Hi all,
I thought I'd put up a short mid-term assessment of my impressions of the Surface 2. What do I mean by mid-term? Well, firstly, considered in terms of when the Surface 2 was released, its not really mid-term - more like the first quarter of the release cycle. But if you think of the release of the Surface line, then now is about mid-term. Whatever be the case, my assessment is based on (1) my experience of the Surface 2 thus far and with specific reference to my use scenario; (2) what I think I would have liked the Surface 2 to have; and, (3) speculating on whether I would opt for the Surface 3.
Let me begin by saying that I use the Surface 2 for about 6-8 hours a day. Primary function? Replace my laptop. Thus, it is very seldom that I use it purely as a tablet. Come to think of it, even though I have three tablets (Surface 2, iPad 4 and Nexus 10), I don't really use any of them as tablets! I use the Nexus for watching movies. I use the iPad as a dedicated e-reader. And, I use the Surface 2 as a laptop!!! Conceivably, I could use the Surface 2 to watch movies, but aside from some YouTube videos, I haven't.
Battery life: Not bad. 6-8 hours of working on Word, a couple of tabs on the browser open, email app open and syncing 3 mail accounts, wifi on, and brightness at around 40%, I end my day with about 40% of the battery remaining. So, this means I charge it all night. Like many of you, I have found that surfing costs battery life and this is one place that I think the Surface 2 can be improved - by means of a firmware/ software update.
BSOD: I did not think I had this problem till I recently tried to refresh the device. You can read all about the problem that Surface 2 devices are having on this issue on the Tegra4 thread stickied above. This is apparently a driver issue and while a fix is possible, apparently, it is up to MS and Nvidia to issue it, which they have not till date.
Form Factor: Excellent. Could not have asked for it better.
Type Cover: I have the Type Cover 2. It works well. Love the backlighting - hate the touchpad. Seriously! MS needs to work on this ASAP and make some dramatic improvements.
Connectivity: Wifi and BT have worked well for me and I have been able to connect to a variety of WIFI spots without problems. I can also effortlessly tether the device to my phone (which also runs Win 8) and get online, which means I don't really experience the lack of a 3G or LTE capability.
Apps: It is what it is. The mainstay is Office, which I use a lot. I use some other apps too, but minimally. As for the desktop environment - aside from hosting Office, its pretty much useless, which is also why getting the Modern UI version of Office is so important for the Surface 2.
That being said, recently, I have been running into some issues with apps (especially when I compare it with the iPad). Basically, my story runs something like this: I work in academia. This means I am always working on research papers, writing monographs etc. One key tool for me is a reference software (like EndNote, Zotero, etc.). Now, if I had the Surface Pro 2, I would not be writing this, but since I don't, I have to say that not having apps like these makes my life quite difficult. Sure, there are some workarounds, but they are cumbersome. Personally, I think the Surface 2 is an excellent device for the academic environment. But it lacks certain things - a reference software is one of them. The other is an inking capability. While I can live without the latter, the lack of the former is a big issue.
I think there are two ways by which this problem can be solved - (1) either the developers of such software develop a version that can go into the Windows Store, which can thus be installed on ARM devices, and/ or (2) MS allows browsers like Firefox to be installed on Win RT machines. Why Firefox? Because, if we remain with the example of the reference software (Zotero by way of an example), there is a plugin for Zotero which works with Firefox. Either that, or MS should allow developers to make and allow for the installation of similar plugins for the resident IE version. I say this with specific reference to reference software, but I am sure a lot of other such example do exist for other kinds of applications.
If there is something that I wish the Surface 2 had, it would be this.
Which brings me to the last question: Would I buy a Surface 3? Well, it will depend. Will a Surface 3 be able to address the issue(s) I mentioned above? If yes, then absolutely, I would consider buying the Surface 3. There is a lot to like about the ARM version - its light, got good battery life, does not get warm, does not get filled with junk and thus is relatively secure. Conversely, the Surface Pro 2 may see much more significant updates in the near future - for example, I think the battery life will be better than what is now (avg. about 6 hours currently with a similar workload as I described above), it should also be a bit lighter (at least I hope so), and, hopefully, future devices may also run a bit cooler than what they run now.
If I do get a Surface Pro 2, then I would probably use it in a very similar manner in which I currently use the Surface 2 - minimal apps from the Store and aside from an additional browser and 2 or 3 programs (max), no other x86 programs at all.
Well, that's it really!
Edit: Not that short of an assessment, I'd say. Sorry!
