Very excited about Surface Pro 2

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lordsegan

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Jun 16, 2004
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I have been looking at a tablet with a pen for a while now.

I have played with everything from the Note 2 to the Note 8 to the Surface Pro.

After a week or two of bouncing around stores to do these demos, I have to say that the surface pro seems the most interesting. It is super fast with the pen input. Some of the Samsung devices had a little lag -- to be fair they were *impressive* but the Surface Pro was flawless.

So I am now dying to see what the specs and price are for the Surface Pro 2.
 
You and me both brotha. I have a Surface Pro and it's a great little device. The pen is my favorite feature of it with how versatile it is.
 
Any ideas on how much of an improvement we can expect with the battery life?
 
Afkap said:
Any ideas on how much of an improvement we can expect with the battery life?
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I don't think anyone knows. The Haswell chips don't actually seem to yield a big improvement in battery life over Ivy Bridge. I would guess overall we might see an extra hour, maybe two.

So I think that gets us up to about 6-8 hours of moderate to heavy use?
 
Winsupersite is saying it is rated for 7hrs of battery life. In addition, there is supposed to be a power cover based on the type cover that should add to that; however, I haven't seen any specs on the extra battery life from that cover.
 
lordsegan said:
I don't think anyone knows. The Haswell chips don't actually seem to yield a big improvement in battery life over Ivy Bridge. I would guess overall we might see an extra hour, maybe two.

So I think that gets us up to about 6-8 hours of moderate to heavy use?
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what reviews have you been looking at? Most reviews have been seeing between 30 and 50% improvement in battery life for normal every day usage from Ivy to Haswell. That is a huge improvement.
 
the_servicer said:
Are the best Windows tablets actually made by Microsoft?
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There are probably benefits in the same way "Nexus" android phones get updates first.

Does anyone know if there is a any new ports on the SP2? Is the USB 3.1? Is there a thunderbolt? Hoping to find a way to attach an external graphics.
 
Inu said:
There are probably benefits in the same way "Nexus" android phones get updates first.

Does anyone know if there is a any new ports on the SP2? Is the USB 3.1? Is there a thunderbolt? Hoping to find a way to attach an external graphics.
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I haven't read anything beyond that article from Paul Thurott. Sounds like it is pretty much going to be the same box with updated innards (Haswell, more RAM, larger SSD). Only have to wait a week longer to get the whole story at least :)
 
I am waiting to see the surface pro 2 before I make a final decision on what to replace my Vaio Duo 11.
 
in 9 months im going to do a 1 year program for Surgical tech. Im torn between surface pro 2 and lenovo y410
 
But the surface pro does not have phone; so why compare it to a note 2 ? Call me crazy but these are 2 totally different product lines. Personally I don't like the surface pro 2 or the galaxy note 2 they are far to large. A smart phone around 4in is about max for me because I don't give a dam about playing some silly games on a tiny phone.
 
yelsewshane said:
But the surface pro does not have phone; so why compare it to a note 2 ? Call me crazy but these are 2 totally different product lines. Personally I don't like the surface pro 2 or the galaxy note 2 they are far to large. A smart phone around 4in is about max for me because I don't give a dam about playing some silly games on a tiny phone.
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The first few posts were about the pen. Both the surface pro 2 and note 2/3 will have pen capabilities. They both handle it differently, but are both supposed to work very well with handwriting recognition, pen response, and digitizer capabilities like palm rejection, etc. Using a pen on a 4" screen would not be very useful; you kind of need a larger screen unless you like writing on nothing other than sticky notes. Also, you should say you don't care for playing games period, because if you did, the way you wrote that makes it seem like you actually want a bigger screen ;)

Personally, for me, it's between the surface pro 2 and the 2014 version of the note 10.1. Those are a bit more comparable even though the intent behind the devices is slightly different.
 
So does anyone know anything about this event on Monday (Sept 23)? All I know is it's a press event on that date. I'd like to block off some time to watch it, if possible. Or do you think this is just going to be an info exchange and I'll have to watch The Verge or Super Site for Windows to catch the updates?
 
I have a friend who is a L3 Tech with MS and has been using a pre-production version of the Pro2 for a few weeks now.

Initially he was not very impressed, but after receiving the 8.1 update he said that every issue he had with the unit was resolved and that he was sold on the Pro2

The unit he is testing is Haswell w/ 8GB Ram and 256GB SSD
As per him "The new keyboard was made by Logitech, the MB was made by same company who makes apple boards and the display was Samsung. The case is similar to the Pro1 and is manufactured by the same company that makes Asus cases."

Take the above with a grain of salt as it's hearsay, but I'm definitely excited to see what the production version of the Surface 2 is packing.
 
Interesting the case is "similar" to the Pro 1. All the reports (or rather, the only report) I saw online indicated an identical case to the Pro 1, with the exception being the 2-stage kickstand. I wonder if they put an extra USB port on - wouldn't that be nice?

Also, are you referring to the touch/type/power cover when you say it's made by logitech? Who makes the current ones? I thought it was Microsoft...
 
jamsomito said:
Interesting the case is "similar" to the Pro 1. All the reports (or rather, the only report) I saw online indicated an identical case to the Pro 1, with the exception being the 2-stage kickstand. I wonder if they put an extra USB port on - wouldn't that be nice?

