New member with "rookie" questions

[Claudio Cesare]

A very good day to all of you.
My name is Claudio from Italy. Tomorrow I'll probably buy my new surface, pro 2 or 3. Have to decide.

I'm on the go all day long. I have a 27" new imac, an Iphone 5S and an ipad mini. I do everything I can with my ipad. Read, mails, write. Like almost everyone. Problem, Ipad is very very limited!!!! horrible keyboard, no pen, no expandability. I should have the ipad for fun and a laptop for work. Not possible!

So, where to start? I find Ical is a damn good Calendar, the Iphone does it's job but my ipad (this is my 4th ipad) doesn't allow me to make all I'd like to do during the day.
Wanted something more powerful, with a pen, with an operating system to modify, read and share documents and when I saw the pro 3....... fell in love. I prefer the pro 2 although for it's smaller dimensions.

But here starts the issue:
-What about my ICAL sync? For what I know there is no compatibility with windows calendars. Any suggestions?
-What about size? Ipad mini sure it's a toy but very comfortable in hands. Do you guys which own a Pro 3 had issues passing from an Ipad to a Surface in terms of confort and weight? Example reading books, mails etc? That's my big question weather to chose a pro 2 or a 3. The 2 is much smaller in size is more tablet style.
What about all the other apps on my iOS device? I regularly use parallels but does any of you know if the opposite is possible? I mean Win + ios? Maybe I should use the surface with a remote desktop.

I thank everybody which will help and write down own experiences.
Claudio

 

[GreyFox7]

Going from an iPad mini to Surface Pro would be a big jump and might seem initially shocking which ever one you choose. it will take some time to adjust to either with the Pro 2 being very thick and heavier vs the larger screen size of the Pro 3 but its thinner and lighter. I think putting your hands on will give you a solid shove in one direction or the other. Personally I prefer the SP3 over the 2 but I also use a Surface 2 (not pro). The Surface 2 took over what I had used an iPad 2 for and I like it much better. I don't care for the smaller screen devices 10.1 is as small as I want to go now and I still use my Galaxy Note 10.1 for some things.

I don't have any suggestions regarding the calendar... switch
For other Apps check alternativeto.net
You can run Hyper-v or other virtualization software but not heard of a iOS VM.
There is iPadin but there are limitations...
Or did you mean running something for remote desktop access to OSX ??? Then vnc or TeamViewer.

 

[Claudio Cesare]

Thanks Fox.
Absolutely correct.
Probably will use Team Viewer.

Thanks very much!

 

[kundas1]

IMPO I would go for the SP3 the screen is stunning and the size I find to be very nice! I came from a 10.1 screen of the S2 and I was worried that it would be BIG and cumbersome but in fact I find it perfect! as for coming from a IOS world, I feel you might find it difficult because IOS world is idiot proof (not calling you an idiot) but its just press and play, as the SP3 is a little more involved... but I find it more LIBERATING not being tied down in a closed OS. there is def alot more you can do on the SP3 than you can on the iPad but only thing is you have ALOT more apps because it is a more mature OS since it has a 4 year jump on the SP3... but I'm sure we will get there just like android did and others did..

 

[Claudio Cesare]

You guys are great!.
Tomorrow I'll go to the local store and try both.
Hope to find a surface rep. since it has been launched just Friday in Italy. And most of all I hope to find the SP3!.
I'll let you know.
Claudio

 

[kundas1]

bene, felice di sentire che sarà sempre il SP3, Sono sicuro che non ve ne pentirete

 

[gtext]

On the SP3 or 2 if you install the iCloud control panel and use Outlook for email that will sync iCal, Contacts, Tasks on the iMac iPad and iPhone. Also bookmarks and photo's if you wish. Well worth looking at moving from Apple is Office 365. Gives you the Office suite inc Outlook and the desktop version of OneNote.

Have a look at VMWare Player for running a iOS VM. Free for personal use.

 

[Claudio Cesare]

At long at last, I recieved yesterday my new SP3 i7 with keybord.
So....... what do I have to say? It's super cool, quite fast (not as my 2013 imac 27" with same specs) but I'm in love with it.
Also bought a Hanns-g 27" touchscreen to keep in my practice.

I only have a regret though.

I have 5 mail accounts and have to say that windows mail it's not so good. The Apple mail was fantastic.
Therefore I'm searching for a client which is faster, more readable and mostly has an alert when they read my mails.
Any of you had the same problems and found a solution?

Ciao!
Claudio

 

[GreyFox7]

At long at last, I recieved yesterday my new SP3 i7 with keybord.
So....... what do I have to say? It's super cool, quite fast (not as my 2013 imac 27" with same specs)

Well not quite the same specs... there are just a few differences.

stat ...................... SP3 i7 ........ iMac i7
CPU ..................... i7 4650U ..... i7 4771
CPU class ............. ULV ........... Desktop
watts TDP ............. 15 .............. 84
Base Frequency .... 1.7 ghz ....... 3.50 ghz
Max Turbo Freq. ... 3.3 ghz ...... 3.9 ghz
# Cores .................. 2 ............... 4
# Threads............... 4 ............... 8
intg. Graphics ........ HD 5000 .. HD 4600
Discrete Graphics .. none ........ NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M
Graphics ram ........ non dedicated :.... 2GB GDDR5
Dimentions .......... 11.5 x 7.9 x 0.36 ..... 20.3 x 25.6 x 8.0
Weight ................... 1.7 lbs ......... 21 lbs

I think an array of 12 SP3s weighing in at 20.4 lbs would outperform your iMac at 21 lbs. and you would have 144 inches of screen to work with

 

[Claudio Cesare]

Fox......
I meant same core i7 same 8 gigs of RAM. I do know that many other things are different.

 

[GreyFox7]

Fox......
I meant same core i7 same 8 gigs of RAM. I do know that many other things are different.

but others may not understand that all i7s are not anywhere near the same, it's a very wide range. Just getting it on the record. I wouldn't use the *same i7* terminology. Compare lines 3-8 in the pseudo table above, those are direct i7 differences.

 

[kundas1]

no it isn't the same i7 in the SP3 and the iMac ... the iMac desktop is faster and a different beast... you can't compare them at all. just like you can't compare my i7 gateway to my SP3, again 2 different beasts