Advice for my new Surface Pro 4

[dc9super80]

So after many years on OSX (now macOS), I went in to pick up a new MacBook Pro and walked out with a Surface Pro 4 i7. Needless to say I really enjoy this machine. Yes I know it is old now (2015), and yes I know there will be an update in the near future. Nevertheless this is a good machine, they keyboard and track-pad are surprising good, I have absolutely no complaints, the screen is amazing. I do wish it had better battery life but one can't have it all.

Questions:

1. I need a simply, light yet good PDF app, like "Preview" for macOS. I can edit if I want but it is not the principal objective as it is with Drawboard.
2. Good photo editing apps? Nothing fancy like Photoshop, I simply used the macOS Photo.app.
3. Does Gmail work well with the stock mail app? I don't want all my labels etc to get messed up and I am not changing to Outlook (baby steps).
4. DId I make a good purchase, considering it is not a newly released machine?

P.S. So now instead of having a MacBook, iPad and iPhone, I simply my life with a Surface Pro and an iPhone. Nice work Microsoft.

 

[anon(5604227)]

Welcome to the APP problem

1- Perhaps Reader from Microsoft. But the best PDF reader is Drawboard.

2.- AFAIK, for Modern UI, there is nothing good. Paint.NET for old Windows Desktop. Free and good.

3.- No. It does not delete or Archive mails, the mail threaded view is a joke (for example you get in the last email, not the first unread email)... etc...

4.- No. Not for the hardware but Windows. SP4 hardware is very good but ti comes with Windows 10 that is a pain for any task different than desktop usage.

I'm a OS X guy too. I changed from Windows 7 to MAC about 5 years ago, not because I was disappointed with Windows but for other personal reasons related to not mix work and home. I didn't like MAC but finally I got the thing and now I cannot go back to Windows, and I want to go back.

For classical desktop usage Windows 10 si still perfect, more with Anniversary update, but for tablet usage is not the best thing. Not for "consume" as opposite of "create", not for "sofa", as I used to call it. Modern UI applications are incredible bad, you are lucky if you find a useful one for the thing you'll need, and of course there is nothing in Windows near to MAC Preview app.

I like a lot to use ink, but not always works fine. Sometimes I need to pair mi Surface Pen because buttons stops working, other times you touch/press ink icon in taskbar and nothing happens and need to reboot or at least logout/login.

Sometimes you go to switch it on and you find a brick because it has lost its battery or worse than that: you need to repeatedly press power button to make it start and found that still has battery.

Sometimes touch keyboard does not opens in Modern UI apps, other it covers the edit field, other you type but your text is lost in /dev/null, sometimes ink is not able to recognize a word even if you carefully write it.

Once or twice a week you must restart the system because updates, or worse: after an amount of hibernate/activate you get a very slow or faulty system and you need to manually restart.

This has been my experience with the Surface Pro 4. With the SP3 was even worse.

 

[dc9super80]

Ok so I will be in search of a "Preview" replacement and I will use Chrome for Gmail etc. Paint.net is not like the photos app, which can be used for photo storange an editing. I can consider uploading my photos to Google Photos, maybe that may be an alternative.

I use Office heavily for my job and it works much nicer on Windows, so that is a major plus for Windows.

So far Windows 10 is working great, but it has only been a day. I hope I don't experience what you did. I will try to maintain an open mind. Windows aside, I like the form factor a lot.

 

[Tjalsma]

1. I need a simply, light yet good PDF app, like "Preview" for macOS. I can edit if I want but it is not the principal objective as it is with Drawboard.

Is FoxIt available? I believe it may be but I am not sure if it's free (I am at work). Coincidentally, we use it at my place of business so not sure if it is a free application.

2. Good photo editing apps? Nothing fancy like Photoshop, I simply used the macOS Photo.app.

The Windows Photo app should work well for this. There are plenty of 3rd party apps as well. The integrated Photo app allows you to auto-adjust, apply filters, etc.

3. Does Gmail work well with the stock mail app? I don't want all my labels etc to get messed up and I am not changing to Outlook (baby steps).

I don't believe you should have an issue with this. I can't say for sure as I primarily use a Live account.

4. DId I make a good purchase, considering it is not a newly released machine?

Yes! It's a fantastic machine and unless you are a super-user, I can't see why you'd wait months for the next iteration which would most likely be more expensive anyways. This is an amazing machine, and I have a newer iMac. I find this machine to be especially pleasing to use, customizable (personalize the mail app, start menu, etc.), and extremely functional.

I can't say I share the opinions of the above user as I've had exactly zero problems with this or my Surface RT for that matter (which is still a relatively robust tablet for simple functions).

I'd hesitate joining the Windows Insider program on the SP4.

The only thing I will say is that if you don't have a type cover, get one.

 

[anon(5604227)]

Ok so I will be in search of a "Preview" replacement and I will use Chrome for Gmail etc. Paint.net is not like the photos app, which can be used for photo storange an editing. I can consider uploading my photos to Google Photos, maybe that may be an alternative.

