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Surface 2 and Pro 2 |OT| Lap it up
- Thread starter GK86
- Start date
Chance Hale
Member
My pro 2 came in and I'm loving it but I do have a few questions. Is there a way to change the onscreen keyboard's size or to one with spell correction/word guess(forget the name, what's on a phone) My other question is what exactly is the gesture for switching between metro apps? I do the swipe from the left but it often only pops out halfway and i have to hold. Using a mouse with the windows 8 gestures is so much easier and makes the complaints about using it on a desktop even more bewildering. Going to pick up a purple type cover tomorrow as it seems the power cover is dead
Yeah, I was a bit disappointed the Surface didn't have the same keyboard as WP, love the spell correction/suggestion on WP, also interested if this is possible.
About swipe for switching apps, you need to start the swipe from outside the screen area for it to work best I think, that is, on the bezel of the screen. Also, swipe all the way in towards the middle of the screen if you want to quickswitch to previous app, swipe in from the bezel, and back out (outside the screen area) to get a list of open apps.
Hope this helps.
Betta Lines
Member
It's dependent on acceleration too - if you flick fast enough you don't have to cover much distance from the left.
PeakPointMatrix
Member
So I bit the bullet and picked up a 256 SP2 for on-the-go drawing and professional work. I have to say so far it's a little bit of a mixed bag, mostly due to the pen and calibration stuff. I think my biggest gripe is how much harder I need to press to register the lightest mark on the thing. I know I'm coming from a 22HD Cintiq with full pressure sensitivity, so the drop to half the amount of levels is understandable, but I expected less of a disparity after seeing so many artists swear by the thing in videos, like Mike Krahulik for example. There are occasions I need to really tap over and over for a click with the pen to register sometimes.
Maybe something is wrong with my pen? Did I calibrate it wrong?
I've ordered Wacom's Bamboo Feel pen from the positive reviews, so hopefully that provides a better drawing/pen tool experience, I'll report back.
Maybe something is wrong with my pen? Did I calibrate it wrong?
I've ordered Wacom's Bamboo Feel pen from the positive reviews, so hopefully that provides a better drawing/pen tool experience, I'll report back.
Probably find better help at http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/microsoft/
Have you tried installing the Wacom pen driver? There are pressure sensitivity options in its settings.
NeOak
Member
Wacom Feel Driver. Install it.
PeakPointMatrix
Member
Cool, I'll look into it.
I've installed that driver already, not much seems changed. The sensitivity setting only affects how quickly the pressure will rise only *after* I've applied enough force for the first touch to register. Despite the nib making contact with the screen, a "click" simply won't happen unless I exceed far beyond gentle force. It makes clicking in general with it a bit laborious, and does not match up with the positive impressions from others that draw with it.
I want to try the 100-point calibration, but I get a "linearity calibration data needs to be reset" pop-up window, which no matter how many times I do, it keeps popping up. :/
I really want to love this thing, it's really perfect for my needs, but this pen..
Scalemail Ted
Member
I sorta remember there was some optimized interface made for Photoshop for surface... Does anyone remember what it was called?
SRTtoZ
Member
So yea I love this device. Everything is super smooth and I can't believe how well the type cover 2 works. I had some experience with my sisters Touch Cover but it was nothing even close to this. I can hit 100wpm pretty easily on this and that's not bad considering I get around 110-120 using my blackwidow ultimate. I also love how they went with a silver/gray back instead of the fingerprint magnet that was the black magnesium. I had a bit of an issue getting my SanDisk 64gb SDXC card working but I shoved it in super hard and I heard a "click" and ever since there has been no problems detecting it. Now I'm just moving some movies from my PC onto my SDXC card and I'll give it a rest for the night.
Scalemail Ted
Member
Is there a list of what pre-installed bloatware should be removed to free up space?
NeOak
Member
Surface doesn't have bloatware.
EatinOlives
Member
Should I get a protective film? I'm just about to get into some sketching with this but I'm afraid of the stylus catching a piece of dust and giving the screen a nice scratch. On the other hand, dropping $10 for a film that may impact that image quality of the very nice screen, coupled with the fact that my protective-film adventures always end up with tons of bubbles, and I don't even know if I need one.
Do I need one?
Do I need one?
