I am writing this from my new Surface Pro 2, which was a present from my parents, and a much needed upgrade from my Asus Netbook.
Netbooks have served me well for a while. They are small and portable, which is good when I’m carrying a computer around New York from freelance clients to classes and back home. Netbooks also have huge hard drives, generally, which is good if you like music and movies.
But they are very under-powered, which is bad if you actually like to play music and movies. Or edit the occasional graphic. Even GIMP, which is not as demanding as Photoshop, took minutes to do anything. It couldn’t play iTunes movies even in Standard Definition. Netflix, Youtube, and Hulu was very dependent on the laptop’s mood for the day. The screen was tiny, so if I needed to do a lot of rearranging of text, or compare two web pages, or anything like that, it didn’t work.
So, I wanted to upgrade my computer. I wanted something I could watch movies on. I wanted something I could still do a lot of word processing and typing on. I wanted something that wouldn’t choke when I had a bunch of tabs open. I wanted something very light. I didn’t want a Mac, because I like Windows and I’m used to it.
For me, the Surface Pro 2 is a very good answer to those issues. It functions as a full computer, and can run any Windows program.With the Type Cover 2, I’m finding the Surface Pro 2 a very good computer that can also function as a tablet. It is definitely a better computer than a tablet.
The mouse/touchpad isn’t quite as good as my Asus, but with the touch screen, and the stylus that comes with the computer, it works better than the mouse/touchpad alone on the Asus. If I just want to move around the screen, I can use my finger or the keyboard touchpad. If I want to select and move text, I use the stylus, because it has the most precision.
The Surface Pro 2 runs Windows 8, which has desktop mode and app mode. The apps are definitely one of the weaker