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Surface Pro 2 is incredible

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ozymandius42 said:
Hello all, apologies if this is the wrong thread, but I've been thinking of getting the Surface pro/rt 2 as a laptop replacement. I'm going to be using it primarily for:
1. checking/replying to email;
2. pdf and ebook reading and annotating (PRIMARY function),
3. note writing with either the stylus and the keyboard and writing.
4. Additionally, I may listen to music while reading/writing and '
5. maybe use it for some VERY LIGHT gaming. I have a desktop as my primary machine and do most of my gaming on that, so this not really an issue.
Click to expand...
IMO the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 makes more sense than either. The Pro 2 is just straight overkill (and heavy, etc.) and the RT2 doesn't have a pen.
 
s44 said:
IMO the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 makes more sense than either. The Pro 2 is just straight overkill (and heavy, etc.) and the RT2 doesn't have a pen.
Click to expand...

hmmm, thanks s44. Does android have the same level of annotation functionality for pdf's and word processing software as windows? Also, do you get as good a keyboard experience?
 
ozymandius42 said:
hmmm, thanks s44. Does android have the same level of annotation functionality for pdf's and word processing software as windows? Also, do you get as good a keyboard experience?
Click to expand...
PDF annotation is very good. Word processing generally isn't as advanced. Soft keyboard is very good (as is handwriting recognition with the pen), but I assume you mean hardware keyboard which is the weakness of the Note. It will work well with any bluetooth KB and there are some nice ones, but none actually physically attach the way the Surface covers do.
 
s44 said:
PDF annotation is very good. Word processing generally isn't as advanced. Soft keyboard is very good (as is handwriting recognition with the pen), but I assume you mean hardware keyboard which is the weakness of the Note. It will work well with any bluetooth KB and there are some nice ones, but none actually physically attach the way the Surface covers do.
Click to expand...

Yup, I'm worried about physical keyboard. I tried typing with a soft keyboard, and it just doesn't work me. Since I'm going to be using this as a laptop replacement, and hence typing an hour or so everyday, would prefer a 'hard' keyboard.
 
foghorn67 said:
Any other games that go well with the SP2?
Click to expand...

Hearthstone runs pretty good, but you gotta use the stylus for the mouse-over effects.

also: if using in tablet mode (ie no cover), no ability to chat when running hearthstone in full screen mode.
 
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ozymandius42 said:
Yup, I'm worried about physical keyboard. I tried typing with a soft keyboard, and it just doesn't work me. Since I'm going to be using this as a laptop replacement, and hence typing an hour or so everyday, would prefer a 'hard' keyboard.
Click to expand...

s44 is pretty anti-Surface to begin with, but in general, SP2 is heavier, but not really by that much. iPad 10" (4th gen) was 1.5 lbs, Surface Pro 2 is 2 lbs, and still way lighter than most Ultrabook in that category. You simply don't really equate Surface Pro 2 with gimped tablets, since it's a computer.

As for Surface 2 -- if you think you can do everything you need to accomplish with it (and don't need any Desktop apps), I think it'd be a better option if you need any semblance of productivity, than most tablets out there, considering you can Plug and Play most things out there (such as Printers, scanners, monitors, mouse, etc)
 
zerogear said:
s44 is pretty anti-Surface to begin with, but in general, SP2 is heavier, but not really by that much. iPad 10" (4th gen) was 1.5 lbs, Surface Pro 2 is 2 lbs, and still way lighter than most Ultrabook in that category. You simply don't really equate Surface Pro 2 with gimped tablets, since it's a computer.

As for Surface 2 -- if you think you can do everything you need to accomplish with it (and don't need any Desktop apps), I think it'd be a better option if you need any semblance of productivity, than most tablets out there, considering you can Plug and Play most things out there (such as Printers, scanners, monitors, mouse, etc)
Click to expand...

I was mostly going with the productivity aspect myself, and the ability to run x86 apps on even a tablet-esque machine is pretty cool. Plus, the stylus. I mostly run R and use LyX for word processing and have heard that both run pretty decent on the Surface Pro2. Since this will replace my laptop, I was hoping for a machine that would run those 2 things specifically. Though the Android equivalents seem decent enough (though none exist for R) can't really see anything replacing LyX.
 
ozymandius42 said:
hmmm, thanks s44. Does android have the same level of annotation functionality for pdf's and word processing software as windows? Also, do you get as good a keyboard experience?
Click to expand...

I'm hoping you're asking that with a giant laugh. Cuz I would be.
 
s44 said:
IMO the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 makes more sense than either. The Pro 2 is just straight overkill (and heavy, etc.) and the RT2 doesn't have a pen.
Click to expand...

Just got one as I needed a large-format Android machine for app-specific stuff. Frankly, it's a toy next to any Windows tablet (and equally crap compared to the iPad Air as a kid's toy) - and depending on your productivity needs, even in some cases inferior to the RT.
 
Ns1 said:
There's gotta be a way to change the default search from bing to Google. Right?
Click to expand...

Yes there is. Go into desktop mode and open the browser and go to settings then go to Manage Add-ons. Then from there you can choose search providers. You have to add google then you can set it as default.
 
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TripleThreatTLT said:
Yes there is. Go into desktop mode and open the browser and go to settings then go to Manage Add-ons. Then from there you can choose search providers. You have to add google then you can set it as default.
Click to expand...

This, and you may need to install Google plugin in the IE Gallery
 
vbuggy said:
Just got one as I needed a large-format Android machine for app-specific stuff. Frankly, it's a toy next to any Windows tablet (and equally crap compared to the iPad Air as a kid's toy) - and depending on your productivity needs, even in some cases inferior to the RT.
Click to expand...

Apologies, but I've never used Android so have no idea what the ecosystem is like. I assumed that things would be somewhat level with Windows productivity wise, but your response suggests not 🙂

I just tried out the SP2 at the local Best Buy. That thing is seriously well put together. Think will just go for this as full laptop replacement. The stylus especially was a dream.
 
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chrisleung/freedomcase-adjustable-stand-and-case-for-microsof/

Kickstarter for multiple angle case has started -- one of the best case I've seen.

Get Backin' people.

03d609c0aedbb889becb1a39e76340d2_large.gif
 
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Well, it's successfully funded 40k in 20 hours. So if you still buy in now, it'll definitely go into production
 
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