The Surface comes basically in two models, The Surface 2 and the Surface Pro 2. The Surface 2 does not run Win32 therefore Windows stand alone applications will not run on it. The Surface 2 does come with Microsoft Office and Outlook installed, however other then that the Surface 2 is restricted to Windows 8 apps which are available in the Windows 8 store. This is the iPad - but Windows.
My review here is for the Surface Pro 2 which can run Win32 applications in addition to native Windows apps that are available in the Windows 8 Store. It is the best of both worlds, although the cost is heftier then the Surface 2.
Microsoft Surface Pro 2 is a nice improvement over its predecessor that was released in October 2012. While the basic concept of blending tablet and laptop into a beautiful hybrid remains the same, the real change here is with the accessories, hardware, design as well as the new Windows 8.1 improvements. My favorite new accessory is the new Surface Pro dock.
What are some of the new upgrades from the first generation Surface Pro? The upgrades include an improved display, inclusion of Intel Haswell processor, deeper cloud integration, superior battery life, improved kickstand, and more SSD storage options. All of this makes the Surface Pro a powerful laptop replacement while also acting
Design
On the design front, although the Microsoft Surface Pro 2 lines up pretty close to its predecessor, there are some subtle retouches that make it aesthetically better. The most prominent design change is an adjustable in-built Kickstand that provides a suprior tablet and laptop experience. The rest remains almost the same, for example it features the same chamfered Titanium-finish VaporMg chassis is the same bulky fingerprint-prone unit, measuring 275mm wide by 173mm deep by 13.5mm thick. Despite usual expectations the overall weight, give or take remains the same at 900g.
The display also remains the same as before with 10.6-inch ClearType full-HD, 10-point multi-touch screen with a resolution of 1,920 by 1,080 pixels. However, major color tweaking to deliver bright and crisp display in both horizontal and vertical viewing angles makes it one of the Surface Pro 2’s strongest advantage.
Pen
Although I am not a fan of stylus pens in conjunction with the adjustable Kickstand, the Smart-pen fares better than its predecessor, perhaps because of better interaction angles. The pen works on magnetic principle that in-turn makes regular writing and drawing snappier.
Performance
With Intel’s latest Haswell 1.6 GHz Core i5-4200U processor and integrated Intel HD Graphics 4400, 4GB of RAM, this is the one place where Microsoft beats all the competition. You can flawlessly run desktop apps like Photoshop and Chrome without having to worry about lags.
Battery
With all that power and display improvements, you would expect that Microsoft Surface Pro 2 is heading for a battery-life disaster. However I was surprised to find that it seems to perform 75 percent better then the previous generation. It can last for about 8 hours on regular use. While that might not be Tablet standard, it definitely is pretty impressive for a Laptop replacement.
Surface Pro Dock
The new dock works with both the previous Surface Pro as well as this new one. Be warned that the dock does not work with the Surface RT or Surface 2. The dock looks great and it very easy to setup. The Surface fits in it nicely. The dock has it's own power cord, 3 USB ports, MiniDisplay Port for VGA or DVI out, LAN port, speaker and microphone inputs. With this dock setup in my office I can easily connect the Surface, login with my domain user name and password and run any network application installed and print to any network printer. I was able to setup an external monitor, keyboard and mouse to the dock. Now when I dock my Surface Pro I have complete access network applications on my device.
My Final Thoughts
I truly have high hopes for Microsoft's Surface line of products. I have been able to travel with the Surface exclusively and use it for presentations without any issues or the need to drag a laptop and tablet with me. The performance of this new generation Surface Pro is on par with many laptops today and can do any task that a tablet can do as well. What Microsoft needs to do now is focus on improving their app store inventory. Once this is done, Microsoft may actually have a boxers chance in competing in the tablet market.
System Specifications
You can learn more about the Microsoft Surface here.
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