Microsoft Surface Book 1 Review

[Favio Cassidy]

So my assumption was surface like devices would be a win win. Hearing a complete opposite view makes me think my decision to go android was right, I had iPad before but the hardware started showing limitations. I have seen some youtubers say that the Pen performance in surface is appaling and probably this is haunting OP.

I have noticed that the Huion is way more sensitive than the Surface. Obviously it has a billion more point pressure receptor thingies, but the pen pressure sensitivity is also set much higher than it was on the Surface Pro.

If insisting on windows , for art purpose , i think the standalone huion is the better choice than surface pro, despite the spec being a few generation old. Since the pen which is what is important to us is wayyy better. I think they offer enough ram for krita to ran.

For tablets I go for Brad Colbow, for previews and Teoh on Tech/ Parkablogs for indepth [since he does like 1 hour initial and 1 hour after 1 month and other comparison stuff]. Unlike other reviewers this two does look at this tech in artist POV rather than tech nerd POV so less on shiny spec and more on - Is this good to draw on if you are an artist.

I have seen the reviews and I am not really sold on xppen android. sure the xppen tech is in there, but samsung have great performing SOC and has wacom tech. Plus a good software update track record. I would rather suggest cheap samsung tablet rather than Xp pen.

For real. It was horrendous for how they almost nailed their surface pro like one [only downside was it was a lil bit older gen intel] they botched their android offering by going for the low end price level.

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I will begin this review with a disclaimer. I currently own/use a iPhone 5/6, an iPad Mini/Air, a Macbook Pro 15, Macbook Air 11/13. I am also an ex Microsoft employee of 5 years. I have spent so many years trying to find the best mobile combination to suit my needs with most falling short in some way. Every time something new and exciting is launched no matter if it is Android, IOS or Windows I give it a go. So when I read about the new Surface 3 it sounded like the ideal device for me to try out.

I went to the Microsoft Store in San Francisco. I like to go to a store if I can, I do this all the time as I live in San Francisco it is easy to visit. I have been to this store before but this would be my first purchase experience. I entered the store and was fairly quickly asked if I needed assistance. This was a good start. I told the assistant I was interested in the surface. I expected to get a passionate response from him about why I was making such a good choice and really getting all involved in a discussion about the device, and more specifically versus the 3 pro but I got nothing. I mentioned that I was hoping it would fit into a bag I currently had with me. He sort of handed me his Surface and said that it wouldn't fit. That was pretty much the conversation.

Approximately $800 later I walked out with my new Surface 3 and keyboard. It was not an unpleasant experience but I just expected more otherwise why would I bother to go to a store. I got back to my apartment and began to unpack the device. The first thing to notice is that Microsoft is taking notice of premium packaging and the Surface box was pretty nice. I did feel as if it was a bit worrisome that once the little plastic tab was cut or pulled off that the entire box could easily slide out and the Surface would just pop onto the floor but I suspect that most people don't open the device until they get home or to work or somewhere safe.

I really did not check the device out much at the store. They had a few on display but it just did not seem appealing to do that there and I was not really encouraged to do so, therefore this was really my first proper look and feel of the device. It is pretty chunky, that was the first thing that came to mind. Not in a really bad way but for someone that uses an iPad this would be very noticeable. It is not however particularly heavy and does feel quite balanced. I opened what Microsoft call the Type Cover and found that it easily connected to the device using magnets. Very slick and the cover itself although a little flimsy for my liking was good.

Resting the device on you lap however will not work well. The kick stand for all of it's perceived virtues really doesn't work well as a stand on you lap/legs and requires a stable flat surface to be comfortable, the keyboard too which is a bit flimsy can also detach, the whole lap experience is really not great. Place it on a flat surface however and this combination works well. The viewing angles with the kick stand are more than adequate however and having just 3 positions was no limitation in my opinion.

