The Official "I got a Surface Pro 2" Thread

[smoheath]

Finally got my surface pro 2! I sold my first Gen two weeks ago and those two weeks were awful. I have been borrowing my wife's 13" MacBook air and I missed the pen input so much. After hauling that around, the surface feels so light in comparison. Lets just say it feels good to be back. One more thing, the second kickstand position is awesome and solid. Way to go Microsoft.

 

[Bremen Cole]

Had mine over 3 weeks now. i like the form factor, tablet to laptop to desktop.... great.

i get frustrated with Windows and its driver issues and reboots (Mac user) but I enjoy the device so much I put up with it

 

[SwimSwim]

Had mine over 3 weeks now. i like the form factor, tablet to laptop to desktop.... great.

i get frustrated with Windows and its driver issues and reboots (Mac user) but I enjoy the device so much I put up with it

What driver issues and reboots? I must admit the first week or so, it would occasionally become very unstable and require a reboot (thankfully, that takes less than 30 seconds these days), but then it stopped (an update, perhaps? Updates install automatically, so it'd be very easy to miss).

As for drivers, thus far no device I've plugged in has given me issue. Literally, I plug something in to the USB port and with-in three seconds, the drivers are installed and the device is ready to use. It's stupendous! I don't know, maybe I'm just lucky.

But yeah, I love seamlessly switching from typing in my lap, to folding back the Type Cover (2) and kickstand to doodle with the pen, read some articles on Bing News, and then bring them both back out to write an email to a teacher so seamlessly and effortlessly.

The seamless transition is brilliant, even though I struggled with the kickstand for the first week (I was always fumbling around to engage it, but now, it's pretty much an extension of myself). I love this thing, you couldn't pay me to give up this device (well, unless it was enough money to go out and buy a new one ).

I now swear by Surface, it's take some pretty damned impressive to make me want for a different product. Well, I best save up my money now, so I can buy a Surface Pro 3, whenever that comes out. xD

 

[Bremen Cole]

I do pro audio. Issues are not with SP2, but Win 8. It's why I went to Mac years ago, but was attracted to the hybrid idea so bought one. Glad i did.....

I can sketch out basic ideas on the SP2, and do the heavy lifting on my Mac. it's all good

 

[fitchalcyone]

I just got mine this week and will be selling my SP1 soon. Got the 512GB model.

Apart from a cosmetic defect out of the box, I am liking the improvements I've observed so far. The biggest one is the sound quality; I can actually hear stuff at lower volumes now! The device also seems to run a little quieter and cooler than the SP1, but I'll need to play around with this a little more before I get a final assessment of that (need to install and play some games).

 

[chezm]

I do pro audio. Issues are not with SP2, but Win 8. It's why I went to Mac years ago, but was attracted to the hybrid idea so bought one. Glad i did.....

I can sketch out basic ideas on the SP2, and do the heavy lifting on my Mac. it's all good

I do pro audio as well, what drivers are causing you issues? I had some problems getting the ASIO drivers setup but after a lot of tinkering they're rock solid now. The problem actually wasn't Windows 8 but how the application was communicating with the drivers themselves.

I've been doing more and more groundwork on the SP2 and it works excellent with the programs im using for music production...although im not sure how they compare to MAC. I've been working and doing pro audio on Windows for 16 years without any major problems...had some hiccups with 1010LT driver configurations but nothing to make me move over to another OS.

Although SP2 is fantastic it will never replace my desktop to do the 'heavy lifting' as you've stated...but im sure we will get there one day.

 

[Lendo]

I just got mine this week and will be selling my SP1 soon. Got the 512GB model.

Apart from a cosmetic defect out of the box, I am liking the improvements I've observed so far. The biggest one is the sound quality; I can actually hear stuff at lower volumes now! The device also seems to run a little quieter and cooler than the SP1, but I'll need to play around with this a little more before I get a final assessment of that (need to install and play some games).

I'm seriously considering the 256Gb version. I just can't fork out 1800$ + the extra cost for the keyboard.

