Surface Devices

[michael9891]

Can anyone tell me if it's easy enough to import pics from an sd card reader to a Surface Pro via the USB A port? Doing so on my iPad requires the adaptor and the iPad being plugged in to power it.

I’d assume you can just do the same, connecting the Surface to the power supply?

 

[AndyMacAndMic]

Can anyone tell me if it's easy enough to import pics from an sd card reader to a Surface Pro via the USB A port? Doing so on my iPad requires the adaptor and the iPad being plugged in to power it.

I’d assume you can just do the same, connecting the Surface to the power supply?

I have plugged in portable USB mechanical hard drives in my Surface Pro 4 without problems and without the need of an external power supply. Those worked fine (also no need to plug the Surface into the power supply).
The Surface pro behaves exactly like a normal laptop in that respect.

So I can not imagine it would give any problems with an SD card at all.

Also all Surface Pro's have a mini SD port built in behind the hinch. So if your SD card is a 'mini' it should be no problem at all. But also with the USB port I see no problems.

Edit:
I talk about a mini SD card slot, but it should be a micro SD card slot.

 

[michael9891]

I have plugged in portable USB mechanical hard drives in my Surface Pro 4 without problems and without the need of an external power supply. So I can not imagine it would give any problems at all.

Also all Surface Pro's have a mini SD card port built in behind the hinch. So if your SD card is a mini one it should be no problem at all. But also with the USB port I see no problems.

Thanks. I see that they have a micro sd card slot (which I plan to use). The cards I'd want to import from are CF & regular sd.

Just wanting to make sure it'll all work OK because as importing pics while away from home is the biggest want from a tablet device.

Now just trying to decide if I want the better performance of the i7 or quieter i5.....

 

[dwig]

I have plugged in portable USB mechanical hard drives in my Surface Pro 4 without problems and without the need of an external power supply. Those worked fine (also no need to plug the Surface into the power supply).
The Surface pro behaves exactly like a normal laptop in that respect.
...

I've had the same success with my Surface Go, even when the HD (small "portable" 2tb Seagate) is connected to a USB-C Anker hub (SD, mSD, 2 USB-A). The little Go will power the hub, cards, and HD simultaneously.

 

[Queen6]

I watch mostly content on Netflix and iTunes on my iPad Pro, I also draw and edit photos. I’m looking forward to seeing what Surface Neo and Surface Duo can do.

Same only I prefer a W10 device as for all the talk the iPad Pro firmly remains to be predominantly an expensive media consumption device. With W10 I have the option to drop into the full desktop environment, with all it's facets.

Surface Neo is most definitely of interest and I'm fairly confident MS will do a decent job, although it will take time for the Dev's to get onboard.

Q-6
[automerge]1581888519[/automerge]

Can anyone tell me if it's easy enough to import pics from an sd card reader to a Surface Pro via the USB A port? Doing so on my iPad requires the adaptor and the iPad being plugged in to power it.

I’d assume you can just do the same, connecting the Surface to the power supply?

As other members have stated, just plug in the card it's no more complex. W10 and it's hardware doesn't need to be on the mains supply. I use 512 MicroSD cards permanently to expand storage with my W10 UMPC & tablet focused 2in1, to coin a phrase "it just works"

With USB C, not a problem even on battery power can power multiple devices without issue as long as your under the current draw of the port. I have no problems with external SD cards, SSD, and hard drives, either plugged directly into the device of via a USB C hub.

Q-6

 

[xraydoc]

Back when I had a SP4, I found the tablet mode to be lacking, the iPad was better imo, for tablet usage.

I had an SP3 (came with Win 8) way back when and absolutely hated it. Terrible tablet. Terrible laptop. And I gave it a solid go. Replaced it with a 12.9” iPad Pro and was much happier.

Windows 10 is much better, as are the apps. Currently love my SB2. Now, wouldn’t turn down an SP7 were someone to give me one.

 

[SteveJUAE]

I watch mostly content on Netflix and iTunes on my iPad Pro, I also draw and edit photos. I’m looking forward to seeing what Surface Neo and Surface Duo can do.

