Tomorrow, Microsoft puts its second Surface device on sale. Unlike the Surface RT, this is a full PC, with very muscular specs.
My full review is here: Is the brilliant, quirky, flawed Surface Pro right for you?
Microsoft’s Surface Pro page is here: Windows 8 Pro Home
I’ve also looked at the storage space controversy in what my friend Harry McCracken calls an “extreme, borderline obsessive-compulsive level of detail,” which I gladly cop to.
Here’s that post: Surface Pro versus MacBook Air: Who’s being dishonest with storage space?
So after all that, I want to know: Are you planning to buy a Surface Pro?
[poll id=”4″]
Ed Bott 
I like the Surface RT. I’m using it to respond to this post. What I have found I need however is the more complete integration of SkyDrive that Windows 8 offers and RT
Does not. I also need Outlook. So, I’ll be getting the Pro because I need a more muscular device….but I still love the design.
Ordered a surface rt at launch, and while the form factor is innovative. I am pretty disappointed with it. Performance is frankly, terrible. While surface pro would certainly address the performance needs, it’s x86 which I consider to be a negative. Surface rt and surface pro could have been a real changer. Instead, Microsoft limped into the market, with products that tries to stem the tide of pc defections while intentionally handycapping itself with false limitations and/or poor decisions. The limitations:
Lack of mobile connectivity (lte, or even 3G)
Lack of a dock solution
Lack of api access to support for 3rd party vpn clients on surface rt (truly a fatal decision)
Ridiculous licensing limitations on the included version of office on surface rt
Poor battery on surface pro.
16 x 9 form factor is great for watching movies but crap for anything document related.
I don’t want a surface pro because I don’t want another windows laptop. I want an innovative Arm tablet.
I guess i will make due with deploying two dozen iPads for my next purchase cycle. I Will not be getting another batch of windows laptops, or tragically a fleet of surface rt tablets.
Currently I don’t need a new machine, but otherwise I’d be on it like sh…. Anyway, I may end up with one anyway, I really just don’t know. I am enjoying my Surface RT a LOT more than I thought I would. I do have to say I’m extremely interested in version 2 of this hardware whenever it hits. I’d love to see the batery life of the RT on a full x86 machine, and it sounds like the Intel hardware later this year may get really close.
…also, Ed, I read your Mac vs. Pro storage article, and wanted to add that in my experience Mac software often requires around 50% more disk space than does Windows software. So 88 Gig means a lot more to a PC than 89 Gig does to a Mac.
I’m “leaning against it” because I have the Surface RT and a laptop already. (Actually, 2 laptops, counting my work machine..) I don’t have a need right now for the full PC tablet. But, still thinking about it…
I respect your viewpoint Mark but a lot of your limitations are really just personal choices. For example, I’ve not missed LTE or 3G option at all, because it is already possible. I enable Internet sharing on my Lumia 920 and get LTE or 4G if WiFi is missing or poor. Best of all is if I connect the Lumia and the Surface via USB and have the Lumia provide the LTE service while the Surface charges the Lumia. With or without the USB connection, this is a great way to get broadband service without needing a second account just for the tablet.
I agree that many of the limitations are personal preferences. I am viewing through the lense of a social services it manager with a pretty specific requirement for a next generation platform. Lte via wireless hotspot, sure it works for me personally, but not if I want to deploy a fleet of next generation clients to a couple hundred social workers. Dock is not necessary, but it would be extremely convenient for a mobile caseworker. X86 is awesome for me, for a mobile caseworker….not so much. More expensive, less battery, greater attack vector for malware, hotter, thicker. False office licensing limitiations….don’t benefit anyone. 16 x 9, definitely nice for the home user, not so much for a case worker reviewing or editing docks. Lack of API support for 3rd party Vpn, and the lack of virtual smartcard support on windows 8 rt…more false limitations to maximize last gen revenue streams. I’ve been a loud and active Microsoft proponent for almost 20 years. I don’t own a Mac or use google services, but I am going to shift away from ms for the next mobile computing platform at my work place….and I am not the only one. MS had an opportunity with surface rt to address the short comings of the ipad, to break from, the old way of doing business. They chose to maintain status quo. I am not going along for the ride. I will probably deploy close to 200 iPads over the next 12 months and I won’t look back.
I tried one out at the Microsoft kiosk in the mall tonight. It’s just not for me, and I’m not sure who would find it to be the right combo. I have a touchscreen ultrabook with Win8 and I love it, although it has all the typical OEM stupidities like flakey drivers. A Surface is much less convenient because it can’t be used on your lap and it’s clunkier to carry because the keyboard doesn’t snap shut firmly against the screen. In the end it’s too pricey for a tablet and not integrated well enough to be used as a notebook.
I’m a late adopter who never buys version 1.0 of anything. Future versions will be better, and will probably cost less too. Besides, I recently bought a nice desktop computer, so my computer budget is shot.
With a desktop and a laptop running Windows 8, I don’t need anything right now. If the laptop dies, the Surface Pro might replace it.
So none of the poll answers fit.
I spend a lot of time working on airplanes — coding & doing Excel during my 3+ hour flight on Thursday — and the Surfaces are just not designed for keyboard use in cramped locations.
Even the exit row I had enough room but a ~7″ deep foldy table. My 17″ laptop was fine; a Surface would’ve been unusable. (Plus, Surface has such a small screen at a comfortable typing distance that if it COULD aim right, the multiple palettes, etc. would’ve left no working area.)
Walt, I have used both the Surface RT and Surface Pro in cramped coach airplane seats. They work great on a tray table. Better than most conventional clamshells, in fact. Not sure why you would think this is a problem.
Sales look good. Seems like the 128 Gig versions sold out almost instantly. I was watching Best Buy, and they have not been “available for shipping” since shortly after midnight. And the 128 Gig version is “sold out” on Micorosoft’s on-line store. And Staples.com was sold out since about 1:00am Looks ilke MS has a winner.
@Walt, I travel with my Surface RT from time to time. It fits extremely well on the airplane fold out tables and is very easy to use while perched there. You are incorrect on your assumption of how well it will work.
I intend to buy one but I’d really like to try the Type Cover first. Every reviewer seems to have horror stories about typing on the lap, laptop style, and that would be rather important at that form factor.
Maybe, I can recommend this down the road after the price comes down. Assuming it comes down. Really, 120 for a cover/keyboard?
I have the prototype device sort of with the Samsung Slate that was sold last year. I like it but don’t love it. It of course lacks the attachable KB and the 1920×1080 resolution but otherwise is close enough to not make me upgrade. I am still learning how I use the device on daily basis.