Surface Pro 3 - Page 2 - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Diemenz · 02-10-2015, 01:00 PM

Love mine, use it around 20 hours a week and haven't had an issue

HotHotHeat · 02-10-2015, 04:41 PM

Work gave me one for trial for a couple weeks. Lots to like about them but the fan goes when it's just sitting idle. Tablets shouldn't have fans.

t0rrent98 · 02-10-2015, 04:53 PM

I'm thinking about getting one if its worth it for that price. can the i7 play games on it? I'm hoping to get one so it replaces the s***ty laptop I'm using when not on the PC.

FurnaceFace · 02-10-2015, 05:27 PM

From what I've read this isn't something you'd play current gen graphic extensive games on. One review commented something about Skyrim playing at around 10 FPS. Sounded like half life or that era was playable.

Diemenz · 02-10-2015, 05:49 PM

The surface isn't for gaming, that isn't the purpose....just like the MacBook air isn't for gaming.

However I have played, Wow (40fps low), Southpark (recommended, and runs perfect), battlefield 4 (24fps medium, 38 low) and a few others with decent results just to test it out.

The main reason it struggles on current gen games is the resolution. By installing Intel drivers and using a lower custom resolution you can play lots of current gen games on medium settings. However, this is an ultra portable laptop, expect it to get hot and the fan to blow when you do those things just like any other laptop would.

t0rrent98 · 02-10-2015, 06:49 PM

I wasn't really planning on using the Surface Pro 3 to play games like CS:GO anyways but if it could handle games like that it would have been a bonus.

Mike F · 02-10-2015, 10:32 PM

Use mine constantly for work, surfing, movies, and a tonne of photoshoping, and I love everything about it except the new stylus - it seems to eat batteries quite quickly.

GoinAllTheWay · 02-18-2015, 10:17 AM

Pretty sure one of these is exactly what I'm looking for. My current laptop must be around 10 yrs old (runs vista) and I can't stand my iPad2 anymore. This seems like a perfect replacement for both.

Couple questions:
1) The kickstand. How strong is it? Is it something I'm likely to snap off by accident in a few months?
2) What's the keyboard like to type on? I realize it won't be as good as a regular desktop keyboard but is it reasonable?
3) I can run regular programs on it like a desktop?
4) Can I replace the battery myself if I wanted to?

Diemenz · 02-18-2015, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

Pretty sure one of these is exactly what I'm looking for. My current laptop must be around 10 yrs old (runs vista) and I can't stand my iPad2 anymore. This seems like a perfect replacement for both.

Couple questions:
1) The kickstand. How strong is it? Is it something I'm likely to snap off by accident in a few months?
2) What's the keyboard like to type on? I realize it won't be as good as a regular desktop keyboard but is it reasonable?
3) I can run regular programs on it like a desktop?
4) Can I replace the battery myself if I wanted to?

1. Never seen a broken kickstand. Get Microsoft complete and for two years it doesn't matter how you treat it. I feel the kickstand on the 3 is amazing.
2. Your thoughts are correct. Keyboard is backlit which is nice and I don't have issues typing with it.
3. Yes
4. No. However again with Microsoft complete the worries are gone. my battery is just as good as the day I bought it and if I have issues in the future I will take it back and get it replaced.

Bill Bumface · 02-18-2015, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

Pretty sure one of these is exactly what I'm looking for. My current laptop must be around 10 yrs old (runs vista) and I can't stand my iPad2 anymore. This seems like a perfect replacement for both.

Couple questions:
1) The kickstand. How strong is it? Is it something I'm likely to snap off by accident in a few months?
2) What's the keyboard like to type on? I realize it won't be as good as a regular desktop keyboard but is it reasonable?
3) I can run regular programs on it like a desktop?
4) Can I replace the battery myself if I wanted to?

1) I doubt it, it's very sturdy. Actually a little too hard to deploy because of it IMO.

2) It's ok. Ever use an iPad type case? It's like that, but slightly better because of a second magnet that allows it to be used in an inclined position. It's actually back light too, which is awesome. And has arrow keys. The track pad is really small. I find myself using touch along with typing quite a bit.

3) Yes, you can run everything. They have really decent hardware. It's like a small laptop. As a result they are pretty heavy.

4) Likely not without breaking your screen

GoinAllTheWay · 02-18-2015, 11:33 AM

Ohhhh, the keyboard is backlit? Nice!

