Surface Pro 2 is incredible

[Ns1]

I only have a few apps (Skype, Skydrive, Weather, Netflix, Facebook) since most of my use is in x86 programs. I use it in my programming and game dev classes, and it has replaced pencil and paper for math. I don't see how any apps that could be on the app store would improve my experience.

Apps receive push notifications whereas websites do not. Only real benefit I can think of.

 

[desura]

Right now I have a Surface RT and I really like it.

IMO, it is *the* best device that a writer can own. Composing on it is *perfect*

 

[sarav]

Guys, I have been going back and forth on this a lot. I have a student discount (10%) which would let me get the 128 GB version for $900. That's still more than I'd like to pay but I really really want it. The question though is do I need it? Brain says no, heart says yes.

I am looking for suggestions from those who already own the device and have a few questions for you,

1.) I am preparing for a competitive exam and this involves a lot of reading and note taking. Does the Surface Pro2 support taking screenshots, editing them and sharing them to One Note? Is the palm rejection good? Are there any good note taking apps available other than One Note? Any for adding notes and annotations to pdf files?

2.) Will this be a decent gaming machine? I'm not a huge gamer, I only like GTA and racing games, will I be able to play GTA V on this when the PC version is released?

3.) I know the device weighs ~ 2lbs but is it comofortable to use as a tablet in bed? I have a Nexus 10 which weights around 1.3 lbs I guess and I can manage using it in bed not sure if I'll be able to use the SP2 though.

4.) Only the purple touch cover 2 is available on the MS store!! Ugh, really wanted the red one, any where I can get the red one for the same price? Ebay sells the blue one but not the red version.


Thank you.

 

[Hail The Brain Slug]

Guys, I have been going back and forth on this a lot. I have a student discount (10%) which would let me get the 128 GB version for $900. That's still more than I'd like to pay but I really really want it. The question though is do I need it? Brain says no, heart says yes.

I am looking for suggestions from those who already own the device and have a few questions for you,

1.) I am preparing for a competitive exam and this involves a lot if studying and note taking. Does the Surface Pro2 support screen shot and then editing? Can you share screenshots with One Note? Is the palm rejection good? Are there any good note taking apps available other than One Note? Any for adding notes and annotations to pdf files?

2.) Will this be a decent gaming machine? I'm not a huge gamer, I only like GTA and racing games, will I be able to play GTA V on this when the PC version is released?

3.) I know the device weights ~ 2lbs but is it comofortable to use as a tablet in bed? I have a Nexus 10 which weights around 1.3 lbs I guess and I can manage using it in bed not sure if I'll be able to use the SP2 though.

4.) Only the purple touch cover 2 is available on the MS store!! Ugh, really wanted the red one, any where I can get the red one for the same price? Ebay sells the blue one but not the red version.


Thank you.

1) I have not done anything requiring screenshots/editing with onenote, but I can tell you the palm rejection is great. I've only spent about 2-3 hours actively writing notes on mine, but I have not had a single errant line while using the pen. It works so well, it's completely replaced pencil and paper for my notetaking purposes. A nice touch is the eraser on the pen works like a real eraser.

2) If the GTA V PC port is anything like GTA IV's, probably not very well. GTA IV hardly runs on my desktop, which has a marginally faster CPU than the surface pro 2, and somewhat better graphics.

3) Holding it above my head was okay for about 10 minutes, but it got tiring. Resting it on my chest was a bit better. I found I was most comfortable using the kickstand and setting it on the bed while I laid on my stomach (watching video).

4) I only see a charcoal colored touch cover 2. There isn't even a listing on the Microsoft website for anything other than a charcoal touch cover 2. The only red I see is a special edition touch cover.

 

[finbarqs]

i'll be in for surface pro 3

 

[Hail The Brain Slug]

i'll be in for surface pro 3

I was actually intending to buy a 256GB/8GB model, but after Microsoft cancelled my preorder, I purchased a 128GB with the intention to sell it and buy a Pro 3 when it comes out next year. The Pro 2 is nothing short of a great device, but the implications of Broadwell are too large to ignore.

