Why Did You Buy Your Surface Pro and How Do You Use It?

[Navydude]

I bought mine because I am an Aerospace Auditor and I fly around to aviation, commercial and defense manufactures and audit their quality systems for building aircraft, defense etc parts. I sit with their management teams and use the keyboard to fill in my forms. The surface pays for itself when I need to go to the production/manufacturing floors where I disconnect the head unit and fill my forms in while walking through the plant.

How is this saving me time you ask? well I'll tell you. I use to use a paper tablet and hand write all my notes and have to spend an additional 4 hours every night back-fitting my notes into my final reports. NOW, I'm done at the end of the day- AWESOME!

I first bought the Samsung Galaxy Tablet 10.1 and would sit with management and fill in my forms with my MAC AIR, then use my Galaxy on the production floor but has issues with Polaris Office and Quick Office reformatting my documents during the syncing with my MS Office for MAC. So I got to thinking, why use two PC's when the Surface is 2 PC's in one and never worry about the formatting of the office files. So I got the Surface and now I only have to carry one PC on my travels, complete my forms on-site, and don't worry about my forms getting reformatted.
I have also found that using the Galaxy S-Pen with the Surface is SOOOO much better and accurate when using the hand recognition software. The Pen that came with the Surface is useless, buy the Galaxy Tablet pen and try it, you won't be sorry.

 

[Morantex]

I run a software company and we are developing a new UPnP product that will allow the creation of controller apps for tvs, wifi etc. This technology will run on Windows desktop, Surface and Phone 8 .

The first product is a SONOS Controller for Surface and Phone 8, this will become available once the core controller API is complete.

Naturally we need a real Surface to test all this - the Surface Pro is a great device to write software for, very powerful device.

Hugh

 

[Uncensored2008]

I've been an Android guy for years. Had the first viable Android tablet, the Xoom, then the Galaxy Tab, then the Xyboard. All good machines. BUT none of them really did what I needed.

First issue is compatibility. I have a Citrix server and most of the critical apps are on it. There is a very good XenApp client for Android, so I can use them on the shopfloor to drill into the ERP, and the NCR/CAPA systems. Still, they are a bit clunky due to being remote control rather than native.

Second issue is that I could never get them to run a real SSL VPN - which means that with a secured site, I couldn't get offsite connection to systems.

Third issue is that Microsoft Office is light years ahead of everything else. There are lots of work arounds, Quick Office, etc. But none of them are real office.

The Surface Pro addresses all of these issues, perfectly. I don't care about the Metro UI, the more I use it, the more I think it's stupid. I do everything from the desktop or a command prompt. But I can do EVERYTHING with this machine. It is infinitely comparable. I have a 10" slab that will run virtually any program I want. A machine that I can easily cart around and use as a touchscreen. It is my constant companion. I can take care of my servers, run SQL queries, debug application code, you name it.

I don't embrace Windows 8, but I don't hate it either. I mostly ignore it and simply use this phenomenal computer. Fast, gorgeous display, light, decent battery life. With MicroSD and USB, reasonable amounts of storage. It's a great machine.

 

[disambiguous1]

There are two main things I needed the Surface Pro for. One was trading financial instruments and the other one was photography and videography. I'm a professional in both those very different professions. The main trading program I use does not work with anything but real Windows. I tried the Java-based version on my Apple products (26" Mac desktop, Mac Book Pro, and iPad 3) and I hate it, it's slow and un-intuitive. I absolutely needed a full Windows machine running Metatrader 4 that I could pick up and right away use to manage trades with, along with several other analysis tools that aren't available for the Mac or anything else. For that the Surface Pro works great. I tether it to my cell phone and I can work anywhere.

I also use it in the car, and for listening to educational tapes. I still seem to gravitate to the Apple products for music and e-books.

At night, I can dial the brightness of the Surface Pro screen way down and get nearly five hours of use from the battery.