I do not expect them to do any more or less than current Android or W10 devices, all that will be different is mods done to the UI to make better use of the dual screens and so gain productivity advantages

 

[TopherMan12]

I had an SP3 (came with Win 8) way back when and absolutely hated it. Terrible tablet. Terrible laptop. And I gave it a solid go. Replaced it with a 12.9” iPad Pro and was much happier.

Windows 10 is much better, as are the apps. Currently love my SB2. Now, wouldn’t turn down an SP7 were someone to give me one.

Win 8 was a dumpster fire of an OS. Creating one UI for both desktop and tablet was a horrible idea. I'm still not a fan of Windows 10's "tablet mode", but it was still a huge improvement over the "one size fits all" implementation of 8. MS even put that UI in its Windows Server OS. That was just crazy.

I'm really looking forward to Windows 10X though. With 10X, Duo, and Neo, I think we are going to finally see a Windows ecosystem of devices that could start making some huge waves in the tech community.

 

[SteveJUAE]

Win 8 was a dumpster fire of an OS. Creating one UI for both desktop and tablet was a horrible idea. I'm still not a fan of Windows 10's "tablet mode", but it was still a huge improvement over the "one size fits all" implementation of 8. MS even put that UI in its Windows Server OS. That was just crazy.

I'm really looking forward to Windows 10X though. With 10X, Duo, and Neo, I think we are going to finally see a Windows ecosystem of devices that could start making some huge waves in the tech community.

You can already see the improvements from the collaboration between MS and Samsung

Your Phone app rivals IOS so apart from sms, calling, receiving, notifications, your last 2000 pictures you can control and modify your phone from your laptop

MS Office has had continuity for ages

Samsung has tided up its direct sharing and made is simple like Airdrop and you you have always been able to share any files so not restricted like IOS

Now multi tasking, multi apps and multi screens just pushes boundaries more

 

[TopherMan12]

You can already see the improvements from the collaboration between MS and Samsung

Your Phone app rivals IOS so apart from sms, calling, receiving, notifications, your last 2000 pictures you can control and modify your phone from your laptop

MS Office has had continuity for ages

Samsung has tided up its direct sharing and made is simple like Airdrop and you you have always been able to share any files so not restricted like IOS

Now multi tasking, multi apps and multi screens just pushes boundaries more

Great. Personally not interested in Samsung. Duo has my attention and hopefully MS will bring "sms, calling, receiving, notifications" to its own device along with everything else.

Bottom line: I need MS to give me a real reason to give up iPhone and iPad. A partnership with Samsung isn't the reason.

 

[SteveJUAE]

Great. Personally not interested in Samsung. Duo has my attention and hopefully MS will bring "sms, calling, receiving, notifications" to its own device along with everything else.

Bottom line: I need MS to give me a real reason to give up iPhone. A partnership with Samsung isn't the reason.

Given that the Duo is going to be an Android device and MS have already shown with Samsung that what you want is possible.

I see no reason why MS would not implement the same for their own branded devices if not more

So I think your covered

 

[TopherMan12]

Given that the Duo is going to be an Android device and MS have already shown with Samsung that what you want is possible.

I see no reason why MS would not implement the same for their own branded devices if not more

So I think your covered

That would make me very happy, my friend. Looking forward to it.

 

[SteveJUAE]

That would make me very happy, my friend. Looking forward to it.

Me too will gladly swap to MS over Samsung

I had many WinCE devices before IOS and Android existed and they were years ahead but screwed up because of licencing

Only if .......... LOL

 

[Dave245]

Great. Personally not interested in Samsung. Duo has my attention and hopefully MS will bring "sms, calling, receiving, notifications" to its own device along with everything else.

Bottom line: I need MS to give me a real reason to give up iPhone and iPad. A partnership with Samsung isn't the reason.

The only device that interests me from Samsung is the Note series, i know that they will be coming out with the Note 11 (or 20 if they call it that) around August. However i'm holding out for the Surface Duo and Neo, i want to see what they are like, especially in real life use. I'm just not sure what the release date will be for us here in the U.K i'm hoping not too long after the initial US release.

