Surface 3 10.8" Tablet announced

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

That is where the 10-point multitouch and the pen/ink datatype come into play.
You don't need a keyboard for precision manipulation so what a Windows tablet can do is: everything a desktop can do and more.
Check the videos at the MS store.

Now, of course, it all relates to what you want to do.

In my case, I need to do some office suite work--creation and editing--and while there is very capable software on Android (Softmaker Office is almost as powerful as MS Office 2003) the android environment gets in the way. The lack of the precision of a pen makes text selection and manipulation a pain. Capacitance styli just don't compare.

On the other hand, for simple email, surfing and ebook reading Android is just fine. So was Windows CE back in the day. But that had decent pen input and controls.

(Yes. I like pen-capable interfaces. Probably because I was never traumatized by Newton or Grafiti. )

Thanks for the advice. Is the pen used like the point of a mouse?. I really do need to research a bit more. Thanks again

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

Thanks for the advice. Is the pen used like the point of a mouse?. I really do need to research a bit more. Thanks again

It can be used to replace the mouse as well as the keyboard.
Or, very fast and effectively, typing on the floating onscreen keyboard. That is my favorite mode: the keyboard automatically repositions depending on the insertion point.

In the older Tablet PC versions you could tap, double-tap, drag and drop, and lasso/marquee selections. With the pressure sensitive pens it behaves a lot like a fine marker pen. As I said, very, very good for notetaking and highlighting handouts and presentations.
Corporate road warriors love'em.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

I converted my entire homebrew prettified Gutenberg collection (14k titles) to mobi and to epub on a 2GB first-gen core laptop. Took a week.
I just set it up and went on with my life.

Just set it up beford going to sleep.

A week?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

A week?

Non-stop. No crash, no overheating.
PCs are sturdy boxes.

The whole project ate up a month writing the batch files to cleanup and convert the files, name them, and sort them. (The gutenberg file names are not user friendly.) And then convert them enmasse.
But 90% of the time was the PC running all by it's lonesome.

I'm never doing *that* again but it was a nice learning experience.

[robko]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

Thanks for the advice. Is the pen used like the point of a mouse?. I really do need to research a bit more. Thanks again

With a Bluetooth mouse (and keyboard) a Win8.1 tablet can do pretty much anything a basic laptop can do. I went to a Windows tablet because I fed up with having to convert or play with spreadsheets etc to get them to work under Android versions. With a Win8.1 tablet I can just use all the same programs as I use on my laptop, but the tablet goes with me and is instant on when I need to look up information for a customer. I have an Acer W4 tablet and I really need to stop reading this thread now before I get tempted to "upgrade" to the slightly larger screen . The only limitation I've run into is it can't run MS Access database (not sure if that's a CPU issue or RAM issue), but I can live with that.

EDIT: oh, and speaking as someone who hates most things touchscreen, it's amazing how easy/well it works to move/open/enter stuff is just with a finger on the touchscreen.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by robko

With a Bluetooth mouse (and keyboard) a Win8.1 tablet can do pretty much anything a basic laptop can do. I went to a Windows tablet because I fed up with having to convert or play with spreadsheets etc to get them to work under Android versions. With a Win8.1 tablet I can just use all the same programs as I use on my laptop, but the tablet goes with me and is instant on when I need to look up information for a customer. I have an Acer W4 tablet and I really need to stop reading this thread now before I get tempted to "upgrade" to the slightly larger screen . The only limitation I've run into is it can't run MS Access database (not sure if that's a CPU issue or RAM issue), but I can live with that.

EDIT: oh, and speaking as someone who hates most things touchscreen, it's amazing how easy/well it works to move/open/enter stuff is just with a finger on the touchscreen.

Well, for that matter you can hook up a USB KEYBOARD and mouse through the full size USB 3 port. And the Mini Display port can support a second screen on a monitor. With the multiple desktops feature that would come in handy.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

Problem is I'll happily pay for an IPad Air 2 as I know what it can do and most of the time it's a perfectly good laptop replacement but the same money on a windows tablet is a risk. I don't know what I can do with it, especially without a keyboard as it is a tablet I want.

