Surface Pro 3 Review: Microsoft Proves It's Third Time Lucky

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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It’s still a shocker that Microsoft has hit on a winner with its Surface Pro 3. Microsoft has always had a reputation for being last to the dance and this is no different except in one major area: It clicked. If you are interested in a tablet, check out the in-depth review of Microsoft’s winning entry into the market.

By focusing the compromising of the Surface Pro 3 on the already weak areas from the previous Surface devices, Microsoft has created the first Surface Pro that I feel I could offer a general recommendation to the ‘average’ user.
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SP3 fixed the biggest issues most users had with the SP1/2. As such, I have strongly pushed the SP3 as a do-it-all device for many friends and family.
Full range kickstand? Check
No longer as thick as a brick? Check.
Lighter? Check.
Bigger screen? Check.
Bright, rich, high res IPS display? Check.
Ditched the crappy 16:9 aspect ratio? Check.
I rarely use the pen, but it's got that too.

As long as you don't need significant processing power (though I know many here DO need that), it's a really impressive device. Of course it would be even more impressive with Haswell powering that 2160x1440 display.

The only thing it's missing at this point is a weighted (perhaps with a giant battery) keyboard dock so you can use it as a traditional laptop when space is limited. And a place to store the pen, cripes...how hard is it to implement a pen clip or magnetic recessed slot or something?
 
Good article. I think it covers the strengths and weaknesses of the SP3 accurately. The SP3 is the result of Microsoft listening and executing well. I've long been a user of hybrid/convertible Tablet PCs and loved the idea of the Surface Pro line from the beginning but the first two Pro devices left me wanting. The screen was too small for a device to be used seriously as a laptop and the keyboard and track pad solution was weak at best.

The SP3 addressed those issues very well and after getting to use an SP3 during a training class back in September I knew then it would be my next main Tablet PC. The thought and engineering that went into this device is rare for a Windows PC.
 
Kueller said:
The only thing it's missing at this point is a weighted (perhaps with a giant battery) keyboard dock so you can use it as a traditional laptop when space is limited. And a place to store the pen, cripes...how hard is it to implement a pen clip or magnetic recessed slot or something?
Click to expand...

I'm guessing that Microsoft is working on a standard folding keyboard docking solution as that is probably the only way to address "lapability" for those that don't like the kickstand Type Cover combo. Getting that right and keeping the total weight of the dock and tablet is tough to do. But with just a few more ounces shaved off the tablet I think a dock becomes a more realistic and practical solution.

As for on device pen storage. All of the devices I've seen with full size pen holders are much thicker than the SP3. And thin devices like the Galaxy Note line have basically toothpicks for pens. So no one seems to have a good solution for a thin device and holder for a full size pen.
 
These are nice computers. They are lightweight, but plenty powerful enough to run Office and other programs.
I used a Macbook Air 11" on a business trip recently. This was fantastic for travel and worked well for me. I find these types of devices much better than iPad's - about the same weight, but so much better for real work.
You'll notice Microsoft's ads compare the Surface against the Macbook Air's. I would have scoffed at both of these a few years ago...now I'm praising them as I need them :)
 
I have one, and overall it's great. It has a few minor annoyances that affect me daily/weekly:

1) The mouse keys on the Type cover touchpad seem to have a deadspot where you can't depress the key.
2) Also related to the Type cover: having the buttons be part of the touchpad surface means that button presses frequently move the mouse cursor a bit, which is a pain in desktop mode
3) It refuses to connect to my bluetooth speaker for more than 30 secs (the speaker works fine on my win7 netbook, android and iphone).

anyway, overall quite good, but i do remember a convincing (if speculative) article recently saying that microsoft wasn't likely to stay in the pc building arena for much longer.
 
We have a bunch at the office, replacing the slim laptops. One downside I see is that the screen is such high resolution that you have to up the scaling considerably to make things readable. But then when you dock it to a 1080p screen, everything is blown up way too large.

So if you buy one for personal use, be sure to have an appropriately high res monitor to go with it.
 
To move from great to perfect the Surface Pro 4 needs to have:

- AMOLED instead of LCD with backlight bleed especially during BIOS bootup screen where for some reason Microsoft decided to max out brightness

- 14nm CPU to better manage throttling when both CPU and iGPU are utilized

- Remove the flex by making the Type Cover keyboard stiffer

- Industry standard small form factor RJ45 port built in

- Autofocus camera
 
This came out months ago. They're only reviewing this now?
 
Ducman69 said:
We have a bunch at the office, replacing the slim laptops. One downside I see is that the screen is such high resolution that you have to up the scaling considerably to make things readable. But then when you dock it to a 1080p screen, everything is blown up way too large.

So if you buy one for personal use, be sure to have an appropriately high res monitor to go with it.
Click to expand...

