Support NeoGAF

[I'm an expert]

I don't even use bookmarks..the recent sites line has pretty much every site I use for work and recreation. I've never been a big bookmark guy anyway. On Chrome my home page is simply my most visited sites, basically my bookmarks.

 

[-COOLIO-]

how is this as a tablet guys?

i'm thinking of a SP2 to replace my core2 duo desktop ... so thinking along the lines of a desktop replacement, that i can carry off if need be. which works for me.

but to buy it i may have to sell my xperia tablet z .... which really doens't do a lot more than what my galaxy s4 can..... other than provide that light wieght tablet formfactor ..

for stuff like chrome broswer .... does the surface pro 2 have pinch zoom support?

trying to think of tablety stuff i've taken for granted that i might miss moving to windows ...

i think its awesome, my only issues with the sp2 are:

- only 2 kickstand positions
- the screen is a biiit cramped for keyboard and mouse games like dota and sc2
- only 1 usb port

 

[sca2511]

Chrome has been kinda weird lately, I agree with you guys. Been using IE extensively and it's great.

As a tablet, it has my most used applications(other than G+), so it's wonderful. Things I'm waiting for are the double tap and drag(click and hold will helps ease the wait) and hopefully Comixology will implement HD comics into their app. Looking forward to getting a dock and a power cover, whenever that's announced.

Chrome browser has pinch to zoom and high DPI support, but I had to enable them in chrome://flags. I'd wish Firefox would implement touch support, I'd go back to it if so.

 

[Chance Hale]

Why does amazon not offer the surface pro 2 or any of its related products? Everything is overcharged by third party sellers. Had some credit from old textbooks that would have been nice to use.

Also, have there been any rumblings for the power cover yet?

 

[I'm an expert]

Why does amazon not offer the surface pro 2 or any of its related products? Everything is overcharged by third party sellers. Had some credit from old textbooks that would have been nice to use.

Also, have there been any rumblings for the power cover yet?

Why are there no iPads either... hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

 

[Chance Hale]

Why are there no iPads either... hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Suppose I'd never really looked but amazon has the rather extensive computer sections but it seems the vast majority are all sold by third parties. Suppose the implication of your comment is Microsoft alone wants to sell them through retail stores? Don't really buy laptops very often so I suppose it's something I'd never really put too much thought into.

 

[I'm an expert]

I'll give you a tiny hint.

Amazon has a gigantic competing product.

 

[Chance Hale]

I'll give you a tiny hint.

Amazon has a gigantic competing product.

Ah, forgot about the kindle. I've had the same nook for years

 

[Betta Lines]

Got the firmware update a couple of days ago, seemed to fix the sleep issues - it's not draining the battery anymore. But I tried charging it today... stopped at 20%. Contacted MS again, they immediately said it would be best if they replaced it. I asked if that meant mine was actually faulty, unresolvable with future updates, and the guy said that it's 'possible' that a future update might solve it. He said this update supposedly fixed the problems for the majority of users, but there were still a few having charging problems.

Slightly concerning that MS themselves don't seem to know what they broke.

 

[Lucius86]

Hmm, I'm starting to get the occasional sticky letter. Naturally I would assume it's the Type Cover 2 acting up, but it locked up on me with the OSK a couple of times too, typically when pressing the "o" letter for some strange reason.

Asked for a replacement Type Cover under the warranty, let's see if that helps.

So my replacement Type Cover 2 came in today - thankfully still pimp in purple. It's surprising how soft the new keys are compared to my battered ones on my first TC2, and quieter. Maybe I need to type lighter.

Anyway, so far after an evening's usage, no issue with my 'o' key any more. Hopefully this will be it.

 

[sun-drop]

i really use the chrome tab and pw syncing A LOT ... so yeh ... would be hopeful touch controls worked well on SP2 ..

 

[Tablo]

Anyone have some extended impressions of the Surface 2? Dad is finally ready to make the jump so just wondering about the basics and any observations some of you astute users have made over time

 

[Sikamikanico]

Squeeee.

A shed load of overtime over Christmas, it's payday today...so it's Surface Pro 2 day!

Opted to pick up the 128 Gb Surface Pro 2 with Cyan Type Cover.

I'm stupidly excited, even though I already have a wonderfully fast desktop PC. It's just been soooo long since I've had a decent laptop, and I've never owned a tablet.

Roll on lunchtime so I can go pick it up.

 

[sca2511]

Squeeee.

