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Surface 2 and Pro 2 |OT| Lap it up

NeOak

Member
Thinking of getting a Surface Pro 2 today. It would be $599 for an open box 128gb model. Should I spring for it?

I'd be using it for note taking, web browsing, music notation software (sibelius/finale), a few games (Roller Coaster Tycoon, whatever light games it can run, emulators), videos and whatnot.

Thats not a bad price. Where are you buying it?
 

Special C

Member
Thinking of getting a Surface Pro 2 today. It would be $599 for an open box 128gb model. Should I spring for it?

I'd be using it for note taking, web browsing, music notation software (sibelius/finale), a few games (Roller Coaster Tycoon, whatever light games it can run, emulators), videos and whatnot.

I'm VERY impressed with the SP2 and IE as a browsing device.

Also it will suprise you some of the games you can run on a SP2. I can run plenty of newer games like Divinity:OS and Civilization:BE. (Granted those arent really resource intensive games)
 

whitehawk

Banned
I'm VERY impressed with the SP2 and IE as a browsing device.

Also it will suprise you some of the games you can run on a SP2. I can run plenty of newer games like Divinity:OS and Civilization:BE. (Granted those arent really resource intensive games)
Nice. I think all I want to run is RC2 (I hope I can make it work well with just the stylus), some emulators (dolphin maybe? will depend on games), some indie games, and some older games that should run fine.

Ordered it, can't wait.
 
Is Surface 2 RT bad? I plan mostly to surf the web and it's either this or Dell Venue 8 Pro.

Unless there are specific apps you need (do research and make sure their isn't a website that does what your needed app would do) the Surface 2 is still a great tablet.

Depends on what you plan to do with it.

Mine is mostly for media consumption, banking, office and accessing all Hulu Plus content (did you know that other tablets limit what Hulu content you can watch).

If you like gaming on a tablet I'd get an iPad mini instead.

USB port on the Surface 2 is a big plus also.


The Dell Venue may be the way to go, but I love the build quality of the Surface 2 as well. I also don't mind not running full blown Windows.
 
I was just playing with an S2 at Staples, who have the $299 price (a $150 saving). For the hell of it (I've already done my weekly "milk run"), I then stopped in at Kroger, which is in the same shopping complex and would you believe it, Kellogg's Corn Flakes have an S2 instant win promo, so I couldn't resist and bought two boxes... And I'm now the proud owner of... two boxes of cornflakes ;).
 

captive

Joe Six-Pack: posting for the common man
My surface is no longer receiving text input from my power cover. Anything I can do, already shutdown disconnected reconnected and powered on, it worked briefly then stopped. Or is this a trip to the Microsoft store?
 

NeOak

Member
My surface is no longer receiving text input from my power cover. Anything I can do, already shutdown disconnected reconnected and powered on, it worked briefly then stopped. Or is this a trip to the Microsoft store?
Dead.

Get on your car.
 

captive

Joe Six-Pack: posting for the common man
Dead.

Get on your car.

Actually, i turned the surface off and then held the power button and volume up button for like 45 seconds per the MS website and now I am writing this post from the keyboard again.

Interestingly even though no text or mouse functions were working from the keyboard Surface was still able to charge it.
 

captive

Joe Six-Pack: posting for the common man
How well does the Surface Pro 2 run Lightroom? VERY tempted to jump on that $400 Pro 2.
It runs it great. I have hundreds of gigs of raws on a server in lightroom and my friend was jealous at how fast it loaded photos compared to his old iMac.
 

Sai

Member
My surface is no longer receiving text input from my power cover. Anything I can do, already shutdown disconnected reconnected and powered on, it worked briefly then stopped. Or is this a trip to the Microsoft store?
Seems like you already resolved it, but I had an issue like this months ago that I had to call MS for. None of my input devices were responding; type cover, mouse, stylus, bluetooth stuff...

Ended up having to delete a driver and rebooting my Pro 2 to have it re-installed. Everything worked fine afterwards.
 
That's for the Surface 2, which has RT.

Absolutely.

There is nothing wrong with Windows RT. If the apps you plan on using are available for it that is.

You guys give RT a bad rap. Compared to lollipop or iOS it's just as good, if not better (browser).
 

whitehawk

Banned
Absolutely.

There is nothing wrong with Windows RT. If the apps you plan on using are available for it that is.

You guys give RT a bad rap. Compared to lollipop or iOS it's just as good, if not better (browser).
I've have my surface pro 2 for a while now, and the app store is terrible. There are so many apps that are always there on Android/iOS. Where are all the Google apps? The emulators? Even YouTube isn't there. NBA Gametime. Banking apps. Spotify.
I know a bunch of these apps are usable in a web browser, but apps are great because ultimately, HTML isn't that great. Native apps will always be better.
 

ElNino

Member
I've have my surface pro 2 for a while now, and the app store is terrible. There are so many apps that are always there on Android/iOS. Where are all the Google apps? The emulators? Even YouTube isn't there. NBA Gametime. Banking apps. Spotify.
I know a bunch of these apps are usable in a web browser, but apps are great because ultimately, HTML isn't that great. Native apps will always be better.
YouTube is there via MetroTube. My son uses it all the time on his RT.
 

NeOak

Member
thanks for the tip :]

ill still be writing a sternly worded letter in my imagination to ms though.

Can't blame them. Wacom were dicks for the SP3 because they didn't want competition for their overpriced tablets. So MS had to go with n-Trig for the SP3.

No use in making more pens for something you don't produce anymore.

And it's funny because Wacom discontinued the Cintiq Companion anyway.
 

