Quote :

"The fuck have I been doing."

Super technically, if the battery is non-removeable you don't have to take it out.

In normal conditions, if it has a hinged screen, they will make you take it out. (Aka Macbooks) Even though the entire reason they do this is to check the removable batteries.

2/12/2013 4:29:58 AM

Quote :

"It seems kinda neat, but for $1200, I can buy a decent laptop with a touch screen with better specs, and better battery life (not to mention extra batteries). [...] Are there any other benefits that I'm not thinking of? "

Well it will be lighter and be a tablet. If you don't want the tablet form factor, then get a laptop.

I went with the Dell XPS 12 and really like it, it was down to that and the Lenovo Yoga 13 (and Yoga 11 that will be out in a few months). It's too big and heavy to really be a tablet, but its not to big or heavy to be a tablet when its sitting in my lap in front of the TV. If I didn't want the convertible form factor I would have gone with the Lenovo Carbon X1 touch.

I have also ordered Lenovo Tablet 2's for field staff but they still haven't shipped (were supposed to be available Oct 26!), I'll post a review here when I get to play with it but the few people who have gotten one so far really like it and I like the 10-hr battery life on a full OS device. I spent a lot of time researching all of the various Win8 tablets, from the reviews so far I think I made the right choice.

2/12/2013 9:55:31 AM

for $1200, i'd rather have a laptop and a (different) tablet, each to be used when appropriate

2/12/2013 9:59:50 AM

I picked up a Lenovo Lynx 3 IdeaTab today from Staples but looked at the Surface Pro. I don't understand paying 899 or even 1099 for a tablet and not even getting the keyboard/mouse cover with it.

2/12/2013 1:29:19 PM

what you get for the price difference is a fully capable processor, stylus support, and better resolution, that's worth it for a lot of people.

2/12/2013 2:36:22 PM

^that's the kind of thing I'm looking for.

What's the difference between the Lynx 3 and the Tablet 2?

2/12/2013 3:10:37 PM

touch only on the Lynx, wacom digitizer or touch on the Tablet 2

The Tablet 2 is also smaller screen and lighter

In regards to stylus support:
I've only tried it on the Dell XPS 12, but the capacitive stylus does not work well at all on it. I don't know if its Windows 8 or the Dell, but the same stylus on an iPad is much much much better.

So if you need a stylus and were counting on just using a capacitive model so you don't need to pay more and get one of the few Win8 tablets with digitizers, you should try it out first

As soon as I get a Tablet 2, I'll post how well it works on that. If anyone has a Surface Pro I'd love to hear how well the digitizer works.

[Edited on February 12, 2013 at 3:38 PM. Reason : .]

2/12/2013 3:30:05 PM

Still kicking around the idea of a Surface Pro as a laptop replacement, need to go out and test drive one. Does anyone on here actually *have* a Pro?

*Money being no object I would heavily consider a Thinkpad X230t. However, I can't spend that kind of money for myself.*

2/12/2013 6:14:18 PM

The X230t is end of life, definitely don't spend the money. The Thinkpad Helix is replacing it, should ship in March/April

2/12/2013 6:28:02 PM

I'll probably get beaten for saying this, but were it me looking at buying a Surface Pro, I would wait.

The Intel haswell chipset+core i cpus should hit the market in the fall, and if Microsoft updates the Surface with a "Surface Pro 2", that's the ship I would set sail on. Haswell should have vastly improved thermal output, resulting in dramatically improved battery life, less fan noise, lighter weight and the same processing power.

If a haswell rev of the Surface does come out @ 899/999 I'd be a very serious buyer. 6-7hrs of battery life, an ounce or two lighter, and a quiet fan would make a huge difference.

2/12/2013 8:46:25 PM

^No, good advice actually. If I've waited this long, waiting a little longer probably isn't a dealbreaker. I take my work laptop home every day anyway, can keep using it as an internet machine as long as I surf carefully.

2/13/2013 12:06:02 AM

These Lenovo Tablet2s are pretty hard to find with the vendors I currently have terms with.

2/19/2013 12:42:47 PM

Yeah, which is why every time someone says that Windows 8 tablets aren't selling because of the OS I roll my eyes. You can't buy any of them, none are available! They aren't selling, because they aren't on the market. The Lenovo Tablet 2 was supposed to be available October 26, 2012!

I purchased some, I'm being told the end of this month for delivery... maybe.

2/19/2013 12:55:46 PM

I'm about to buy a couple of the 367927U models from a seller on eBay and get the docks elsewhere probably.

NFC is awesome and all but I can't justify the price increase. The Lynx 3 is pretty damn sexy if I do say so myself.

2/19/2013 10:14:47 PM

My rep found some and beat the ebay seller's pricing. Now to figure out if the keyboard/nipple dock is worth it.

Why I'm going on about Lenovo in a Surface thread is beyond me.

2/20/2013 6:59:48 PM

i ordered the keyboard because i haaaate trackpads and don't want to carry a mouse. since lenovo usually makes a nice feeling keyboard, it seemed like a good idea.

2/20/2013 7:13:40 PM

Yeah but you can't find them anywhere. I'll have to buy them off ebay for 150 if i want one. I bought a bluetooth keyboard for 25 at staples today and a performance mouse (mx revolution form factor) for 50 while I go through the "pilot" program.

2/20/2013 11:59:10 PM

Playing around with the Tablet 2, I think the atom processor is fine. I can definitely get it to slow down if I want to, but for regular usage for what I am going to be doing with a tablet its absolutely adequate for me. I used to buy really crappy $300 laptops for field staff (probably core 2 duo) and these are at least as fast as those. I'm really satisfied with it.

3/6/2013 1:30:37 PM

The pen input is not as good as the older wacom-enabled devices i had (x61t, etc...) but its good enough. Hopefully drivers will improve and developers will take advantage of features.

3/6/2013 3:46:21 PM

$100 price cut on the surface pro until the 29th if anybody cares

8/4/2013 8:34:01 AM

I'd be interested if I was in the market for such things.

Anandtech seems to think the price drop is suggesting that the Surface 2 is approaching. Hopefully they'll throw in the keyboard in the next iteration.

[Edited on August 5, 2013 at 5:49 PM. Reason : more info]

8/5/2013 5:45:51 PM