Surface Devices

[OdT22]

My wife still clings to her Mini 4. She has absolutely no interest in the larger iPP sizes. Though she would trade it in a heartbeat for a Mini-iPP. The also has been really eyeballing the Surface Go as a possible replacement for the ability to take notes on it.

Luckily I don't have to worry about my wife being swayed by the Gold Air. If anything she likes the Surface colors better. She is reluctant to let MacOS go, but I think much like me, once she starts using a Surface Go, she is going to want a Surface Laptop or SB3 down the road.

Not too sure about the price increases not being so bad. Many of the higher specced laptops, both PC and Mac are in the $3000-4000 range, though there are still some values to be found. Hopefully the success of companies like Hauwei will continue to keep manufacturers honest

Sound thinking. You guys are on top of the market for sure. The larger IPPs have been lackluster in my own experiences, but I'm open on the concept still. Rather wait outside than park my $ in the meantime.

My old first laptop was a Fuji if I recall correctly. Good Guys sold them, when they were still around. It was arguably 'not too shabby'. Since then, Dell and Apple have irritated the hell out of me, along with a few HPs. Pale in comparison to Windows ***** eight. Son of a ...

Maybe next year? That seems to be everyone's new hope. Nah. Today!

The higher end stuff I can't comment on too much. We've had some good experience with future proofing some things along the way, but we never needed most of the advanced chips or graphics we were advised into.

 

[Dave245]

John Lewis don't seem to be selling the black Surface Pro 6, especially in the deal they currently have for Black Friday. It's still very tempting at the price and also for it to include the type cover. I think the only other thing i would need to buy is the Surface Pen.

 

[Dave245]

The Surface Book 2 is also in the offer at John Lewis and Microsoft, these are some good offers.

 

[kazmac]

As a woman, the gold and rose gold do not appeal to me. I’ve always been silver or black.

Now metallic red or black? Yes, please. I almost bought a burgundy/maroon Surface Laptop 1 last year.

The black finish on the new SL2 and SP6 is so nice.

Also agreed on how limiting the iPPs are software/OS wise. iOS is fine for the phones, but dreadful on the iPads.

For kicks, I entered a Twitter retweet to win a Wacom Cintique 16 and some manga drawing software. Not Surface, but it is a full blown Windows computer and no complaints to use it as a starter machine over my Acer.

The only new iPad Pro I’d buy is a Pro Mini. Providing it has pencil support, 4gb Ram and the same screen and chassis.

Congrats on the Surface purchases. Looking forward to reading your reviews.

 

[SDColorado]

My wife won't touch that gold either. I mentioned to her that the Apple Watch now comes in a 3rd color choice and she asks "It isn't that awful gold color is it?"

Apple should get back into having some fun with colors. It has been boring design since they stopped coming out with annual iPod nano/shuffle colors. Maybe I am in the minority, but not only would I seriously consider black or red metallic, but I would give some serious thought to an orange or purple metallic computer. Black/Gray have all become so dull and ubiquitous.

Actually I would buy that limited edition Mercury White Razer color over Apples Gold at the drop of a hat too.

So did you actually win the Wacom Cintique? Or you don't know yet?

iPad mini-pro 4" with pen support. Take my money! Small enough to be a proper "companion device," and would do what I need for a "companion device." Take my money!

 

[tbayrgs]

My 2 boys, ages 10 and 13, need a new computer to use for school. I have access to the following device/prices and am not quite sure the direction to go. Their school uses a mix of Google apps and Microsoft Office. Our household is overwelmingly Apple-centric (with a few exceptions...Google Home devices, some Chromecast audio devices) and they both currently have iPhones and iPads (also required for school).

My options:

Pixelbook (i5, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage) - $699
Surface Pro 6 (i5, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage, includes type cover) - $799
Surface Laptop 2 (i5, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage) - $899
New 2018 Macbook Air (i5, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage) - $899
2017 Macbook Pro (i5, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage) - $934

I have access to an Apple employee’s discounts for the last two options, thus the low prices.

All opinions welcome.

 

[OdT22]

My 2 boys, ages 10 and 13, need a new computer to use for school. I have access to the following device/prices and am not quite sure the direction to go. Their school uses a mix of Google apps and Microsoft Office. Our household is overwelmingly Apple-centric (with a few exceptions...Google Home devices, some Chromecast audio devices) and they both currently have iPhones and iPads (also required for school).