Pooya

Member
My charger is dead, the cable just right behind the plug is blown. burnt plastic smell everywhere. don't know what to do. I'm getting on a plane in a few hours and really needed this thing to work. Bad luck.

holy jebus, chargers for this thing are expensive. any decent 3rd party charger around? not sure if MS would replace this that easily I will try. still not a bad idea to have second charger around.
 

Treo360

Member
My charger is dead, the cable just right behind the plug is blown. burnt plastic smell everywhere. don't know what to do. I'm getting on a plane in a few hours and really needed this thing to work. Bad luck.

holy jebus, chargers for this thing are expensive. any decent 3rd party charger around? not sure if MS would replace this that easily I will try. still not a bad idea to have second charger around.

Are you within warranty? I got a warranty replacement when I broke my charger. The best part? Free of charge.
 
My charger is dead, the cable just right behind the plug is blown. burnt plastic smell everywhere. don't know what to do. I'm getting on a plane in a few hours and really needed this thing to work. Bad luck.

holy jebus, chargers for this thing are expensive. any decent 3rd party charger around? not sure if MS would replace this that easily I will try. still not a bad idea to have second charger around.
Last Summer I was in Atlanta, about to take an international trip and realized that I left my charger at home, 200 miles away... Had to make a quick trip to a Microsoft Store and buy another one. I felt so bad paying that much for a power brick and cable.
 

captive

Joe Six-Pack: posting for the common man
My charger is dead, the cable just right behind the plug is blown. burnt plastic smell everywhere. don't know what to do. I'm getting on a plane in a few hours and really needed this thing to work. Bad luck.

holy jebus, chargers for this thing are expensive. any decent 3rd party charger around? not sure if MS would replace this that easily I will try. still not a bad idea to have second charger around.

i got a microsoft charger for like 30 bucks on amazon. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AOBTZPG/?tag=neogaf0e-20

received my moms Surface Pro 3 last night, i'm really impressed at how thin it is and it seems to be about the same weight or lighter than my surface, despite being a bigger screen.
 
So my SP2 pretty much got destroyed while I was moving. I have the accidental replacement plan thing. What can I expect if I bring it to a MS store and what can I do to prepare for it?
 
I recently purchased one of the refurb Surface 2s for 199, and have been playing with it all this week.

Wonderful tablet, best I've ever owned (I have an iPad 1 and 2013 Nexus 7 for LTE purposes). It smashed the Samsung tablets I was test driving, though to be fair I didn't put it up against an Air or Air 2. It's crazy good for only 199.

I'm not much of an app guy, so the lack of apps doesn't really impact me much, and I really needed Office. I wonder how much of a constraint the 32GB will become (if at all), and I hope RT isn't left for dead (I'd bet it will be). I'm tempted to try and figure out a way to bump up to a Pro 3. :)
 

whitehawk

Banned
Does anyone else have this problem?

Sometimes when my Surface Pro 2 is just sitting around, it will start making a buzzing sound, coming from the top left of the device. If I then turn the screen on, the volume of the buzz will greatly decrease, but it's still there.

It's annoying because I was just sitting her at my desk and this buzzing started happening which is rather irritating. Not the biggest deal, but still. I'm guessing it's something with the LCD screen? I remember my old PSP 1000 would make a weird noise if the brightness setting was on low, but went away on high.

edit: I could try recording the sound next time it happens.
 
I've have my surface pro 2 for a while now, and the app store is terrible. There are so many apps that are always there on Android/iOS. Where are all the Google apps? The emulators? Even YouTube isn't there. NBA Gametime. Banking apps. Spotify.
I know a bunch of these apps are usable in a web browser, but apps are great because ultimately, HTML isn't that great. Native apps will always be better.

Surface 2RT isn't for everyone, but NBA League Pass through the RT browser is WAY more enjoyable than using Gametime on an Ipad mini imo. And I have B of A's app on my Surface.

Hyper is a very good youtube app that I've been using for over a year.

Sorry...for under $400 the Surface RT2 with a keyboard is a great tablet to own.

edit: That said, thinking about how Microsoft drops support for things...I'd second guess recommending one no matter how good a value it is.
 

Treo360

Member
There is, I'm sure you've seen the conference, or highlights of it, but it's a start menu with a list of all your apps on the left, and a "start screen metro interface" to the right of that. IE isn't metro, which sucks, I really liked IE metro. The build is still buggy on the surface. I might rollback soon.
 
What's up with my SP2's screen? Black/gamma levels seem to be completely fucked in photos.
For example, in this photo the shadow on the wall is blown out instead of the outline and loaded with gross splotches.
304240_2015-01-19_000y6p62.png
What's the best way to fix this? Can't seem to find a happy medium with the windows gamma tool. Photos that aren't dark or heavy in shadows are fine.
 

AnkitT

Member
What's up with my SP2's screen? Black/gamma levels seem to be completely fucked in photos.
For example, in this photo the shadow on the wall is blown out instead of the outline and loaded with gross splotches.
What's the best way to fix this? Can't seem to find a happy medium with the windows gamma tool. Photos that aren't dark or heavy in shadows are fine.

This is due to the intel drivers that come from microsoft. to fix it, download the intel drivers from here and extract the exe to a directory. Then overwrite the current display driver through device manager by choosing the inf from the extracted directory. After the driver is installed, there should be an "intel graphics and media" icon in the control panel. Open it and go change the gamma settings to anything, apply, and then reset to defaults and apply again. This ought to remove the colour banding. Now, i've heard some people claim shorter battery life after doing this so it depends on what you want out of your sp2. Also, standard disclaimer about doing this at your own risk since it involves messing with drivers and whatnot.
 

RurouniZel

Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
If your Best Buy has them and you're interested in a Surface Pro 2, there's a massive sale on two big models now. Weekend Sale only.

cKzRTnl.jpg
 
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