Also, are you referring to the touch/type/power cover when you say it's made by logitech? Who makes the current ones? I thought it was Microsoft...
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He may have been referring to the kickstand change. No idea who makes the current keyboard cover thing either.

I full-size USB 3.0 port would be fantastic.

I wouldn't read too much into it. We just had a conversation over lunch.
 
I like the Lenovo Helix better but its about $500 more I believe. Have you tried one of those yet?
 
WinSomeLoseNone said:
He may have been referring to the kickstand change. No idea who makes the current keyboard cover thing either.

I full-size USB 3.0 port would be fantastic.

I wouldn't read too much into it. We just had a conversation over lunch.
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Both the touch and the type cover are made by MS. I *highly* doubt they would ever change that. Accessories are incredibly high margin items and certainly not something that MS would give up. Now Logitech could be making a third party keyboard cover, but it won't be replacing the MS Touch or Type covers.
 
darkhunter139 said:
I like the Lenovo Helix better but its about $500 more I believe. Have you tried one of those yet?
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Did know that existed. It is way overpriced compared to the others out there. The minimum I would take is the one that is $2100 with the i7 which the Vaio Duo 13 at $1800 beats it in specs. Though the lenovo is on sale right now.
 
The improvements in the design allow for a 75% more battery life and adding on the battery type cover allows up to 2.5 times more battery compared to the first Surface Pro. Hmm maybe I'll get one now ;).
 
Very tempted. Depends on price, but this presentation is kind of all over the place.
Release date doesn't sound promising. He mentioned "next year"
 
Which would be dumb, since I need a damn keyboard, lol.

Ah well. I guess I should wait anyway, but I want it
VerucaSalt.Impatience.jpg
 
Surface 2 starting at $449. So they listened, but not to the extent we were hoping. Interested to see how the public responds to this.

Surface Pro 2 starting at $899.
 
So really, these 2 tablets look like really nice hardware. I'm interested to see if the processor improvements on Surface 2 will alleviate the lag people experienced with launching and running apps.

My biggest 2 gripes are the limited app availability, and the 16:9 screen. I like using my tablet in portrait mode, but it's just ridiculously tall and not wide enough on a 16:9 screen. This can't really be helped on the Surfaces because it's just simply it's design... Regarding apps though, I know there's a program that will run on the Pro to let you use any android apps, which is really appealing, but it's just a band-aid, and emulated apps will never run as well as native apps on an android device. I feel like the windows store (or whatever it's called) needs a couple more years yet, unfortunately.

Other than those things, I'd buy one of these in a heartbeat; both have their merits and are good improvements on last year's devices.
 
I really want a surface 2 pro..... Too bad they aren't releasing for a month. Oh well. I wonder how much the 256gb 2 pro will cost..... I guess we find out tomorrow.
 
Shoot, I can't find it now, but I read somebody speculating that the prices were:

64GB, 4GB - $899
128GB, 4GB - $999
256GB, 8GB - $1,299
512GB, 8GB - $1,699

(or something like that)
 
Wow they finally made the keyboard attachment back-lit. I think I I might bite on a pro 2 now
 
The power cover is what makes it very tempting to me (still not biting though)
 
adjas said:
The power cover is what makes it very tempting to me (still not biting though)
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$200 is a little high, and the lack of an i7 option disappoints me. I really hope they will have an i7 version. I want a surface pro 2 with i7 haswell, with at least 256gb SSD and 8GB of ram with the power cover. I would pay up to $1800 for it as that is what my other option the Vaio Duo 13 is priced at.
 
jamsomito said:
Shoot, I can't find it now, but I read somebody speculating that the prices were:

64GB, 4GB - $899
128GB, 4GB - $999
256GB, 8GB - $1,299
512GB, 8GB - $1,699

(or something like that)
Click to expand...

I was close. According to GSMarena:

Microsoft launches pre-order campaigns for the Surface 2 Pro in 21 markets tomorrow, while the tablet will ship a month later - on October 22. The 64 GB model costs $899, 128GB price is $999, the 256GB edition is $1299 and the 512GB Surface 2 Pro is priced at $1799. We guess these prices are for the 4GB Surface 2 Pro slates, and you'll have to add a good $100 more if you want 8GB of RAM.
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I have no idea what they're doing with that $450 Surface RT tablet. Better off waiting for the ASUS T100 if you're settled on a cheaper Windows Tablet, grab a Nexus, or wait out the next iPad.

As for the Surface Pro 2, who is it even targeted at?

The ultrabook competitor? Priced evenly with the Macbook Air? Good luck with that Microsoft.

The business user maybe? Bring your tablet home or to work and use it as your desktop? Oh the dock's not out yet, and won't be for months after release.

It certainly isn't the gamer, and it definitely isn't the casual user.

This reeks of poor planning, again. Lenovo had a dock ready and targeted their user-base perfectly. Apple continues to make money hand over fist on the MBA and iPad.
 
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