Depends a lot on the application. Some scale very well, some kind of ok but most don't make any attempt. 8.1 does an ok job of monitor independent scaling. I use a 23" 1080P monitor at with scaling turned all the way up overall it works well for most of the apps I use. Hopefully Windows 10 it make more progress with scaling and app developers will begin to pay attention to it.
 
traycerb said:
I have one, and overall it's great. It has a few minor annoyances that affect me daily/weekly:

1) The mouse keys on the Type cover touchpad seem to have a deadspot where you can't depress the key.
2) Also related to the Type cover: having the buttons be part of the touchpad surface means that button presses frequently move the mouse cursor a bit, which is a pain in desktop mode
3) It refuses to connect to my bluetooth speaker for more than 30 secs (the speaker works fine on my win7 netbook, android and iphone).

anyway, overall quite good, but i do remember a convincing (if speculative) article recently saying that microsoft wasn't likely to stay in the pc building arena for much longer.
Click to expand...

Seems like the touchpad on your cover might be messed up. The only 'deadspot' on the touchpad is the top quarter, and I always click instead of tap and have never had the cursor move even an iota.

I love my SP3, best laptop I've ever owned. Having a touchscreen is actually really nice, I find myself unconsciously using it much more than I had ever expected. Love the pen for school work, as I draw a lot of charts and diagrams in OneNote next to my notes as I type.
 
Kueller said:
The only thing it's missing at this point is a weighted (perhaps with a giant battery) keyboard dock so you can use it as a traditional laptop when space is limited. And a place to store the pen, cripes...how hard is it to implement a pen clip or magnetic recessed slot or something?
Click to expand...

People brought this up as it was a big complaint - it was said that it was one of the most difficult parts to try and implement. Things are packed in there tight, and it would take a lot of changes and R&D just to get a small recessed slot included.

I hope they get that included with the SP4 next year. I'm definitely looking to get one. I'm holding out until the next release if it hits the rumors of April/May.
 
As far as the silo for the pen I don't have an issue since it's normally carried in a slim shoulder bag or sleeve where the pen is stored in a separate pocket. Some people also temporarily attach to magnet on charging port or clip to crease on type cover.
 
mi7chy said:
To move from great to perfect the Surface Pro 4 needs to have:

- AMOLED instead of LCD with backlight bleed especially during BIOS bootup screen where for some reason Microsoft decided to max out brightness

- 14nm CPU to better manage throttling when both CPU and iGPU are utilized

- Remove the flex by making the Type Cover keyboard stiffer

- Industry standard small form factor RJ45 port built in

- Autofocus camera
Click to expand...

As I type this from my sp3, i have to agree with everything in this list with one caveat. either a magnetized spot to put the pen or something to click it into.
 
Phelptwan said:
As I type this from my sp3, i have to agree with everything in this list with one caveat. either a magnetized spot to put the pen or something to click it into.
Click to expand...

I agree with most of it but I'm not so sure about the RJ45 port. Not saying it wouldn't be nice but I don't think that it adds a lot of utility as it is the kind of device that's so portable that lots of cable plugging and unplugging conflicts with the portability.
 
Suprfire said:
"Long-Term Review" is in the title of the review. Yup. Things make sense.
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There have been a few of these SP3 follow up reviews in the last couple of weeks. I think that's a good thing and should be done more often as time does tell and you simply have more experience to give a more informed opinion with long term use.
 
Phelptwan said:
As I type this from my sp3, i have to agree with everything in this list with one caveat. either a magnetized spot to put the pen or something to click it into.
Click to expand...

The pen sticks to the side of the unit on my mom's SP3...
 
jwcalla said:
The retail price of the one reviewed is $1k.

Just get a laptop.
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The Surface Pro 3 isn't a laptop, it is a tablet. If one isn't looking for the tablet capabilities and just wants a laptop then by all means that person should just get a laptop. The point of a hybrid device like the SP3 is to be more than just a laptop or just a tablet. I wouldn't recommend the SP3 to anyone just wanting a laptop or just a tablet, unless they were looking for a tablet with a digital pen for high end art or note taking purposes.
 
jwcalla said:
The retail price of the one reviewed is $1k.

Just get a laptop.
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Yup, but tablets are the fad thing to buy at the moment because of Apple's huge success with the iPad so every other MeToo product is targeting the same market.

Sadly, a lot of laptops at that price include a keyboard, touchpad, a battery the user can swap, a dedicated GPU, more storage space, and a wired ethernet adapter. However, some people will argue"b-but tablet!" as justification for the high price of an inexpensive laptop without a keyboard as the main selling point.
 
heatlesssun said:
I agree with most of it but I'm not so sure about the RJ45 port. Not saying it wouldn't be nice but I don't think that it adds a lot of utility as it is the kind of device that's so portable that lots of cable plugging and unplugging conflicts with the portability.
Click to expand...

For an enterprise with HIPPA/FERPA requirements and mass deployments having an ethernet port built in and not needing a USB adapter would make my life so much easier.
 
CreepyUncleGoogle said:
Yup, but tablets are the fad thing to buy at the moment because of Apple's huge success with the iPad so every other MeToo product is targeting the same market.

Sadly, a lot of laptops at that price include a keyboard, touchpad, a battery the user can swap, a dedicated GPU, more storage space, and a wired ethernet adapter. However, some people will argue"b-but tablet!" as justification for the high price of an inexpensive laptop without a keyboard as the main selling point.
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Why would I want a heavy, heat producing monster? Oh, and short battery life? Clearly, your trolling know now logic.
 
