Greeting from the UK

[cyrex]

Hey Guys

Its great to be here and read awesome stuff about the surface pro, I was on the edge of skipping the surface pro 4 and wait to get the asus transformer pro 3, a friend of mine lent me his SP4 and i feel in love with it. Everything from the size to the functionality is perfect for my use.

Have few things to ask

Shall i go for the i5 8gb or 4 gb of ram?

What keyboard shall i get with it considering the original one is about £109 over here.

Any recommended accessory for it apart form the shoulder bag cause i already bought one that would be perfect for the sp4

Many thanks

 

[hughlle]

Hey Cyrex. I'm also from the UK, not many of us here.

Most important, what do you plan to use it for? Mine is purely as a secondary computer (videos, light game etc) and as a university computer (microsoft office, chrome) so I went for the 4gb (all my surfaces are 4gb) and have never had any issue as a result. It really depends what you want it for though.

As to accessories, again, depends on what you plan to do with it. I would certainly recommend the new type cover over the old when buying first time (but not if you already own the old type cover). I use the type cover for all of my assignments, and it is wonderful to type with (but I've always like laptop style keyboards over full size desktop keyboards). Other than that, I just have the dock, which is really good, but there are certainly cheaper alternatives around, just not as convenient.

Not strictly necessary, in any way, but the Microsoft wireless display adaptor has come in handy a few times when I'm away from home.

 

[cyrex]

Hi Hughlle

Thanks for the reply mate , i have MacBook pro as my main computer and i have not properly used windows for nearly 9 years now.

My main usage for the surface will be researching and reading for my exam cause its portable and easy to carry plus i have few exe files that i might actually need to use on it that help me with my studies, writing notes using the pen would be a great thing too.

Others will be surfing the net and facebook stuff, occasional watching a movie ( netflix ) or listening to music. Rarely playing video games.

Never owned a keyboard so im not familiar with it, i saw few at currys ( red, blue and black ) so if you mean those one or the one that i think a little bit more expensive £139 that does not plasticy?

Regads

 

[hughlle]

Given you have a MBP, and this will be more of a companion device than a dedicated computer, you might want to look at the surface 3. Nowhere near as fast as the SP4, but for simply researching, note taking, and music, facebook etc, I find I'm normally using it before my SP4. The form factor and battery life are much better for that kind of usage imo, and they are very well priced. I'll often take both the S3 and SP4 to university, the SP4 for doing my assignments as the keyboard is very nice, and the S3 on the side for making annotations on e-books etc (I don't like constantly Alt-tabbing, and split screen is too small for me on the SP4).

On the basis of getting the SP4 though, 4gb will be more than enough for your intended use, and I would suggest that you wouldn't need to buy anything but the type cover. The type cover in question is the standard type cover that was launched with the SP4 (the one for the SP3, all the keys are square and are flush with the keys surrounding it, the new one is more like a macbook keyboard, with gaps between the keys. There is also a more expensive version of this with a finger print scanner, but imo there is no need for it, it was designed for the SP3 which does not have the facial login capability of the SP4).

As a student, I think you'll find any form of surface invaluable so long as you learn to use onenote. I just import the lecture slides into onenote, and can then annotate over it, insert pictures or screenshots from the web alongside, add dictation etc etc etc. watching laptop owners in lecture halls awkwardly typing their notes just seems archaic now. Onenote onenote onenote onenote! In 2 years of uni I've not had to make a single pen on paper or typed notation. And every bit of that 2 years work is available on any computer in the world which has onenote installed.

Don't forget that microsoft will give you 10% off on any surface products if you are a registered student (just requires your uni email address I believe). Just google microsoft student store

 

[cyrex]

Top man Hughlle

I think i will go with the sp4, its on a deal at currys for £699 plus 10% cash back for the i5 128gb and 4gb of ram. Going to grab the red type cover with it as im used to the MBP keyboard which would be a great add.

Thanks for the tip about microsoft student store, just had a look and i will start getting stuff from there

Really appreciate your help buddy