It's the kickstand!

[kiddori]

The Surface 3 kickstand is probably Microsoft's best hardware invention ever. I've used multiple iPads and Windows 8 tablets/hybrids and never really liked any of them. Why? Because unless you are using them just for reading or playing a simple game, you need to buy accessories. The Surface 3 takes away all that. The kickstand is the best stand available, and it not only eliminates the need for a stand, it is so adjustable and ergonomic that it improves soft-keyboard usage tremendously. The combination of a 12" 4:3 screen, kickstand, and pen kills the competition. Microsoft nailed it with the Surface 3!

 

[dhbailey]

I quite agree -- I am truly loving using my SurfacePro3, and the kickstand is a very important part of that. The only accessory I bring with me often is my HP bluetooth mouse. I can get by with the trackpad but I much prefer using a mouse. But the mouse is not really necessary -- Microsoft really seems to have put a lot of good research into designing an efficient tablet. I use my SurfacePro3 a lot as an electronic music stand (the 12" screen is so much nicer than the iPad's 9.3" screen) and the pen does a great job for that. It's nice to be able to simply fold up my SurfacePro3 and go anywhere and get a lot of work done easily without needing to bring along a bag of accessories unless I want to.

 

[Bill Mitchell]

For me the only way one could possibly improve upon the SP3 is to keep everything exactly the same except give it a solid attached keyboard like the Yoga Series. That and of course the new series fanless Intel CPU. Then I believe you would have the ultimate business hybrid. I rarely remove the keyboard even when using in tablet mode (keyboard protects my fingers from heat) so the extra unremovable keyboard option would not be an issue for me. The hinge is awesome but for lap typing nothing will ever beat a traditional ultrabook hinge.

 

[Michael Alan Goff]

For me the only way one could possibly improve upon the SP3 is to keep everything exactly the same except give it a solid attached keyboard like the Yoga Series. That and of course the new series fanless Intel CPU. Then I believe you would have the ultimate business hybrid. I rarely remove the keyboard even when using in tablet mode (keyboard protects my fingers from heat) so the extra unremovable keyboard option would not be an issue for me. The hinge is awesome but for lap typing nothing will ever beat a traditional ultrabook hinge.

But the new fanless CPU are actually weaker than the ones in the SP3 according to every benchmark I've read.

 

[dclaryjr]

I use the Surface without the keyboard during the evening, and the kickstand makes it really easy to do. I can vary the angle if I'm doing a lot of typing or just watching streaming video. It's great at work because I can adjust it just right to avoid glare.

 

[spasell]

Guess I don't understand this. Why not just get the Yoga instead? The ONLY reason that I bought the SP3 was the fact is does in fact have a removable keyboard. I went back and forth between SP3 and Yoga and decided since I fly a lot I'd rather have the extra space on the tray and less bulk folding the keyboard back. Kickstand makes using it without keyboard and pleasurable experience.

This is in reply to Bill's comment of Yoga vs SP3.

 

[dhbailey]

I would hate it if the keyboard were not removable -- if you always want the keyboard attached, just get a convertible notebook. As a working musician who is using the SurfacePro3 as an electronic music stand (I moved over from an iPad because of the larger screen on the SP3) having a permanently attached keyboard would make the SP3 much less useful. With the keyboard removed, the SP3 sits beautifully on a music stand. I bought a cover that the SP3 slips into so that I can anchor the cover to the music stand and not worry about the SP3 sliding off, and still have the full screen for displaying the music. I think the removable keyboard cover is one of the best things about the SP3 and it would be a much less versatile machine with the cover permanently attached.

I find the magnets holding the cover in place when it's on the SP3 to be strong enough so that it can be kept on all the time anyway, so in effect it can be a semi-permanently attached cover for those who want it to be such.

 

[Bill Mitchell]

Why not the Yoga? Lots of reasons:

1) Yoga is 16:9 which means I can't use it as a tablet in portrait.
2) No stylus on Y3P.
3) Yoga Thinkpad (which has stylus) isn't qHD.

If Lenovo made a Yoga style 3:2 hybrid with a pen at under 2.5 pounds I would buy that over the SP3, yes.

 

[Michael Alan Goff]

Why not the Yoga? Lots of reasons:

1) Yoga is 16:9 which means I can't use it as a tablet in portrait.
2) No stylus on Y3P.
3) Yoga Thinkpad (which has stylus) isn't qHD.

If Lenovo made a Yoga style 3:2 hybrid with a pen at under 2.5 pounds I would buy that over the SP3, yes.

The Surface is barely able to stay under that weight with a light keyboard. I don't Lenovo can do what you're asking.