I now turned my attention to Windows 8.1 This is the default installed OS and this is where things take a dramatic turn for the worse. I know many skirt around this issue but it really is the most important factor in using a device. No matter how good the hardware is usability requires a slick OS that knows it is a Tablet/Laptop hybrid. I am afraid that Windows just does a terrible job and is really a huge disappointment here. I tried to use Windows 8 on the device for a few hours but it really was a frustrating experience (I was going to write more on this but with Windows 10 imminent I do not think this is required).

So I turned my attention to what all techies do, how do I get an alternative OS. Now I would love to see OS X on this device but of course we all know that is not possible so the next best thing was Windows 10. I know what you are thinking, how is he going to have a good experience using Windows 10 if it is still in Beta. Well I am pretty seasoned in using unreleased technologies so my comment are strictly on installation and ease of use, I have no comments on stability as this should come in the final release.

So here is my Windows 10 experience. I used the Microsoft recommended and supported update method. This took ages but when finally finished installing and applying updated it took me into the dreaded BSOD auto recovery loop. Yes using the Microsoft method effectively bricked my device. I now had a great big paper weight that I was fighting with to get an OS installed. Of course I decided that going back to Windows 8 was not going to fly so I was determined to use Windows 10. This took me the better part of 24 hours to achieve and the only way I was able to do that was to install a vanilla Windows 8.1 and then upgrade via USB to Windows 10 and an older build at that because as we now know the latest build bricks my device.

This was the most frustrating and time wasting exercise I have been through in years. Regardless of the edition I was recovering with doing this is not for an amateur which I think is the exact target audience of the device and therefore a huge issue. Spending days just trying to recover is not a good use of time and feeling so vulnerable that it would break at any moment I decided to keep my USB I had made at the ready for a re-install.

So with Windows 10 finally loaded and I had yet to be productive on the device I focused on the task at hand. This is going to be my primary laptop/tablet rather than my Mac Air 11inch which I am giving to a significant other. This replacement is supposed to be as good or better than my 2 year old Mac Air 11inch with 4GB Ram and 128GB Storage. It is supposed to provide me with a full Windows OS so I can use all the required work apps while also providing me with a great tablet experience. I was hopeful at this stage, I did not dislike the hardware and with Windows 10 my expectations were high. Unfortunately this was not to be the case. Windows 10 is basically Windows 8.1 with a more minimalist look and feel and the ability to be more tablet friendly. This is so not the case, I do not know who is doing end user testing on these OS and Tablets but there are some very basic problems preventing this form being a device that is even close to livable.

Let me provide 1 example. The device has a touch sensitive "Windows" button on it. This is like a home button and brings up Metro (or whatever it is called in Windows 10). This is good, much like the iPad has a "Home" button. Here are the issues. Firstly the button doesn't actually take you anywhere except to an overlay of blocks. This is not home, this is somewhere in between home where you now need to click on something. The main issue however is that the button is touch sensitive. This is good I suppose in laptop mode but in tablet mode it is so frustrating because you are constantly touching it as you hold the tablet in landscape mode and heading "home". Of course you can disable this button, Windows has always been very hackable, however doing this disables power and volume as well. Now I am sure this is an easy software fix but either way, you cannot change the hardware and best case you lose the button in certain circumstances.

Then we have Tablet mode in Windows 10. I am not certain that this is really Tablet mode or just full screen by default where many things just get blurry or you cannot find a way out (especially if you have disabled the home button). Why have this, why not just have this device detect it's orientation and keyboard presence and adapt. Talking of the keyboard, unless you are in Metro or Tablet mode it will not automatically show the on screen keyboard. What is up with that, I mean if I click on the browser bar and want to go to a website I cannot think what else I would want there, I need to type something. This is just a very frustrating experience. I could go on but really there is no point for us to endure this any longer, imagine trying to drag a window that doesn't want to be dragged or trying to click on the x to close a window with little success or watching the lag as office loads up. I felt like it was 1999 and I was a pioneer again with the latest hardware that no one else had or could do, but that just isn't true anymore, pretty much everyone has good strong tech these days.

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