Surface pro (2013) to Surface Pro (2017)

[Wevenhuis]

Hi, was curious if there are any forum members that made the jump from the first gen surface pro to the 5th gen device. What are your experiences? What were you blown away by? What were you happy about? What did you have to compromise for with the upgrade?

Thinking about making the jump this year to surface pro "5" (2017)? First impressions device is looking up to be a good time to upgrade. Thanks.

 

[DJCBS]

I haven't done that kind of jump but I can answer a few things:

" What were you blown away by?"
You'll be blown away by pretty much everything in it. The display, the responsiveness of the touch screen, how much better a wacom pen is (if you buy it, 'cause now they don't give it to you anymore even though they raised the price of the devices), etc. It's night and day. The Surface Pro next to the Surface Pro 5 will look to you like a prototype device (which, well, it sort of was).


"What did you have to compromise for with the upgrade?"
You'll compromise absolutely nothing. Well, except for maybe the size. If you think the size of the Surface Pro was perfect, the Surface Pro 5 will be considerably bigger and so not as easy to carry. But that's literally the only thing.

If you're still using the Surface Pro, then GO AHEAD and upgrade to the Surface Pro 5. You won't regret it.

(Though...if you can...wait a couple of months. 'till September I'd say. First batches of new products always have issues and the Pro 5 is no exception).

 

[onlysublime]

I had a Surface Pro 2 which is similar to the original Surface Pro. So comparing it to the latest Surface Pro, there are so many improvements.

The screen is much nicer and bigger. The 3:2 ratio gives you a much bigger view so you don't have to scroll so much. Higher resolution and better color.

Battery life is much much better. I had the SP2 which had better battery life than the original Surface Pro. And I thought it was a huge leap to the new Surface Pro. In my typical workflow with the SP2 (which is pretty heavy), I would maybe get 3 hours. With the new Surface Pro, I can easily almost triple that.

It's much lighter. Because the machine is wider and longer, the weight is also better distributed.

The original SP's kickstand only had 1 position and that position was awful on anywhere but a desk. My SP2 had 2 positions which made it much more convenient on things like the lap. But the new SP allows pretty much any position.

The newer Surface Pro machines have a really good trackpad. Better than the laptops I had. The trackpad on the original Type Cover and Type Cover 2 were awful awful awful. So tiny and not accurate.

The keyboard on the new Surface machines is much nicer than the original Type Cover/Type cover 2 because the keys are spaced better. Now, I still liked the original Type Cover 2 but once you start using the newer ones, it's weird to go back.

The only thing that the SP and SP2 have over the newer machines is they were built like tanks. So using the pen on the SP/SP2 would produce zero flex. But the newer Surface machines are so thin and light that when you press on the screen, it will flex.

 

[Wevenhuis]

Thanks. I'm on the fence about upgrading to the newest Type cover. I was thinking about upgrading to the type cover with fingerprint scanner. Any thoughts on that?

 

[anon(10237065)]

Thanks. I'm on the fence about upgrading to the newest Type cover. I was thinking about upgrading to the type cover with fingerprint scanner. Any thoughts on that?

The current Type Cover is great, I like the size of trackpad (IMO it's just right), very comfortable writing even longer texts, also still pretty quiet. I can only recommend. Regarding the fingerprint scanner, I don't have that one unfortunately but I guess others will give you some thoughts on that too!

 

[onlysublime]

the original Type Cover and Type Cover 2 will not work on the Surface Pro 3, 4, or the latest Surface Pro. They will only work on Surface RT, Surface 2, Surface 3, original Surface Pro and Surface Pro 2.

Starting with Surface Pro 3, all peripherals would be backward compatible. So the Type Covers for SP3 would work now.

The fingerprint reader keyboard should work. I don't know as I don't own it. Windows Hello is so awesome that the fingerprint is unnecessary though.

 

[rdubmu]

the original Type Cover and Type Cover 2 will not work on the Surface Pro 3, 4, or the latest Surface Pro. They will only work on Surface RT, Surface 2, Surface 3, original Surface Pro and Surface Pro 2.

