Microsoft Surface Pro combines tablet, computer

For the past several months I’ve been trying out Microsoft’s Surface Pro, a newest tablets and computer in one that runs a new version of the Windows operating system, plus all Windows applications.The product has met with some controversy, partly a result of being such a radical departure from a standard Windows computer. To some, it’s trying to be both a tablet and computer, without excelling at either. To others, it’s a tablet that’s too heavy because it’s encumbered with the hardware needed to make it also work as a computer.

So I decided to take the time to use it as it was meant to be, a single device, and to determine whether it would be a good replacement for carrying both a notebook and tablet.

The Pro, along with the lookalike Surface RT (a lower-cost tablet), is the first computing hardware developed by Microsoft (excluding the Xbox game machine). It’s a beautifully designed solid slab with angled edges and is built of what Microsoft refers to as vapor-magnesium, a richly finished black metal, with a beautiful latest android tablet touch screen. It’s much more handsome than most other computing products.

The Pro is best used with one of its optional keyboards, which also works as a protective cover. It has a display that responds to two kinds of touch: finger and pen. The aspect ratio is more elongated when compared to a conventional tablet, making it good for computing, but less so for using it as a tablet to read books in the portrait mode.

Microsoft has taken a different direction from Apple, which has professed that a tablet and computer need to be two different devices. Microsoft’s approach is much more difficult and risky to accomplish because not only does it put constraints on the hardware (weight for example), but it Q88 Tablet also means developing an operating system that works in both environments.

In addition, Microsoft wants to use the same OS on conventional Windows computers, adding further restraints. As a result, the product will take time to evolve to meet the needs of all of its users, and it may fail to satisfy everyone, at the start.

But after carrying it with me for a few months, I like the product a lot, and find that I am able to do most of my work on it, using it as both a tablet and computer. It’s lighter and more compact than my 13-inch MacBook Air, and nearly as compact and tolerably heavier than an iPad.

The immediate advantages are carrying a single compact device, never needing to worry about whether my tablets for sale and PC are in sync or where the files are, nor needing to carry multiple power adapters and keeping two devices charged. One unexpected benefit has been that the TSA thinks it is a tablet, and I’ve never been asked to remove it from my bag at security checkpoints.