{"id":3117,"date":"2015-05-06T11:46:34","date_gmt":"2015-05-06T18:46:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/?p=3117"},"modified":"2015-05-06T16:35:55","modified_gmt":"2015-05-06T23:35:55","slug":"thoughts-on-microsofts-new-surface-3-tablet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/thoughts-on-microsofts-new-surface-3-tablet\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts on Microsoft\u2019s New Surface 3 Tablet"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>May 6, 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Microsoft just released the Surface 3, which greatly advances their low-end Surface RT tablet line. Don\u2019t get this confused with the older Surface <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Pro<\/span> 3, which is much different.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/images\/surface3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"289\" height=\"237\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Why a Windows Tablet?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>First, a reminder that I feel lightweight Windows 10-inch tablets are very important because they enable you to use a <em>full desktop copy<\/em> of Outlook on a highly mobile device. That way you have all the tools you need to accomplish powerful MYN task and email management, while on the move. I\u2019m also a fan of the excellent active digitizer pen capabilities many of these Windows tablets have.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Here are my thoughts on this new Surface 3 tablet:<\/strong><!--more--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I am glad to see that Microsoft has finally switched to using the Intel Atom processor for its low-end machines. It supports a <em>full<\/em> copy of Windows OS (not the hamstrung RT), and since it&#8217;s using the new Atom <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/2904552\/seven-things-to-know-about-intels-cherry-trail-atom-chips.html\">Cherry Trail x7 <\/a>line, it performs much better.<\/li>\n<li>At $499 the 64 GB base model is a good price point for this fairly powerful 10.8-inch tablet. However, if your goal is mainly a thin lightweight <em>laptop<\/em>, you\u2019ll need to add the keyboard ($130) and jump to 128 GB storage and 4 GB RAM ($100). At that total ($729) you can buy a dedicated laptop with a much faster Intel Core M processor, 2X more RAM, 2X more storage, and larger\/better touchpad (e.g. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Zenbook-UX305FA-ASM1-13-3-Inch-Ultra-Slim-Aluminum\/dp\/B00SGS7ZH4\/ref=sr_1_28?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1430953204&amp;sr=8-28&amp;keywords=windows+laptop\">ASUS Zenbook UX305F at 2.6 lbs<\/a>). So consider your goals and primary uses carefully.<\/li>\n<li>The pen and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/the-importance-of-an-active-digitizer-pen\/\">active digitizer<\/a> screen both look very good on this unit (but the pen is $50 extra).<\/li>\n<li>At a low 1.37 pounds (without keyboard), Microsoft is finally getting into the \u201cread a book with one hand\u201d weight territory in its tablet line&#8211;bravo! This is a good reason to favor this over the heavier Surface Pro line. Still, the iPad Air weighs only .96 pounds and is thinner. But that\u2019s the cost of having a full USB port and of the many other advantages Surface has over an iPad.<\/li>\n<li>Microsoft has switched to a more iPad-like aspect ratio 3:2 (rather than the usual Windows 16:9), a switch I highly applaud\u2014it just makes more sense on a tablet.<\/li>\n<li>However, reports of battery life are mixed. While rated at &#8220;up to 10 hours,&#8221; 6 to 7 hours are being reported by reviewers for typical heavy use. I feel a tablet should be closer to 10 or 11 hours these days.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Should you Buy a Windows Tablet Now?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While this is a quite good Windows tablet, right now may not be the time to buy <em>any<\/em> Windows tablet. Windows 10 is due to be released <a href=\"https:\/\/rcpmag.com\/articles\/2011\/02\/01\/the-2011-microsoft-product-roadmap.aspx\">this summer<\/a>, and no matter how firmly manufacturers brag about their OS upgrade capabilities, I\u2019ve <em>never<\/em> in all my years had a good experience with a major Windows upgrade. Rather, I <em>always<\/em> recommend you buy the machine with the major OS version you want already installed.<\/p>\n<p>Also, the Windows App store is still pretty weak. But the utility of the Windows app <em>approach<\/em> will jump considerably when the new <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2015\/2\/5\/7983813\/microsoft-office-windows-10-touch-apps-hands-on\">Touch version of Microsoft Office <\/a>is released\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/rcpmag.com\/articles\/2011\/02\/01\/the-2011-microsoft-product-roadmap.aspx\">this fall<\/a>. And many other Atom x7 tablets will be coming out by then with Windows 10 already installed. So, if you can, I\u2019d wait another 3 to 6 months.<\/p>\n<p>Michael<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>May 6, 2015 Microsoft just released the Surface 3, which greatly advances their low-end Surface RT tablet line. Don\u2019t get this confused with the older Surface Pro 3, which is much different. Why a Windows Tablet? First, a reminder that &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/thoughts-on-microsofts-new-surface-3-tablet\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3117"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3130,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3117\/revisions\/3130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}