Scalemail Ted
Member
I had the same question, so what I did was go to BestBuy and check out their demo units. Because I know demo units see all sorts of hell and abuse. BestBuy had 6 units on display, and none of them had scratches on the screen. So I didn't buy a screen protector.
I think making all my files accessible on the SD card may not be perfect. I might be having some issues. When I reboot the system and it looks for changes, it runs through all the files. In my case, I have thousands of photos and some programming 'ebooks' that consist of hundreds of files (the accompanying code). At times this process seems to fail and restart. Maybe when I'm doing something like opening the OneDrive app or checking how far the process has come.
When the Surface is running and OneDrive is up to date, it works great, but checking ~20k files every time it looks for changes may be problematic. I'll keep an eye on it for now.
gAg CruSh3r
Member
Has anyone try running a capture card on a surface pro yet? I'm thinking about getting a Surface pro the 128gb model. The capture card I will have is a roxio game capture HD pro.
Xplatformer
Member
For any Surface RT/2 gamers the Windows store now has Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. It supports a wired 360 controller through usb port.
I don't think you can do the custom point calibration tests if you install the the Wacom driver, I remember seeing a workaround, but I never got to it. I just uninstalled the driver, did the custom point test, then reinstalled it.
Strange you're having clicking problems, possible to try a different pen? Some people seem to be getting your problem or having the pen do a "click" before even touching the screen.
I'm just gonna ask this here:
I've been looking at either the Surface Pro or Surface Pro 2. So far, the only difference I can see is that the Pro 2 has a slightly better CPU and GPU, and better battery life.
The thing is though, I can get the Surface Pro 128GB for 599$, and the Surface Pro 2 128GB is 999$ here. ( The netherlands ).
Is it really worth the 400$ to get the newer version?
I've been looking at either the Surface Pro or Surface Pro 2. So far, the only difference I can see is that the Pro 2 has a slightly better CPU and GPU, and better battery life.
The thing is though, I can get the Surface Pro 128GB for 599$, and the Surface Pro 2 128GB is 999$ here. ( The netherlands ).
Is it really worth the 400$ to get the newer version?
-COOLIO-
The Everyman
it really comes down to battery life more than anything. ~7-8 hours vs 4 hours.
I'm an expert
Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
I had the same choice back in October and went with the 1. Do not regret it at all. However, if you don't constantly have access to an outlet, I would definitely recommend you consider the battery life differences.
I'll be using the thing while in the bus or train to do some stuff in Word or play something simple as Banished / RCT. And I might use it for basic school stuff as well.
I believe it's possible to get six hours of battery life off the first gen Surface Pro, from what I've read.
Link
Thanks, gonna buy it either this or next week. Can't wait to play some awesome games on it.
There's something seriously wrong with my OneDrive synching and I don't think it has anything to do with the SD card at all.
It appears, it has an issue with using different language versions of Windows in parallel.
My desktop is running a US version of Windows 7, where my pictures folder is named Pictures. But on the German version of Windows, the pictures folder is called Bilder, but still uses the Pictures path.
Now OneDrive on my Surface 2 somehow screws up and for no reason at all adds an additional Bilder folder next to my Pictures folder. Then it looks for changes for a loooong time and decides to upload the redundant 5+ GB Bilder folder next to the Pictures folder.
For now it's probably best if I let it upload the folder and keep both in parallel as long as I don't run into space problems.
Just have to make sure I don't modify either folder and lose changes when I get rid of the bad one at some point.
LukasTaves
Member
This is very interesting... Will give it a try!
LukasTaves
Member
I've been using skydrive with my surface changing from portuguese to english and never encountered these issues, but it might be because I set up my main picture folder as my skydrive folder, so I guess it still keeps the same underlying name no matter the language I'm displaying...
But it does sound like something that should be pointed out to Ms so they can fix it... I've found this forum, but not sure they use it as a bugtracker...
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/onedrive/forum?auth=1
For now I'll just let it do its thing and keep an eye on it. Not clear yet how exactly it will behave with two parallel versions.
To be safe, I'm now creating a backup copy of my OneDrive folder on my desktop (at some point I should get around to doing real backups on my Windows devices...).
Can you shut off the display of the Surface without putting the whole device in standby? Or does it still offer a screen saver? I'll just keep it running over the night and possibly longer.