A shed load of overtime over Christmas, it's payday today...so it's Surface Pro 2 day!

Opted to pick up the 128 Gb Surface Pro 2 with Cyan Type Cover.

I'm stupidly excited, even though I already have a wonderfully fast desktop PC. It's just been soooo long since I've had a decent laptop, and I've never owned a tablet.

Roll on lunchtime so I can go pick it up.

I'm excited for you! This will definitely be awesome.

 

[NeOak]

Squeeee.

A shed load of overtime over Christmas, it's payday today...so it's Surface Pro 2 day!

Opted to pick up the 128 Gb Surface Pro 2 with Cyan Type Cover.

I'm stupidly excited, even though I already have a wonderfully fast desktop PC. It's just been soooo long since I've had a decent laptop, and I've never owned a tablet.

Roll on lunchtime so I can go pick it up.

I was like that when I went to pick up my 256GB on launch day.

Enjoy!

 

[Lucius86]

Squeeee.

A shed load of overtime over Christmas, it's payday today...so it's Surface Pro 2 day!

Opted to pick up the 128 Gb Surface Pro 2 with Cyan Type Cover.

I'm stupidly excited, even though I already have a wonderfully fast desktop PC. It's just been soooo long since I've had a decent laptop, and I've never owned a tablet.

Roll on lunchtime so I can go pick it up.

Yep, I was such an excited little bunny too for when mine turned up. Same situation too - very fast desktop for gaming, but as this little thing replaced 99% of my computer usage, I sold my desktop to my girlfriend and have not looked back once. It's a great product, even with some of the quirks it has.

Enjoy!

 

[Dega]

Looks like Ebay has Surface 32GB for $170 today.

 

[I'm an expert]

Looks like Ebay has Surface 32GB for $170 today.

Got damn..for that price.. with full Office suite..

 

[Xplatformer]

Anyone have some extended impressions of the Surface 2? Dad is finally ready to make the jump so just wondering about the basics and any observations some of you astute users have made over time

Love mine to death.

Let me explain.

I've owned the original Kindle Fire, a Kindle Fire 8.9 HD, a retina iPad mini (for 1 week) and my girlfriend has owned an iPad 2 for two years. I've used all of them pretty extensively over the past two years and I can say without question that the Surface RT2 is the best tablet I've used.

For the Kindle....the onscreen keyboard sucks compared to the Surface RT (way less responsive). Also, SILK, Dolphin, Opera....whatever browser you decide to fire up on the Kindle pales compared to IE 11 on the RT2. Speed, text...compatibility...all pale on the Kindles.

Oh yes...IE 11

It's the best web browser app you're going to find on a tablet. Sure, it may not have the plug ins you'd want...but if all you need to do is browse on a tablet...not Chrome, not Safari, not Opera, not Firefox....on a tablet can compare to IE 11 on a Surface RT2. Hell, you can even access ALL of Hulu content on the Surface (which you can't do on other tablets...unless I missed something).

Drawback to Surface RT2?

Games. That's it. There is not one FPS on the platform. No Shadowgun, No Nova 3, No COD.

It's rediculous that there isn't a single FPS title on WinRT. And don't get me started on there not being XCom or Shadowrun.

But other than that, or the particular app that an individual may not be able to do without, the Surface RT2 shines as a tablet platform.
Secret Gems

1. KVadPhoto Plus ....enjoy more than Photoshop Express
2. Book Bazarre Reader...read my EPUBS
3. Riptide GP2 (one of the few great games on the platform)
4. File Manager HD...file browser app
5. Mobile HD...watching mkv files

 

[GreatMightySymp]

Anyone felt the need to use an USB to Ethernet adaptor or is the built-in wireless fine speed-wise?

 

[Windu]

Anyone felt the need to use an USB to Ethernet adaptor or is the built-in wireless fine speed-wise?

never felt the need.

 

[Schlep]

That's 3 out of 5 bars on 802.11n on a 50/25 (lol?) connection. Can't imagine needing an ethernet adapter unless you were moving some seriously huge files around a network or had bad reception.

 

[Gazunta]

Heya guys and gals -

So after months (and months) of saving up I'm finally buying a Surface Pro 2 this weekend. WHOOOOO.

I plan on using this pretty much exclusively as a portable Photoshop machine so I can make my comics during times where I can't be at my home desktop machines (work lunch breaks, sitting at public transport, funerals of distant relatives, etc)

I guess what I would like to know is - I figure that 128GB is enough room for Windows, a Photoshop installation and my Dropbox folder - but how does Photoshop perform with only 4GB of RAM on the Surface Pro 2?

