Surface Pro 3

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

The only magnetic area I've found is where the keyboard attaches. And it seems, mainly the clip of the pen is magnetic. It probably would hold in place. But I'd like to see a way, to still use the keyboard and (magnetically) attach the pen.

It's no biggy.
I have the Wacom Bamboo stylus. It didn't attach to Surface Pro 2 either. I simply put it in my suit pocket, when going on a trip.
---> Solvable.

But your scenario would solve, what wodin describes: Leaving the keyboard at the desk. Taking the tablet to a meeting and jotting notes with the pen. And, when needed, attaching the pen magnetically to the tablet.

Your enthusiasm is contagious. I bought one today, i5, 8 GB RAM and 256 GB SSD. I tested different solutions for the pen. I found that you can attach it fairly secure in the charge slot if you do it upside down, in other words have the tip pointing upwards. The pocket clip the holds it down to the magnet, and I was able to shake the device fairly hard without it moving away. Granted, I can probably not shake it as violently as some of you might be able to, but I didn't feel I needed to worry about if falling out.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Your enthusiasm is contagious. I bought one today, i5, 8 GB RAM and 256 GB SSD. I tested different solutions for the pen. I found that you can attach it fairly secure in the charge slot if you do it upside down, in other words have the tip pointing upwards. The pocket clip the holds it down to the magnet, and I was able to shake the device fairly hard without it moving away. Granted, I can probably not shake it as violently as some of you might be able to, but I didn't feel I needed to worry about if falling out.

Congratulations!
For the pen, Dulin's Books solution is working.
I'm not too fond of the idea, having the clip of the pen that close to the screen. But it seems to be safe..
It's really a minor detail and in general I still find the keyboard covers from Microsoft a stroke of genius. But they clearly should find an alternative to the #%£^*+{%# loop. It looks stupid and gluing on some 2 Euro accessory manually feels kind of "inappropriate".
Else I'm still enormously impressed. A job well done, Microsoft!

[FinancialWar]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

A job well done, Microsoft!

Huh?

After three years...

Still only one USB port, no standard size SD card reader, heat issues, downgrade from Wacom to N-trig!, impossible to upgrade, non-removable battery, no 3g/4g connectivity, no silo for the stylus.

And you call this a laptop replacement? Please...

[palazzo]

I think that the 'laptop replacement' claims are a bit off-the-point. I wouldn't carry around a laptop all the time, but a tablet that you can type properly on and which runs all Windows programs pretty zippily is ideal for my uses. No heat problems so far, and one (full-size) USB port is still one more than the competition, and it's USB 3.

To add to my joy I've just discovered the Touch-It Virtual Keyboard, which does everything the crappy system one doesn't - appears when you need it, disappears when you don't and has numerical keys along with the qwerty.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by FinancialWar

Huh?

After three years...

Still only one USB port, no standard size SD card reader, heat issues, downgrade from Wacom to N-trig!, impossible to upgrade, non-removable battery, no 3g/4g connectivity, no silo for the stylus.

And you call this a laptop replacement? Please...

So...after seeing how much you dislike so much of the current technology, is there any reader or tablet that you do like? ...and if there is, why don't you use that to read your books?

Shari

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by FinancialWar

Huh?

After three years...

Still only one USB port, no standard size SD card reader, heat issues, downgrade from Wacom to N-trig!, impossible to upgrade, non-removable battery, no 3g/4g connectivity, no silo for the stylus.

And you call this a laptop replacement? Please...

- No standard size SD card reader? Good one! What gadgets, with the exception of cameras, still use standard size? My action cam doesn't, my PS Vitas don't, my quadcopter doesn't.
My Dell Latitude 10 does and I hate it. Why would I want a slot 5 times the size? I always can use an adapter, so what's the point?
- Only one USB port?
Which tablet does have more? Most don't even have one. And why would one need more? I want my tablet to be as mobile and compact as possible. And at home, I always can use a docking station or USB hub. Stuff I can't do with Nexus 7 or iPad, for example.
- Heat issues?
Never had them and I have all 5 Microsoft tablets (Surface Pro 1 to 3, Surface RT, Surface 2).
- Downgrade from WACOM to N-trig. The pen is way more accurate and smoother. WACOM may be the market leader,, but I have't seen a perfectly functioning pen yet on any tablet with WACOM technology (although admittedly the WACOM stylus on my Dell Latitude 10 is a bit more accurate than the Surface ones).
- Impossible to upgrade? Which tablet can be upgraded?
- None-removable battery. My Dell Latitude 10 has a user replaceable battery. I haven't used it even once. I easily can live with the 8+ hours my tablets do. It's a nice feature, but usually it simply adds a bit of bulk. And again: Only a handful of tablets allow for that.
- No 3G/4G connectivity: Would be nice, but easily solvable with WiFi hotspots and my Mi-Fi. I prefer Mi-Fi anyway, since I always run out of SIM cards (I've got 6, I don't want to have another contract).
- No silo for the stylus: Most tablets don't even have a stylus, so it's still at least one step ahead. Personally, I don't care about a silo, I don't want to have cavities anyway in my tablet. But agreed, some solution like with Surface Pro 2 would have been great. So I simply will put it in my suit pocket, like I did with the WACOM Bamboo stylus before.

