Surface Pro 3

I think this shows how dedicated the Surface Pro team at Microsoft is to making a rock solid product. Yes there&#x27;s issues with branding, Windows 8 tries to be too many things at once, and it seems like the company as a whole (including the Surface lines) has absolutely no idea where it wants to be in five years; but I think the total focus on making the experience as good as possible combined with Microsoft&#x27;s budget and a little time will yield very impressive results. I certainly hope so.<p>I love the vision of the Surface Pro with a good dock. A single device that can be docked with monitors and a real keyboard&#x2F;mouse, used as a laptop or carried as a tablet would make an awesome machine. It seems they are there in principle right now but need some time to get it polished enough to be usable for most.<p>Too soon to count Microsoft out regardless.

It has to be really frustrating to be an engineer working on Surface and having to deal with the HN echo chamber, or MS bashing (some from Apple fanboys), or totally unrelated comments.<p>Maybe it should be a rule that these folks below post their own product for review. Hopefully they have something significant that can be open to critique.<p>Of course, that would not be too much fun.<p>- nivla: &quot;Seriously, I am starting to believe that these tiny screwups are their signature.&quot;<p>- rasz_pl: &quot;...rock solid product.. notice the number 3 in the name of said product? and still not good enough. Not to mention UI lags. 2014 and GUI is lagging. Someone needs to get shot.&quot;<p>- justin66 &quot;&gt; Windows 8 tries to be too many things at once That is a very, very generous description of Windows 8.&quot;<p>- jodrellblank: &quot;2014, Intel Core i5, SSD and stutters when &#x27;browsing files&#x27; in PS. shakes head&quot;<p>- carlio: &quot;I feel a little cynical by saying this, but does Microsoft really care about artists as much as they care about the audience they&#x27;re reaching via Penny Arcade?&quot;<p>- enraged_camel: &quot;It&#x27;s the execution that is lacking significantly. I&#x27;ve always said that Microsoft is really, really good at engineering, and really, really bad at UX and usability. After reading Gabe&#x27;s review, I&#x27;m disappointed that this is still the case.&quot;<p>[EDIT: Software to &quot;product&quot; + line breaks]

People have been able to run Ubuntu on Surface Pro 2 but it took some effort (custom kernel etc). If this has improved and if the new Surface pro can dual-boot Ubuntu without any issues, I&#x27;d definitely buy one. The hardware concept is too tempting.

Very well written review. I myself was worried about the switch to N-trig (having dealt with a few products in the past), but I glad to hear it is a non-issue. To me, the additional size is great. While I like the portability of a tablet, having the extra screen real-estate makes me more productive and thus worth the trade off of a larger physical size device. I think MS&#x27;s third attempt at a tablet is finally the tablet&#x2F;laptop&#x2F;combo that I have been waiting for.

Counter-point on surface-pro by another webcomic author:<p><a href="http://www.pvponline.com/news/surface-pro-vs-the-cintiq-13hd" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.pvponline.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;surface-pro-vs-the-cintiq-13hd</a><p>Basically, Scott Kurtz found that the stylus lag on <i>every</i> tablet was so bad that he ended up using his Wacom Cintiq, which requires a wall-outlet.

Looks like the Core i7 version is the i7-4650U model, with HD5000 graphics.<p>Details in Ed Bott&#x27;s article: <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/which-cpus-will-you-find-in-the-surface-pro-3-7000029820/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.zdnet.com&#x2F;which-cpus-will-you-find-in-the-surface...</a><p>Link to Intel specs: <a href="http://ark.intel.com/products/75114/Intel-Core-i7-4650U-Processor-4M-Cache-up-to-3_30-GHz" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;ark.intel.com&#x2F;products&#x2F;75114&#x2F;Intel-Core-i7-4650U-Proc...</a>

I&#x27;ll never understand why the comments on certain products and brands end up being so vitriolic and &quot;my Dad can beat up your Dad!&quot;-styled discussions are considered par for the course.<p>Frankly, I have Apple everything, because it works for me. My family use a lot of Windows and Microsoft products, because it works for them.<p>At the end of the day, these are tools, not lifestyles. I think we&#x27;d all do well to remember that you are not your gadgets...

I&#x27;ve been a believer in the Surface concept since the beginning. I&#x27;d bought a Surface 2 last year and was blown away by just how unique and incredibly inventive the design was. The 16:9 screen and the lack of power really suffered it, though...<p>But like the MacBook Air, three generations in, and it looks like this is going to be Microsoft&#x27;s Hail Mary.<p>I preordered one.

My only worry with buying the Surface Pro 3 is how I was burned by the Surface Pro 2 late last year when I got an original Surface Pro early last year. Very much like the iPad, they seem to be releasing new Surfii every 6-9 months. Since this model isn&#x27;t available at launch with the i7 and only has Intel 4400 graphics, I expect early next year to see a bump in specs, perhaps Intel 5100 (or better) graphics by next March? Which has me wondering if I should buy now or hold off. If they had the ntrig bluetooth pen with OneNote integration in a smaller form factor for cheaper, I&#x27;d buy that first right now and wait for the larger device to get a bump in performance. That said, no question -- if you want OneNote for school in September or can afford to upgrade once a year, buy now. The only thing I wish it had was a touch-optimized terminal app with tabs ;-)

I&#x27;m really pleased to hear about how good the NTrig digitiser is. Seems like an awesome painting tool.