 

[Andrei Goea]

Hi guys,

I just got my Surface Pro 2 in as a second device/tablet companion to my workstation. I went for the 256GB SSD model for the extra RAM. The price difference seemed a bit high but I think it will be worth it in the long run. I'm not too bothered about the hard drive as I plan to keep most of my tablet files on SkyDrive anyway.

The only other windows device I've had (apart from my PC) was my old WP7 phone, the HD7. So far this has been a very pleasant experience for me. I love the quick boot time and the fact that I can run all of my professional creative software on it. Sculpting an 8 million poly mesh in zBrush on my table is pretty mind-blowing! My only mistake was not getting the touch/type cover for it as now it is clear to me that it's pretty much essential. They should really throw it in with the device!

What do you guys think are the must-dos for a first-time SP2 user? I just dived into my creative stuff and didn't really touch on any other aspects of the tablet so it's still very alien to me.

Finally, a shameless plug: I've started a blog trying to document my experience with trying to 'create' content on the surface. The idea is that anything that I make will be exclusively made on the tablet with little to no other hardware involved. So far I managed to get the hosting/blog set up which was pretty easy. The only annoying thing that I found so far was with writing my first post in that if I didn't tap on the block of text just right, it would scroll all the text all the way to the top and prompt the keyboard, making me to have to scroll down all the time. Another weird thing I found is that if I switch to code view mode while editing the post (using IE in Metro) the keyboard does not pop up essentially stopping me from writing any code without a physical keyboard or switching to desktop mode.

Have a read, if you will. It's meant to be a bit funny! Scratching the surace | What exactly can I do with my brand new Surface Pro 2?

Best regards,
Andrei

 

[SwimSwim]

Hi guys,

I just got my Surface Pro 2 in as a second device/tablet companion to my workstation. I went for the 256GB SSD model for the extra RAM. The price difference seemed a bit high but I think it will be worth it in the long run. I'm not too bothered about the hard drive as I plan to keep most of my tablet files on SkyDrive anyway.

The only other windows device I've had (apart from my PC) was my old WP7 phone, the HD7. So far this has been a very pleasant experience for me. I love the quick boot time and the fact that I can run all of my professional creative software on it. Sculpting an 8 million poly mesh in zBrush on my table is pretty mind-blowing! My only mistake was not getting the touch/type cover for it as now it is clear to me that it's pretty much essential. They should really throw it in with the device!

What do you guys think are the must-dos for a first-time SP2 user? I just dived into my creative stuff and didn't really touch on any other aspects of the tablet so it's still very alien to me.

Finally, a shameless plug: I've started a blog trying to document my experience with trying to 'create' content on the surface. The idea is that anything that I make will be exclusively made on the tablet with little to no other hardware involved. So far I managed to get the hosting/blog set up which was pretty easy. The only annoying thing that I found so far was with writing my first post in that if I didn't tap on the block of text just right, it would scroll all the text all the way to the top and prompt the keyboard, making me to have to scroll down all the time. Another weird thing I found is that if I switch to code view mode while editing the post (using IE in Metro) the keyboard does not pop up essentially stopping me from writing any code without a physical keyboard or switching to desktop mode.

Have a read, if you will. It's meant to be a bit funny! Scratching the surace | What exactly can I do with my brand new Surface Pro 2?

Best regards,
Andrei

Should the keyboard ever not conjure up properly, even in Metro mode, simply swipe from the right to reveal the Charms Bar, tap Settings, then tap keyboard, and finally, tap Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel.

This will always force the keyboard to appear. Hope this helped in some way, shape or form.

 

[Rem97]

I got mine 8 days ago now. I got the 128GB model with the purple type cover 2. This device is amazing! It's everything I expected and more. The one question I have though, is, is it possible to turn the display off and keep my audio playing?

 

[MBytes]

I got mine 8 days ago now. I got the 128GB model with the purple type cover 2. This device is amazing! It's everything I expected and more. The one question I have though, is, is it possible to turn the display off and keep my audio playing?

There is a Windows API command to do this. I am sure you can find a free tiny software that does this via a keyboard shortcut or something.