Also, there are several camera tethering programs that only work on Windows machines. If Apple would have enabled video INPUT for the iPad, this would have been a killer app, but they didn't. -DA1

 

[polbit]

I bought my Surface Pro to replace a laptop, as a note taker at work in meetings, VS .NET, and for general tablet use such as book reading, browsing, and watching videos. Initially I was excited, it worked fine as note taker with OneNote, and was usable as a laptop replacement. Even book reading was passable. After a while though, it started to wear on me. Pen input is not very accurate, and for anything precise a PITA to use. as a laptop replacement inability to set a fixed angle between keyboard and screen are a PITA. For book reading the Kindle app is years behind its iOS and Kindle tablet versions. Web browsing is fine, but bookmark management in Metro version is non-existent, and Chrome which I use on all my other devices is not very touch-friendly. Development in VS .NET is hard because the screen is so tiny, and connecting it to the bigger screen defeats the portability factor. etc, etc,etc...

Unfortunately it now sits on my desk mostly as a paperweight, and I'm back to using a real laptop and a tablet. Sure wish I didn't waste $1k, but lesson learned for me. This is of course just my experience, and there are many people that found great uses for them. I'm just not one of them...

 

[mitchellvii]

I bought my Surface Pro to replace a laptop, as a note taker at work in meetings, VS .NET, and for general tablet use such as book reading, browsing, and watching videos. Initially I was excited, it worked fine as note taker with OneNote, and was usable as a laptop replacement. Even book reading was passable. After a while though, it started to wear on me. Pen input is not very accurate, and for anything precise a PITA to use. as a laptop replacement inability to set a fixed angle between keyboard and screen are a PITA. For book reading the Kindle app is years behind its iOS and Kindle tablet versions. Web browsing is fine, but bookmark management in Metro version is non-existent, and Chrome which I use on all my other devices is not very touch-friendly. Development in VS .NET is hard because the screen is so tiny, and connecting it to the bigger screen defeats the portability factor. etc, etc,etc...

Unfortunately it now sits on my desk mostly as a paperweight, and I'm back to using a real laptop and a tablet. Sure wish I didn't waste $1k, but lesson learned for me. This is of course just my experience, and there are many people that found great uses for them. I'm just not one of them...

Sell it on Craigslist if you are in the USA. I sell all my used tech there and get surprisingly good prices.

The Surface Pro really isn't a tablet for entertainment consumption such a reading books. Too heavy and too hot. It is an ultrabook that also offers tablet functionality with pen input. Good luck finding another note-taking app out there that gets anywhere close to OneNote. So far as the pen being highly inaccurate? Not feeling you on that. It seems as accurate as any I have used and I have owned the Note 10.1 and Note II.

You may want to consider the Note 8.0. Light and fast and a good note-taker.

 

[butters149]

how is the Note 10.1 for note taking? I heard it has pretty good battery life, I mainly want something to edit PDFs for classes and such.

 

[mitchellvii]

how is the Note 10.1 for note taking? I heard it has pretty good battery life, I mainly want something to edit PDFs for classes and such.

Depends upon your needs. It's doesn't run full OneNote and the stock note-taking app it does have while OK has very limited search capabilities if you are talking about written text. I would recommend the Note 8.0 since it is smaller, lighter, has a higher PPI and is cheaper.

For a business person the entire Note line is kind of weak sauce, but for a student it should be fine.

 

[butters149]

can you take image clips or specific screen shots with the spen and paste it into your current written notes kinda like the "send to One note" screen clip feature?

 

[mitchellvii]

can you take image clips or specific screen shots with the spen and paste it into your current written notes kinda like the "send to One note" screen clip feature?

Yes that is basically how you do it. The S-pen doesn't have any special functions on the SP that the OEM pen doesn't have. It works pretty much exactly the same. Any special functionality like drawing around something on the Note 10.1 to copy is limited to the Note 10.1 due to software.