I have 4GB of RAM in my main W7 desktop machine and I don't have any real complaints about performance, but I was wondering if things would be much different considering Windows 8.1 and the tablet CPU / GPU.

Also - how does the pen compare to a regular Cintiq?

(I might also post this on the Arts & Farts thread)

 

[MCD]

Heya guys and gals -

So after months (and months) of saving up I'm finally buying a Surface Pro 2 this weekend. WHOOOOO.

I plan on using this pretty much exclusively as a portable Photoshop machine so I can make my comics during times where I can't be at my home desktop machines (work lunch breaks, sitting at public transport, funerals of distant relatives, etc)

I guess what I would like to know is - I figure that 128GB is enough room for Windows, a Photoshop installation and my Dropbox folder - but how does Photoshop perform with only 4GB of RAM on the Surface Pro 2?

I have 4GB of RAM in my main W7 desktop machine and I don't have any real complaints about performance, but I was wondering if things would be much different considering Windows 8.1 and the tablet CPU / GPU.

Also - how does the pen compare to a regular Cintiq?

(I might also post this on the Arts & Farts thread)

No artist but these two posts by Gabe from Penny Arcade might be worth a read:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/2013/02/22/the-ms-surface-pro

http://www.penny-arcade.com/2013/10/28/surface-pro-2

 

[I'm an expert]

I have 4GB of RAM in my main W7 desktop machine and I don't have any real complaints about performance, but I was wondering if things would be much different considering Windows 8.1 and the tablet CPU / GPU.

welcome to the major leagues

 

[NeOak]

Heya guys and gals -

So after months (and months) of saving up I'm finally buying a Surface Pro 2 this weekend. WHOOOOO.

I plan on using this pretty much exclusively as a portable Photoshop machine so I can make my comics during times where I can't be at my home desktop machines (work lunch breaks, sitting at public transport, funerals of distant relatives, etc)

I guess what I would like to know is - I figure that 128GB is enough room for Windows, a Photoshop installation and my Dropbox folder - but how does Photoshop perform with only 4GB of RAM on the Surface Pro 2?

I have 4GB of RAM in my main W7 desktop machine and I don't have any real complaints about performance, but I was wondering if things would be much different considering Windows 8.1 and the tablet CPU / GPU.

Also - how does the pen compare to a regular Cintiq?

(I might also post this on the Arts & Farts thread)

Win8 has a more efficient RAM management. If you haven't ran out of RAM on Win7, you won't on 8.


The Wacom digitizer on the Surface Pro models only supports 1024 pressure levels.

Just don't forget to install the Wacom Feel drivers so you can get WinTAB support.

 

[Special C]

So the backlighting on my Type Cover 2 just quit working.....

 

[TheLaughingStock]

The Tegra 3 is awful.

Performs fine. http://youtu.be/Z0ZjjrHPpbg

Would recommend for a cheap price.

 

[Sikamikanico]

It's mine and my god I love it so much.

Just updating all the firmware then I'm going to spend the whole day playing with it.

Just to be clear, I'm talking about my shiny Surface Pro 2, and not my penis.

Any recommended app downloads?

 

[I'm an expert]

Typical stuff.. your bank, broker, social media, entertainment, news, preferred reader, cloud service..

 

[Sikamikanico]

Is there a way to free up more space on the 128Gb Storage? I remember hearing there were temporary setup files that hog a lot of space unnecessarily...

 

[NeOak]

It's mine and my god I love it so much.

Just updating all the firmware then I'm going to spend the whole day playing with it.

Just to be clear, I'm talking about my shiny Surface Pro 2, and not my penis.

Any recommended app downloads?

Don't forget to update your penis firmware!

 

[I'm an expert]

Is there a way to free up more space on the 128Gb Storage? I remember hearing there were temporary setup files that hog a lot of space unnecessarily...

It's in this thread multiple times I think, or you can just Google moving the backup shit to another drive.

 

[Sikamikanico]

My god is my girlfriend pissed that I bought this thing.

I'm in the doghouse tonight, but at least I have a really cool toy to play with while I'm there.

 

[I'm an expert]

You bought it because you could afford it.. right..?