I use Office heavily for my job and it works much nicer on Windows, so that is a major plus for Windows.

So far Windows 10 is working great, but it has only been a day. I hope I don't experience what you did. I will try to maintain an open mind. Windows aside, I like the form factor a lot.

Yes, Office runs well in Windows 10, and as Tjalsma says, integrated Photos is completely similar to Mac Photos. They do almost the same.

For viewing PDF, if you don't mind Desktop applications, Sumatra PDF is the best. Incredibly fast, and Open Source. It has recent viewed PDF list. I use it at work because I'm not confident with other Viewers, like Foxit. I don't know now because it is years I don't use it, but older versions used to come with spyware.

 

[dc9super80]

1. I need a simply, light yet good PDF app, like "Preview" for macOS. I can edit if I want but it is not the principal objective as it is with Drawboard.

Is FoxIt available? I believe it may be but I am not sure if it's free (I am at work). Coincidentally, we use it at my place of business so not sure if it is a free application.

2. Good photo editing apps? Nothing fancy like Photoshop, I simply used the macOS Photo.app.

The Windows Photo app should work well for this. There are plenty of 3rd party apps as well. The integrated Photo app allows you to auto-adjust, apply filters, etc.

3. Does Gmail work well with the stock mail app? I don't want all my labels etc to get messed up and I am not changing to Outlook (baby steps).

I don't believe you should have an issue with this. I can't say for sure as I primarily use a Live account.

4. DId I make a good purchase, considering it is not a newly released machine?

Yes! It's a fantastic machine and unless you are a super-user, I can't see why you'd wait months for the next iteration which would most likely be more expensive anyways. This is an amazing machine, and I have a newer iMac. I find this machine to be especially pleasing to use, customizable (personalize the mail app, start menu, etc.), and extremely functional.

I can't say I share the opinions of the above user as I've had exactly zero problems with this or my Surface RT for that matter (which is still a relatively robust tablet for simple functions).

I'd hesitate joining the Windows Insider program on the SP4.

The only thing I will say is that if you don't have a type cover, get one.

Thanks for the advice. I do use this machine as a computer mostly, so I have no problem with desktop apps. I will try out Sumatra. The Photos app seems to be great, it is pretty much what I was looking for. I got the i7 because it was on sale, so I think I have some good power here. I am just going to give it while for me to get used to Windows again as it has been a very long time. That said, I just did the anniversary update and pretty much everything I like about macOS seems to be here, including the gestures. I do hope that Devs, give more support as an increase in tablet optimized apps would be great. That said, it is not a dealbreaker because unlike a dedicated tablet (Android tablet or iPad), this is a full PC, so you're not as limited.

 

[ananve]

Well, welcome back.
In short, Microsoft Edge is good for reading pdf. Adobe touch can also help.

For normal photo editing, use stock photo app, It's good. For a little more options, download free version of PhotoScape X Pro from the store.

My gmail works week with stock outlook app.

 

[etphoto]

Simple photo editing you can try before buying ACDsee photo manager. I've been using ACDSee since I went digital in the early 2000s. I use it to manage my large photo collection and it has simple editing abilities as well.

acdsee.com



Sent from mTalk

 

[onlysublime]

Questions:

1. I need a simply, light yet good PDF app, like "Preview" for macOS. I can edit if I want but it is not the principal objective as it is with Drawboard.
2. Good photo editing apps? Nothing fancy like Photoshop, I simply used the macOS Photo.app.
3. Does Gmail work well with the stock mail app? I don't want all my labels etc to get messed up and I am not changing to Outlook (baby steps).
4. DId I make a good purchase, considering it is not a newly released machine?

P.S. So now instead of having a MacBook, iPad and iPhone, I simply my life with a Surface Pro and an iPhone. Nice work Microsoft.

Drawboard PDF is wonderful and was free with the Surface Pro 4. It has a nice set of features. It's not light enough?

Lots of good photo editing apps. But "photo editing" is very broad. What type of photo editing were you thinking? After getting all the latest updates, the Photos app is pretty darn good now. For Modern apps, there's SuperPhoto Free, Perfect 365 (fantastic for making people look better), PhotoFunia, Fhotoroom, KVADPhoto+, and Adobe Photoshop Express. Lots of others out there but I haven't looked in awhile (I use more professional software like Lightroom, Camera Raw, and Photoshop).

And once the Creator Update arrives to Windows 10 (expected by spring of 2017 at the latest), all the photo editing and creative Microsoft apps will be significantly upgraded including the new Paint app that allows easier 3D creation.
The Windows Mail app (the "stock") is great for all the email services except Gmail. It's gotten better for Gmail users (and admittedly I haven't tested it with Gmail recently) but last few times I used it, getting attachments was unreliable with Gmail.

I love both of my Surface Pro 4 machines (Core i7 with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB storage). I can't imagine going back to normal laptops (I do own an Acer S7 and a Dell XPS 13 but they just are there for people to use now as I don't use them anymore).