I wanted a lighter PC to use in various network IDF & Datacenter locales, for Wireshark caps and other nerdery, so I headed to Best Buy to see how the other half is living lately.
I considered getting a Macbook Air or the new Macbook, but since my main computer is a 15" Macbook Retina I decided to give a PCs a shot.
I have to say notebook design in the PC space is as bland and ugly as it as ever been, even more-so with many of the laptop/tablet hybrid Windows devices.
Using them was a reminder of why I was drawn back to Apple’s take on a notebook. HP and Dell have some great Macbook-like designs, but they weren’t quite a fit.
I hadn’t touched the Microsoft Surface in the past 18 months since their first one debuted, so I walked over to one and used it for a bit.
I was impressed. Windows 10 user experience seems a lot tighter on this device, as well. It should be, since Microsoft controls the hardware and software in this case.
I only needed a small/light PC for work, so I decided to plunk down some cash and give the Surface 3 a shot.
A week later, after installing my various geek work apps and giving the device a serious shakedown, I think it will be a keeper.
I went with the i5 version with 256gb storage and 8gb RAM, and it’s plenty fast enough for the basics I am using it for.
One disappointment I have with the Surface is that it cannot use Windows 10’s “Hello” unlock/login.
The feature uses your camera to make sure “it’s really you” and when you unlock the device, saving you a few seconds of typing your password or pin.
Apparently Surface 3 shipped with a camera that doesn’t have the required chipset, so no fancy login for me.
I was very impressed with Microsoft’s stylus and the basic One Note app that comes with the Surface.
This is probably the first time I’ve actually found tablet handwritting to be feasible. If it’s one thing Apple utterly loses on, it is handwritten notes.
The more recent iPad Air 2 is especially missing the ability to work well with just about any stylus offering out there.
Late last year I had been trying hand-written note-taking using Evernote’s stylus with Penultimate, and it sucked.
I have tried about 4 different styluses (stylii?) and the best one was 53’s Pencil stylus, which is designed to be used with their Paper app and is geared toward sketching and not notetaking.
The Surface’s digitizer & stylus combo just blows all the others away. I know Apple will likely be selling an iPad Pro later this year, with more stylus-friendly hardware, but for the moment
Microsoft has the only game in town for fantastic note-taking.
That’s the extent of my review so far, I’ll report back in a few months about my use-experience. By then the Surface 4 or 5 will be out, I’m sure.
Originally published at julianwest.me on August 3, 2015.