Thoughts on the Surface Pro 4

[karpour]

I recently got a Surface Pro 4 i5 8gb model after long debating with myself. The other candidate would've been many artist's favorite, the iPad pro.
Having tried the Surface at stores (albeit only with OneNote), the pen felt really nice and the keyboard as well.

As my previous netbook was pretty old by now and my Galaxy Note 10.1 (which I drew lots on) died about a year ago, I was in need of a new tablet and laptop basically, so while the iPad Pro is absolutely amazing for drawing, it would be almost useless for anything else I used my laptop for.

After using of for about a week, here are some thoughts on it:

• The pen is great to hold, just the right size
• I like the resistance of the pen nib on the screen better than on the iPad, there is also a pack of 4 nibs of different hardness available for 10€ which are good according to reviews
• I spent 2 days working around a really dumb bug that made the pen unusable for drawing, turns out it was one setting messing everything up
• The keyboard is the best, it's amazing how flat a keyboard can be and yet still be amazing to type on
• The touchpad in the keyboard cover is a pretty nice upgrade too from my previous laptop.
• The screen is really nice and vibrant
• Tablet mode is pretty decent, but still has a few things that need improvement, which is disappointing considering this is the 4th generation of Surface tablets.
• The magnetic charging connector is great, no fear of ruining it by ripping out a cable
• Battery runtime varies greatly, at full load just under 4 hours, when drawing and listening to music almost 8 hours
• I miss dedicated Google apps like I had on my Galaxy Note
• Unlike on the iPad Pro, I can choose between every Windows art program ever made, and I can run Photoshop!
• The kickstand is amazing! No screwing around with awkward cases to have it tilted on a desk or my lap, or slightly tilt it for drawing on my desk!

All in all it's amazingly versatile and I can use it for programming, drawing, gaming, reading, pretty much anything I'd use a tablet or laptop for. It also weighs much less than my previous laptop, making it great for always having it in my backpack.
After some initial troubles, I can definitely recommend it to people with similar requirements for a device. For people who *only* want to draw on it, the iPad Pro is also a great solution though.