Surface Pro 3 Review
anandtech.com
Surface Pro 3 Review
1–10 of 77 posts
Re: Surface Pro 3 Review
#2How good is the speech recognition Windows 8? I've become a fan of Siri on the iPhone, pretty good. I get the feeling that were pretty close to very accurate speech recognition. Between Microsoft, Google, and Apple I think we're going to get over the line really soon. This post was done entirely with Siri. The missing words or her fault. :-)
Re: Surface Pro 3 Review
#3I agree with Anandtech the Pro 3 is almost there, but not quite. The Surface Pro 1 sold me on the idea of an everything device. It had its limitations, but it worked as a laptop, desktop, and a tablet. Each scenario had its limits and the most limited one was the laptop perspective. As a tablet it worked great with movies, browsing the web, light gaming, etc. As a desktop it was powerful enough to run the adobe suite on an external monitor. But as a laptop the kickstand and keyboard were not ideal.
The Surface Pro 3 removes some tablet usability and improves on the laptop experience. I am not sure if this is ideal. I recently upgraded from the Pro 1 to the Pro 3. I am having a hard time using the 12" screen as a tablet in bed and on the couch. Using the device with pen in hand is harder due to the larger screen real estate. Even using the Metro side of things is more cumbersome due to the larger screen. Tiles and settings on touch interface are too far apart now.
After a few days, I have concluded that the Pro 1 was a better "tablet" with the ability to be a desktop and laptop. The Pro 3 is more of a laptop/tablet hybrid with a focus on laptop-ability. Even with all the new enhancements, I think I will return the device and purchase a Pro 2 instead.
Edit: I used the Pro 1 as my main machine for almost a year. The pen was useful in photoshop/illustrator. I also used it for gaming; Fifa 2013, Civ 5, and some indie games.
Re: Surface Pro 3 Review
#4How good is the speech recognition Windows 8? I've become a fan of Siri on the iPhone, pretty good. I get the feeling that were pretty close to very accurate speech recognition. Between Microsoft, Google, and Apple I think we're going to get over the line really soon. This post was done entirely with Siri. The missing words or her fault. :-)
speech recognition is just as good as android EXCEPT windows doesnt recognize punctuation. It sounds like a small difference until you try to speak multiple sentences and it gets registered as a single run-on sentence
Re: Surface Pro 3 Review
#5To resolve the lack of edge gestures when the screen bezel is covered, they should configure the TrackPad to also work with edge gestures.
Re: Surface Pro 3 Review
#6I'll post what I said in the comments of the article.
Well, this is the device basket in which I'm throwing all of my eggs. My mobile devices are currently a 2006 Dell 17" laptop running Windows 7 and an HP Touchpad running CM10.1. I've been waiting to upgrade until the right "hybrid" device came along, and this is the one I'm banking on, albeit the i7/512 model.
My usage is a little atypical. My work requires me to occasionally spend time on construction sites creating sketches and recording measurements. I am hoping this device will allow me to skip the full size (24" x 36" or larger) architectural prints and the paper sketch pad and simply carry everything on the SP3. After I finish on site, I am often going back to a hotel room for the night, or spending the next few hours in an airport/airplane. I make heavy use of AutoCAD, and being able to make tweaks in the field, or even the hotel, should be amazingly helpful. I don't expect to be at full productivity, but then again, even on a typical laptop, running AutoCAD on one small screen will never be as productive as running on 2 or 3 large desktop displays.
In theory, the SP3 should be perfect for me. I do worry about the batter life though. I suspect that I might need to pick up an external battery pack for those times I'm on site without access to a wall outlet. Time will tell, I guess. I also think about general durability. I am generally not on fully active construction sites with lots of dirt and dust, but I will be in environments that are not office-like. So we'll see if there is some sort of rugged case or screen protection available for those scenarios.
All in all, I am really looking forward to getting my SP3 in August. I just wish they would release it already since I could really use it mid-July. But I've waited this long, so what's another couple of weeks.
