Surface Book as a Tablet

[kevinpleasants]

I'm sorry you're having problems with your SB. The only problem I had with mine was the display driver crashed while using Goole+. An update fixed it. I have no problems with my SB. I wish we lived near each other so I could prove that MY Surface Book runs fine. Again I'm sorry you and some others are having problems. Good luck.

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[sundog55]

Really? All my custom built machines prior to getting the Surface Pro 3 were great -- my last 2 builds (by today's standards, they are old... a P4 and a Core 2 Quad system) were solid & stable for at least 4+ years before I gave them up. My P4 rig lasted more like 5 years and it was STILL stable, just slow, the day I took it apart.

oh man, I stopped building my own pc's way back in the 90's, a PII was the last one I think. Still have it and still boots up to Win95.

That said, I agree with you regarding the SP3. That thing is a fantastic device. It is easily the best non-custom-built machine experience I've had ... ever. Until the SP3, I always built my own machines. After switching to the SP3, I actually took an old P4 portable gaming rig (built from a Shuttle barebones) and set it up as a NAS. I still have so much love for my Pro 3, and it's still here at my desk though I don't use it anymore. My trust in the Surface Book is not quite there yet, so the SP3 is my backup should my SB completely go nuts one day.

Since my wife has claimed total possession of my SP3, I'm all in on the SB, so we'll see how that goes. So far so good.

I'm in agreement with Lethal_NFS's feelings about the Surface Book. It's a total joy and a complete pain in my *** all at once. I love it and hate it at the same time, but it could easily be the absolute best 2-in-1 machine on the market if Microsoft & its hardware partners (Intel, nvidia) could fix the issues with the drivers & Windows 10.

I had some pita moments with it when I first got it back in Nov, but by and large things have settled down and it's been very stable and is the only PC I use for work and home at the moment. I realized I was taking a chance on a first gen product, there will be growing pains and the next generations will be improved hopefully. I've been through it before with the first gen iPod, first gen iPad, first macbook, etc. It's all the same.

But to buy the Surface Book for a tablet? No. Not unless you need a laptop AND a tablet at the same time

Not sure why this keeps coming up, but again it's pretty simple and MS has made that very clear I thought, if someone wants a 'tablet', then the SB is not the device for them, they should get a Surface Pro, those are 'tablets'. The SB is a 'laptop', with a little added feature of being able to yank the display off for short periods of time.

Not sure why this is so difficult to understand.

 

[Dratwister]

Bite the bullet and got one i5 dGPU :-? May be I'm the lucky one cause after a clean reinstall and doing all updates and all restart need for updating. The only issue I've got so far was the not responding keyboard ONCE. reinstall the keyboard and everything is perfectly fine now. No freezing, no BSOD. no crashing, detaching and attaching work flawlessly...

Oh, I knew about the sleep issue and switched to hibernate, so no battery draining for now. I'm doing hell of photo editing, gamings and drawing with it right now. Absolutely satisfy with this SB so far!

Lucky pick I guess Well, hope that Intel and nVidia can get their heads together and release their fixed drivers

 

[Richard Ryan Dort]

I have the full budget SB, so an i5 with no dGPU. I too have none of the issue many are reporting. I did for a second, but as soon as the first Intel driver update came through it stopped crashing. The video response is a little slow some times. But my main purpose was to replace my Nokia 2520 and its powered keyboard combo, and this the only thing on the market that does that, at least the way I want it too. I use it a lot as you describe, and I do not notice, much less bothered by, the wobble many report. But in that position I am usually watching videos. The pen can be useful too. I agree with someone else who mentioned that 8.1 has a much better UI for using a tablet. I am annoyed enough with Windows 10 that I was actually looking for info on running 8.1 on this thing, when I came across this tread. Anyway, mechanically I find it pretty solid as a nice big tablet. Windows 8.1 would just be a better OS for that use. I am going to go back to using my old Nokia RT tablet for a bit to see how I feel about it. There are only few things I cannot do on my RT tablet that I can do on the SB as I use mostly apps anyway. Mostly downloading info off my bicycling power meter and Garmin action camera. Oh, and I had a temp job that I had to use IE for. That's literally about it. But if you are into hard core gaming, I don't think this is your thing. These CPUs are only dual core, and I have issues with 1080p videos locking up a bit, but again without the dGPU. Hope this helps.

 

[JaimitoFrog]

As a tablet, it's main short coming is battery life. But it feels nicer, lighter than SP3 when used handheld, not propped up on a table. Detaching is not been a major problem for me. The bug is that the tablet/desktop mode doesn't auto switch or switch at the wrong mode, and u have to manually change it on the taskbar. The other bug is the airplane mode indicator will switch on, even though all the antennas are still operational.

 

[Rattso2005]

I purchased the high end SB and exchanged it a couple of times. Main reason was because of all the issues. On the last one I exchanged for an SP4. I really liked the SB but couldn't deal with all the issues for such an expensive device. With SP4 I find I really like the kickstand. The SB although light as a tablet was cumbersome to hold because there was no way to prop it up without crossing your legs or using a pillow or a 3rd party stand. Maybe the SB2 will come with a stand. We'll see. ...