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

Broadwell along with a chassis reduction will definitely be worth the wait IMHO.

The SP2 is very close to being the perfect device IMHO for those that want the hybrid experience. I get over 8 hours of battery life and performance that is unmatched in this kind of form factor. The only downside is it's slightly heavy for strict tablet usage.

 

[Ns1]

Okay so I went back to the staples store to play around with the SP2.

Pardon the obvious, can you choose to use stylus input instead of keyboard input? I was trying to enter an event onto the calendar and it would only let me type - the pen could only be used as a mouse cursor.

I still have no idea WTF that stylus is used for outside of OneNote.

 

[Talaii]

Okay so I went back to the staples store to play around with the SP2.

Pardon the obvious, can you choose to use stylus input instead of keyboard input? I was trying to enter an event onto the calendar and it would only let me type - the pen could only be used as a mouse cursor.

I still have no idea WTF that stylus is used for outside of OneNote.

One of the on-screen keyboard options is the pen. But they won't show up if you have a keyboard plugged in. Pen input works surprisingly well though, at least for words in the dictionary. This was written with the pen on my Surface Pro 2.

 

[Ns1]

One of the on-screen keyboard options is the pen. But they won't show up if you have a keyboard plugged in. Pen input works surprisingly well though, at least for words in the dictionary. This was written with the pen on my Surface Pro 2.

If you have a type cover WTF are you supposed to do? Take off the type cover?

 

[Imaginer]

If you have a type cover WTF are you supposed to do? Take off the type cover?

Fold it back. The on screen keyboard will show up automatically for text inputs with modern apps, still need to hit the keyboard icon on the taskbar.

 

[Ns1]

Fold it back. The on screen keyboard will show up automatically for text inputs with modern apps, still need to hit the keyboard icon on the taskbar.

Thanks. I wish I knew this earlier when I was playing around with it lol

 

[Imaginer]

Thanks. I wish I knew this earlier when I was playing around with it lol

By "still needing to hit the keyboard icon on the taskbar" this applies to text inputs in the desktop space. But it can be adjusted to split screen, fully tiling half of the screen with the windows and desktop and the other half with the keyboard.

But the cover works great, I was worried about the keys behind when laying the device on a table, but it doesn't matter. Sure, like anything else, you don't want to lay the thing down on a dirty table, but no problems here.

 

[Ns1]

I'm getting my SP2 by the end of the week, can't wait

as an FYI to all, most of the staples around me are sold out of surface2's and surface pro2's. I had to buy from the website.

 

[Deeko]

Also, another tip, if you lost your Pro Pen -- you can get accessory replacement (for almost any of the accessories) for free within the Warranty period, just goto myservice.surface.com

If that's true that's awesome; I've almost lost my pen a few times already. I will definitely echo the reviews that said it was a stupid decision to not have a dedicated place to store the pen...

So uh...do you guys actually have an apps on your surface, or are you just running x86 "apps" + internet explorer?

I mean, I have some basic consumption apps - Tweetro, Facebook, ESPN, Bing News, etc. The same kind of things I use on my Nexus 7. When I have the keyboard attached I'm generally in the desktop using x86 stuff.

As much as I use Outlook for it's more advanced features, I do use the built in Win 8 mail app a lot more often. I find it cleaner and faster.

 

[Imaginer]

Okay so I went back to the staples store to play around with the SP2.

Pardon the obvious, can you choose to use stylus input instead of keyboard input? I was trying to enter an event onto the calendar and it would only let me type - the pen could only be used as a mouse cursor.

I still have no idea WTF that stylus is used for outside of OneNote.

The stylus input can be used in addition as a mouse pointer, as a handwriting input amongst the three on screen keyboard options (first keyboard on screen option mimics iPad layout in embiggened keys, the second is more useful for dual thumbing keyboarding, and the last is the handwriting input).

