So, the third line in the Microsoft Surface Pro line has finally been announced. And contrary to the rumors, It wasn't a mini version of the previous iterations.
It was actually something I thought was even better. A bigger one. Two inches, in fact.
Unfortunately, like all the other Surface Pro models, it's going to cost a pretty penny to acquire one of these beauties.
The new Surface Pro is bigger, faster, and better than ever. Notable features that really make me want one is the completely redesigned hinge that makes it completely adjustable at whatever angle you want.
Some people were quite a bit worried that the new Surface's pen wouldn't be as good as the one in the Surface Pro 1 and 2, but according tho the people who've used one, the downsides that it does have compared to the old ones are something I don't really care too much about.
Those downsides are the fact that the cursor trails a lot farther when hovering with the pen, and that the pen only has a 256 pressure sensitivity compared to the previous iterations that had a sensitivity of 1024 pressure levels.
The upside that makes that worth it however is that according to the people who've used the new Surface Pro, the pen writes EXACTLY where you press on the screen. NO RECALIBRATION NEEDED.
It's something that really bothers me with my first generation Surface Pro. That said, I really love my Surface Pro. I got it recently for about 400 bucks on eBay, and it's seriously an amazing piece of technology. The pen is AMAZING for taking notes at school.
I haven't really dedicated any time to drawing on the Surface Pro during the couple months that I've had it, but this weekend I actually decided to start drawing again after such a long time.
Drew a desert and a plant on my porch. :P
If you like drawing or really want an awesome way to take notes in class, I really suggest getting a Surface Pro. It's basically a full Windows 8 computer with both touch capabilities and pen support.
You can even play games on it. I got Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2 to run on it. It's awesome!
Hey I got a question. My little sister got a surface, but from what I could tell she wasn't able to download / run thins like executibles and such like that. Am I wrong or is it really limited to what's on the microsoft app store?
There's two versions of the Surface. The Surface RT, and the Surface Pro.
The Surface RT isn't a full computer. It's just a tablet. It has the mobile version of Windows. The Surface Pro has the full Windows 8.1 PC operating system. That meas it's effectively a really thin laptop with a touchscreen and a digitizer.So yeah. On the Surface that your sister has, (the RT) she's limited to what's on the app store. With the Pro, you can download and run anything you can an a regular Widows desktop PC.Presonally, I don't even know why they made the RT. It just sucks. There isn't even that many things on the App Store. (Which the Pro also has access to, by the way)They made RT so that people who don't want to use it as a personal computer, but want a small, thin, cheap Windows work environment on a tablet can get those needs met.
Microsoft isn't really TRYING TO CONTROL IT as much as the way that executables are compiled for x86, they won't be compatible with ARM. If you recompile software, you can run those programs.
The average person won't understand recompiling source code to make the software they need, most of the source code for modern applications isn't open because of copyright and licensing, AND it's not fair to expect Microsoft OR the makers of the software to recompile and reconfigure their software suites for tablet processors.When the install base is so small, it's completely unintelligent for any company to designate any time or money towards porting to ARM-based Windows platforms. Code would have to be optimized, design methods would have to be reworked or redone completely. Absolute waste - no matter how many people worked on it - considering how many people actually went out and got a Surface RT.
Surface RT does everything it was intended to do excellently, it just doesn't do more than it promised.Anyways I can change it? Like pirating the Surface Pro OS or something?
The RT is based on an ARM processor, whereas the Pro is based on the standard x86 architecture… so nope.
It's hardware rather than software, Ferret.
I was going to post a link to a project that emulated x86, but I saw that the project was abandoned, so I didn't bother. :(
On a slightly different, but related note: I just got a Macbook Pro and it's a pretty solid piece of hardware. Slightly overpriced for hardware, but you're also paying for the design aesthetic. It was a gift to me and I'm very appreciative.