Microsoft Surface Pro Owner's Thread

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TheForce

SatelliteGuys Master
Original poster
Supporting Founder
Pub Member / Supporter
Oct 13, 2003
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Jacksonville, FL, Earth
I think I'll keep with the tradition here and start an "Owner's Thread" for this tablet.

I purchased a 128Gb version on April 26th along with the keypad.

Initial impressions are what I had hoped this would be and that is a replacement upgrade for my old Dell XPS1210. Since buying the iPAD a couple years ago, I have been rarely using the Dell as it is big and is a target for TSA to mess with at Airport security. The ipad has served me well but has always been a problem for what it can't do. Hopefully, the Surface will give me the advantages of the ipad form factor but not restrict what I can do on the creative side of a travel computing platform.

After one day, working with it I discovered one flaw in the software that came with it. It will not see my e-mail server. Later I plan to install Outlook anyway so that may be a self resolving issue.
I also have a problem with the Internet Explorer as it often crashes on may web sites. I don't know why but believe it is something wrong with mine as the one in the store does not have the problem. But since I prefer Firefox with it's many plugins, I managed to install Firefox and some Xmarks and it is working perfectly. I'll worry and troubleshoot the IE issue later.

Since using my ipad, I have missed the ability to play DVD's on the road. So I purchased a new LG USB BluRay thin line drive. It installed and works great! But the software that comes with it does not play BluRay disks, so I had to buy the upgrade Power DVD 13 and once upgraded, it plays high quality full HD BluRay disks without stutters and issues. The image is very high quality. Plus this also supports 3D BD but I'm not sure if the Surface will handle that. At least the drive is compatible. Sound is a bit low but headphones are plenty loud.
The Surface USB port has plenty of power to run the LG optical drive too so no need to add additional power supply. This means I could play a Blu Ray on an flight and not need power. But, how long the battery will hold up is another question I will do some bench marks on later.

I need Excel and Word so I installed this from an old disk I had of Office 2000 and it works great. I don't really need a more current Office for what I do.

I got the Surface Pro tethered off my Verizon Thunderbolt and it surfs the internet with plenty of speed. No complaints here.
 
After a couple of days, I find the Surface Pro very easy to use. It is fast and everything I have tested was a positive experience.

The screen is a bit small for some stuff but I picked up a display port to HDMI adapter on Amazon Prime for $13.99 and when connected to my 32" Vizio, the size makes everything easy to read. When on the road, I will carry a pair of +2.5 Diopter reading glasses that magnify enough so as not to get fatigued.

I have LogMeIn installed now and can access my office computer with ease. The Firefox plugin transfers the mouse directly which is even superior to the virtual mouse I had on the iPAD.

I got a good deal on a 64Gb micro SD card and this gives me more than enough storage for my video projects and a few movies.
 

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