Handwriting recognition is pretty good to being great for me. It has it's quirks at times, but very useful for handwriting to text conversions for when you do not want to deploy the type/touch cover or switch to thumbing your text.

 

[Imaginer]

So uh...do you guys actually have an apps on your surface, or are you just running x86 "apps" + internet explorer?

Used to be I started with none of the modern apps.

But now, I have some half "applications" on my Start screen:
Modern File Explorer (though I never use it now)
Calculator^2
Kindle
Nook
Comixology
Fruit Ninja and Taptitude (when I am bored)
Jezzball Galaxy
Gunstringer
Metro Stopwatch
and tried Adera

Calculator^2 gets good use from me along with the Kindle and Nook. Comixology too.

Along with the requisite x86 applications.

Also of note, Modern Remote Desktop is far more useful on the touch screen interfacing with 7 and 8 machines because of the built in touch pointer. Something I would have liked as a built in feature of the normal desktop for the new crop of tablet PC paradigms. But someone from Japan provided a just as viable solution.

 

[386DX]

Broadwell along with a chassis reduction will definitely be worth the wait IMHO.

The SP2 is very close to being the perfect device IMHO for those that want the hybrid experience. I get over 8 hours of battery life and performance that is unmatched in this kind of form factor. The only downside is it's slightly heavy for strict tablet usage.

I have the same impression about the SP2. If they can fit it in the regular Surface chassis and find a place to hide the pen it would be the perfect device.

 

[Demo24]

I'm getting my SP2 by the end of the week, can't wait

as an FYI to all, most of the staples around me are sold out of surface2's and surface pro2's. I had to buy from the website.

Lucky, cdw has literally a couple thousand orders and hundreds on backorder. Mines in there somewhere so estimated ship date is middle of next week. Wishing I could select faster shipping now, but I have to be able to justify the expense and 'want it now' is apparently not good enough .

They do have some 128 models BTW, but the 256's are apparently in much higher demand.

 

[finbarqs]

Broadwell along with a chassis reduction will definitely be worth the wait IMHO.

The SP2 is very close to being the perfect device IMHO for those that want the hybrid experience. I get over 8 hours of battery life and performance that is unmatched in this kind of form factor. The only downside is it's slightly heavy for strict tablet usage.

this...

And I want at least some kind of GPS sensor implemented (come on iPad has it since day 1!) and a data plan integrated...

 

[zerogear]

this...

And I want at least some kind of GPS sensor implemented (come on iPad has it since day 1!) and a data plan integrated...

No it doesn't. Only the 3G/4G ones do. GPS were never present in WiFi only.

 

[Ns1]

hoooooooooooly fuck, 10% staples rewards coupon in my inbox. I get staples gift cards @ 20% off. = 1k surface pro 2 for ~$850 after taxes. FUCK YES

 

[Ns1]

Lucky, cdw has literally a couple thousand orders and hundreds on backorder. Mines in there somewhere so estimated ship date is middle of next week. Wishing I could select faster shipping now, but I have to be able to justify the expense and 'want it now' is apparently not good enough .

They do have some 128 models BTW, but the 256's are apparently in much higher demand.

Thanks for the heads up. the 8/256 is sold out online, the 4/128 still available.

I can get the 4/128 locally...I don't think I've ever wanted a device so bad before.

 

[foghorn67]

hoooooooooooly fuck, 10% staples rewards coupon in my inbox. I get staples gift cards @ 20% off. = 1k surface pro 2 for ~$850 after taxes. FUCK YES

I'll watch it for you at the NIN concert. It will be safe with me.

Where did you find the coupon? I have 1 for $100, but not sure it qualifies.

 

[Ns1]

I'll watch it for you at the NIN concert. It will be safe with me.

Where did you find the coupon? I have 1 for $100, but not sure it qualifies.

it just got emailed to me; 1 time use

Title: Exclusive offer for Rewards Members.