I thought I'd put up a short mid-term assessment of my impressions of the Surface 2. What do I mean by mid-term? Well, firstly, considered in terms of when the Surface 2 was released, its not really mid-term - more like the first quarter of the release cycle. But if you think of the release of the Surface line, then now is about mid-term. Whatever be the case, my assessment is based on (1) my experience of the Surface 2 thus far and with specific reference to my use scenario; (2) what I think I would have liked the Surface 2 to have; and, (3) speculating on whether I would opt for the Surface 3.
Let me begin by saying that I use the Surface 2 for about 6-8 hours a day. Primary function? Replace my laptop. Thus, it is very seldom that I use it purely as a tablet. Come to think of it, even though I have three tablets (Surface 2, iPad 4 and Nexus 10), I don't really use any of them as tablets! I use the Nexus for watching movies. I use the iPad as a dedicated e-reader. And, I use the Surface 2 as a laptop!!! Conceivably, I could use the Surface 2 to watch movies, but aside from some YouTube videos, I haven't.
Battery life: Not bad. 6-8 hours of working on Word, a couple of tabs on the browser open, email app open and syncing 3 mail accounts, wifi on, and brightness at around 40%, I end my day with about 40% of the battery remaining. So, this means I charge it all night. Like many of you, I have found that surfing costs battery life and this is one place that I think the Surface 2 can be improved - by means of a firmware/ software update.
BSOD: I did not think I had this problem till I recently tried to refresh the device. You can read all about the problem that Surface 2 devices are having on this issue on the Tegra4 thread stickied above. This is apparently a driver issue and while a fix is possible, apparently, it is up to MS and Nvidia to issue it, which they have not till date.
Form Factor: Excellent. Could not have asked for it better.
Type Cover: I have the Type Cover 2. It works well. Love the backlighting - hate the touchpad. Seriously! MS needs to work on this ASAP and make some dramatic improvements.
Connectivity: Wifi and BT have worked well for me and I have been able to connect to a variety of WIFI spots without problems. I can also effortlessly tether the device to my phone (which also runs Win 8) and get online, which means I don't really experience the lack of a 3G or LTE capability.
Apps: It is what it is. The mainstay is Office, which I use a lot. I use some other apps too, but minimally. As for the desktop environment - aside from hosting Office, its pretty much useless, which is also why getting the Modern UI version of Office is so important for the Surface 2.
That being said, recently, I have been running into some issues with apps (especially when I compare it with the iPad). Basically, my story runs something like this: I work in academia. This means I am always working on research papers, writing monographs etc. One key tool for me is a reference software (like EndNote, Zotero, etc.). Now, if I had the Surface Pro 2, I would not be writing this, but since I don't, I have to say that not having apps like these makes my life quite difficult. Sure, there are some workarounds, but they are cumbersome. Personally, I think the Surface 2 is an excellent device for the academic environment. But it lacks certain things - a reference software is one of them. The other is an inking capability. While I can live without the latter, the lack of the former is a big issue.
I think there are two ways by which this problem can be solved - (1) either the developers of such software develop a version that can go into the Windows Store, which can thus be installed on ARM devices, and/ or (2) MS allows browsers like Firefox to be installed on Win RT machines. Why Firefox? Because, if we remain with the example of the reference software (Zotero by way of an example), there is a plugin for Zotero which works with Firefox. Either that, or MS should allow developers to make and allow for the installation of similar plugins for the resident IE version. I say this with specific reference to reference software, but I am sure a lot of other such example do exist for other kinds of applications.
If there is something that I wish the Surface 2 had, it would be this.
Which brings me to the last question: Would I buy a Surface 3? Well, it will depend. Will a Surface 3 be able to address the issue(s) I mentioned above? If yes, then absolutely, I would consider buying the Surface 3. There is a lot to like about the ARM version - its light, got good battery life, does not get warm, does not get filled with junk and thus is relatively secure. Conversely, the Surface Pro 2 may see much more significant updates in the near future - for example, I think the battery life will be better than what is now (avg. about 6 hours currently with a similar workload as I described above), it should also be a bit lighter (at least I hope so), and, hopefully, future devices may also run a bit cooler than what they run now.
If I do get a Surface Pro 2, then I would probably use it in a very similar manner in which I currently use the Surface 2 - minimal apps from the Store and aside from an additional browser and 2 or 3 programs (max), no other x86 programs at all.
Well, that's it really!
Edit: Not that short of an assessment, I'd say. Sorry!
Last edited:
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