Starting with Surface Pro 3, all peripherals would be backward compatible. So the Type Covers for SP3 would work now.

The fingerprint reader keyboard should work. I don't know as I don't own it. Windows Hello is so awesome that the fingerprint is unnecessary though.

The original type covers work on my pro 3, and pro 4. Now it doesn't cover the screen but they work. The battery keyboard also works

 

[DJCBS]

Thanks. I'm on the fence about upgrading to the newest Type cover. I was thinking about upgrading to the type cover with fingerprint scanner. Any thoughts on that?

Well, as for the type cover, I've had them all and, to be honest, I still prefer the Type Cover 3 to the Type Cover 4. The trackpad on the 4 is better but it's too big for my taste, specially when I use a Surface Arc Mouse all the time instead of it (I hate trackpads, always have lol).

I also find the keys lighter on the Type Cover 3. However, this is REALLY a matter of personal taste.

As for the fingerprint scanner, don't bother and don't waste money on it. The Surface Pro 5 brings facial recognition and it's much faster than the fingerprint reader on the Type Cover.

 

[DJCBS]

the original Type Cover and Type Cover 2 will not work on the Surface Pro 3, 4, or the latest Surface Pro. They will only work on Surface RT, Surface 2, Surface 3, original Surface Pro and Surface Pro 2.

Starting with Surface Pro 3, all peripherals would be backward compatible. So the Type Covers for SP3 would work now.

The fingerprint reader keyboard should work. I don't know as I don't own it. Windows Hello is so awesome that the fingerprint is unnecessary though.

Actually that's not true. The type cover 2 at least works with the Pro 3. I know it because I brought my SP3 from Redmond and didn't buy a type cover 3 back then as I needed a Portuguese keyboard. And so between that time and the time Microsoft here launched the Portuguese keyboard one I used the Type Cover 2 with the Pro 3 without problem. The connectors are exactly the same.

 

[onlysublime]

The original type covers work on my pro 3, and pro 4. Now it doesn't cover the screen but they work. The battery keyboard also works

I have to go back and check. But I know 100% the battery part will not work. The pins for the battery are not there.

 

[onlysublime]

I just tried 2 Type Cover 2 and 1 Battery Type Cover and none of them work across both of my Surface Pro 4 machines. I don't know how you guys got yours to work. All my equipment is the United States versions.

 

[CrippsCorner]

I have done this jump!

To be honest I've hardly used my new Surface Pro as the Type Cover hasn't been released in the UK yet :straight:

But initial impressions after an evening of playing around with it:

Physical aspects are greatly improved. It's mainly the thickness and weight of course, but just generally holding the thing and using it 'like an iPad' really seems to work.

The kickstand was one of the worst things about the first generation, and now it can go to any angle which is so damn helpful! I used to really struggle using this thing in bed, but no more, yay.

No fans! In the last year or so my original model Surface has been going crazy on the fans, so it's nice to not have to bother with them any more.

Hopefully I can add to this another time, when the damn keyboard turns up!

 

[rdubmu]

I have to go back and check. But I know 100% the battery part will not work. The pins for the battery are not there.

Oh they work. It's the same type of connection. Yes u might need to do a windows update for it to work. It does work on the surface pro 3 and 4

 

[onlysublime]

Oh they work. It's the same type of connection. Yes u might need to do a windows update for it to work. It does work on the surface pro 3 and 4

I have no idea what magical devices you guys own. I own ALL the devices. And I can prove with my own pictures... There's ZERO way the battery type cover will work on a Surface Pro 3 or Surface Pro 4. The pin connections are missing from the Surface Pro 3 and 4. They were present on the Surface Pro and Surface Pro 2 Look at the additional pins needed by the Battery Cover. You cannot fix this with a software update.

View attachment 136817
This is the battery cover that is only compatible with the original Surface Pro and Surface Pro 2. It has additional pins that connect the battery to the power pins on the SP and SP2. The middle pins are strictly for data.


This is the bottom of the Surface Pro 4 which does not have the pin connectors for the battery cover.

 

[rdubmu]

You are right about the surface pro 4, I can't get it to work but it does work on the surface pro 3