How is the Microsoft Surface Pro 2 holding up? Speed, battery etc...

[Gl3nn]

Hello.

Currently I am using a desktop at home and my laptop has said its last goodbye last year.

Now I am about to go abroad again for 6 months so I need something. I have a Surface RT, the first one but even simple google searches is starting to ask much. So I am eyeing on a surface pro.

Since prices are steep I am looking at a used one. My question is, how is the Surface Pro 2 holding up? Should it be able to do standard browsing, excel spreadsheets and PDF and photoshop editing?

What I am aiming at can you do this without the thing freezing for 5-15 seconds? Or am I just better of spending the extra 300 bucks for the pro 3?

 

[xandros9]

My chief concern would be battery life since the battery in the Pro's are just about impossible to replace.

But even the original Surface Pro, ignoring the battery for a moment, is a still powerful computer. Requirements for most usage cases has started to level out and I could even get all my highschool work + basic CAD work done on a 2008 laptop.

You'll be able to do all of those tasks, the only potential issue is really heavy-duty Photoshop work, but I dont think it'll be an issue.

Also worth noting that the i5/midrange Pro 3 is identical performance-wise to a Pro 2. (the improvements are the larger display and other physical things.

 

[brundmc]

I just snagged a surface pro 2 with a broken kickstand on ebay for cheap. It runs great. I don't do photoshop but excel and pdf editing are smooth. The battery seems to average 4 to 6 hours. Google chrome doesn't do portable batteries any favors.

The kickstand seemed like an easy fix but the screws were stripped out. So I used some small paperclip pieces and JB weld. It's holding up well so far.

 

[onlysublime]

There are other benefits for the SP2 over the i5 SP3. Remember, the CPU and GPU are exactly the same. Haswell Core i5-4300U with HD 4400 graphics. But because the screen of the SP2 is 1920x1080 versus the 2160 x 1440 resolution of the SP3. Because it's a lower resolution, the amount of work the GPU has to do is less and the greater the performance is. If you're a gamer or 3D modeler, you know how much resolution impacts performance. If a game is running too slow, the first option is to lower the resolution in order to gain frames per second.

Also, the SP2 is built like a tank. They seriously over-engineered the thing to handle abuse. And while it's thicker and heavier than the SP3, its smaller dimensions means it's less awkward in certain situations than the SP3.

Also, the pen uses Wacom technology versus N-Trig. I still find Wacom to be superior to even the latest SP4 pen (I own both SP2 and SP4).

But Xandros is correct about the battery. All batteries age and lose the ability to hold charge. And because the SP2 is older, the batteries are older. But I've had good success with my SP2 machines. And the SP2 even supports the battery type cover to extend its life whereas the SP3 and SP4 do not have battery type covers.

 

[SFabio]

Mine is i5 Pro 2 and works great, and i find no reason no upgrade till this moment.

Oh just one thing, speakers are not loud enough.

 

[onlysublime]

If you can find them, they work wonders. The Surface Ears. There was a kickstarter a long while back and I got some ears for my SP2 machines. They funnel all the audio forward so you get the full loud sound rather than the default audio projection which shoot upward and outward rather than toward the user.

I got purple ones because my first Type Cover 2 was purple (I now have Cyan, Purple, Magenta, and Teal for my Surface Pro 4):



I feel bad for the guy because it's a good design but it's targeted toward a small audience. Sucks that the SP2 and older Surface machines didn't resonate with the buying audience. The SP2 is fantastic.