My options:

Pixelbook (i5, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage) - $699
Surface Pro 6 (i5, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage, includes type cover) - $799
Surface Laptop 2 (i5, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage) - $899
New 2018 Macbook Air (i5, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage) - $899
2017 Macbook Pro (i5, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage) - $934

I have access to an Apple employee’s discounts for the last two options, thus the low prices.

All opinions welcome.

Having experience with all but the Pixelbook, my guess is that they would really get a kick out of the inking with the surface pen, combined with the surface pro. What a peek in to the future of computing.

 

[kazmac]

My wife won't touch that gold either. I mentioned to her that the Apple Watch now comes in a 3rd color choice and she asks "It isn't that awful gold color is it?"

Apple should get back into having some fun with colors. It has been boring design since they stopped coming out with annual iPod nano/shuffle colors. Maybe I am in the minority, but not only would I seriously consider black or red metallic, but I would give some serious thought to an orange or purple metallic computer. Black/Gray have all become so dull and ubiquitous.

Actually I would buy that limited edition Mercury White Razer color over Apples Gold at the drop of a hat too.

So did you actually win the Wacom Cintique? Or you don't know yet?

iPad mini-pro 4" with pen support. Take my money! Small enough to be a proper "companion device," and would do what I need for a "companion device." Take my money!

Cintinq: do not know yet.

Purple: I would definitely buy a purple phone or SP. Black is a purchase too, but the metallic red of the Project Red iPad Nano was my favorite red.

Yep, Mini 5 as long as it has specs I mentioned.

@tbayrgs I would also recommend Surface Pro 6 for the experience that @OdT22 mentioned. The keyboards on the Apple products and Pen usage are what nixes any Apple laptop.

 

[m00min]

John Lewis don't seem to be selling the black Surface Pro 6, especially in the deal they currently have for Black Friday. It's still very tempting at the price and also for it to include the type cover. I think the only other thing i would need to buy is the Surface Pen.

I just caved in and took up the John Lewis offer. Got the i7 16Gb 512 version in platinum with a keyboard and pen. I would have preferred the black but £200 off and a 2 year warranty was worth it. So far after one evening of using it I like it.

 

[SDColorado]

I just caved in and took up the John Lewis offer. Got the i7 16Gb 512 version in platinum with a keyboard and pen. I would have preferred the black but £200 off and a 2 year warranty was worth it. So far after one evening of using it I like it.

Enjoy your new Surface!

dBrand and Toast always have a variety of skins and wood laminates should you ever get bored of the color and/or just change up the type pad

 

[Dave245]

I just caved in and took up the John Lewis offer. Got the i7 16Gb 512 version in platinum with a keyboard and pen. I would have preferred the black but £200 off and a 2 year warranty was worth it. So far after one evening of using it I like it.

I did see that version, not sure if it would be a bit overkill for my use, that’s why I’m looking at the 8GB, 256SSD with core i5, is there a big difference between the two?

 

[GoldfishRT]

Well I sit here on my new Surface regrettably thinking I'm going to return it. It's an absolutely gorgeous machine but maybe just isn't for me. I miss my 15" screen and more importantly my 6 cores. I can get one of those in the Surface Book but it will cost me an additional leg and the CPU will still be a U series. Fine for most things but once you feel that bump from those 6 cores its hard to go back. I can't imagine how anemic the dual core 7th gen would feel in my workflow. It's not required but it sure is nice.

Perhaps it's melodramatic but I remain absolutely dismayed by my experience with the XPS 15 over the last 6 months and really wish I had just pushed for a full on unit exchange. I'm eyeballing the ThinkPad X1 Extreme but it doesn't really do it for me in the same way. I was all in on the business look and while vain I really like the 'professional-chic' look of the XPS far more. Perhaps more importantly, I have been absolutely spoiled by never needing to bring my power brick to work! The X1 wont cut it. The XPS would get me home with about 10% - I do 10 hour shifts and the PC is active for probably 6-7.

Microcenter has the suckers for $1600 and maybe they'll let me play unit roulette to find one without the QA issues mine had.