What kills me about this thing is that it&#x27;s still an almost-notebook. They take a tablet and make you choose to run almost-Windows or Windows. It&#x27;s most visible difference to other tablets is a great keyboard concept, but it&#x27;s not quite a notebook in that it now needs a kickstand to stand up. I&#x27;d rather have a notebook that has a rational keyboard that holds the screen at whatever angle than something that is almost exactly the same, but somehow inferior.<p>I&#x27;m really not against the whole idea of a Windows tablet, but if the keyboard is that important...just make a keyboard that handles the weight of the screen. In fact, the keyboard I bought for my mother-in-law&#x27;s iPad does that just fine (minus the variable-angle) so I&#x27;d still rather have the iPad or Android tablets. Or a well-executed ultrabook. Easier for working on the couch&#x2F;plane&#x2F;train etc.<p>Still, I&#x27;ll forward this article to an artist friend. It looks great for a drawing tablet and maybe it&#x27;ll work for him.

Being left handed I wouldn&#x27;t have the problem Gabe does, instead I&#x27;d be activating a half dozen tools on the left margin of the screen. I appreciate the &#x27;wrist&#x27; input for the JOT stylus which lets you tell it where you rest your hand normally.<p>I&#x27;ll definitely try out the SP3, and I&#x27;m still trying to get my hands on a Samsung Note Pro (12&quot; tab). The screen is what I crave, a 12&quot; 3:2 aspect ratio screen with 2160 x 1440 feels pretty close to ideal in this form factor.

As an old MCSE I am happy to see the Surface 3 reviews, for me (an Android tablet user) this means Microsoft is fighting not to lose the tablet race. The idea of replacing the laptop with a very well designed keyboard &quot;docking station&quot; is brilliant. And it does seem that they did do everything else right!

3:2 I need this so badly. I hope they solve the lag and handedness issues I really want to love this device.

The app shown in the pictures is &quot;Manga Studio&quot;

I mean yes it is good for art and drawing cartoons.<p>I have tried every Surface tablet and I don&#x27;t like them. Just my opinion. I got a Nook HD+ that works better and cost less, and will sell it now that Nook tablets are not updated anymore and maybe buy a Kindle HDX to replace it. Even the Android tablets are more responsive.<p>My son has an iPad that is faster as well and it is only an iPad 3.<p>We can get pens for them that draw art and cartoons.<p>Just my opinion, the Surface could work better for others in different things. But for me and my son, we chose a different tablet due to the Surface being sluggish and locking up at times when we demoed it at the Microsoft store.

2014, Intel Core i5, SSD and stutters when &#x27;browsing files&#x27; in PS.<p><i>shakes head</i>

I just bought a Surface 2 Pro 4 weeks ago. It is an awesome piece of hardware.<p>The pen is great, I use it to sketch up stuff in OneNote like I would in my regular notebook.<p>I connect it to an external display and use a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse at work, and I confuse people by running a fullscreen mintty.exe with terminal vim in my linux VM.<p>The stand is why I bought it over a Dell Venue or a Lenovo Helix (even though I think the Helix is the best offering).<p>It&#x27;s a brilliant machine. I sold my Macbook Air 11&quot; to buy it too! I sure hope Apple make something like this one day that runs proper OS X :)

It&#x27;s interesting that there doesn&#x27;t appear to be lag when he&#x27;s actually drawing.

I&#x27;m not too sure about that drafting board profile. Having not seen the device in person, at that angle it looks like it might break. Is there some form of support running along that line?

i waited for this tablet release, and then, seconds before the impulse buy i remembered i should wait for Gabe reviews :) ...saved by the bell!<p>that said, i&#x27;m still anxious to a tablet with a decent perf&#x2F;battery life and a good pen. tired of only consuming content on tablets. and i&#x27;m sure a keyboard is not feasible anytime soon. while i could already code with my palm custom pen input... albeit painfully, it was less painful then any apple soft keyboard.

Apple shills or what?

The Penny Arcade guys live a little too close to Redmond for me to believe their reviews of Microsoft products are unbiased.

Gabe has written some very complimentary things about the Surface in the past, it&#x27;s no wonder they&#x27;re eager to hear his opinions and tell him what he wants to hear. &quot;Yes Mr Gabe, we really like artists, like a whole bunch. Please write some more nice things!&quot;<p>I feel a little cynical by saying this, but does Microsoft really care about artists as much as they care about the audience they&#x27;re reaching via Penny Arcade?

He says that the reduction in sensitivity on the digitizer &quot;scared the hell out of [him].&quot;<p>Why do people say stuff like this? You know what scares the hell out of me? Getting mauled by a bear.