Anybody got...

[netmaestro]

...a surface pro 3? I just pulled the trigger, I5 128g w/keyboard cover & pen. Black of course. Windows 8 is the physical shits but with a 3rd party start button it's livable. Apart from the puke-inducing metro interface, it's a pretty amazing machine. How do you like yours?

[IdeasVacuum]

Hi netmaestro, sounds like a beautiful machine. In my view, they are better than tablets, especially the iPads, because you can use them for actual work - business computing using almost any app you need to get the job done in a sensible way. The tablet mode is good for delivering presentations etc, so I think MS have done a damn good job and deserve more credit for it than they get (Win8 being the downer).

No, I don't have one - not only that, my daughter wants one and they are very pricey this side of the pond

[yoxola]

Surface Pro 3 seems to be very good, but my wife won't let me buy it.... well currently I have a Lenovo MIIX 2 8 inch table and it's pretty light and capable for many tasks like Visual Studio and 3D Gaming, even MIIX is a atom based macine it works very well.

[netmaestro]

I hate tablets. I hate swiping, tapping and I hate anybody's guts who uses the word "apps" where I can hear it. But ever since those years ago that Microsoft introduced the Surface Pro I've kept a close eye on what's going on with these things. Because this is the one ever-so-faintly possible way that I could ever envision myself using a "device" as opposed to my normal PureBasic hardware - a fullsize, desk top, blown-out, done-to-the-ass computer. Over clocked and water cooled, mofo!! So nine days ago I spent more on a Surface Pro 3 than I've ever spent on a computer before. Okay, less, shutup but it cost a lot. The extra $100 for three years total protection including accidental mishandling and spills was just a no-brainer. So I can carry the thing and still breathe at the same time, it's a real bonus. So bottom line - nine days later, would I take it back? Put all those lovely dollars back where they belong, in my fleece-lined, babysoft pocket? No way. Not on your life. This thing is both a full-blown i5 Windows desktop with SSD and a tablet I can carry around and do the web on at any one of the thousands of public wifi hotspots my cable isp provides me free of charge. I'm hooked, my friends. And I wouldn't trade it for five desktops. (but the StarDock Start Button isn't negotiable.) Feel free to use this post as propaganda to talk the wife into letting you buy one. Let the bullfrog grin at her and say, "it's worth every penny dear - it'll make us money! We can't afford not to have one!"

[luis]

So I can carry the thing and still breathe at the same time, it's a real bonus.

It looks like an interesting device, I don't know much about it yet but I'll look into it.

Did you use the pen ?
If you did, can you draw (not artistically, I mean writing with some occasional schematics) comfortably without false reading (palm of the hand touching, etc.) ?

What about the keyboard ? Looks.... peculiarly thin as expected. Does it have some tactile feedback ? Can you use it to type some real stuff beyond login/password ?

I know I could read a review and I'll do it, but since you seem happy probably you don't mind talking about it

[yoxola]

>but the StarDock Start Button isn't negotiable

Just wait a few months, Windows 10 has a real start button, which is good enough, just uninstall all StarDock's stuff.

[the.weavster]

I signed up for one of these.

[IdeasVacuum]

Jolla Tablet

There are no back doors or anything third parties could use for monitoring your activity. Together with the open source community, we’re continuing to strengthen our privacy capabilities at every opportunity.

I'm sorry but to make a claim like that? Nonsense!

[IdeasVacuum]

I hate anybody's guts who uses the word "apps"

That's me dead in the water then.........

[blueb]

Netmaestro... "I hate tablets. I hate swiping, tapping and I hate anybody's guts who uses the word "apps" where I can hear it."


I have a Samsung New Series 9 laptop with an i5 processor, SSD and Windows 8.1 (I use StartIsBack.exe) and simply love it, so I understand.

Between the Internet, programming, emailing and streaming to my Smart TV (I'm down in Mexico for the winter) I figure it gets at least 4 hours a day of service.

Mine will be 2 years old this April, and I can't imagine life without it....but 'if' I had to buy a new machine, yours looks like a winner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4TVC4JeatI

blueb

[the.weavster]

Jolla Tablet

There are no back doors or anything third parties could use for monitoring your activity. Together with the open source community, we’re continuing to strengthen our privacy capabilities at every opportunity.

I'm sorry but to make a claim like that? Nonsense!

One of the documents leaked by Edward Snowden was a powerpoint presentation which provided a timeline detailing when major US tech companies were recruited to the NSA's Prism program. Apple, Google and Microsoft were all listed and the document stated they were all willing participants.

Maybe Jolla are a bit overly confident in stating there's nothing third parties could make use of to monitor your activity but they're still a much better bet than any of the alternatives where you're nailed-on to be monitored.

[netmaestro]

The keyboard is very high quality. It's thin but the keys are large, press with a good tactile feel and are altogether comfortable to type on. Not quite as good as my desktop keyboard but easily as good as any laptop I've ever owned. You can't see the left and right mouse buttons on the mousepad but they're there, they press down and click audibly when you press them, very nice to use. The keys are lit both around the keys and the letters themselves so if you're using it in darkened conditions you can see everything very well. They must be using rare earth magnets in this because to attach the keyboard you just bring it close to where it goes and it gets powerfully sucked into position with a firm click and the keys light up for a few seconds. The power cord works the same way. You can't damage the unit by yanking on the power cord, it would just come out. The design of this device is just brilliant, they've thought of every little thing.

The pen works really well too. You can use it anywhere on the screen and rest your palm while doing it, it won't get confused. It's specially designed to ignore palm pressure when the pen is in use. Clever indeed. Here's a video of me writing on the screen and then hitting "Ink to Text":

http://youtu.be/sqWKScADODA

Really cool, you can just jot notes down and save them as text files. It learns your handwriting as you use it more and it's very reliable. I haven't used it much yet it makes very few mistakes.

[IdeasVacuum]

Hell that handwriting recognition is excellent!

[idle]

yes very impressive, cursive writing recognition without any cursing.

[luis]

@netmaestro

Thanks for the reply.

Is that OneNote in the video ?

Can you also use it to draw the text smaller (without the conversion to text) like you would do on a piece of paper and mix some schematics in it ?
For example an electric circuit or some mathematical expression, things you want to keep the way you draw them.

Something like this -> https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/38644496/010.png (done on iPad)

The electronic equivalent of sheets of paper from a notebook to be saved as single images, converted to PDF, etc.