I do want to say I absolutely ADORE having so many options available. I know the Mac world is simpler in that respect but I have been able to try so many new things to find out what I really want in a PC and that's an incredible selling point of Windows. It comes with its own set of issues but in the last year since I sold off my final daily driver MacBook and moved into my new career I've tried:

Surface Laptop 1
Surface Pro
X240
X1 Carbon Gen 4 (these were on the Lenovo outlet for like $800 at one point fully maxed out, I got back on eBay what I paid)
P52s
XPS 13
XPS 15
Surface Book 2 13.5
old style MacBook Air for funsies

I've come to the conclusion I really like compact high power 15" machines because... well who doesn't really like the idea of them right? But that's such a limited space. You've really got your pick from the XPS, the X1E, and the MacBook Pro.

We'll see. I'm being dragged by roommates to brave the shops tomorrow and Microcenter is on the list. I guess they've got some cheap SSDs going right now.

Edit: But don't fret, the junker Surface Pro 2 my friend gave me for free continues to truck on as the Netflix in bed machine.

 

[SDColorado]

I did see that version, not sure if it would be a bit overkill for my use, that’s why I’m looking at the 8GB, 256SSD with core i5, is there a big difference between the two?

It probably would be. This years versions are already said to be up to 67% faster than last years dual-core versions. The benefits of the i5 if you don't need the extra processing for programming, video work etc. are going to be (1) lower cost (2) quieter fanless design (3) better battery life.

If you don't need the extra CPU power, my advice would be to start with the i5, you have 30 days to play with it. If it isn't for you or you decide you would be better served by the i7, return or trade up.
[doublepost=1542950516][/doublepost]

Perhaps it's melodramatic but I remain absolutely dismayed by my experience with the XPS 15 over the last 6 months and really wish I had just pushed for a full on unit exchange. I'm eyeballing the ThinkPad X1 Extreme but it doesn't really do it for me in the same way. I was all in on the business look and while vain I really like the 'professional-chic' look of the XPS far more. Perhaps more importantly, I have been absolutely spoiled by never needing to bring my power brick to work! The X1 wont cut it. The XPS would get me home with about 10% - I do 10 hour shifts and the PC is active for probably 6-7.

From what I understood, Dell XPS battery life is quite poor. Is it better than the X1? I didn't think it was.

It is all perception and personal preference I suppose. But I personally prefer the understated and subtle look of the Lenovo or the Razer to the "mixed media mashup" of the XPS. Something about that aluminum, black plastic, "carbon fiber" mix just doesn't do it for me. But everyone has their preferences

Another option, of course, would be the Razer 15", but I believe it also has rather poor battery life.

Asus Zephyrus I believe is also limited by battery life and no 4K option if you prefer it.

MSI GS65 Stealth has 4K, but I believe weighs in at over 6lbs.

There is always some trade-off in design

 

[kazmac]

Best Buy Doorbuster offer:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/micros...ith-keyboard-platinum/6305982.p?skuId=6305982

 

[Dave245]

Update: I just placed an order for the Surface Pro 6, 8GB Ram, 256GB SSD and Core i5, £899.95 was too good to miss from John Lewis, also added the extra "Added Care" for £70 which covers it for 2 years of accidental damage through John Lewis! I also placed an order for the Surface Pen through Amazon who currently have the Burgundy for £77.46 (cheaper than the usual £99).

Now i've just got to hope that it's a solid machine that i like! and learn Windows again.

Thank you to the person who recommenced John Lewis They give a 2 year warranty!

 

[AndyMacAndMic]

Update: I just placed an order for the Surface Pro 6, 8GB Ram, 256GB SSD and Core i5, £899.95 was too good to miss from John Lewis, also added the extra "Added Care" for £70 which covers it for 2 years of accidental damage through John Lewis! I also placed an order for the Surface Pen through Amazon who currently have the Burgundy for £77.46 (cheaper than the usual £99).

Now i've just got to hope that it's a solid machine that i like! and learn Windows again.

Thank you to the person who recommenced John Lewis They give a 2 year warranty!

Keep us posted

 

[SDColorado]

Update: I just placed an order for the Surface Pro 6, 8GB Ram, 256GB SSD and Core i5, £899.95 was too good to miss from John Lewis, also added the extra "Added Care" for £70 which covers it for 2 years of accidental damage through John Lewis! I also placed an order for the Surface Pen through Amazon who currently have the Burgundy for £77.46 (cheaper than the usual £99).