 

[EatinOlives]

Man people were NOT kidding when they said IE on Metro on Pro is amazing. It's without a doubt the best browser on any tablet. There's no arbitrary limitation (like "no Flash") of any kind and it's got the full functionality of a touch tablet interface. Ziplining between my uni's finicky email client with no problem and a fully-featured google docs is pure bliss.

 

[biRdy]

Man people were NOT kidding when they said IE on Metro on Pro is amazing. It's without a doubt the best browser on any tablet. There's no arbitrary limitation (like "no Flash") of any kind and it's got the full functionality of a touch tablet interface. Ziplining between my uni's finicky email client with no problem and a fully-featured google docs is pure bliss.

Yes I love it, so much I didn't even bother installing Chrome at all.

 

[Sikamikanico]

You bought it because you could afford it.. right..?

Yeah, for the most part. Got a baby due in May, so I figured this was the last time I'd ever be able to treat myself for many many years...she disagrees. All money for the baby, now and forever.

Oh well.

 

[HammerOfThor]

My god is my girlfriend pissed that I bought this thing.

I'm in the doghouse tonight, but at least I have a really cool toy to play with while I'm there.

Ha oddly enough my girlfriend is giving me shit for not buying one, she tells me it'll be useful for my job/career(which is very true).

 

[ttony678]

Performs fine. http://youtu.be/Z0ZjjrHPpbg

Would recommend for a cheap price.

You can snap 3 apps on the first gen rt? I thought the resolution is too low.

 

[dLMN8R]

You can snap 3 apps on the first gen rt? I thought the resolution is too low.

Looks like it might be connected to an external monitor

 

[Alx]

Man people were NOT kidding when they said IE on Metro on Pro is amazing. It's without a doubt the best browser on any tablet. There's no arbitrary limitation (like "no Flash") of any kind and it's got the full functionality of a touch tablet interface. Ziplining between my uni's finicky email client with no problem and a fully-featured google docs is pure bliss.

Yes it's great, it even made me leave Opera which I was using on all platforms since forever (the latest changes in Opera also helped in that choice).
The only thing I wish (but it doesn't depend on IE) would be a better support for touch in google docs. I can't scroll documents with swiping and have to use scrollbars, which is frustrating.

 

[BubbaMc]

Anyone else have an issue in Metro IE where you open a link in a new tab, and it doesn't load? (sometimes it will load after 30secs or so, sometimes not at all - I always need to copy the link, manually open a new tab and paste the link in the address bar)

 

[I'm an expert]

Anyone else have an issue in Metro IE where you open a link in a new tab, and it doesn't load? (sometimes it will load after 30secs or so, sometimes not at all - I always need to copy the link, manually open a new tab and paste the link in the address bar)

This is a gaf only thing lol. I think it's cause of viglink or whatever the fuck. Just tap gaf and the new tab again and it'll load.

 

[biRdy]

Anyone else have an issue in Metro IE where you open a link in a new tab, and it doesn't load? (sometimes it will load after 30secs or so, sometimes not at all - I always need to copy the link, manually open a new tab and paste the link in the address bar)

Yes! Its so damn annoying but no need to copy link, just switch tabs back and it will load.

 

[Sikamikanico]

I stuck Halo CE on my Surface Pro last night, runs absolutely fine, with all the bells and whistles turned on, but for some reason, won't go full screen - it only gives me 3 or 4 resolutions to choose from in the options, and the max it will do is 1024x768 (I think)

Basically, it looks like it's on 4:3 monitor, and not widescreen - anyone know of a way to fix it or had a similar issue?

Thanks in advance!

 

[runningjoke]

I stuck Halo CE on my Surface Pro last night, runs absolutely fine, with all the bells and whistles turned on, but for some reason, won't go full screen - it only gives me 3 or 4 resolutions to choose from in the options, and the max it will do is 1024x768 (I think)

Basically, it looks like it's on 4:3 monitor, and not widescreen - anyone know of a way to fix it or had a similar issue?

Thanks in advance!

Don't have Halo CE but the WSGF suggests a hack: http://www.wsgf.org/dr/halo-combat-evolved

 

[sca2511]

No other browsers have caught up with IE in terms of touch smoothness/functionality on the Surface Pros?

 

[Sikamikanico]

Don't have Halo CE but the WSGF suggests a hack: http://www.wsgf.org/dr/halo-combat-evolved

Thanks, appreciate it.

 

[Ganondolf]

interestingly the uk MS online store has removed the docking station and power cover from the listed accessories. it used to show the docking station as out of stock and the power cover as coming soon.