 

[dcb]

I bought the Surface Pro for work. It replaces my iPad and my laptop.

I am a project manager. The company I work for operates on an operating system only available on Windows...It can be access remotely via RDP. I used a few RDP clients on the iPad and didn't like any of them. The mouse emulation was a problem and the scrolling in the dinosaur project I do quotes and modify orders was a nightmare.

I also use 2 different specification tools that only run on Windows (Hence I always needed a proper laptap before) These 2 programs are quite hard on a system and I was worried the Surface Pro wouldn't be able to handle them...I am extremely impressed with how well it handles these programs, and their 3D views for fly throughs. (I am in Interior Architecture)

I don't use the Surface Pro often for general surfing, but I do from time to time. I don't use it for photos, but will likely watch movies on it while travelling.

After going to the Microsoft Store and trying the pen...I bought it then and there...I was blown away. I used the pen in my job daily. The time savings (not to mention the paper savings) is huge!

I love this thing...I can't wait for the next one to come out with (hopefully) a much better battery life and an even more powerful processor!

 

[windows8nation]

I have owned Samsung Tabs, The Motorola Xoom, Admittedly, an Apple Ipad, A Blackberry Playbook as well as a million and one Desktops and Laptops over the course of the past 5 years. As you can imagine, my data was as disjointed as the US Congress. My video files were on my desktop, Favorites were any and everywhere, music was a virtual case study in Schizophrenia, every single document had different versions of itself on each machine. My digital life was complete anarchy.
I purchased the Surface pro with the hopes that it would be "One device to replace them all".
I saw the modern interface as the perfect environment for performing the task i would normally execute on my 2 hour commute using any given one of the of tablets i have owned.
I Knew windows 8 would be a successful successor to windows7 and connecting the SP to my 30 inch monitor with the keyboard and mouse via Bluetooth, and my NAS drive connected vial my Targus usb3 dock, I would be able to replicate my desktop at home.
I saw the mini display port as a means for connecting the 70 inch Visio at home to the SP via HDMI for the playback of my torrented movies when i was not just streaming them from the NAS drive.
I could use the SP as my music player on my desk at work. Playing my lossless files at the quality level i like.
I wouldn’t have to decide whether I should take a tablet or a laptop with me on any givent excursion because the Surface pro would be both.
But over all of these logical uses that the SP has fitted the bill for so perfectly, the most important consideration to me was the fact that it had to do all of these things in a way that had to absolutely OOOOZE of the Cool Factor, and yes it does that too..
I run Microsoft Office 2013 Pro Plus; Heavily on Outlook, One note and Access, with the occasional Presentation run directly from the SP. Visio, as well as the occasional Beta testing of apps developed by my Team here at work.
I run Virtual boxes for Linux, and from time to time I connect to client assets remotely over VPN to troubleshoot issues using PC Anywhere. No issues whatsoever.
Additionally, I have added a 64gb Micro SDHC card and I carry arround a 1TB WIFI hard drive made by Seagare which holds my Video Files and downloaded software. Pictures, Music and Documants are stored on the internal 128GB of the SP and automatically synced to a mirror folder on the 64GB MicroSDHC card for Backup purposes.I have a Nokia Lumia 920 with a 15GB data plan that allows me to Tether with the Surface Pro whenever i need a fast reliable wifi source while on the road or in wifi challenged areas of my office Building.
All in all, the Surface PRO has been my ultimate unification device and, quite frankly, anyone proclaiming to have unsolvable issues with the device really needs to look into the end-user theory: :Most issues begin at the end user”. With a vigilant attitude to checking for and installing microsoft updates the Surface pro will run virtually flawlwss..I have had to reimage my SP only once and that was only because i had to remove all remnants of a couple beta programs i was testing and because of a virus I got during one of my torrenting escapades.
Categorically, I wouldn’t trade my Surface Pro for a thousand Laptops. “My 2lb buddy Kicks Ass!!!”.