Now i've just got to hope that it's a solid machine that i like! and learn Windows again.

Thank you to the person who recommenced John Lewis They give a 2 year warranty!

Nice! Congratulations!

My advice would be to take advantage of the best part of that 30 day return window. It will seem a bit strange at first having been away from Windows for so long, but you will pick it up easier than you think

 

[kazmac]

Update: I just placed an order for the Surface Pro 6, 8GB Ram, 256GB SSD and Core i5, £899.95 was too good to miss from John Lewis, also added the extra "Added Care" for £70 which covers it for 2 years of accidental damage through John Lewis! I also placed an order for the Surface Pen through Amazon who currently have the Burgundy for £77.46 (cheaper than the usual £99).

Now i've just got to hope that it's a solid machine that i like! and learn Windows again.

Thank you to the person who recommenced John Lewis They give a 2 year warranty!

Awesome! Congratulations. Looking forward to hearing about your experiences with it and the pen.

 

[GoldfishRT]

I was getting a repeatable 8-8.5 hours out of my 9570. It had other QC issues and I didn't have onsite warranty which made it a more frustrating experience. This time around I think I'll immediately buy a good on-site warranty for it.

I think the Dell looks better in the brushed onyx colour but it's only BTO as a Precision or on the 2-in-1 from Best Buy.

Many of my friends are 'gamers' and have bought Razer products, love them, but also constantly complain about the reliability and dealing with their support. Being a smaller company this doesn't surprise me - especially considering how ambitious their hardware is. I wouldn't be apposed to trying out that new white 15 they've got out but I don't need the GPU performance and you can only get the black one with the normal 4k panel and not the high-refresh.

And while we're being vain, the ThinkPad is fine except for the uncentered trackpad. I get it's because of the trackpoint being centered on the home row and making the top buttons consistent but I can't unsee it.

No product is perfect I agree. My Dell had some pretty horrific backlight bleed they refused to fix, along with some other odd frustrating quality issues. There was some dust under the rubberized coating on one corner of the unit. But using the machine itself was pretty nice. The Surface is a nicer product - and I don't doubt the X1 would be too. But are they anywhere from $500 to $750 nicer. Not sure. I think the XPS remains my favorite Windows laptop... provided you can get one without hardware problems.

From what I understood, Dell XPS battery life is quite poor. Is it better than the X1? I didn't think it was.

It is all perception and personal preference I suppose. But I personally prefer the understated and subtle look of the Lenovo or the Razer to the "mixed media mashup" of the XPS. Something about that aluminum, black plastic, "carbon fiber" mix just doesn't do it for me. But everyone has their preferences

Another option, of course, would be the Razer 15", but I believe it also has rather poor battery life.

Asus Zephyrus I believe is also limited by battery life and no 4K option if you prefer it.

MSI GS65 Stealth has 4K, but I believe weighs in at over 6lbs.

There is always some trade-off in design

 

[Dave245]

Nice! Congratulations!

My advice would be to take advantage of the best part of that 30 day return window. It will seem a bit strange at first having been away from Windows for so long, but you will pick it up easier than you think

Thank you I intend to take full advantage of the 30 days, I’ll be using it from the day it arrives on Sunday (I opted for the selected delivery date to make sure I’ll be at home).

What I’ll do is some research on Windows 10 and the features of the Surface Pro 6! I’ll look at if the Surface gets regular updates like MacOS tends too, or is it like Android and left without many updates. Security wise will I need anti virus or is it not an issue like it use to be.

 

[GoldfishRT]

Thank you I intend to take full advantage of the 30 days, I’ll be using it from the day it arrives on Sunday (I opted for the selected delivery date to make sure I’ll be at home).

What I’ll do is some research on Windows 10 and the features of the Surface Pro 6! I’ll look at if the Surface gets regular updates like MacOS tends too, or is it like Android and left without many updates. Security wise will I need anti virus or is it not an issue like it use to be.

Antivirus is handled by Windows Defender and I wouldn't bother with anything else.

Windows and the Surface get routine updates through Windows update. Further, you can let other Microsoft products update through Windows Update as well. It's still not quite as smooth as MacOS however - expect to spend the first hour letting it update first.