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[zerospace-net]

I purchased the high end SB and exchanged it a couple of times. Main reason was because of all the issues. On the last one I exchanged for an SP4. I really liked the SB but couldn't deal with all the issues for such an expensive device. With SP4 I find I really like the kickstand. The SB although light as a tablet was cumbersome to hold because there was no way to prop it up without crossing your legs or using a pillow or a 3rd party stand. Maybe the SB2 will come with a stand. We'll see. ...

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

And this is the fundamental issue with the Surface Book as a tablet. Thin, light, beautiful, pretty decently functional -- yes! But holding a 13 inch thin, light slab comfortably for awhile... no. Definitely need a stand or prop for extended use for tasks like drawing, surfing or anything that requires a lot of regular interaction with the screen. Because of this, my preference is to flip the clipboard around and use the "magazine" mode. The slight angle makes for comfortable writing or drawing and surfing. Unfortunately, you also lose the thinness and lightness of the clipboard in the process, rendering it much too similar to any other 360 degree hinged 2-in-1s on the market currently.

 

[JaimitoFrog]

And this is the fundamental issue with the Surface Book as a tablet. Thin, light, beautiful, pretty decently functional -- yes! But holding a 13 inch thin, light slab comfortably for awhile... no. Definitely need a stand or prop for extended use for tasks like drawing, surfing or anything that requires a lot of regular interaction with the screen. Because of this, my preference is to flip the clipboard around and use the "magazine" mode. The slight angle makes for comfortable writing or drawing and surfing. Unfortunately, you also lose the thinness and lightness of the clipboard in the process, rendering it much too similar to any other 360 degree hinged 2-in-1s on the market currently.

while i get your point, since i have SP3 too, the lack of kickstand sure doesnt affect ipad users. they still buy them yr after yr. if they want a stand, they just buy a cover. so in that context, SB is so much better to hold and use as a tablet than ipads.

 

[sundog55]

And this is the fundamental issue with the Surface Book as a tablet. Thin, light, beautiful, pretty decently functional -- yes! But holding a 13 inch thin, light slab comfortably for awhile... no.

First, no offense but... kinda beating a dead horse here? The Surface book is not a tablet.

Second, on one hand you say it's thin, light and beautiful and functional then in the next breath talk about it like it's a 10 pound brick that's impossible to hold for more than a few minutes. Maybe it's a pain for you, but I have no problem holding this (in your words) thin, light beautiful, light slab in my hands to read and browse web sites, it's is very enjoyable, comfortable, convenient and not at all a monumental struggle for my 61 year old fingers. Hell, I did it for years with my original iPad with no kickstand, and it weighs more than the SB clipboard. And since my preference is holding it in portrait mode for reading anyway, my SP3 with it's kickstand has zero advantage here, and it's heavier than the SB clipboard.

So you can't just declare it's a "fundamental issue" because everyone's use case is different and your issue with it doesn't go across the board to all users. The battery drain *is* a fundamental issue, affects everyone. This however, is not a fundamental issue, it's a subjective use case issue.

That's why they have devices like the surface pro line with kickstands and devices like the surface book which is a laptop. There is a target demographic for each. Find your use case, pick your device.

 

[zerospace-net]

Perhaps I am beating a dead horse . Sorry about that. *kicks horse one more time* .. Sorry, couldn't help myself there! =P I'm just glad to see someone else saying the same thing I've been saying instead of trumpeting the Surface Book as such a great tablet. It's OK as a tablet, but nothing super special. Since getting the Surface Book, I have found that I use my device far, far less as a tablet (than I did the SP3) and much, much more as a laptop or magazine (clipboard flipped around and the whole thing "closed" with the clipboard directly over the keyboard) due to its lack of kickstand on the clipboard part. Just try drawing on the screen with the pen and holding the clipboard in your other hand without resting it on anything -- do this for at least 30 minutes straight without resting the clipboard on anything, and you'll understand why I don't use the clipboard as a tablet. If you want to do any serious sketching, you need to rest the clipboard on something. So if you use the clipboard flipped around, as I do, you lose the thinness & lightness of the clipboard because the base is pretty darned heavy compared to something like a Surface Pro 3 or 4. I don't use my Surface to watch movies or read books -- I have a Kindle Fire for that, so just holding it in one hand while consuming media is not my thing. My Surface is a design tool for me, and has been since I got the SP3 at launch. Microsoft even advertises the Surface Book as a design tool. I guess I was just spoiled by the awesomeness of the SP3's kickstand -- I really almost wish MS had found a way to work some kind of kickstand into the back of the clipboard on the Surface Book so you could really have the best of both worlds. I know, that's probably asking way too much.

You're right, though, that's enough already, so I'll leave you to feel however you'd like to feel about the SB as a tablet. It is clear that we disagree and won't resolve it anytime soon :wink: