My initial thoughts on the Surface Pro 3

Surface Pro 3

Yesterday was an important day for Microsoft. With the annunciation of the Surface Pro 3, Redmond is continuing to bear witness that they're in this for the long-haul and perhaps more than importantly, they're actively improving upon their previous work. A Surface Mini was not revealed as expected, but it sounds like for good reason, including the possibility of it contradicting the "one device to rule them all" bulletin.

Sitting in the same room with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Stephen Elop and the who'due south who in tech media, information technology was fascinating to watch Panos Panay – the corporate vice president for Surface Computing at Microsoft – have the stage and sell united states of america on the idea of the Surface Pro iii. Presently after the now familiar promo ad for the device, the audience cheered and enthusiastically clapped. It was an odd thing because it felt genuine; people were seriously excited about this announcement.

Fast forward 24 hours and most of the 'new tech high' has worn off, and a few of us who accept the Surface Pro 3 are digging deep into this new creation. Beingness sold on the thought is 1 affair, but using information technology and actually liking it is another. While information technology's much as well early for a review, here are some of my first thoughts on the Surface Pro iii and Microsoft'due south chances of success with it.

It'due south actually well built

All of Microsoft'due south Surfaces have and then far felt very premium, and the Surface Pro 3 is no unlike. Machined parts, no wobble or creaks, the Surface Pro 3 feels the price information technology fetches. The Surface Pro 3 isn't meant to compete with budget computers; information technology's an all-in-one, high-end, high quality device that demonstrates the best of Microsoft. Here, I call up information technology succeeds.

I honey the colour

My favorite device up until now has been the Surface 2 and Surface 2 with LTE. Part of the appeal was the metallic grey colour, because I just find black tiresome. Making the Surface Pro 3 in that same color scheme makes the device stand out. It's also less dreary.

It's low-cal and it'southward heavy

The Surface Pro 3 weighs i.7 pounds. That'south on the heavy side for a pure tablet (versus 1.44 pounds for iPad Retina; but 1.0 pound for iPad Air), just it's not prohibitively heavy. By that I hateful information technology still feels adept to hold, partly due to it beingness then thin. Is it too much tablet? Perchance, but it's not as featherbrained as the Lenovo Yoga and flipping that to be a tablet. The Surface Pro 3 at least feels similar a legit tablet on its ain and dare I say, it feels more than tablet-y than the Surface Pro two too.

But if you think of the Surface Pro 3 as a laptop, it's very calorie-free (MacBook Air is 2.38 pounds past comparing at 11 inches; two.96 pounds at 13 inches). When tossing it in my Ultrabook shoulder pocketbook, I'k reminded just how light it is when compared to even standard Ultrabooks these days.

The new kickstand is dandy

Having a kickstand on a tablet was nice (Surface gen ane); having two positions was better (gen ii), but having an almost space corporeality of positions is the all-time. The kickstand has always been the cornerstone of the Surface serial, and information technology's one of the main reasons I'll choose it over a Lumia 2520 any mean solar day.

It will be fascinating to see how long this new hinge lasts. I will say it'southward very stiff, so stiff that you feel like you may interruption information technology off at first. Expert problem to have, I suppose.

Panos Pen

The pen holder is awkward

As you could tell from Marking'south before article, the pen holder is a scrap odd. Having said that, I'm not sure what else Microsoft could do to resolve this issue. They can't put the pen into the device (it's already likewise thin and packed as well tightly) and the pen is too unique to abandon. C'est la vie.

It'south fast

Running an Intel Core i5-4300 (1.9-two.5 GHz), it's hands the fastest Surface I've used. I couldn't imagine the Cadre i7, though I assume some of you need that much horsepower. For me, for now, I'll take the extra bump in battery life. Seeing as how fast the Core i5 feels, I have high hopes for the cheaper Core i3, which is practiced for those of y'all on a budget.

Battery life seems legit

No, I haven't performed whatever battery tests*, but from using it all mean solar day and having hordes of people ogle it all nighttime, it notwithstanding had thirty% by midnight. It doesn't experience like I need to monitor the battery on the Surface Pro 3, which is a adept thing. We'll run into though how that holds up over the next few days.

