Alan321 Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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I use a Surface Pro 3.
The 12 inch screen is probably as small as I would want to go but the 216ppi is wonderful for displaying photos when you get the scaling parameters correct. There are settings to tweak in Windows and in software (Lr, Firefox, etc.) - and they all work simultaneously so that adjusting one can upset another.
A 2-core cpu is a limitation but then it is 2 generations newer than the 4-core one in my MBP, so I get to use more GHz more easily and more often. That makes some Lr tasks faster than on the MBP despite having only half of the cores and a slower base cpu speed. e.g. building image previews in Lr.
The SP3 can drive a 4k screen that my MBP cannot, so that'll be a plus when I finish setting up my s/w and data on the SP3. [I was basically converting from Mac to Windows for this exercise and it has taken me quite a while]
The SP3 suits my needs, but they included portability without a hard keyboard and screen forming an open clamshell, and being able to take hand-written notes and diagrams. These were very high priorities that precluded most alternatives. Plus I wanted / needed to run Windows-specific software.
The touch interface is mostly very good but I've experienced a few gotchas that may be windows 8.1 or may be hardware and/or driver related. Normally I use the type cover keyboard but sometimes I am forced to touch the screen to regain control. Also, I find the track pad and the screen can be a bit too sensitive to movement while I am lifting my finger off them. Maybe I just need less flexible pads on my fingers, but I don't have the problem on my Samsung and so I think it is something that MS will be able to fix when they buy the right programmer.
Anyone could reasonably desire more speed, more RAM, more storage, an anti-glare screen, and so on, but within those obvious limitations that would be aware of before buying an SP3 my biggest gripe is that unlike a Samsung Note device, the SP3 does not have a setting that ignores my hand when I am writing with the pen.
I have used the built-in graphics acceleration of the 4th gen i7 cpu with Lr 6 but I expect that a separate graphics card might be a lot better in a more powerful computer. However, then I'd probably lose portability and battery life.
It is certainly not an all-day computer unless you have external power, but you can get a few hours out of it. I find those hours go by very quickly when I am working on Lr.
With regard to the screen, it has near enough full sRGB coverage and great contrast. The high ppi is lovely to look at but I really would prefer a less glossy screen. With my normal glasses it seems a bit small but with my reading glasses on the whole thing is magnified to the equivalent of a bigger monitor and yet it still looks great for photo work and text work. The SP3 has a mini display port for an external screen and that suits me just fine. For other screen connectors you would need an optional adapter.
Some software spits the dummy with a complaint about 720 pixel screen height and I have not been able to determine why it isn't seeing the 1440 pixel screen height. There might be another setting hidden away in the Registry that I need to tweak.
USB 3 is ok but not a patch on thunderbolt on a Mac when it comes to practical file transfer speed - especially obvious for SSD to SSD transfers. I think the file system is mostly to blame for the slower performance (NTFS vs HFS+).
Having only a single USB port is a serious limitation but when I travel I take the optional dock with me to provide more ports while I'm on ac power. That dock connects via a special port that seems to have much greater performance than a usb 3 port, and so I guess that it taps into the PCI interface like thunderbolt does - but I'm not certain.
The 512GB SSD is speedy but also very expensive compared to the 256GB option. Even so, I'm glad that I've got it because 256GB would not be enough for my needs when taking in cardfulls of 36Mpx raw files for Lr to play with. I also keep bundles of pdf files in it for portable reference, as well as smart previews and previews of my main Lr library.
I will soon have a Lexar P20 high-performance 128GB USB 3 thumb drive and there is also a slot tucked away underneath for a much slower micro SD card, so there are options for external storage that aren't too big physically but which can be used in other devices for transferring files in bulk.
In summary, while the SP3 is not a cheap option, if you want the functionality of a tablet and much of the usefulness of a PC in a single, compact, portable and light device with excellent sRGB screen performance, then you could do a lot worse than have an SP3. It has become my go-to computer until I need the more substantial storage speed and capacity that I can get from my desk-based MacBook Pro.
- Alan
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