As you may recall, in an earlier post, I gave the iPad a shot as my main computer for a week and came away rather impressed at how effective an iPad can be for getting work done in most situations.
Though I came away impressed with my productivity on the iPad, by the end of my experience I was a bit annoyed at some of the workarounds I had to constantly use to do many tasks on the iPad that are more suitable to full computers.
This led me to want to give a device like the Microsoft Surface Pro a try. While the iPad thrives more as a tablet first and a computer second, the Surface Pro is the opposite. The Surface Pro offers a full computer experience in a tablet body, but suffers from battery life and size issues that make it a less effective tablet.
Having done a test drive while using the iPad as my main work computing device, I was curious to do the same trial with a Surface Pro. After using the Surface Pro for a month and after my experiment with using the iPad as my main computer, I now feel I have a good idea on the areas where each device has advantages or disadvantages verses the other.
What I prefer about the Microsoft Surface Pro
The Power of a Full Computer in Tablet Form
Upon unpacking the Surface Pro, I was hesitant at first to install some of the games and software that I own. The Surface Pro doesn’t look like a computer that can handle demanding software programs and games. It was hard to get used to the idea that there was a full fledged computer packed into such a small package.
Boy, was I surprise at how well the Surface Pro handled everything I threw at it. From Microsoft Office to graphically intense games like Civilization V, the new Sim City, and Guild Wars 2, the Surface Pro handled everything with relative ease as long as I didn’t get carried away with graphical settings. I enjoyed pulling out some of the PC games I own and getting into them again after not being able to use them while being solely a Mac and iPad user for awhile. In fact, the Surface Pro handled many of my old games better than any Windows computer I had owned in the past. (Granted it had been a couple of years since I was a Windows user). This blew me away.
It is easy to forget there is a full fledged computer packed into that tablet shaped body.
I was relieved not have to find workaround solutions that were so necessary when trying to use the iPad as my main computing device. For instance, not having to use a special app when I wanted to send out mass emails from my address book for work was a relief. If you can do a task on a full fledged computer, the Surface Pro can do it to. This is not something I can always say about the iPad.
Guild Wars 2 runs quite capably on the Surface Pro.
The Type Cover
It is a bit of a struggle to find a seamless solution for typing on the iPad when tasks require heavy typing. The Apple wireless keyboard is workable and there are many 3rd party solutions available in the form of cases with built in keyboards. However, none of these solutions are as elegant and functional as the Microsoft Surface Pro Touch Cover.
Microsoft’s Type Cover is an excellent keyboard. Unfortunately it does not come included.
The Type Cover is outstanding. I was able to type on it just as quickly as I can type on any laptop or desktop computer. It also functioned beautifully as a protective cover for tossing the Surface Pro in my bag. The way it snaps on to the Surface Pro is every bit as well designed as Apple’s Smart Cover, except that it also includes a very solid keyboard built right in.
The Type Cover also gives you a very basic touch pad to use as a mouse. This is something I sorely missed when working with the iPad as my main computer. The ability to quickly manipulate something on the screen while leaving your fingers on the keyboard beats having to always reach up and touch the screen. The touch pad is quite small and sometimes not as sensitive as it should be, but it gets the job done for most basic computing tasks when travelling.
The fact that this keyboard cover is designed and sold by Microsoft gives you the assurance that it will be a quality product that will be backed by good customer support if anything goes wrong. Buying from 3rd party vendors for cases that double as keyboards for the iPad can be extremely risky and the customer service and product support very hit and miss.
The one downside is the Type Cover must be purchased separately from the Surface Pro and it is not cheap ($119.99). Microsoft really should include this cover with the Surface Pro as it really is key in helping to make the Surface a versatile and powerful device.
On a side note, if you plan on purchasing a Surface Pro and plan on doing a fair amount of typing, you will want to invest the extra $10 to get the Type Cover over the Touch Cover. The Touch Cover is thinner and is a neat concept, but is frustrating to use for intense typing. Too many keystrokes are missed when using the Touch Cover, and it just isn’t as possible to type as quickly with no key feedback.
The Stylus
I like the fact that Microsoft includes a stylus with every Surface Pro. The stylus is very high quality and my writing and scribbling looked every bit as good on the Surface Pro as it does on paper. As an owner of a Samsung Galaxy Note II that also comes with a very effective stylus called the S-Pen, I can say with confidence that the Surface Pro’s stylus is every bit as good. The ability to use the “eraser” end of the stylus to erase your writing and scribbles is a neat feature.
