On the Surface Pro 2
Hey look! A return to blogging! The blog is getting a slow but certain face lift. But this isn’t about blogging, but about my new blogging device, a 128GB Surface Pro 2, which showed up under the tree on Christmas. After 48 hours of heavy use of the device I’ve come to some nuanced conclusions about it and how it fits into the technological niche. The tl;dr is that I am terribly fond of the device but it comes with some caveats.
This is also my first time blogging or writing of any sort on the device. Let’s see how this goes!
The Good
- Steam!
Steam runs. Steam plays. Steam downloads games. Game run! Games run well. Unless your gaming tastes run to high performance FPS then Surface makes a surprisingly nice portable steambox. I’ve downloaded and tested several games and they have all run flawlessly.
- Windows Live Writer
Microsoft offers Windows Live Writer, a piece of fully featured WYSIWYG blogging software with tools to embed images, movies, maps, etc., for free. It hooks to WordPress sites and has an enormous list of tools for formatting and laying out blog posts. It runs without issue on the Surface Pro 2, turning the ultrabook into a portable blogging machine. Who knew?
- The Pen and Manga Studio 5
Easily the most impressive piece of software on the Surface Pro 2 so far has been Smith Micro’s Manga Studio 5. The pen interface works perfectly with the art studio software turning the ultrabook into a full featured drawing tablet with velocity and pressure support. It is no wonder web comic artists swear by Surface and drawing software. The first time running the software with the pen is the first time I realized this little box was something completely unexpected.
- Netflix
Netflix is everywhere, on everything. It’s embedded in my DVD player. Today, Netflix players come with socks from Target. But between the touch interface and the aspect ratio, Netflix feels natural on the Surface. Not many other pieces of natively built in software stands out but Netflix did a nice job on their conversion of the client for Surface-oriented clients.
- The Kickstand
The kickstand keeps the Surface Pro propped up at a comfortable writing height, especially on a table, a tray or a writing desk (full disclosure: it is currently on a writing desk). It isn’t neck-crane difficult to see and it isn’t lying flat. It sits at a natural height for doing serious work, and then collapses down again to be a lap or portable device.
- The Type Keyboard
The type keyboard (not the touch keyboard) plugs into the bottom of the Surface, disconnects, acts as a cover, folds backward, and has highly accurate and responsive keys. Although it is an expensive add-on, the type keyboard is worth it - it turns the Surface Pro into a device that both can be used for media and for actual Word/Excel work.
- Flash
And it plays Flash. If, say, your favorite web comic is loaded with flash files….
The Bad
- Windows 8 is pretty terrible
As every technology magazine and blog has pointed out over the last year, Windows 8 is pretty terrible. And it is pretty terrible. It’s a well meaning mess that has no direction, no clear sense of self, and gets in the way between people and their computer. Metro can be bludgeoned into shape by someone with the patience to read blog pages on usability but if you’re expecting it to be usable out of the box, it’s not usable out of the box. It’s 8-12 hours of use to set up the hacks around the roadblocks it throws up to get it to work.
Don’t get me started on the insane security requirements and the “run as administrator” button.
- The Touch Keyboard is also pretty terrible
The clicky-clicky type keyboard is superior in every way (see above). The touch keyboard is garbage. It rarely registers clicks, it slides around, and it feels cheap. Avoid at all costs. Get a type keyboard.
- The Windows Store is sad
The Windows Store is full of sad widgety software which hardly works. The store itself has hardly any pieces of software of note. Most of the software doesn’t work right. Windows has tons - TONS - of software. Pretty much every piece of software available on WIndows 7 runs on Windows 8. Steam games run. Word and Excel runs. Skip the store.
- The inexplicably terrible experience with Youtube
I’m still not sure what is going on here, but Youtube hates the Surface Pro 2. The apps in the Windows Store are worse than useless so one needs to run Youtube in the browser. That’s not a dealbreaker by any stretch but I am so used to the super slick Google Youtube and Jasmine apps available on the iPad that not having a nice Youtube app feels like a travesty, especially in the face of the extremely well-done Netflix app. Very strange.
- Browsers
Well… the good news is, after several hours of cajoling, Google Chrome does work on the Surface Pro… kind of. It’s support of touch controls are schizophrenic. It has no idea how to draw the screen half the time. Firefox does not work at all. Don’t even think about Firefox. I have not tried Opera.
IE10 is not horrible and has terrific touch support but it is Bing centric.
- Windows Live Accounts
Yep. You have to hook yourself into the Microsoft microcosm to use the Surface. It did take my Gmail account so I didn’t need to suddenly manage yet another email account. But having to create yet more accounts in yet more systems to do yet more things is annoying.
Overall
Microsoft sells the Surface Pro 2 as a tablet designed to compete with the iPad but the Surface Pro 2 is not a tablet, it’s an ultrabook. One does not lie in bed and read a book with the Surface Pro 2. It is too heavy to hold comfortably one-handed. But it does everything a performant PC does and more. If the expectation is one of a nice ultrabook with a touchable screen and an 8 hour battery life, it delivers. If one is expecting an iPad or Galaxy Tab-like experience… it’s an ultrabook.
It’s filling a blogging/Steam playing/on the couch using niche in my life. It’s been given a mouse, it runs twitter and social networking apps, it plays the Stanley Parable. I can see how it isn’t for everyone and I can see how an iPad/Galaxy Tab is plenty for most people. But like the XBox 360, Microsoft occasionally puts on an excellent piece of hardware laden with some terrible software - and if you can get through the software barriers there’s a gem inside.
Originally published at /project/multiplexer. You can comment here or there.