Surface Pro machines in the wild

[onlysublime]

So I'm in a Starbucks and sitting at a common study table with my Surface Pro 4. And near me is a girl with what appears to be a Surface Pro 3. And then a guy comes in and sits down with a Surface Pro 4.

I've never seen 3 Surface machines all at the same table before. Yes, I've seen Surface machines becoming a quite common sight at SB. But it was just so cool to see them so close together. The guy next to me teased the girl with some purplish laptop (couldn't tell if it was a Sony, HP, or which brand) about being the oddball.

 

[Axeelant]

So I'm in a Starbucks and sitting at a common study table with my Surface Pro 4. And near me is a girl with what appears to be a Surface Pro 3. And then a guy comes in and sits down with a Surface Pro 4.

I've never seen 3 Surface machines all at the same table before. Yes, I've seen Surface machines becoming a quite common sight at SB. But it was just so cool to see them so close together. The guy next to me teased the girl with some purplish laptop (couldn't tell if it was a Sony, HP, or which brand) about being the oddball.

Where i'm from these things are so rare, I have only seen a Surface Book, 2 SP4's and 1 SP3 in my life lol Ohh and a national news television is using a SP4 for their live news program. No joke.

 

[rmeigs]

Sweet. I actually see other Surface's fairly often in my area.

 

[onlysublime]

Go to any Starbucks on the westside of Orange County (LA County as well). Really common sight to see Surface Pro machines.

Surface Books do seem to be a rarity. It's just that they're so expensive. You can get the same power in a much cheaper system. I know that the SB is a unique concept and the only machines with the same concept are the bargain prices with Atom processors in the $300-500 range. I love the concept of the Surface Book (though I'm firmly in the SP camp for a number of reasons).

Two days ago, the security guy in our building sees my SP4 and he then comments that he bought the original Surface RT on Ebay for $60 and he uses it to watch movies

 

[Ariel Takom]

In the university I'm attending in, most people still use Macbooks. But over time, I could see more and more people using Surfaces (even one of my closest friend in uni just bought it a few weeks ago!). So I believe, in due time and hopefully with price drops, more people would ditch the Macs for Surface. Maybe I'll get one for myself as well, if the price is right.

 

[Drael646464]

The surface is popular with tech saavy young people and the chinese- the early adopters of the sort that made smartphones popular.

So you'll see quite a few of them around student heavy places, like universities, and sometimes coffee shops.

But uptake of other windows hybrids is equally strong. Transformer books, Lenovo etc. The Chinese market has a whole host of windows hybrids in various FFs, some with pretty strong performance and specs (Quite a few use core-m, such as the core m3). They are so popular, that many manufacturers pretty much stopped making android tablets.

Unfortunaly the price of the surface is a bit prohibitive, but windows on arm, and windows cloud will address that this year. We'll definitely see a budget version of the surface of some kind, and also a cloudbook.

Those low price 4G enabled devices should lead to a real boom in windows tablets, and a lot of hardware partners getting in on the action.

I hope they ditch the case/kickstand FF in surface. Transformer style FF is way better IMO.

 

[neo158]

The surface is popular with tech saavy young people and the chinese- the early adopters of the sort that made smartphones popular.

So you'll see quite a few of them around student heavy places, like universities, and sometimes coffee shops.

But uptake of other windows hybrids is equally strong. Transformer books, Lenovo etc. The Chinese market has a whole host of windows hybrids in various FFs, some with pretty strong performance and specs (Quite a few use core-m, such as the core m3). They are so popular, that many manufacturers pretty much stopped making android tablets.

Unfortunaly the price of the surface is a bit prohibitive, but windows on arm, and windows cloud will address that this year. We'll definitely see a budget version of the surface of some kind, and also a cloudbook.

Those low price 4G enabled devices should lead to a real boom in windows tablets, and a lot of hardware partners getting in on the action.

I hope they ditch the case/kickstand FF in surface. Transformer style FF is way better IMO.

Which ASUS Transformer are you talking about as ASUS have the Surface style Transformer 3 Pro. So if the "case/kickstand FF" wasn't popular then other manufacturers wouldn't use it.

 

[Drael646464]

Which ASUS Transformer are you talking about as ASUS have the Surface style Transformer 3 Pro. So if the "case/kickstand FF" wasn't popular then other manufacturers wouldn't use it.

What I am talking about is a tiltable screen keyboard dock, that operates like a laptop when the tablet is docked. So that when your tablet is docked, it operates essentially exactly like a normal laptop.

Something that can be used on your lap, or held in a hand, used like a conventional laptop, rather than something that has to be placed on a desk and is thus more limited in functionality.

You can't for example use one of those kickstand/case cover ones to watch a movie on your lap in bed. Or carry it as is, from one surface to another and keep using. Or type with it on your lap on a plane or train. You can't angle the screen well/easily to avoid sunlight/glare or for optimum viewing.

The kickstand itself isn't terrible, its nice to have that built in, if you need it. And yeah, those cover type cases are slightly more lightweight. Having used both, quite a lot (tablets are related to my job), I can't really understand why the keyboard case cover is so popular with manufacturers.

Sometimes it takes a while for form and function to rule out over consumer trend following. The surface is the big thing, so everyone copies perhaps?

Personally I'm not seeing the functional advantages. If it was because its slightly lighter then why go for the massive screen? Shave a tiny bit off the screen and get a more flexible device.