ManofGod said:
That's nice, willing to try again or do you just enjoy being wrong?
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I'm pretty sure my comments are correct, "...a lot of laptops at that price include a keyboard, touchpad, a battery the user can swap, a dedicated GPU, more storage space, and a wired ethernet adapter."

If you disagree and think it's wrong, you're doing so out of either a lack of awareness of what is available to purchase or you're attempting to launch a personal attack because you know already that the statement is factual even though it disagrees with the personal image you've created for yourself here on the forum that you're obliged to maintain. Either way, it's sorta funny to watch from over here.
 
CreepyUncleGoogle said:
Yup, but tablets are the fad thing to buy at the moment because of Apple's huge success with the iPad so every other MeToo product is targeting the same market.
Click to expand...

Pen enabled Windows computers have been around for two decades. Convertible and hybrid x86 Windows devices have been in the market for 12 years now, almost a decade before the iPad. The Surface Pro line of devices has much more in common with Tablet PCs of the Windows XP Tablet PC Edition era than iPads.
 
heatlesssun said:
Pen enabled Windows computers have been around for two decades. Convertible and hybrid x86 Windows devices have been in the market for 12 years now, almost a decade before the iPad. The Surface Pro line of devices has much more in common with Tablet PCs of the Windows XP Tablet PC Edition era than iPads.
Click to expand...

Not before the Apple Newton though.
 
Kueller said:
SP3 fixed the biggest issues most users had with the SP1/2. As such, I have strongly pushed the SP3 as a do-it-all device for many friends and family.
Full range kickstand? Check
No longer as thick as a brick? Check.
Lighter? Check.
Bigger screen? Check.
Bright, rich, high res IPS display? Check.
Ditched the crappy 16:9 aspect ratio? Check.
I rarely use the pen, but it's got that too.

As long as you don't need significant processing power (though I know many here DO need that), it's a really impressive device. Of course it would be even more impressive with Haswell powering that 2160x1440 display.

The only thing it's missing at this point is a weighted (perhaps with a giant battery) keyboard dock so you can use it as a traditional laptop when space is limited. And a place to store the pen, cripes...how hard is it to implement a pen clip or magnetic recessed slot or something?
Click to expand...

Still close to $1000 Check
Still half the power of my laptop check
Still half the performance and functionality of my laptop Check
Etc etc.

Don't get me wrong, I like tablets as accessories to my desktop and laptop. However let's not forget the massive disadvantages they have. They are an expensive accessory still. Certainly moving in the right direction and I think the SP3 can be gotten for around $800 or so now, but that is still pretty damn expensive for what little they do compared to a laptop in the same price range.
 
heatlesssun said:
A pen enabled x86 Windows and the Newton are two completely different things. Apple has never sold a pen and/or touch based desktop OS class device. Not exactly sure how never became first.
Click to expand...

Okay, you're allowed to change how you feel and dispute that Apple didn't have a touch UI and people poked the screen with something that looked like a pen in 1987. Oh and Palm didn't do it before Windows CE either because the CPU wasn't an x86 processor so we can't count them at all.

The reality is that stuff like the Newton and Palm Pilots were using things that Microsoft is only finally almost making into a non-loss product now. They finally have a kludgey almost touchscreen UI and have finally gotten away from hard drive based storage just like Apple did in 1987, but Apple did it better even back then and the iPad has been profitable for quite a few years longer along with being a market success in the first generation.

But nope, heatlesssun world ignores it because x86.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
Still half the performance and functionality of my laptop Check
Etc etc.
Click to expand...

You're not taking into account the things that SP3 does that conventional clamshell laptops don't do. If one could buy a device that did all the things the SP3 does at it's size and weight that was more powerful and less expensive then no one would buy an SP3 or any other similarly priced hybrid device.
 
CreepyUncleGoogle said:
The reality is that stuff like the Newton and Palm Pilots were using things that Microsoft is only finally almost making into a non-loss product now.
Click to expand...

This is a strange statement. Because where does one buy a new Newton or Palm Pilot these days? Meanwhile there are more Windows x86 tablets and hybrids on the market than ever, some at very low prices.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
Still close to $1000 Check
Still half the power of my laptop check
Still half the performance and functionality of my laptop Check
Etc etc.

Don't get me wrong, I like tablets as accessories to my desktop and laptop. However let's not forget the massive disadvantages they have. They are an expensive accessory still. Certainly moving in the right direction and I think the SP3 can be gotten for around $800 or so now, but that is still pretty damn expensive for what little they do compared to a laptop in the same price range.
Click to expand...

Half the power and performance of your laptop? So, you have a Core i7 running at 4.2 Ghz, GTX 980M and 1440p screen on your laptop all for less than $1000? Yeah? I did not think so. Laptops have their place sometimes but, they are typically only good for laps or desktops, not good when you have to carry them everywhere you go.

Basically, I have a Surface 2 that does the job of a laptop with ease. That with the added benefit of being light weight and portable. So, is one better than the other? For me, yes, the Surface 2 is better than any laptop for my professional usage model. Others, perhaps not.
 
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