 

[xraydoc]

My Surface Book 2 has let me down for the first time today.

It was working fine last I used it (2 days ago), but this morning, the Pen appears at least partly inoperative. The top button/eraser still seems to work, but the tip is not registered on screen and will not ink in any app (nor will it function to tap buttons, etc).

Fussing with unpairing/repairing the Pen in bluetooth settings, driver disable/reenable, reboots, enter UEFI and exit, etc... all the tips I've seen online... isn't helping. The Surface app and bluetooth settings still claim it has 85% battery left. Touchscreen still works with my finger. Surface Diagnostics app didn't find anything wrong (though it doesn't directly test the Pen itself).

I'm hoping despite the reported 85% battery in the Pen, it just needs a battery replacement. Will swap it when I get home. I also have a spare Pen which I'll try (thought I lost it on a business trip, bought another one, then found the one I lost).

If it's not the Pen's battery or the Pen itself, not sure what to do. If it's the screen digitizer, repairing the SB2 pretty much means replacing it and the Microsoft refurbished roulette I've read so much about doesn't sound like much fun. And the closest Microsoft store is about 2 hours away in Tyson's Corner, VA. Or I have to give it to my workplace's IT department to send in (which is worse than a 4 hour round trip to northern VA).

 

[michael9891]

An i5 8gb ram 256 storage Surface Pro 7 with pen & keyboard for £1,000 or an i5 8gb ram 256 storage 13" Surface Book 2 with pen for £1,200.

Would the Surface Pro be the much better performer due to newer chipset? I'd go all out on the SB2 specs if it wasn't well over 2 years old and due an upgrade soon.

 

[xraydoc]

My Surface Book 2 has let me down for the first time today.

It was working fine last I used it (2 days ago), but this morning, the Pen appears at least partly inoperative. The top button/eraser still seems to work, but the tip is not registered on screen and will not ink in any app (nor will it function to tap buttons, etc).

Fussing with unpairing/repairing the Pen in bluetooth settings, driver disable/reenable, reboots, enter UEFI and exit, etc... all the tips I've seen online... isn't helping. The Surface app and bluetooth settings still claim it has 85% battery left. Touchscreen still works with my finger. Surface Diagnostics app didn't find anything wrong (though it doesn't directly test the Pen itself).

I'm hoping despite the reported 85% battery in the Pen, it just needs a battery replacement. Will swap it when I get home. I also have a spare Pen which I'll try (thought I lost it on a business trip, bought another one, then found the one I lost).

If it's not the Pen's battery or the Pen itself, not sure what to do. If it's the screen digitizer, repairing the SB2 pretty much means replacing it and the Microsoft refurbished roulette I've read so much about doesn't sound like much fun. And the closest Microsoft store is about 2 hours away in Tyson's Corner, VA. Or I have to give it to my workplace's IT department to send in (which is worse than a 4 hour round trip to northern VA).

Update:

Battery replacement did not revive the Pen -- the laptop did register battery level at 100% and the eraser button continued to work, but still no response from the Pen tip. Replacing the Pen tip also had no effect.

Switching to my spare Pen, however, was successful and it's working as it should again. And the original Pen tip works fine on the spare Pen.

Very strange that the Pen would simply die while sitting idle with no prior indication of trouble. Perhaps it was a stray high energy cosmic ray that hit just the right bit of circuitry in the Pen...

Fortunately it wasn't the screen digitizer/sensor!

 

[derekamoss]

So I used to have a Surface Pro and loved the fact that I could have a micro SD card to help with storage. Well i bought the Surface Book 128gb a year ago and have been struggling with storage solutions until I came across this little guy. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AT7ECA2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It's the base QI Micro SD card Adapter that sits flush with the surface book instead of sticking out. I wish I would have known about this sooner!

 

[xraydoc]

So I used to have a Surface Pro and loved the fact that I could have a micro SD card to help with storage. Well i bought the Surface Book 128gb a year ago and have been struggling with storage solutions until I came across this little guy. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AT7ECA2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It's the base QI Micro SD card Adapter that sits flush with the surface book instead of sticking out. I wish I would have known about this sooner!

