the Microsoft Surface is an idea that I've always wanted to love my conclusion
about the original when I checked out the Surface RT was that I thought the
potential was amazing but it needed to be x86 it needed to be faster and prices
needed to come down well with the first to address and the pricing a non-factor
for me since I traded in my Lamborghini when my wife got pregnant with kid
number two let's see if the Surface Pro 3 is what I imagined this concept could
become
with its power loss protection affordability and performance the sp920
from a data makes upgrading to an SSD remarkably safe and simple let's start
with the initial unboxing Impressions the AC adapter is Compact and has a USB
charging port Rock on the device itself is much lighter feeling than I expected
the original surface was well balanced but dense this one reminds me of my
first impressions of the iPhone 5 it's light but still feels premium and super
sexy at the same time and the satin metal finish on the back actually made
me say out loud how the hell did they do that it's the best feeling Windows
device I have ever held but let's move on I got a purple type cover and from
Reading initial Impressions from press at the unveiling I was expecting it to
kind of suck it totally doesn't the integrated touchpad is okay it's not
precise enough its Palm rejection sucks and two-handed operation is basically
impossible but at least it has a nice tactile click and the size is a good
compromise the keyboard on the other hand is an engineering miracle in my
opinion I swear they've got each key descending into a portal to another
Universe to get that much travel distance on such a thin keyboard I
actually really like it except it's too bad it doesn't have a print screen
button and I have to double click the back of the stylus to do that deal
breaker I'll be returning the Surface Pro 3 but let's press onward anyway
shall we speaking of the stylus I guess if I was a student or an artist maybe I
would give a crap but as it is the best thing Microsoft could have done for me
is give me somewhere to tuck it away so I can ignore it forever too bad there is
no slot for it and the instructions and seriously my eyes just about rolled out
of my head tell you to stick it to the magnetic charging port when you're not
using it what a joke what if I need to
charge my device Geniuses well no problem says the instructions you bought
a type cover right here's the cheapest little chunk of fabric that we could
find attached to a sticker put this on your type cover and put the pen through
it are youing kidding me a stylus is either an integral part of the design or
it's a stupid Niche accessory that cost $50 every time I lose it if it's the
former it goes inside and if it's the latter then don't bother talking about
it all right but let's talk specs while I calm down Microsoft gives potential
customers lots of well balanced CPU RAM and drive choices I picked up the Core
i5 4300 U version with 8 gigs of RAM and a 256 gig solid state drive beyond that
things are pretty standardized so everyone gets a 12-in 2160 x440 3x2
aspect ratio 10o multi-touch IPS display
a 9-hour battery Wireless AC Bluetooth 4.0 Etc these are some damn impressive
tech specs given the size and weight of this sucker speaking of size and weight
let's move on to the physical overview on the left we find a volume rocker and
a 32 mm Jack on the right is a mini DisplayPort port a USB 3 port and the
Magnetic Locking reversible power button on the top is a lock button and
ventilation holes and finally on the bottom is the shockingly strong magnetic
clip H goes to show you when you try to
demo something typical Microsoft right is the shockingly strong magnetic clip
for the type cover the back has one of the two 5 megapixel cameras simple clean
surface branding and the much improved kickstand I mean this thing is awesome
it's still flawlessly flush when closed it still has that carridor sound and
feel of the old one and it's much more flexible now it works open a little bit
in your lap or on your desk open all the way propped on a pillow and everywhere
in between it is so well constructed I mean I already said the device is
beautiful once but I feel like I should say it again here because I'm about to
start beating on it pretty hard as we make our way to the front the display
would be perfect if it wasn't for some very noticeable backlight bleed on dark
backgrounds the the Windows button would be perfect if it wasn't exactly where I
rest my thumb when I hold it in landscape mode the front-facing speakers
would be perfect if the ports for them were big enough to actually sound like
they're front facing and the card reader slot under the kickstand would be
perfect if it was a full-size SD slot instead of a Micro SD I mean seriously
what's the excuse on something this big I can adapt down but not up but so far
all this stuff you could have figured out from reading a spec sheet what is
this thing like to actually use so to
