Recent content by astondg

In terms of hours I use my Surface Pro mostly set up as a desktop for my job (because I'm there 8hrs a day) BUT in that setup my Surface sits flat on the desk next to my keyboard with the pen so I can take notes while I work. Outside of work I use it 70% tablet and 30% laptop.

Even if your country gets support it probably won't get feature parity with the US. Cortana has been in Australia for a while now and it's lacking a lot of features compared to the US.

Hello has worked for me, so far, in portrait mode as well as landscape (I haven't tried upside down landscape though). Some people recommended running the Hello 'Improve Recognition' in portrait mode too - although I haven't done that yet.

I was hoping for a new dock with USB-C ports, because I won't be able to use the dongle while I'm connected to the dock (both use the Surface Connect port).

I haven't noticed any pen related scratches on my SP1, SP3 or 2017 SP so far. The tip is quite soft, much softer than the glass.

Re: What are you doing without usb-C? I'll get by without it, it's not a deal breaker. But I would really like USB-C & TB3, I feel it would increase the convenience of the Surface Pro. My use cases, in order of importance, are: 1. Connecting external SSD for storing and editing (in place) my...

Actually from what I've read more RAM can mean more power draw, even if it's not actively 'in-use'. E.g. if a machine has 2x1GB RAM sticks it will use more power than 1x2GB stick. But with the Surface I think the RAM modules are soldered onto the motherboard? So I don't know exactly how that...

If that's the case then the i7 sounds perfect. I'm ok with using more battery when I'm doing CPU intensive stuff (i.e. my day job), but if it can get very similar battery life to the i5 when doing basic tasks (i.e. when I'm at home) then that's exactly what I want.

I don't think I can go back to a laptop after my Surface Pro 3 :) The device I get will be my only computer for both work and home use so I want something nice to use at home too. Also the company issued device is an i5 MacBook Pro with 16GB RAM, so a Surface Pro with the same specs should do...

Docker. I need to run several images as part of my software development environment and I need to allocate it 8GB of its own to get the best performance, then I need to run my IDE & Chrome on top of that. My SP3 has it's 8GB maxed out most of the time and is paging to the SDD.

I do have to get the 16GB IF I get a Surface Pro. But based on the battery life I might not get a SP. Yeah, I'm looking forward to the reviews. I was just hoping to lock in a pre-order in the next few days while I can still get education pricing. I was hoping someone might have some insider...

Does any one have any idea how the Core i7 will impact battery life? In its favour, under low loads (like watching a video), I think there is not much difference in power consumption between an i5 and i7? And Microsoft calls the i7 thermal design 'hybrid' which makes me wonder if it runs with...

The cost thing is interesting because it's easy to calculate the cost of upgrading, but much harder to calculate the cost of not upgrading. E.g. what's the cost to their business if they're hit with WannaCry or another attack/issue? I also wonder from an insurance perspective if this is...

I too was disappointed about no USB, for a few convenience reasons e.g.: a single charger and docking station for SP, phone (continuum & probably DeX?) AND my workplace MacBook - that right there is a big convenience win for me, and the extra speed of USB 3.1 for external NVMe SSD (and, if I had...

I'm interested in this too. I've got an SP3 that is really being pushed to (past!) it's limits in my job (web dev). I held off upgrading when the Surface Book Performance Base was announced because I didn't really have the money, but now there are discounts running on the SB (e.g. 15%) and I'm...