Lines
Member
Kod1ak seemed to suggest that he was looking primarily for a laptop, without revealing other motivations for picking a tablet form factor. I was making the point that it's a strange choice for someone actually looking for a laptop. Sure, it can function as many things, including a laptop, but it's compromised compared to the form factor of a decent laptop in this price range (relatively small screen size, quite a large bezel, weight distribution behind the screen rather than under the keyboard, only one USB, etc). There was another poster earlier in this thread who was weighing up the difference between the Surface Pro and a laptop, and it turns out they were better off with a laptop as they had no use for the tablet functionality.
Koda1k has since revealed that this is not the case here, as the digitizer has some appeal.
I haven't tried BF4 Kod1ak, but if it does run I'd say that is because they've allowed some pretty massive scaling of quality (which makes sense as it was developed for last-gen consoles too), and I wouldn't take that as a good indication of 'future-proofing' for games. Moving forward into 2014, with fewer games receiving a 360/PS3 release, the more likely the Pro 2 is going to struggle to run titles even at lowest settings.
Ian
Member
Erm...
You need to put some kind of context behind this statement then, as the Pro 2 is actually a very good laptop with the added bonus of being a useful tablet.
Betta Lines
Member
Well either you like to argue over semantics, or you're confused as to what you've bought. The Pro 2 is a tablet, with the added bonus of having a laptop-style functionality, thanks to its decent performance, the built-in kickstand and the optional keyboard cover. I have already offered reasons as to why it is compromised as a laptop in my previous post, but I can elaborate if you wish.
Ian
Member
There's really no confusion. If you buy the (yes, optional) type cover there is nothing that a traditional laptop can do that a Pro 2 can't.
I'm using one right now. As a replacement for an old laptop. I do full stack development on it. I wish I had one for work as it's better than the three year old Dell laptop that they provide.
I'm using one right now. As a replacement for an old laptop. I do full stack development on it. I wish I had one for work as it's better than the three year old Dell laptop that they provide.
Betta Lines
Member
I'm not disputing that. It's the form factor that results in compromises.
the better twin
Member
Is there some reason the touch cover 2 only comes in black? They make a point about receiving feedback for more colours of the type cover in the making of surface 2 video, but then they bizarrely drop the colour options of the touch cover.
Any indication there will be new colours soon?
Any indication there will be new colours soon?
I'm an expert
Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
My post after your's is directed at you, well, the top half.
Sorry i missed it.
Well, i think i do understand the differences.
S2 vs SP2 seems to be pretty significant, as the SP2 is closer to a laptop both in terms of specs and price, plus it packs a wacom pen.
They also differ in terms of OS, as S2 should be provided with the tablet-designed, simpler or streamlined version of Windows 8, whereas the SP2 is able to use more (if not all?) of windows 8 software, like Photoshop and such.
This is how i understood it anyway.
The Pro2 is simply too costly, as it starts at 700 here, versus the 400 of the Surface 2 (still pretty pricey, but closer to my range).
I'm wondering if the App thing is something someone who never used a tablet/smartphone would notice and in general i'm not entirely confident in what i'm spending all this money on.
I'm interested in anything that can help me maintain a fluid workflow, so if i have to look references and such, it'd be nice to have a browser, which is why i started considering a tablet instead of something simpler.
I also like the form factor, as opposed to something like a laptop, simply because it would mean i'd be more willing to always have the thing with me, should the need arise.
What i don't care for is gaming (i mean if i can play a game of angry-birds to pass the time i won't spit on it, but beyond that i really don't care) and i'd say most of media consumption services aren't really feasible here (we don't have netflix or hulu or what have you).
Art related apps would be neat, but the price bump to have a pen model just isn't worth it, from what i've seen.
NeOak
Member
Right, meaning? The pen comment was related to whatever art app might have been available.
Surely i couldn't use it to do serious art work (my home PC sometimes struggles with the file sizes, i can't see a tablet being able to handle it) so i assume it would mostly be for sketches, which i think isn't interesting enough to justify the price, for me anyway.
I've seen the Tested review of the Surface 2 and they were pretty critical of it, the more i read about tablets, the more confused i am, lol.
brochiller
Member
I'm in the market for a Windows tablet and I just have a quick question for you guys.
