Microsoft Surface Pro 2 Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 21, 2013 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Microsoft
- Mobile
- Surface
- Surface Pro 2
Final Words
Surface Pro 2 is a good improvement over its predecessor. The platform is quicker, quieter and boasts longer battery life as well. The new kickstand is awesome, as are the new touch/type covers, and the new display is a big step in the right direction. If you were tempted by the original Surface Pro, its successor is a solid evolution and that much more tempting.
I really like using Surface Pro 2 and Windows 8.1 in general as a productivity focused tablet OS. The screenshot below really helps illustrate what I would love to do on most tablets, but what I can only do (well) on a Surface:
Writing an article on the left, touch enabled web browsing on the right. Switching between both applications is seamless, and I’m just as fast (if not faster) from a productivity standpoint on Surface Pro 2 than on a traditional notebook/desktop – at least for this usage model. There’s really something very compelling about having the best of both worlds in one system. I literally can’t do this well on any other tablet, and ultimately that’s what Microsoft was trying to achieve with Surface. You can do it with Surface 2, you can just do it a lot better with Surface Pro 2.
When Surface Pro first launched, it wasn’t just a good device, it was arguably the best Ultrabook on the market. Surface Pro 2 launches into a much more competitive marketplace. I don’t know if I can make the same statement about it vs. Ultrabooks today. That’s not a bad thing as it is still a very different type of device, but it does make for a more difficult buying decision.
Surface Pro 2 isn’t the perfect notebook and it isn’t the perfect tablet. It’s a compromise in between. Each generation, that compromise becomes smaller.
What I was hoping for this round was an even thinner/lighter chassis, but it looks like we’ll have to wait another year for that. Battery life is still not up to snuff with traditional ARM based tablets, and Surface Pro 2 seems to pay more of a penalty there than other Haswell ULT based designs – I’m not entirely sure why. Parts of the rest of the world have moved on to things like 802.11ac and PCIe based SSDs. Microsoft appears to be on a slightly strange update cadence with its Surface lineup, and for the brand’s sake I hope we see that rectified next round. It’s not enough to just put out a good product, you have to take advantage of all technologies available, when they are available. Just like last year, my recommendation comes with a caution – Surface Pro 2 is good, I’m happier using it than I was with last year’s model, but the Broadwell version will be even better. What’s likely coming down the pipe are improvements in the chassis and in battery life. You’ll have to wait around a year for those things, if you can’t, then this year’s model is still pretty good.
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Klimax - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
You don't need stylus either... it is just one of many options with Surface. And I don't think Type Cover adds that much weight either.MikadoWu - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
Good Choice. I have been using the Surface Pro (purchased 3 for the Family) as my Main computer since release, and Planning on getting the Dock when it hits.Sent my Daughter to college with only the Surface and a 24 inch Flat Screen. She gets hounded daily about the Pro, and many of the Honors students, are upset they got MacBook's after seeing what she does. She just giggles and smiles.
I am replacing my Fathers RT (Mom gets the RT), this week for the 8/256 Model. Can not wait to see how AutoCAD runs on it.
hoboville - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
Interesting, though you're very much in a niche. As someone who has to write endless reports, I can barely stand my own laptop keyboard at times even though it's mid-sized (ProBook 6570b). The nice thing about my laptop is that I can write the reports somewhere alone with it, then when I have to start messing with email and spreadsheets and research, I can hook it up to a monitor and have two sizable displays. It's hard to put a price on that retail space.And that's kind of the point, sadly. Surface could be a great device, but it's very dependent on the kind of work you do.
meacupla - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
I thought the 75% battery life increase over original was with the power cover?inighthawki - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
Nope, it's the power savings gotten from haswell, LPDDR3, and OS optimizations. With the power cover i think they said it was 150% of the original. Someone feel free to correct me on the exact number.zerogear - Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - link
2.5x with power cover was the stats given.chizow - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
No change to the chassis makes me think they just made too many of the chassis and didn't sell enough of them with the original Pro. I still wish Intel dropped the price point on the Pro, or made a x86 version with their Bay Trail-T SoCs, instead I'll end up picking up an Asus Transformer T100 instead.inighthawki - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
Just out of curiosity, is there any reason you expected it to change? Or do you just mean mainly thickness?chizow - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
Yep, mainly in terms of thickness due to the move to Haswell ULT, and possibly better configuration of internals. The original Surface Pro teardown showed the internals were pretty sparse and a nearly universal criticism of the Pro was it's thickness, especially compared to the RT.http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Microsoft+Surface+P...
nerd1 - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
Apple haven't changed the MBA chassis for almost 4 years - which means they didn't sell enough of them and reusing old chassis.