* Microsoft rates the bombardment life at most 9 hours for web-browsing

Front-facing speakers are awesome

Nokia got the front end-facing speakers rights on the Lumia 2520, and so I'm glad to see Microsoft follow arrange. Having stereo speakers produce sound aimed at your face is the only way to get. In fact, it feels downright silly to have speakers on the sides. Considering these are supposed to be 45% more than powerful than the concluding version, they're exciting. They won't shake the room, merely they volition envelope y'all when using the Surface.

Surface Pro 3

2160 x 1440 resolution nails it

I accept a few quad-HD devices (2550 x 1440) and while the resolution is remarkable, scaling on Windows desktop can be trying at times with some items just being tiny. The resolution on the Surface Pro 3 is ideal with everything scaling nicely; nothing feels too small-scale and then far.

three:2 is amend than 16:9

I'll explain why Microsoft went with 3:2 for screen dimension on the Surface Pro 3 in some other article, just for at present I'll just say I adopt information technology, particularly in portrait mode. My older Surfaces now expect odd being then long in the horizontal plane. Certain, I become that 16:9 is good for movies, just 3:2 is much more natural for daily computing, and that's what this device is for, every bit opposed to being a media-centric device.

The pen…works

Okay, I'll catch flak for this merely I'm just not a pen and paper user. My knowledge on Wacom versus N-trig lacks and my handwriting is just equally terrible. Also, this Surface Pro three needs some more than software before the new pen can exist fully utilized.

But it is cool.

Clicking the pen button to launch OneNote – fifty-fifty when the device is locked – is a neat play a trick on and very useful. The Surface team heavily researched what makes the perfect pen, including the ideal size, the platonic tip, the ideal weight residual and even how resistive the coating should be for your grip. Once you try information technology, you'll see that this isn't a gimmick.

It's quiet and at that place's no estrus

Yes, the Surface Pro three does take a fan, despite some previous reports. In fact, information technology has a highly customized fan that Microsoft has allegedly been working on for iii years. Information technology'southward neat applied science merely to the user, all y'all need to know is this: you'll rarely (if e'er) hear it, and you won't experience it. I did manage merely once so far to become it to crank lough enough to be audible. It sounded like steam hissing a chip, and it was very temporary.

You can make the Surface Pro 3 slightly warm (not searing) when pushing the CPU, but my Lumia 1520 can hands get hotter, for reference. If it weren't for the radial vent, I would swear this was an RT device, to be honest.

The new trackpad is way ameliorate

The quondam trackpad was barely useable, but Microsoft has addressed that with the Surface Pro 3. Information technology has 70% less friction; it'southward larger, and it has a very firm and satisfying 'click' when you lot push it down. Fun fact: it's plain made from niggling glass chaplet to give just the right feel for your fingers.

New power connector for charging is also better

I wrote on this earlier. The power cord has been completely re-worked and is 87% (my calculation) less annoying than previous versions. Run into my previous written report for more data.

Initial conclusion?

Up until now, I've been a Surface RT guy instead of Surface Pro. My reasons?

Lighter and thinner
Amend battery
Better camera
Amend color scheme

It was my 'lay back and relax' Windows device that I could snap a keyboard on if I wanted to do some "real" work. Not besides real, mind you, for that I have a Dell XPS 15 with a Cadre i7 or my dual-27 inch desk setup. But if I needed to practise some emails, spider web searching, Twitter responses, etc., my Surface 2 was my go-to device. The Surface Pro 1 and 2 though were too thick, too pricey, and their screens were too small for my liking. For that price and size I'd just utilise my Ultrabooks and be washed with it.

With the Surface Pro 3, Microsoft has addressed nearly every business concern of mine, fifty-fifty the cameras (which aren't amazing, but are better than the Surface 2's). The device feels similar the all-time of the Surface two combined with the Pro's hardware, merely now with a bigger screen and some new innovation.

The but matter missing for my likes? Give me an LTE option.

The Surface Pro 3 is an impressive device. I'm not certain if it'due south the device for everyone, or whether or not information technology will even sell well. But I tin say it Microsoft is trying difficult, and if anything, they accept set the bar for quality and even innovation. So far at to the lowest degree, I feel good about grabbing this instead of my Surface two, and I'm fifty-fifty more likely to leave a laptop behind. Permit's see how information technology all works in the coming days but yeah, I'one thousand impressed.

Have a question about the Surface Pro iii? Ask away and I'll try to answer! If you want more discussion, jump into our Surface Pro iii forum.

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