find out I set everything up on the surface took my xps2 out of my backpack
and left for a 4-day business trip I mean that's what this thing is supposed
to be before right Road Warriors it fits in my Windows Vista bag like a boss but
then the first time I took it out I ran into trouble the kickstand system just
doesn't give you the same ergonomic options that a normal hinge does I was
slouching in my chair and I realized I couldn't really get the screen to face
me properly then shortly afterward due to its top end heaviness it fell off of
my lap fortunately I caught it with my legs but these are the kinds of problems
with the surfaces ergonomics that don't exist with a normal clam shell then I
was on the plane and making some notes for this review so I propped up the
keyboard to a comfortable angle with the surprisingly robust little magnetic
system here Boop fired up word one of the many applications that doesn't have
a metro UI version and realized two things number one is that the airplane
tray wasn't long enough for the kickstand to rest on so I actually had
to prop the screen against the seat in front of me relying on friction to keep
the keyboard from sliding towards me and number two is that with the keyboard
angled up I can't touch the taskar with my fingers very well and switch between
applications something I've become very accustomed to with my
Dell there are positive points though further into the trip I was using it to
offload footage from a camera's SD card using a USB 3 reader and I was struck by
the appeal of a full proper Windows machine in such a tiny form factor and
with such great battery life I mean it's true compared to a normal tablet the
Surface Pro 3 is just so versatile and
so powerful having proper access to the
folder tree having easy flexible networking capabilities having strong
driver support for random crap like printers I mean even something as simple
as having a proper fullsize USB 3 Port these are all fantastic selling points
and those selling points unfortunately aren't going to help it overcome my
objections to it I mean maybe part of the problem is I'm not the right customer I own about half a dozen
tablets and I haven't touched any of them in months for me a flagship
smartphone has a big high resen enough screen for casual use and if something
is timec consuming or important enough to be worth getting off my butt to go
get something better I'm going to go get my XPS 12 a device that has a real
keyboard a better touchpad runs quieter also happens to work as a notebook or as
a tablet and is available for the the same price as a Surface Pro 3 with a typ
cover and at this point you might come to Microsoft's events saying but lonus
the XPS 12 is a bit big and heavy for tablet use and doesn't come with a
stylist to which I would reply you're right but the surface 3 Pro is a bit big
and heavy for tablet use too and as for the stylus I don't give a crap about
drawing on my computer and if I did I'd buy a Wacom companion it's also
similarly priced and includes a much better stylus for folks who are serious
about drawing on their tablets okay lonus gotcha but in Microsoft's defense
they were never targeting tablets with the Surface Pro 3 anyway their marketing
is aimed squarely at the MacBook Air to which I would reply good for them I
guess if that's how they want this review structured then here's the tagline they can put on the product page
this device I would never buy is competitive with another device I would
never buy five stars the MacBook Air doesn't have a touchcreen so it was
never in the running for me anyway I wouldn't even begin to consider a
notebook without a touchcreen at this point and once you get one you'll
probably never go back either trust me now the screen resolution and the more
Square aspect ratio could have won me over from a productivity standpoint if
Windows 8.1 didn't still handle text scaling with the poison brace of a
giraffe on a pair of stilts and ice skates on the ends due to the pixel
density of its screen Surface Pro 3
needs text scaling and it comes with icons and text enlarged out of the box
but it really takes away from the beauty of the display when so many things are
blurry and crappy looking I mean third party developers are definitely a big
part of the problem but it feels a bit hypocritical for Microsoft to be upset
about their Lolly gagging when within Windows there are still things that
don't scale correctly so that's it sorry
Microsoft I can't recommend this product and even worse I no longer believe the
surface concept belongs in a world where two and ones exist the Windows tablet
experience is bad enough that I find myself only wanting to use it
occasionally and in the 2% of the time that happens I'll settle for a bulkier
heavier tablet experience in exchange for a better notebook one the other 98%
of the time there are going to be people for whom the surface is perfect but I'm
just not one of them s thanks guys for watching like this video if you liked it
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