I'm trying to decide between the Surface 2 and the Dell Inspiron Pro 11. Is there any good reason (besides the $50 price difference) to choose a tablet with Windows RT over one with full fledged Windows? I feel like I could do a lot more with the Dell for only $50 more.
I'm trying to decide between the Surface 2 and the Dell Inspiron Pro 11. Is there any good reason (besides the $50 price difference) to choose a tablet with Windows RT over one with full fledged Windows? I feel like I could do a lot more with the Dell for only $50 more.
NeOak
Member
http://www.penny-arcade.com/2013/02/22/the-ms-surface-pro
http://www.penny-arcade.com/2013/10/28/surface-pro-2
The Surface Pro 2 with 256GB or 512GB has 8GB of RAM and that i5 can do 2.3Ghz with hyperthreading. You can do work on it.
hipbabboom
Huh? What did I say? Did I screw up again? :(
Beware of the tested review... its coming in with a lot of baggage and an obvious bias slant. The Apps thing was a vaudeville routine at its finest as they were searching for brands they knew weren't in the app store rather than searching by solutions. They want Pandora rather than a streaming music service which there are quite a few accessible on the platform. The web browser thing is even more hilarious as Norm says other browsers aren't allowed when in fact MS will allow other browsers that won't attempt to run native code which is a security risk. They don't even talk about IE's competency as a web browser... just that you can't use it.
The thing about tested is that they have certain expectations set by iOS and to some level, Android. The strengths of the RT platforms are never taken into account when they review those platforms and the strength of those platforms are taken in aggregate when reviewing an RT platform.
They set the tone with their first review and will continue it. When they said Windows 8 is not a very good tablet OS, it should have said all it needed to about their perspective on the matter.
fallingdove
Member
I think black is all they have in stock online. I stopped by the Microsoft store the other day and they had black, purple, cyan and white.
hipbabboom
Huh? What did I say? Did I screw up again? :(
Full fledged windows is always better in my book. The Surface 2 and the Dell Inspiron Pro 11 are not in the same class of computing. A more apt comparison would be between the Surface Pro 2 and the Dell Inspiron Pro 11.
The only thing I would say the Surface 2 may have over the Dell Inspiron Pro 11 is:
- Longer battery life
- Better build quality
- Perhaps a better image-quality screen (though they both have the same resolution)
brochiller
Member
I think as far as computing goes there is no question the Dell outclasses the Surface 2, but the thing is they are in the same class as far as price goes. Unless those points you listed are really that important, I just don't know how you can justify buying a Surface 2 when the Dell is only $50 more.
The Dell is really at the magical price point I think. I've been interested in the full Windows experience in the form of a tablet ever since the first Surface was announced, but the price was just far too high to justify a purchase for me. At $500 though, I think x86 Windows tablets may finally reach the masses. Especially with the $300 Venue Pro 8 out there as well.
Thanks for the clarifications, guys.
Seems like i'll have to consider more possibilities than i thought.
The Nexus 7 may be a great tablet, but a 7" Android tablet isn't exactly ideal if you want to do some writing and look at references (and neither is the upcoming Nexus 10).
If productivity is the main goal, you can't really go wrong with a Windows device. And there are quite a few to choose from.
The Surface 2 may be a great choice with its build quality, great keyboard, and Office. However, depending on your productivity needs, it may not be enough, since it limits you to Office. With an Intel Atom tablet you can install any Windows software you want. E.g. you could install a LaTeX editor.
With Windows tablets like the Surface or other 10"-11" devices like the Dell Venue Pro 11 you also have the option to plug in an external monitor, a mouse, and a keyboard, and then work with Office on the regular Windows desktop while also having the browser open to look stuff up.
So, I've recently started doing that.
Most of my stuff worked just fine but one of my PDFs (~220 pages, 20 MB) turned into a 900 MB monster. Now OneNote has been stuck syncing for ages even after I deleted the notebook.
Is there any way to influence the size of the notes? I printed through the Reader App, should I try something else?
The major doubt i have right now is pricing.
