10.5" iPad Pro to Surface Pro 2017

[midfieldpacman]

Hi

I recently bought a 10.5" iPad Pro to be a media device and ultra mobile computer for email and editing word docs etc.

My current setup is Dropbox auto syncs my Mac Documents and Downloads folder and then I access these docs on my iPad. I'm spending a lot of time on planes and trains with no wifi at the moment and found that even if I make a file available offline in Dropbox, I can't open it in the office apps unless I'm online. I think it's a limitation of iOS rather than Dropbox.

This is a big deal for me so I thought about moving to a Surface Pro as it will handle files like a normal computer and download to the hard drive rather than store in a closed off app.

I have a 2017 Macbook Pro which I love so not looking for a laptop replacement.

My question is, I know I'll gain better office and file management abilities, but how much will I lose with a surface on the media side? I like the wide variety of apps on iOS, even though I only really use netflix, amazon, youtube, spotify/apple music, etc.

Thanks

 

[Zachary Boddy]

You won't lose anything, as you have access to a wide plethora of fully powered browsers like Chrome and Edge for all your entertainment needs. However, if you're talking specifically about apps, yes you will lose a bit, but the app situations on the desktop version of the Windows Store isn't quite as desolate as the Mobile side. Netflix is a fully functional app, YouTube has the incredible MyTube (far better than the stock YouTube app), Spotify has, well, Spotify, and Groove Music is a fantastic and beautiful music service that, in my humble opinion, completely decimates Apple Music. You can take that as you will, but I wouldn't hesitate to replace an iPad Pro with a Surface Pro, as you're simply getting far more computer in a far more versatile package, and the new Surface Pro has a superior stylus experience, better performance, comparable battery life, and in a beautiful package. You do sacrifice the simplicity and ease of use that iOS possesses, and it'll be more annoying to tie it in with your other Apple products. The Surface Pro is also a little harder to use as a tablet just because of Windows 10's currently limited Tablet Mode.

 

[anon(5327127)]

If you can spend time with both!

How many times does Dropbox have to release user/pass details to the web before people stop using it? There's always OneDrive if you're moving to a Surface and that's what I use on my iPad mini 4

 

[convergent]

Hi

I recently bought a 10.5" iPad Pro to be a media device and ultra mobile computer for email and editing word docs etc.

My current setup is Dropbox auto syncs my Mac Documents and Downloads folder and then I access these docs on my iPad. I'm spending a lot of time on planes and trains with no wifi at the moment and found that even if I make a file available offline in Dropbox, I can't open it in the office apps unless I'm online. I think it's a limitation of iOS rather than Dropbox.

This is a big deal for me so I thought about moving to a Surface Pro as it will handle files like a normal computer and download to the hard drive rather than store in a closed off app.

I have a 2017 Macbook Pro which I love so not looking for a laptop replacement.

My question is, I know I'll gain better office and file management abilities, but how much will I lose with a surface on the media side? I like the wide variety of apps on iOS, even though I only really use netflix, amazon, youtube, spotify/apple music, etc.

Thanks

Its kind of apples vs. oranges, no pun intended. My thoughts on the apps you mentioned:

- Netflix - the Win10 app works great in tablet mode, just as good as iOS. It also can do downloads and play disconnected or in other countries.
- Amazon - there is no Win10 app for this, so its browser only. That means no downloads I don't believe.
- Youtube - there is no Win10 app, so just use browser. Have to be online.
- Spotify - there is a Win10 app, but I don't use Spotify so no comment on it.
- Apple Music - Apple has said they will be releasing a new Win10 app for this, but haven't yet. I don't use iTunes today on my Surface.

For news I use the USA Today app and the Microsoft News and Money apps... they all very good in tablet mode.
All the office apps obviously work great on the Surface.
I use Firefox as my main browser, but all of them work fine.

 

[Henrik Becker]

I was recently considering picking up a new Macbook and an iPad together vs picking up a Surface Pro.

After messing with the iPad and the stylus I was unconvinced of the writing experience. I tried it on a few machines in the store - all of them lagged. SP seems much nippier.

 

[Zachary Boddy]

I was recently considering picking up a new Macbook and an iPad together vs picking up a Surface Pro.

After messing with the iPad and the stylus I was unconvinced of the writing experience. I tried it on a few machines in the store - all of them lagged. SP seems much nippier.

The new Surface Pro has a far better inking experience I've seen.

 

[rdubmu]

The new Surface Pro has a far better inking experience I've seen.

The inking experience on the iPad Pro is better than the surface pro 4. In my opinion thou.

 

[ClintRo]

The new Surface Pro and the Surface Pro 4 have different inking experiences.

Oh why didn't they just call it the Surface Pro 5??? SMH

 

[Zachary Boddy]

The inking experience on the iPad Pro is better than the surface pro 4. In my opinion thou.

I loathe the feel of the Pencil. Can't stand it. It feels cheap and uncomfortable, which is not something you can say about Apple very often. And that charging solution? Good golly it's awful. Yeah the specs are good and I'm sure it's a decent stylus that's comparable if not superior to the Pro 4 Pen but I can't get past the feel. It just doesn't feel good to me. And no buttons/eraser makes me mad too.

 

[rdubmu]

I loathe the feel of the Pencil. Can't stand it. It feels cheap and uncomfortable, which is not something you can say about Apple very often. And that charging solution? Good golly it's awful. Yeah the specs are good and I'm sure it's a decent stylus that's comparable if not superior to the Pro 4 Pen but I can't get past the feel. It just doesn't feel good to me. And no buttons/eraser makes me mad too.

I disagree with the cheap feeling, I like it a lot.l, but the charging solution is kind of stupid but it works, 15 seconds I have a 30 minute charge.

I hate the SP4 pen and the tips, they wear out.