 

[rdubmu]

In Seattle, I see Surface Pro's 3 & 4's everywhere. They are very popular for businesses. Also, Michaels Toyota in Bellevue has a surface pro 3 at each desk

 

[onlysublime]

What I am talking about is a tiltable screen keyboard dock, that operates like a laptop when the tablet is docked. So that when your tablet is docked, it operates essentially exactly like a normal laptop.

Something that can be used on your lap, or held in a hand, used like a conventional laptop, rather than something that has to be placed on a desk and is thus more limited in functionality.

You can't for example use one of those kickstand/case cover ones to watch a movie on your lap in bed. Or carry it as is, from one surface to another and keep using. Or type with it on your lap on a plane or train. You can't angle the screen well/easily to avoid sunlight/glare or for optimum viewing.

I had the Transformer with the dock. It was terrible on so many levels. For one thing, the tablet was much too heavy for the dock so if you tilted to normal laptop angles, it would tip back over making it far more dangerous than the Surface Pro on the lap. All the useful ports were also on the dock so you had to use it docked if you wanted typical functionality.

Surface Book attempted to address the problems of those designs, but it's still not ideal.

I use my Surface Pro machines in all situations including all the ones you listed. The only situation where I would not use the Surface Pro is if I'm sitting on a round bar stool with my legs sloping downward. In that situation, there's no way to use the Surface Pro machine.

Another problem with laptop touchscreens that doesn't exist on these 2-in-1 machines with a kickstand is screen wobble. With my SP4 keyboard, there's no number pad. So when I'm doing things manually like with Excel numbers, I can have the onscreen calculator and just tap away some manual calculations. Typing a bunch of numbers on a traditional laptop touchscreen, it wobbles with every press which is annoying and inaccurate.

 

[Drael646464]

I had the Transformer with the dock. It was terrible on so many levels. For one thing, the tablet was much too heavy for the dock so if you tilted to normal laptop angles, it would tip back over making it far more dangerous than the Surface Pro on the lap. All the useful ports were also on the dock so you had to use it docked if you wanted typical functionality.

Surface Book attempted to address the problems of those designs, but it's still not ideal.

I use my Surface Pro machines in all situations including all the ones you listed. The only situation where I would not use the Surface Pro is if I'm sitting on a round bar stool with my legs sloping downward. In that situation, there's no way to use the Surface Pro machine.

Another problem with laptop touchscreens that doesn't exist on these 2-in-1 machines with a kickstand is screen wobble. With my SP4 keyboard, there's no number pad. So when I'm doing things manually like with Excel numbers, I can have the onscreen calculator and just tap away some manual calculations. Typing a bunch of numbers on a traditional laptop touchscreen, it wobbles with every press which is annoying and inaccurate.

I'm used to designs where the ports are on the tablet, but your right, the top heaviness of that design is an issue. I guess the surface book attempts to address that. Sort of depends how big and heavy the tablet is as well. With a larger screen like the surface, it probably does become less practical to use this design. With a 10.1, or 9.7 it seems to work well enough for me though.

Which explains actually the design - its weight based. Good reply.

 

[ryankelsey7]

What I am talking about is a tiltable screen keyboard dock, that operates like a laptop when the tablet is docked. So that when your tablet is docked, it operates essentially exactly like a normal laptop.

Something that can be used on your lap, or held in a hand, used like a conventional laptop, rather than something that has to be placed on a desk and is thus more limited in functionality.

You can't for example use one of those kickstand/case cover ones to watch a movie on your lap in bed. Or carry it as is, from one surface to another and keep using. Or type with it on your lap on a plane or train. You can't angle the screen well/easily to avoid sunlight/glare or for optimum viewing.

The kickstand itself isn't terrible, its nice to have that built in, if you need it. And yeah, those cover type cases are slightly more lightweight. Having used both, quite a lot (tablets are related to my job), I can't really understand why the keyboard case cover is so popular with manufacturers.

Sometimes it takes a while for form and function to rule out over consumer trend following. The surface is the big thing, so everyone copies perhaps?

Personally I'm not seeing the functional advantages. If it was because its slightly lighter then why go for the massive screen? Shave a tiny bit off the screen and get a more flexible device.

I have to disagree. I much prefer the surface pro 4 detachable keyboard design over any 2 in 1. I like the surface book but wouldnt get one over the sp4 style. And it can be used in your lap. I do it all the time.

 

[Keeptechcoolandsimple]

i live in a part of los angeles that has tons of cafes and restaurants, each filled at any given time with either students, creatives in the entertainment industry, as well as corporate types. over the past year i've seen quite a bit of surface pros popping up wherever i go and its becoming evident that the surface pro line is a machine people are depending on. i would say it's catching up with the macbook user base around here. i don't see too many surface books yet but i attribute that to maybe the perception that the surface book line is still seen as experimental in its first generation.

 

[meattray]

i live in a part of los angeles that has tons of cafes and restaurants, each filled at any given time with either students, creatives in the entertainment industry, as well as corporate types. over the past year i've seen quite a bit of surface pros popping up wherever i go and its becoming evident that the surface pro line is a machine people are depending on. i would say it's catching up with the macbook user base around here. i don't see too many surface books yet but i attribute that to maybe the perception that the surface book line is still seen as experimental in its first generation.

Very cool. Thanks for sharing. They do seem to be popping up more and more!