The Nexus 7 is relatively cheap, and given that i'm not looking to do big things with it, i'm kind of bummed by the idea of paying >500 to write on a doc and check the web.
On the other hand i also feel that if i buy an older/cheaper model, i may regret it in the future, should the need (or desire) for more out of a tablet arise.
NeOak
Member
Use Foxit to print. Or at least Adobe XI.
michaelius
Banned
Where can you buy Surface 2 Pro for 700 euros ?
the better twin
Member
Ah I live in the UK so don't have any stores. Can't find them anywhere online.
No where, actually.
I was using "trovaprezzi" which is usually pretty good for local prices, but that price was for the SP1.
So the SP2 would start at 866 or about there.
Which is very much out of my price range.
You can think of the Dell Venue Pro 8 as the Windows equivalent of the Nexus 7. It's only slightly bigger and only slightly more expensive. It's still Windows and it still comes with Office. I think there will be a keyboard accessory and I think you could use a Bluetooth keyboard.
The question is whether any tablet of that size can fulfill your productivity needs. 7" or 8" aren't a lot when you want to write a document. When you want to put the device down and use a keyboard , you'd be pretty far away from the screen.
For writing I'd get a bigger screen like on the Asus T100 (also pretty cheap, and comes with keyboard dock) or the Surface (any Surface).
Xplatformer
Member
So...yesterday I was using my Surface 2...shut it down...and a blue screen with pretty text came on saying there was an error with my storage device.
I proceeded to hold the power button down for 10 seconds... machine shuts down. I hit the power button to turn it on again....
SURFACE
The surface start up screen (black one with just the word SURFACE on it) comes on and the word SURFACE starts flashing on and off.
It does this for 30 minutes (holding the power button down no longer turns off the machine)...so I decide to take it to Best Buy. I mean, I've owned the unit for exactly 4 weeks so I'm assuming they will replace it.
Well...EVERYWHERE IN LOS ANGELES IS SOLD OUT.
So...they tell me they can "order" me a new Surface.
By now I'm pissed at Microsoft. Why? Because I'd actually started to love my RT2.
I decided not to wait, and Best Buy gave me a brand new iPad Mini with Retina. I've used it for about 6 hours now.
I miss my Surface. The user experience is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better imo on the Surface than it is on this fricken mini.
Not happy.
I proceeded to hold the power button down for 10 seconds... machine shuts down. I hit the power button to turn it on again....
SURFACE
The surface start up screen (black one with just the word SURFACE on it) comes on and the word SURFACE starts flashing on and off.
It does this for 30 minutes (holding the power button down no longer turns off the machine)...so I decide to take it to Best Buy. I mean, I've owned the unit for exactly 4 weeks so I'm assuming they will replace it.
Well...EVERYWHERE IN LOS ANGELES IS SOLD OUT.
So...they tell me they can "order" me a new Surface.
By now I'm pissed at Microsoft. Why? Because I'd actually started to love my RT2.
I decided not to wait, and Best Buy gave me a brand new iPad Mini with Retina. I've used it for about 6 hours now.
I miss my Surface. The user experience is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better imo on the Surface than it is on this fricken mini.
Not happy.
Does anyone have any experience with a capacitive stylus on the Surface 2?
I'm thinking of an Adonit Jot Pro. I have a Boxwave Evertouch and it's kind of 'steppy'. Unless I'm drawing very quickly the line isn't smooth. For writing it doesn't matter too much, just makes my handwriting look like crap, I'm amazed that windows can interpret it. Just wondering if any other option is better.
I'm thinking of an Adonit Jot Pro. I have a Boxwave Evertouch and it's kind of 'steppy'. Unless I'm drawing very quickly the line isn't smooth. For writing it doesn't matter too much, just makes my handwriting look like crap, I'm amazed that windows can interpret it. Just wondering if any other option is better.
NeOak
Member
A Surface 2?
It's like trying to paint a line on a wall throwing paint with the can.
You should have gone with the Pro that has the Wacom digitizer.
lastflowers
Banned
I've been writing my NaNoWriMo novel half on my surface, a third on my WP, and the rest on my desktop at home. Word is really nice on the machine when coupled with the type-cover.