Surprised by the size

[Chris_Kez]

I just played with the Surface 3 at the MS store at Roosevelt Fields mall. First thought was "hm, bigger than I expected". The past year I've been bouncing between my Dell Venue 8 Pro and my wife's iPad Air- mostly web browsing, email, a little Office and note-taking (DV8P). I've also checked out the SP3 maybe a dozen times at the store; love the SP3, but as a tablet it always felt a bit unwieldy.

I was really excited by the Surface 3 announcement and imagined it would be closer to iPad Air size, a bit thicker and heavier. Honestly I was a tiny bit less enthused than expected after seeing it in person. Don't get me wrong, it looks great and it is very very manageable. I'm just nitpicking. I would have liked to see it closer to 10", with smaller bezels. Just walking by the displays you might have a hard time distinguishing the S3 from the SP3. I imagined the gap would be more like that between the mini and full size iPads.

Anyway, I think I still love the S3 as a great, though pricey, upgrade for my DV8P. If they could somehow squeeze 8GB i5 performance in this new chassis (without fan, and with dual external monitor support) then I'd also turn in my work laptop.

 

[Joe Dubya]

Yeah, I noticed that in a video, but having lived with the 16:9 RT this seems so much more manageable. And wife wife's sp3 - now THAT is unwieldy, but mostly the weight -I kinda like the 12", not the weight. I just ordered s3 sight unseen, maybe I should go have a look!

 

[P_Devil]

I'm sure a lot of people were thinking the same thing. Then again, the iPad Air has a 9.7" display which is a whole 1.1" smaller than the Surface 3. I was expecting it to be about the size it was. Then again, I'm coming from a SP2 with a 10.6" 16X9 display. I actually think the 3:2 aspect ratio, lighter weight, and thinner design make it more manageable. It's still nowhere near my Dell Venue 8 Pro but I don't think it's too bad.

And yes, Joe, go have a look. Microsoft stores have a bunch of units on display that you can use and manhandle to your heart's content. The Microsoft Store closest to me has 6 on display at a main table and 3-4 more spread throughout the store. There are even two on a small table at the very front of the store to pull people in. My Best Buy only has one on display, they also only have one SP3 on display too.