And you call this a laptop replacement?
I don't.
Yes, Microsoft does. But why would I care about some marketing phrase?
To me it's simply the most versatile tablet around - by far.
As a business instrument, Windows 8 tablets blow iOS and Android out of the water. As gadgets they can't compete, but that's not their main approach anyway.

To each his own.
But please name 3 tablets that can deliver what you criticize on Surface Pro 3.
If you can do so, it will be Windows 8 tablets at least...

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by palazzo

I think that the 'laptop replacement' claims are a bit off-the-point...

I guess, this really depends on ones needs.
I can't imagine a single task I did on my MacBook Air, that couldn't be done equally efficiently on Surface Pro.

[DaleDe]

Does everyone know we have a full forum dedicated to discussing this and other Surface products? https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=263

Dale

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

Congratulations!
For the pen, Dulin's Books solution is working.
I'm not too fond of the idea, having the clip of the pen that close to the screen. But it seems to be safe..
It's really a minor detail and in general I still find the keyboard covers from Microsoft a stroke of genius. But they clearly should find an alternative to the #%£^*+{%# loop. It looks stupid and gluing on some 2 Euro accessory manually feels kind of "inappropriate".
Else I'm still enormously impressed. A job well done, Microsoft!

I agree, the loop cheapens the experience. I used my Type Cover 2 on the SP3 and it worked like a charm, off course it doesn't cover the screen completely. But it is good to know that it works as advertised and in a pinch I can always use it. I also have the Wedge Keyboard and the cover to that keyboard is an excellent stand for using the SP3 in portrait mode, as a matter of fact this is what I'm doing right now.
You can have a whole page (A4) viewable and thanks to the high resolution of the screen no squinting required.

The only problem I have encountered so far is that when the right side, towards the capacitive Windows button/logo gets hot then pen input in that region goes haywire. I wanted to use the pen input on the soft keyboard but holding it in portrait with the Windows key at the bottom made it impossible. Would be curious to know if it is my machine or this is a general issue_

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

...when the right side, towards the capacitive Windows button/logo gets hot then pen input in that region goes haywire...

Didn't happen for me, so far.
It's getting warm sometimes, but not "hot" yet.
And I don't experience any special "heat zone" around the Windows button.
But I haven't done any demanding jobs yet. Just installing apps, downloading and similar standard stuff.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

Didn't happen for me, so far.
It's getting warm sometimes, but not "hot" yet.
And I don't experience any special "heat zone" around the Windows button.
But I haven't done any demanding jobs yet. Just installing apps, downloading and similar standard stuff.

Recently, we purchased 3 Surface Pro 3 (i7, 8GB, 256GB) for testing at work. 2 of them are happy campers, the 3rd unit has issues including a overtemp error when rebooting after it's been used for a while. The testers for all three have complained about the fan noise and the temperature of the tablet going well past warm under their normal use.

OTOH, all three worked out of the box. A earlier trial with Surface 2 RT's had issues with "no battery detected" and "plugged in , not charging" out of the box. Nothing like there's a firmware update that fixes the issue but you can't install the <expletive deleted> update unless you are connected to a charger and the battery is fully charged -- actually we found that 35% seemed to work to allow the update.

Regards,
David

[Dulin's Books]

there is an update coming for the i7 versions that are experiencing the heat icon issue

"Our investigation reveals that the system is triggering this event sooner than it should for some people, only when the device restarts, and this does not occur when the device is booted and running. We have an update that will address this that will be ready for our customers as soon as possible."

that statement was made this past Tuesday

[Kumabjorn]

Well, well, well. I seem to have a problem with the N-Trig digitizer. When in landscape approximately 1 cm in the digitizer don't seem to register a connection. As I move the pan over that area instead of continuing to draw it will make a 90 degree turn and then jump Another cm before it continues to draw on the initially intended line. So instead of a diagonal line I get a staircase step.

The image was from drawing with it in portrait mode, Windows logo at the bottom.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Well, well, well. I seem to have a problem with the N-Trig digitizer. When in landscape approximately 1 cm in the digitizer don't seem to register a connection. As I move the pan over that area instead of continuing to draw it will make a 90 degree turn and then jump Another cm before it continues to draw on the initially intended line. So instead of a diagonal line I get a staircase step.

The image was from drawing with it in portrait mode, Windows logo at the bottom.

Does this happen in all apps?
I'm using the WACOM drawing app for testing the accuracy of all my pens.
The grid makes it easy to check the precision. So far, I haven't run in any problems with my Surface Pro 3, whereas Surface Pro 1 and 2 have been relatively inaccurate in the corners, especially in the upper left corner (in landscape).
I'll have to check more carefully, whether something like the "jump" you describe happens for me as well. I normally only draw small squares on the grid, to check any offset. Now I'll have to draw long lines.

I haven't been able in the past, to improve accuracy with the standard calibration. But the methods from XDA (300+ calibration points) did help a bit. I'd play around with those a bit in your case.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Does everyone know we have a full forum dedicated to discussing this and other Surface products? https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=263

Dale

It's a generic Windows forum. It's not a specific Surface forum. Too much other junk in there to be useful.