First thing I bought for mine. Very clever. I keep the adapter in the slot even when empty to prevent dust and debris from collecting.

 

[derekamoss]

I don't know why I didn't buy it earlier. Honestly when I bought the SB2 I actually was like, ehh I will just buy the 128gb like I did with the pro because I have my MicroSD card! Imagine my reaction when I got home and realized it wasnt a MicroSD card and the adapter stuck out...... Don't know why I didn't pull the trigger then and buy it then lol.

 

[xraydoc]

I don't know why I didn't buy it earlier. Honestly when I bought the SB2 I actually was like, ehh I will just buy the 128gb like I did with the pro because I have my MicroSD card! Imagine my reaction when I got home and realized it wasnt a MicroSD card and the adapter stuck out...... Don't know why I didn't pull the trigger then and buy it then lol.

The only bummer is that it'll of course unmount when you pop the clipboard/tablet off, so don't store anything on it that you may need when disconnected.

A microSD slot on the tablet portion of the future SB3 would be a welcome addition.

 

[dracobdn]

I had a Surface Pro 3 at work. The device was repaired 3 times by Microsoft. After this the docking station broke but since it only had 1 year of warranty on it, we had to get a new one. It ran with Windows 8 and had weird issues if I ever unplugged and replugged it to an external display. The scaling of Windows was off which forced me to restart the device after every meeting before continue working on my desk.

I then received a Surface Go (128/8GB) to test it for 4 months. The device itself is ok but it was too slow to run video meetings in MS Teams. Windows 10 still had weird scaling issues when using the device on a larger display. I couldn't charge the Go via USB-C as it would throttle the CPU down to 400 MHz making it impossible to even write a text in OnNote without lack.

Microsoft worked on it and with the latest Windows 10 build it became a nice device to use on the sofa.

The hardware is really nice and I would use one at home, but I couldn't find a way to manage my pictures. The Windows 10 photos app is a joke and I have more weird stuff going on with Windows 10 than I have with macOS.
I guess jumping ship to Windows 10 and an Android device would be nice because it is something new, but it will make me go back to Apple sooner or later because of those weird hiccups.

The Neo and the Duo are really nice devices (I was also very interested in the Samsung Galaxy Fold) but I don't believe that Microsoft will get its software together as Apple does.

 

[Silvestru Hosszu]

Adobe Photoshop Express is a nice app to manage photos on Surface Go.
It can be installed even in S mode and performance is decent if not great (Go 8/128).

 

[xraydoc]

So just for s**ts and giggles, I decided to try to resurrect my old Surface Pro 3 which had been sitting in a drawer, unused for over a year I think. It's got a dual-core i5-4300U, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD (I spent a good amount on it when I bought it).

Actually managed to get it updated to Window 10 v1909. Got one BSOD after attempting to wake it from charging overnight, but otherwise it's actually working better than I expected -- which basically means I had zero expectations that it would function at all. Still gets stupid hot with even the slightest use (guess Windows and firmware updates didn't help), the fans still ramp up doing anything more than slowly browsing though an article, and the battery has aged as you would expect for a 5 year old machine.

Fired up OneNote on it... not the best experience. It works, but it's pretty choppy trying to pan & zoom pages with a lot of ink on them. Edge Chromium and MS Word appear to work reasonably well. Haven't tried too much else yet.

Not sure what I'm going to do with it now that it's running (again), though. May try it out as a wireless 2nd display for my Surface Book 2 when not docked at my desk. For browsing on the sofa, my 11" iPad Pro is like 10x faster and smoother, so don't really need it for that. And I still have an old iMac running in the basement working very well as an iTunes AppleTV server for local storage of movies and TV shows and I don't have use for a second home server... Might look in to turning it into a smart home controller/remote.

My wife is hoping that playing with this will satisfy the urge I've had to buy a Surface Pro 7, lol.

 

[oldmacs]

Was casually browsing laptops the other day and came across the surface range - was impressed to see that the Surface has a magnetic charger! Will never forgive Apple for getting rid of MagSafe -_-