Sorry, Microsoft: The Surface Pro didn’t win me over
I’ve given the Microsoft Surface Pro nearly nine months to impress me with what it can do. And as you probably know by now, it has continued to disappoint me exponentially as the months have gone by.
So, to Microsoft: I’m sorry, but I’m leaving your unimpressive all-in-one device for a traditional laptop.
My Microsoft Surface Pro has become borderline unusable
I fully understood what I was getting into when I purchased the Surface Pro: it is a tablet with a kickstand; a removable, flexible, godawful keyboard; and trackpad. But for my purposes last year, that kickstand and shallow keyboard were doing what I needed them to do.
This year has been different than the last. I’ve started travelling more, attending meetings and going places where there’s not always a table on which I can prop my Surface Pro and keyboard. It’s a well known limitation of the device, but I’m going to repeat it anyway: the Surface Pro is not usable as a laptop. It’s like a notebook that must always be on a desk to be used to its fullest potential. Scratch that: it’s a desktop.
In addition, the body and battery have been steadily degrading over the past few months. I’ve detailed the Surface Pro’s poor build quality in a previous article, but it has gotten progressively worse since then. And the battery – which couldn’t even last six hours when it was new – now struggles to reach a consistent four. Yikes.
The culmination of all of these issues has led me to my newest purchase. When it arrives tomorrow, I’ll post my initial impressions and compare the device to the Surface Pro in terms of portability and usability in the lap. Since the device I purchased was released a number of months ago, my review will focus on how traditional laptops are still the way to go for mobile productivity.
Until then, let’s discuss your experiences with tablet/laptop hybrids in the comments section below. Do you like them, or do you hate everything about them? Let us know!