If you got the pen that's where the Pro 6 really shines. Windows Ink Workspace and the shortcuts to open OneNote and such are real awesome - as is just jotting up whatever webpage you have open.

 

[Dave245]

Antivirus is handled by Windows Defender and I wouldn't bother with anything else.

Windows and the Surface get routine updates through Windows update. Further, you can let other Microsoft products update through Windows Update as well. It's still not quite as smooth as MacOS however - expect to spend the first hour letting it update first.

If you got the pen that's where the Pro 6 really shines. Windows Ink Workspace and the shortcuts to open OneNote and such are real awesome - as is just jotting up whatever webpage you have open.

Thats cool then, is that turned on by default? I opted for the 256GB SSD version, fingers crossed most of that isn’t taken up with updates. I have heard that I can extend that tho with a micro SD card.

Yes I’ve also ordered the Surface Pen which should arrive on the same day

 

[OdT22]

Update: I just placed an order for the Surface Pro 6, 8GB Ram, 256GB SSD and Core i5, £899.95 was too good to miss from John Lewis, also added the extra "Added Care" for £70 which covers it for 2 years of accidental damage through John Lewis! I also placed an order for the Surface Pen through Amazon who currently have the Burgundy for £77.46 (cheaper than the usual £99).

Now i've just got to hope that it's a solid machine that i like! and learn Windows again.

Thank you to the person who recommenced John Lewis They give a 2 year warranty!

Very cool!

 

[MBAir2010]

does FOOBar music work on these devices?

 

[SDColorado]

I was getting a repeatable 8-8.5 hours out of my 9570. It had other QC issues and I didn't have onsite warranty which made it a more frustrating experience. This time around I think I'll immediately buy a good on-site warranty for it.

I think the Dell looks better in the brushed onyx colour but it's only BTO as a Precision or on the 2-in-1 from Best Buy.

Hopefully, the onsite warranty is better than it used to be. I used to be a huge Dell fan, but many years ago I became really frustrated with them because it would take weeks to get them out onsite for the onsite repair. I have heard they have improved a great deal in the past few years. But it still remains a fear I have with Dell.

That brushed onyx color does look far better. I did not even realize that color was an option. I like it tons better than the 3 tones of the silver model.

Many of my friends are 'gamers' and have bought Razer products, love them, but also constantly complain about the reliability and dealing with their support. Being a smaller company this doesn't surprise me - especially considering how ambitious their hardware is. I wouldn't be apposed to trying out that new white 15 they've got out but I don't need the GPU performance and you can only get the black one with the normal 4k panel and not the high-refresh.

The quality issues with the Razer Blade 15 is what most worried me about going that route. Both Best Buy and the local Microcenter told me that they are among the most returned laptops they sell. The Microsoft Store guys were quick to point out the reliability issues as well but did preface it by saying "If you get a good one they are rock solid, but if not they can give you problems." Sounds like the current Macs. But they did try to say "Well the advantage of buying through us instead or Razor is we have your back and can take care of issues. How much of that is just lip service for a sale, I don't know.

And while we're being vain, the ThinkPad is fine except for the uncentered trackpad. I get it's because of the trackpoint being centered on the home row and making the top buttons consistent but I can't unsee it.

I never really noticed that on the X1E, is it off-center on that model as well? If it is it definitely didn't catch my eye like the uncentered spacebar did on the Razer Blade 15. I get why they did that as well, the trade-off is you get those glorious full arrow keys, rather than the compact one. But it is also a little hard to "unsee."

No product is perfect I agree. My Dell had some pretty horrific backlight bleed they refused to fix, along with some other odd frustrating quality issues. There was some dust under the rubberized coating on one corner of the unit. But using the machine itself was pretty nice. The Surface is a nicer product - and I don't doubt the X1 would be too. But are they anywhere from $500 to $750 nicer. Not sure. I think the XPS remains my favorite Windows laptop... provided you can get one without hardware problems.

Hard to say whether the value is in there or not. That is definitely one of those individual questions. A lot of the things you describe as being wrong with the Dell would drive me nuts personally, but for a lot of folks, it never bothers them. But I have a buddy who is of the opinion that you should never spend more than $750 on a laptop and he isn't bothered by much

How good is Dell about exchanges, when you do get one with issues like that?