The 20-second boot up compared to an Android or iPhone or a Windows OEM laptop is quick. But in comparison with a Chromebook it's quite slow.
Well the Surface Pro 1, 2, 3 has 6sec boot time. Meaning if your system is totally off, in 6 sec you see your desktop, and ready to go with a fully responsive experience.
So would you say Hibernate mode is "better" than Sleep Mode (when the lid closes) as it drains less battery and loads quicker?
In the case of the Surface Pro 1, 2 and 3 and similarly configured computers, Hibernation will or could take more a bit more time than powering up from shutdown to get started. However, you resume where you left off.
Sleep powers your RAM while the system is practical off, and the power efficiency when in sleep is not as good as normal tablet. Meaning if you plan to put the computer to sleep and take it several days later, and turn it on, don't expect that the battery level will remain close to where it was when you turned is off. It will rather be low.
It's best to turn off your system when you won't be using it soon after or want to resume your work later on. Keep in mind that despite looking like a tablet, the Surface Pro is still a laptop internal.
I have heard about bloatware (especially with the case of Android phones & tablets) but would installing a third-party app be considered bloat as well? How would i know it would not slodown my PC?
bloatware is a term used to describe a software that has no value, and no purpose for
you, and takes system ressources, where it be memory (RAM), or processing power, or time (time to startup), or simply capacity on your system, or a combination of them. Example: search bars in a web browser. For many, this is a bloatware, as you can set your web browser of choice to the search engine of choice, and when you search something on the address bar or designated search box (if any), it will use it. However, for someone, that search bar might be useful, where for him or her in some fashion.
About this BIOS vs UEFI issue....do i even have to worry about it? Does it say on the package if its BIOS or UEFI? And can i set the PC as UEFI?
To stay competitive against other manufactures, and have good reviews as a goal. New systems of today, all uses UEFI. Well 'all' is used loosely here. I have no data to backup this claim, but I think if you get a newly manufactures system and not a cheapo one, it will most likely be using UEFI, and I'll be surprised if it wasn't.
My other "worry" about a Windows PC is security. Which app or tool i need to have in order to keep my PC virus/malware/trojan/spam-free? And can i set updates to automatically as well?
Nothing beats safe web surfing practices, and knowing exactly what you install on your system. You can run Windows without an anti-virus for multiple years, and truly use the computer as normal, and after 3-4 years you install one, and do a scan, and nothing was found. The great majority of the time, it is the user that downloads a virus or malware (virus term is used to encompass all bad software, and attacks, meaning trojans, spyware, spam, actual viruses, and so on). No anti-virus is full proof either. In addition, the better the anti-virus, the more resources it will take, and slow down your system from starting up (as it does a virus check on Windows startup file, while Windows loads), and start scanning every peace of data you encounter, continuously, and does multiple pass on everything with different algorithm, and anything it finds somewhat a potential harm will take no chance, and flag it as a false positive, meaning it will detect it as a virus of some kind, but really isn't, as the anti-virus takes 0 chance. However, you have anti-virus that aren't aggressive like that. They are not as good, the percentage of success in detection is good, but not great, but you'll feel like you have nothing installed.
Windows 8 comes with Windows Defender. Microsoft own anti-virus solution. It is called Microsoft Security Essentials in Windows 7, which was a download that you get (it was also available for XP, and Vista users). The anti-virus is ok. It gives you a base line protection system, and really doesn't affect performance. Being popular, and now built-in into Windows, virus maker can seek ways to by-pass the anti-virus. Keeping it updated (updated are delivered once or even sometimes twice daily via Windows Update automatically)
For many people, this anti-virus is sufficient. They prefer keeping the system responsive and quick like no anti-virus is installed, and be totally non intrusive, and act like if it doesn't exists, for a reduction in security check. To combat this, they use web surfing practices, and don't mind, at the worst, re-installing everything when infected.
Others, uses it, and every couple of months will install another anti-virus of their choice, do a scan, and if nothing is detected, removes it, and resumes.
So, as you can see, they are many options out there. and it depends on you and your experience, and your knowledge on surfing the web in a safe mater, and know exactly what goes in your system (download, USB key, disc (if you have a drive for it), etc).
I want to also ask about background processes. I have heard you have to always go to this setting somewhere to uncheck or stop some processes running in the background to speed up the OS. Bit confusing i think. As you have to find something then some more ticks to uncheck something.
How would i know what process to uncheck or stop? Will it help in speeding up loading up things and the general PC performance?
Can i set those the ones i unchecked kept unchecked?
Depending on which software you use to do this (Windows 8 task manager under the Startup tab, and programs like CCleaner (free) will tell you the name of the program and its publisher. If not, then you'll need to do a Google search on the program file name. You can uncheck the item which symbolizes that you want Windows to ignore it at startup, or remove it from the list of startup programs. There is mo difference between the two.
Startup programs appear by software you install or drivers which puts things in the startup list to have start with your system. Usually, they are drivers control panel pre-loaders usually you can remove (or better yet, if you don't know, disable them, to re-enable it if you see something stop working) them safely.), or driver software to provide additional features like keyboard hot keys for additional controls that Windows doesn't provide, for example on some laptop you have a keyboard key to turn off or on the wireless, or auto-updaters or other software which can be refer as bloatware by some, or stuff like your anti-virus, which you want to startup with your computer.
It is for you to decide what you care or don't care about. Power users tend to prefer to remove control panel pre-loaders, as they rarely access them, and can wait the extra 0.5sec more or whatever for the panel to open, as for updates, they'll check themselves every now and then. The rest, it is left as is, usually.
The Surface Pro comes clean in its startup. It is all about (as a goal) to porvide you the best Windows experience, so you have nothing of such. Windows defender is built-in Windows, so it doesn't show up listed, and well, no bloatware installed for you.
Talking about the initial setup if i would get the Surface Pro 2 with 8.1 already and with a 30MB broadband speed plus installing the odd patches, security updates, 1st-party software updates surely this would not reach more 4 hours. And as with a Macbook does the initial setup ask you to create an alternative drive or something to make loading faster or to re-install Windows if something happens to your "other" drive?
Ignoring installing your programs, ignoring the recommendation of having your device plugged in and fully charged before doing a firmware upgrade for the device, which varies from one person to another, depending on the number and programs to install, and where the battery life is at out of the box (battery is never fully charged when the device is new, but rather on purpose set to 40-50% depending on the battery used, to maximize store shelf life to not reduce the battery life at all as the device is in the box.
The device is ready to go out of the box (well after you do the Windows startup as I described in my previous post).
As for recovery, the Surface Pro 1, 2, 3 with Windows 8 has everything built-in the system. Nothing to prepare or do.
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