I can’t say I used the stylus all that often over the past month, but occasionally having it really paid off for my workflow. I can recall times where I made quick sketches to be included in presentations or highlighted and circled locations on a Google map that I later printed. It’s nice to have handwriting as an input option with a tablet computer built specifically to work with a stylus.
Microsoft includes a surprisingly effective stylus.
USB Ports and Micro SD Slot
I have to admit I was one of those people who tried to pretend I didn’t miss having USB ports or slots for expanded memory on my iPad. I tried to convince myself that these weren’t needed anymore. Having them again on the Surface Pro, though, reminds me of how nice it is to have these options available again.
I, once again, found myself using flash drives, my wireless mouse, and other USB devices that I had thrown aside for so long. Though most file transfers are easy to do via email or services like Dropbox nowadays, the convenience of being able to transfer files or print without an internet connection is still great to have.
Well, hello old flash drive friend. I missed you more than I realize.
Where the iPad Outshines the Surface Pro
Battery Life
One of the least unwelcome things about giving the Microsoft Surface Pro a try was the necessity of carrying around a charging cable at all times again. The Surface Pro gets five hours of battery life under extremely favorable conditions. Playing videos or opening up a bunch of windows at once can shrink the battery life to three hours or less.
Though the Surface Pro is a full computer and its battery life actually compares quite favorably with some of the other Ultrabooks out on the market, this was a hard pill to swallow when I had gotten so used to the freedom allowed by the long battery life of my iPad. The 10+ hour battery life of the iPad under heavy use gave me the confident to never even bring the charger to work or have to worry about battery life at all. With the Surface Pro, I found myself constantly concerned about battery life again and sometimes even rationing my use of the device in order to make it to the next time an outlet would be readily available.
It was hard to squeeze five hours of battery life on the Surface Pro under even the best of conditions.
The Screen
Don’t get me wrong, the Surface Pro has a beautiful screen. It doesn’t quite measure up to the pixel count or beauty of the iPad screen, but its one of the better screens on any device that I have ever used.
What annoys me, though, is how awkward the Surface Pro is to use in Portrait orientation. The Surface Pro is taller and skinnier than the iPad. This screen shape works fairly well when using Surface Pro as a computer on your desk, but it is really awkward if you want to try to use the device for reading e-books or for any app that works better in portrait mode.
The iPad feels much more natural when flipped between portrait and landscape modes. I prefer to use tablets in Portrait mode, as I do a lot of reading and web surfing on tablets, and I never found myself reaching for the Surface Pro when doing these activities because of the awkwardness of the screen shape.
The Surface Pro is awkward when used in portrait orientation.
Add that to the fact that the extra heft behind the screen of the Surface Pro when compared to tablets like the iPad, and you’ve got a device that just is too awkward and heavy to be regularly used as a tablet.
The App Store
On the iPad I run into trouble because I seem to find new neat and creative apps almost every day. This leads my iPad to become stuffed full of apps to the point where I forget all the apps I have. It’s exciting, though, to constantly have new uses for your iPad as new and innovative apps are released or discovered in the app store.
On the Surface Pro I struggled to fill even one home screen with apps that I really liked or that were of high quality. The App Store on Windows 8 has made some really nice strides over the past year, but still falls woefully short in being able to offer the majority of big name apps that people want. I often had to settle for poorly done copies of big name apps that I enjoy using on Android or iOS.
While selection is getting better, Microsoft’s app store offerings are still fairly meager.
While my annoyance with the lack of quality apps was somewhat lessened by the fact that I could install full PC software on the Surface Pro, the lack of apps that I wanted severely lessened the times I really had any desire to use the Surface Pro as a tablet. This seemed to defeat the whole purpose of having a tablet/computer hybrid device.
Two Different Devices for Two Different Sets of Needs
I enjoyed my time with the Surface Pro and view it as a very high quality device. I do feel that, depending on your needs, there may be reasons to purchase a Surface Pro over an iPad.
If you desire a device that is a computer first and a tablet second, if you need a full computing device because you travel a lot for work, or if your workflow requires PC software not available in tablet form, the Surface Pro may be a suitable device for your needs. Just don’t purchase the Surface Pro and expect to get a lot of use out of it as a tablet. The limited app store, limited battery life, and awkward screen shape will make your tablet experiences marginal at best.
However, if you are looking for a device that complements the full fledged computer you already own, a device that you will do a lot of reading on, or you want a device that is a tablet first and a computer second, the iPad is going to be the device you want to get. Because Apple’s App Store is still second to none, the iPad is still the best pure tablet you can buy today. If it’s the functions of a tablet you are after, look no further than the iPad.
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