You see, it's relative... An Ipad Air 2 is too expensive for me if they gave it for free

For me, I'd not know what to do with it. And on my windows tablets I can do whatever I can do on my PC (ok, maybe not some of my games ), even though it's sometimes easier on the PC (as I don't have a mouse, only a bluetooth keyboard). But at least I can do it.

[cgsmom]

I just bought a HP Stream 7 tablet from the Microsoft Store for $79 just to see if I like windows on a tablet. I am amazed at how much I like it (I am typing on it now). When I am in need of a new PC I will definitely give the Surface 3 a good look. I would love to replace my laptop and large tablet (currently Nook HD+) with one device.

[wizwor]

Last summer I was shopping for a full Office license when this popped up in my search results because it came with full Office. It was $350, but a $100 off coupon and some aging rewards the price was about the same as just the Office license, so I bit. I won't bore you with the specs (follow the link), but I like it a lot. All day battery, removable keyboard, and enough computer that Office is very usable. The keyboard is heavy enough to not require a kickstand and you can actually work off your lap since the keyboard is rigid. It's full Windows 8.1, so there is a DOS underneath for running legacy apps.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by cgsmom

I just bought a HP Stream 7 tablet from the Microsoft Store for $79 just to see if I like windows on a tablet. I am amazed at how much I like it (I am typing on it now). When I am in need of a new PC I will definitely give the Surface 3 a good look. I would love to replace my laptop and large tablet (currently Nook HD+) with one device.

I must admit I've been looking at that too. Do you think it could run Calibre?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by wizwor

Last summer I was shopping for a full Office license when this popped up in my search results because it came with full Office. It was $350, but a $100 off coupon and some aging rewards the price was about the same as just the Office license, so I bit. I won't bore you with the specs (follow the link), but I like it a lot. All day battery, removable keyboard, and enough computer that Office is very usable. The keyboard is heavy enough to not require a kickstand and you can actually work off your lap since the keyboard is rigid. It's full Windows 8.1, so there is a DOS underneath for running legacy apps.

That was top of my list until I heard of the Dell and now the S3.
I'm hoping they update it with the new Atom processor. Hopefully with 4GB RAM.
Very good design. They nailed it.

[WillysJeepMan]

The Surface 3 sounds like a winner. If someone is going to get one to use primarily as a tablet running modern UI touch apps, then the base model 2GB/64GB @ $499 is pretty decent. But if one plans on running desktop apps, the next model up 4GB/128GB is almost a necessity.

I'm impressed that Microsoft is adding an "active" digitizer to the S3 at that price point.

I recently picked up an Acer Aspire Switch 11, 4GB/128GB w/keyboard for $449 @ the Microsoft store and it uses an active digitizer (Synaptics). The 3rd gen Dell stylus works wonderfully with it and I'm impressed with how well OneNote works with it.

The Switch 11 has proven that a hybrid device can replace my ultrabook+tablet combo.

The Surface 3 with its high build quality is going to (and has already started to) turn heads.

[cgsmom]

I haven't tried to install Calibre on it because it has so little memory. It has about 23 GB available after I installed the metro apps I wanted. It runs everything I have tried very fast.

[Tarana]

As my vision gets worse, I'm looking at larger tablets for my pdf files and magazines (my ereaders are still the go-to device for novels). This one is looking more affordable than some of the other options. I'm fine for now - my HD+ works great. But if anything goes wrong with it, there isn't really any support any longer.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by WillysJeepMan

The Surface 3 sounds like a winner. If someone is going to get one to use primarily as a tablet running modern UI touch apps, then the base model 2GB/64GB @ $499 is pretty decent. But if one plans on running desktop apps, the next model up 4GB/128GB is almost a necessity.

I'm running plenty of desktop applications on my Asus with 2Gb/64Gb. It's when you want to run multiple (heavier) desktop applications at the same time, that you might want to consider the 4Gb version.