 

[Zachary Boddy]

I disagree with the cheap feeling, I like it a lot.l, but the charging solution is kind of stupid but it works, 15 seconds I have a 30 minute charge.

I hate the SP4 pen and the tips, they wear out.

I've not had any issues with the tips wearing out, and I think it's great being able to hot swap them with an affordable pen tip kit. The Pen feels high quality, and has a nice heft and weight to it. The only issue I've had so far with it is that it's kind of annoying trying to find a new battery for it. I hope Microsoft switches to some form of rechargeable solution in the future because, as long as the battery lasts, they're not easy to find.

 

[ClintRo]

You can order the batteries on Amazon or your local hardware store might have it as well... not expensive either.

 

[rdubmu]

I've not had any issues with the tips wearing out, and I think it's great being able to hot swap them with an affordable pen tip kit. The Pen feels high quality, and has a nice heft and weight to it. The only issue I've had so far with it is that it's kind of annoying trying to find a new battery for it. I hope Microsoft switches to some form of rechargeable solution in the future because, as long as the battery lasts, they're not easy to find.

They sell the batteries at Safeway and Fred Myers here in the Seattle area.

 

[Eric Martin4]

Amazon essentials also sells the AAAA batteries pretty cheap, just pick up a 4 pack and leave them in your bag. Should be good for years.

 

[Jason Angle]

So from the perspective of someone that has a SP4, SP, and a iPad Pro 10.5" (okay that is the wife's) moving to the Surface Pro is going to be a great move for productivity. Media wise, I actually like the search features on her iPad iTunes over the Store, but when it comes to what you get to keep and how long it last Microsoft has the edge. Also the streaming seems a lot easier on the SP. Swap from Dropbox to OneDrive and get the 365 account for the 1TB. You won't regret that, as everyone in my family has Office installed on computer, and 1TB of Onedrive. All the purchased music is on my account and the home media device (an aging Dell Tablet and Bose setup) as well as my Groove pass. Everyone adds songs they like to different playlists for around the house. I also have it on my 950 XL and wife's iPhone so we can stream anywhere (Groove is installed on all the devices up to my max of 5). The pen versus pencil discussion... SP pen, hands down for writing and drawing. Pencil is awesome for note taking but for converting to typed text, not really. Would highly recommend the SP though for anything work related, the iPad Pro even with keyboard is Apple grabbing at Microsoft innovation, and falling solely into the "this is a cool toy" category. For work the iPad is not going to cut it. The SP fills in well for a media devices better than the iPad for work.

 

[mTareksg]

I would say you wont lose much coz you can do more with a surface pro, BUT if you also use the Apple pencil on your ipad a lot then definitely dont switch to Surface pro. why I'm saying this even tho surface pro 2017 has the surface pen? because the new surface pen is very unreliable and lacks accuracy when compared to ipad pro also even whe compared to surface pro 4 as the new surface pro 2017 has a defect with writing on screen using the pen. I own SP 2017 and found that this is a widespread issue that only people who use the pen a lot for note-talking would notice. So if your not going to use the pen at all definitely get an SP 2017 but if you are going to use the pen then stay with ipad

 

[Gayle Lynn]

Just bought SP 2017. was tempted ipad pro ref'd. too..

SP isn't good being tablet with stylus, some bugs from early W10 are still there. A background window scrolling instead of foreground.

The touchpad us either buggy, inconsistent, nothing like smoothness if MacBook 2015.

Sometimes it seems to freeze for 15 seconds. Haven't gotten around to monitoring. Touch input instead if pen or keyboard helps.

Struggling to merge, sort, consolidate favorite bookmarks but Edge is not build for that, IE11 is but not perfect. Maybe Firefox will.

No Amazon Music or Prime Video.
No standalone Pocket app so far, 1000s of articles over the years.

I did move my files to OneDrive ahead if time and syncing to the Surface so I'm already using 120GB locally. Maybe good use for 200GB SD card.

A lot to do moving to Surface.

 

[spasell]

I just switched 2 months ago from iPad Pro 10.5 to latest Surface Pro. The ONLY reason I did that was my company is using advanced features in Excel (slicers) that you cannot get in the ios version and we were told would not be coming to Office for ios within the next year or so.

I owned the first version of Surface Book and it was a disaster. I also owned a Surface Pro 3 which was better but had all the hibernation and hot bag issues.

I had ZERO issues with the iPad Pro 10.5. It did all the office tasks that I get here on this device. Can split the windows now, drag and drop was good, no issues.

And BEST OF ALL - the iPad is by FAR more superior at handling video and watching media.

The issue I am having is movies I own that I downloaded from the Windows store stutter and lag every 3-5 minutes. It's ridiculous. For cross country flying it's so annoying.

I do enjoy the latest Surface Pro for all my office work has it handles it all very well with zero issues and I get about 7-8 hours of heavy Office work and browsing on a charge...not as good as the iPad but still acceptable for me.

HOWEVER - the Pen on the Surface just blows away the pencil. The Pencil is good, but it's not even close to the experience of using the been on this Surface. The pen feels better in the hand on the Surface and is far more improved over the last iterations. That's my opinion. The pencil was too big for me, just felt awkward and I take a lot of notes in my meetings using these devices. OneNote is great for this.

I really do miss the iPad though for my media.

 

[Old_Mil]

I'd probably try a few things before going through the trouble and expense of switching to a different device that isn't part of the ecosystem you are already invested in.

https://www.howtogeek.com/204010/how-to-get-an-android-style-local-file-system-on-an-iphone-or-ipad/

 

[Old_Mil]

Also this...

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Can-I-work-offline-3cdc0690-7332-4d4b-8884-ba2a353a42d8

(Although I have to admit using Microsoft's tech support pages written by their army of semi literate tech support agents is painful...)