Wednesday 20 February 2013

Microsoft Surface as a desktop replacement - update

I'm still using my Surface now as a full on work computer. All seems to be going very well after three plus weeks of daily use.
 
Here's the new pluses and minuses I've discovered with a little more use
 
Still great
 
  • The unit is durable - no marks or scratches yet and I don't have a case
  • I'm getting used to the squarer corners and holding this as a landscape tablet
  • I don't miss a larger screen and can work on this 8 hours plus without fatigue
  • The flash Whitelist "hack" still works to enable flash sites, a work around but better than nothing: XDA developers thread
  • Screen does pick up fingerprints but they aren't really visible and easy to clean off
  • Clear bright screen, no letter boxing on 16:9 content
  • Ability to search, share and access settings from the charms bar in any application trumps Android and IOS - plus you can search other apps from within an app (yes this is useful)
Best apps
  • Tuner free MCE (most UK on demand services) created by Martin Millmore at Millisoft
  • News Bento - almost like Flipboard
  • TVCatchup 
  • Still MS Office and Internet Explorer it's why I can work on it!
Needs improvement
  • Unit shuts off without warning when the battery hits 5% (a rare occurrence as the battery lasts so long)
  • Windows store could be better organised, also Microsoft could be more stringent on approvals - quantity isn't quality and there are lots of duds on there
  • Mysterious slow downs occasionally when there aren't loads of apps running (hopefully a future update will solve this)
  • Music app crashed when I paused a webinar and returned to it after viewing another app
  • Needs to be more media friendly (some .mov videos won't play but strangely work without audio when embedded in PowerPoint - codec issues?)
  • No support for airport express but then again my Android has issues with that too)
  • Still can't print to my Samsung ML1630W Wi-Fi printer - Please Samsung or Microsoft release a driver
Conclusions so far

The surface is a brilliant work tool - I don't regret foregoing my laptop for one minute. It's light, durable and efficient. Plus, I'll say again - I didn't have to shell out £119 for MS Office which Surface Pro owners do. I don't mind not being able to run legacy desktop applications on the Surface. If I need desktop apps I'll pull out the Lenovo X100e laptop. This is 100% the right device for me with very little compromises.

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