LukasTaves
Member
If you let it in the lock screen it should go black after a few seconds... But if you want it to go through the night you probably better let it plugged in (unless you have a surface 2 that should have enough battery for that)
NeOak
Member
1 yr. You can pay for 2yr with accidental damage.
I'm guessing I'd do well to pick the 2yr warranty.
Jailer of Hope
Member
It's better than most warranties. I think it's actually something that Microsoft will actually let you buy after you break it too. At least, they did that to my Lumina 920. I dropped it hard enough that the screen cracked. I took it to a Microsoft store, paid $99 for the accidental damage and since they stopped making 920s at that point, I was upgraded to a 1020 instead. Took about 30-40 mins. Plus, it still covers one more replacement with a $50 deductible within 2 years. The same thing happened to my brother before that but they still had 920s so they gave him another one. Because of that I immediately opted for the 2 year warranty for my Surface Pro 2. I think you have to pay a deductible for each replacement though (I think $100?), but it's still a great plan. I wasn't sure if they would allow me to pay for it after I damaged it like with my phone so I just went ahead and got it.
EDIT: I don't know how much the plan is for the Surface since I bought it in a bundle.
NeOak
Member
$150 with $50 deductible
A. Lawl (tba)
B. 6 hours if you really tweak it
C. 2m
D. No unless it warms up
Got my Surface Pro 1 today, updating it atm.
And damn microsoft for being overpriced with their warranty. The store I bought has a warranty that costs 65 euros, and gives me a 2 yr warranty against damage like water and such.
Now I was checking the Microsoft warranty page ( Dutch version ), and it explained how I could buy the special warranty through the Microsoft Shop. However, the link redirects you to the US shop, where it costs 100$. Now seeing as I'm unable to use that, I called Microsoft and asked them what the price would be for me in the Netherlands.
A whooping 169,99 euros. So 133$ more then the US warranty xD
And damn microsoft for being overpriced with their warranty. The store I bought has a warranty that costs 65 euros, and gives me a 2 yr warranty against damage like water and such.
Now I was checking the Microsoft warranty page ( Dutch version ), and it explained how I could buy the special warranty through the Microsoft Shop. However, the link redirects you to the US shop, where it costs 100$. Now seeing as I'm unable to use that, I called Microsoft and asked them what the price would be for me in the Netherlands.
A whooping 169,99 euros. So 133$ more then the US warranty xD
I'm an expert
Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
I think so too
LukasTaves
Member
Wow, this indeed makes the battery life *really* good. The performance decrease is noticeable in some apps, but nothing major, except for flipboard, that gets so leggy I couldn't bare myself to use it... Which is very weird, because even half a i5 should run circles on an app that simple...
Edit: Weird, tried flipboard again and it was buttery smooth...
That Freedom Case is just what I need. Don't have fifty bucks to throw at it's Kickstarter at the moment, though.
Holy shit.
I have to say, there's no place that makes me laugh more at people using laptops than on the plane. Taking a very late flight tonight and the guy next to me was using his laptop sideways because the guy in front of him leaned his seat back. Meanwhile I'm sitting comfortably and using the on screen keyboard to type faster than he seems to be able to type sideways. Maybe he's better at it when he isn't at a 90 degree angle.
Pretty sure that if Microsoft ever stops making the Surface Pro, I will die the next day.
Pretty sure that if Microsoft ever stops making the Surface Pro, I will die the next day.
Office meetings.
People setting up their ipads with a detachable keyboard or a sausage stylus, asking for presentations in PDF because they can't properly display the powerpoint, unable to connect to the projector so we are all squinting at his screen.
All the while I go from handwritten notes in powerpoint, to using the kickstand to type, and connecting to the projector and using my Windows Phone to flick through slides.
More like go to the pub "where real business gets done"
LukasTaves
Member
Anyone knows/uses a good miracast dongle to recommend?
I bought one dongle in dx and it was pure crap. I have to constantly open an app to use it, terrible image quality, even at 1080p and the lag even with the lowest quality image was simply unusable... It was so terrible to use that pluging the hdmi cable on my surface was actually faster and easier than using that horrible app to control it.
I bought one dongle in dx and it was pure crap. I have to constantly open an app to use it, terrible image quality, even at 1080p and the lag even with the lowest quality image was simply unusable... It was so terrible to use that pluging the hdmi cable on my surface was actually faster and easier than using that horrible app to control it.