Thanks for the info gents. I keep forgetting there is an MS store at Chinook now, think I'll head over there at lunch and try one out.

Also just noticed they have a slick looking docking station. This is looking better and better.

GoinAllTheWay · 02-18-2015, 02:08 PM

Alright. Got a chance to mess around with one at lunch and I'm quite impressed. Keyboard is better than I thought. They have clearly improved them as I seem to remember them being almost cloth covered originally?

Love the size, absolutely perfect. Decent weight and ya, the kickstand seems pretty solid.

One thing I found odd, and this is a minor annoyance at worst....I pulled the keyboard off the surface surface and when entering text (in an address bar for instance) I noticed that when you tap in the address field, the electronic keyboard didn't automatically pop up like I'm used to on my phone or iPad. Is there way to make that happen? You also seem to have to manually close it.

Like I said, minor annoyance and not a deal breaker but hoping you can change a setting somewhere?

Diemenz · 02-18-2015, 02:15 PM

The keyboard works automatically when your in Windows metro but not in the Windows desktop. This is by design and I at first struggled with it but now do the majority of my web browsing in the metro browser and use apps for emails so I do not struggle from the typing issue.

Oddly enough I have found the metro browser to be extremely fast and solid, much better then I expected from an IE browser.

I heard there was a program out there that allows you to automate the process in desktop mode but I have not looked into it more.

GoinAllTheWay · 02-18-2015, 02:21 PM

Ahhh, I see. Metro is the live tile interface, no?

If so, that makes sense. Regular desktop when using it as such, tablet behaviour when the keyboard is removed.

Diemenz · 02-18-2015, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

Ahhh, I see. Metro is the live tile interface, no?

If so, that makes sense. Regular desktop when using it as such, tablet behaviour when the keyboard is removed.

Yes the live tile interface has the auto keyboard options. When I use it as a tablet I'm always in the metro interface.

Jude · 02-18-2015, 04:46 PM

So has anyone tried using a microsd with their surface?

I want to get a surface pro 3 for someone who just needs it to run Microsoft Office software so I was thinking of the i3 with a UHS-3 microsd (30gb of usable space seems too little).

Or should I just bite to bullet and get one of the i5s?

Diemenz · 02-18-2015, 06:20 PM

I bought a 64gb micro sd and it works like a charm. Spent the extra bucks to get the fastest one I could find

chid · 02-19-2015, 10:04 PM

Be forewarned the pen holder on the keyboard is a POS and is only attached by what seems like adhesive for children. I am not careless with my electronics and my pen holder is already gone, meaning a precarious situation for the pen. I'm paranoid about losing it and am considering some gorilla glue to re-stick it back on. Anyone else have this issue?

Diemenz · 02-19-2015, 10:33 PM

Mine is still sticking onto the keyboard and gets put in and out of a slim case each day. I know you can buy other holders so that might be an idea, could be that you just got a ####ty one.

I do however wish there was another holder option.

FurnaceFace · 02-25-2015, 07:07 PM

I've had mine for about 2 weeks now. I like the size and weight. It's reasonable and much lighter than a laptop of course. Still getting used to metro vs regular apps and how I'll best interact with it. I'm still reaching for the iPad first for email and such. The surface has got lots of work editing photos and videos (recently back from Antarctica and I have a crap ton of pics to work through.) I find Lightroom runs at least as fast and gopro editing is much faster than my circa 2009 laptop which is expected.

The kickstand is great. Solid in any position. Great design there.

I still haven't got used to the behaviours of metro. I want to be able to minimize the app but that isn't how this works. Need to hit the home button. I don't know why my brain says minimize instead of home.

I also read about heat issues and I do find it runs hot for seemingly no reason. It can be sitting there not in use and I notice it's really warm. I'm used to the iPad behaviours where one just closes the Smart Cover and forgets about it. I do the same with the surface which puts it into sleep mode but I think MS treats sleep differently? It can also get hot doing simple things like surfing or running email. Only got thing is the kickstand keeps the heat off your legs which makes it ok.

I'm still looking for a good metro based email app to aggregate all my accounts (2x gmail, pop mail, hotmail, office365). The native iPad mail app eats them all up which I like. I'm sure there is an option.

I'm undecided how I'm treating the surface. It's a laptop for sure and I'm trying to treat it as a tablet but haven't quite got there yet. I suspect I just need more time with it.