Thanks for the nice review. This is the one I've been waiting for, and it didn't disappoint.
Re: Surface Pro 3 Review
#7Just got mine yesterday (typing on it for this post). There are some problems on it I wasn't expecting.
- Drawing apps like Fresh Paint don't work sometimes when on split screen. By doesn't work, I mean it won't recognize the pen on start up. I would have to full screen the app, use the pen, then I can use the pen on split screen.
- Apps aren't adjusted to split screens correctly. The resizing of the apps gets rid of functions like creating a new page that can only be seen when app is in full screen.
- Chrome Windows 8 mode sucks. That thing resized to a quarter of the screen, blacked out the other 3/4ths and it took me 30 minutes to figure out how to undo it because the menu button on Chrome was blacked out. Figured out that they were still there, just not visable.
- Chrome sometimes disables my trackpad click recongniztion? I can activate links and tabs via the touch screen, but not by clicking the trackpad. All was good after restarting Chrome.
- Tablet does not recognize that I took off the keyboard sometimes. This causes orientation lock. I would have to reattached and detach keyboard.
- Trackpad kinda stuttering with movements. Sometimes jumps around so not very precise. This happens more when using on my lap for some reason..
- Changing screen orientation is sorta laggy, definitely more than a 1 second change. I have the 8gb/256gb version.
- I'm pretty sure Flux crashes this tablet. Froze it twice in 30 minutes after install. Perfectly fine now after uninstall.
I'm actually getting used to Windows Metro...strange. This is the first Windows machine I bought myself after 4 years. I was a Windows user for most of my life until college.
EDIT: Pen holder could have been designed better. Everyone at the store trying it out was confused it wasn't there. It's basically a stick on piece that comes with the keyboard, but none of the floor models have them at the Microsoft store. It's also uncomfortable placing the pen in there. I know it has to be tight so it doesn't fall out, but it's a struggle every time. Probably takes a good 3 seconds to fully place it in. If you don't think that's a long time wait until you're leaving a meeting and everyone is waiting on you. Bad user experience on the pen holder.
- Too heavy to hold for tablet use. Wasn't really expecting it, but have heard reviews about it, and this is the lightest pro version too. Good thing the kick stand can rest on my knees (actually pretty good for posture with knees bent because you're neck won't be pointed down the entire time).
Re: Surface Pro 3 Review
#8To resolve the lack of edge gestures when the screen bezel is covered, they should configure the TrackPad to also work with edge gestures.
It does - at least sliding from the left or right. I'm not sure if there are others I don't use.
Re: Surface Pro 3 Review
#9Just got mine yesterday (typing on it for this post). There are some problems on it I wasn't expecting. - Drawing apps like Fresh Paint don't work sometimes when on split screen. By doesn't work, I mean it won't recognize the pen on start up. I would have to full screen the app, use the pen, then I can use the pen on split screen. - Apps aren't adjusted to split screens correctly. The resizing of the apps gets rid of…
I am experiencing many of these issues. I think they will continue to roll out firmware updates. But, the software needed a little bit more work. For Chrome I would disable scaling. 1. Right click Chrome shortcut icon and choose "Properties." (if you do this on an icon in you startbar, then you'll need to right click again on the third one up that says "Google Chrome.")
2. Click Compatibility tab.
3. Check box for "Disable display scaling on high DPI settings."
4. Click OK.
5. It will show small fonts, but you can change that in Chrome Settings under "Show advanced settings" --> "Web Content" --> "Font Size."
The workflow between Metro and Desktop becomes easier and better over the course of a week.
Re: Surface Pro 3 Review
#10How good is the speech recognition Windows 8? I've become a fan of Siri on the iPhone, pretty good. I get the feeling that were pretty close to very accurate speech recognition. Between Microsoft, Google, and Apple I think we're going to get over the line really soon. This post was done entirely with Siri. The missing words or her fault. :-)
just use siri then http://myechoapp.com/