 

[SwimSwim]

I got mine 8 days ago now. I got the 128GB model with the purple type cover 2. This device is amazing! It's everything I expected and more. The one question I have though, is, is it possible to turn the display off and keep my audio playing?

Think you just got to let the screen fall asleep on it own. I'm probably missing something obvious here, like changing something in the Power Management settings, but I personally just leave my device be and wait for the screen to turn off on its own.

 

[Rem97]

Think you just got to let the screen fall asleep on it own. I'm probably missing something obvious here, like changing something in the Power Management settings, but I personally just leave my device be and wait for the screen to turn off on its own.

Yeah, I just realized now. I looked and the screen had turned off but my music was still playing.

 

[MBytes]

I have just received my Surface Pro 2!
I am doing a system image before I do anything so that I recover to the initial state that I got the system, as apparently the built-in image isn't the case, as I read missing drivers, and such. I am still keeping the provided backup. This is just an extra backup option for me.

I am using Macrium Reflect Free edition (free for home usage only).
Macrium Reflect Backup and Hard Disk Imaging for Windows 7, Vista, XP and Server 2003/2008
This software was recommended by Gov Maharaj, at Microsoft's Channel9 The Defrag Show (The Defrag Show | Channel 9)

 

[Ravendragon52]

I played minecraft on it though, running Fancy and Normal render. Got 45 FPS. Better than 15FPS on my Mac.

I was able to max out minecraft 1.7.2 and maxed out 1.6.4 off of the technic launcher w/ little to no lag. much better than the elitebook 6930p I used to use (ikr its sad)

 

[Foppa_21]

Just got my Surface Pro 2. Work paid for it so I got the 512GB drive (woo-hoo) and every accessory I can find (although I'm not sure I really needed the wedge keyboard since it's nearly identical in size to the Type 2 keyboard).

I'm replacing a ThinkPad X220 with the SP2, and so far it's been a smooth transition. Even though my company doesn't officially support Windows 8, or even the Surface for that matter, I have everything I need up and running. Boot up time is great. And I'm getting the hang of Windows 8.

This weekend we were in the mountains on vacation and I wanted to watch something that wasn't on the local cable stations. I fired up my SP2, launch the ESPN app, found the Australian Open tennis match I wanted listed in "Watch ESPN," hooked the SP2 up to my HD TV, and streamed the match just like I was watching it at home. Awesome.

Can't wait for my first business trip knowing I can open up my Surface no matter how little space I have on the plane.

 

[SwimSwim]

Just got my Surface Pro 2. Work paid for it so I got the 512GB drive (woo-hoo) and every accessory I can find (although I'm not sure I really needed the wedge keyboard since it's nearly identical in size to the Type 2 keyboard).

I'm replacing a ThinkPad X220 with the SP2, and so far it's been a smooth transition. Even though my company doesn't officially support Windows 8, or even the Surface for that matter, I have everything I need up and running. Boot up time is great. And I'm getting the hang of Windows 8.

This weekend we were in the mountains on vacation and I wanted to watch something that wasn't on the local cable stations. I fired up my SP2, launch the ESPN app, found the Australian Open tennis match I wanted listed in "Watch ESPN," hooked the SP2 up to my HD TV, and streamed the match just like I was watching it at home. Awesome.

Can't wait for my first business trip knowing I can open up my Surface no matter how little space I have on the plane.

Haha, sounds amazing! I had to stick with 128GB (a shame, that extra 4GB of RAM would've been luxurious...), but I still love this thing with all my heart! Glad you love your too, and how lucky you got your company to pony up for the really expensive one.

 

[msrb21]

better late than never! got my surface pro 2 today + nokia lumia 1020!!!

 

[hopmedic]

I'm late to the party, but I'm buying one today.

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[SwimSwim]

better late than never! got my surface pro 2 today + nokia lumia 1020!!!

Awesome! I'm rocking the same power combo, and couldn't be happier! They're both awesome devices, and I can't wait to see future models, they can only get better from here.