Can a Microsoft Surface really replace a laptop? Chris Salter investigates
Microsoft released the Surface range of tablets back in 2012. They were tablets, running Windows 8, designed to show the tablet functionality of the Windows 8 system. However, these made use of Windows RT, a full version of Windows 8 that was programmed to work on ARM-based processors and didn't run on the standard x86 processors used in PCs, and so were limited in the ability to work with normal programs. This meant that the Surface didn't really appeal to all but the die hard Windows users and were essentially tablets solely for using Office. Microsoft had written the Office suite to be used on Windows RT and the Nvidia Tegra powered tablets, but the majority of the other software available for computers cannot run on this architecture and therefore was rendered useless. The tablet never really took off, although it did receive reasonable reviews here and there, but the biggest flaw was its incompatibility with new programs.
Fast forward a few years, and Microsoft is advertising the Surface as the tablet that can replace your laptop. This isn't a new claim for tablets. People have suggested that the iPad can replace a laptop in general, but once you get past casual gaming, browsing the internet and social networks, the iPad can struggle to provide a proper laptop replacement for office (or even home) users. And while Microsoft has released Office on the iPad, it's still a limited version and doesn't do everything the desktop version does, and trying to edit an Excel spreadsheet on an iPad is a lesson in patience.
So can the Microsoft Surface really replace a laptop? I thought I'd have a go and find out.
What Surface?
Microsoft currently has two different versions in the Surface lineup: the Surface 3 Pro and Surface 3. Both run Intel processors (the Pro version using the i series of chips, while the standard version makes do with an Atom processor). Both versions run Windows 8 (but will be updated to run Windows 10 when it's released in July) and come with a range of different solid-state storage options. This can be seen in the following table:
Prices start at £419 for the Surface 3 basic model and £639 for the basic Surface 3 Pro. These aren't the cheapest tablets available, but the basic one competes with the cheapest iPad Air 2.
I tested the Pro version, so I had the faster processor and larger amounts of space and RAM available.
It should be noted that while Apple offers all the iPad models with a SIM card option, only the cheaper Surface has the ability to use a 4G SIM card for mobile data access.
Both Surfaces come with the standard ports you'd expect of a laptop. Both have a single USB 3.0 port for connecting USB peripherals - useful for connecting pretty much anything, although with a single USB port, you might need to carry around a USB hub if you need to connect more than two USB items at once. However, this is needed on similar laptops, such as the new MacBook, which requires an adapter for all devices, thanks to its USB-C port.
Both Surfaces also contain a micro-SD slot, capable of taking micro-SD cards of 200GB so you can add in additional storage over and above that on the SSD at a later date. Those that want to save money may want to look into getting the Surface with a smaller internal SSD and using portable applications or just installing programs to the micro-SD card, since none of the parts of the internals are upgradable at a later date.
Charging is achieved via a standard micro-USB cable - no more searching for specific laptop chargers if you misplace one! However, like the iPad, the charger is a 2A charger and while it could charge on a standard phone charger (if not in use), it will charge quicker with a 2A charger.
The Surface can use multiple displays and can output it's screen (as you might expect from a laptop) via a Mini Displayport so if you intend to connect to a projector, you may require a VGA adapter.
Usage
The Surface looks to match any Apple designed product in terms of quality. While slightly larger than an iPad (certainly for the Surface Pro) and heavier than the iPad, it's still light enough to carry around and to use day to day. It feels lighter than a lot of the laptops I've used, so one of the aims of the Surface has been achieved (as a laptop replacement).
Starting the Surface, it booted quickly - not as quickly as starting the iPad from sleep, but it was certainly as quick as starting the iPad from a cold start (but does anyone turn the iPad off unless they have to?). On boot, you're greeted with the standard Windows desktop and, as this is Windows 8,1, the Metro interface. As this wasn't my Surface, I didn't have to set up the Surface from scratch by creating an account or doing the standard form filling when getting a new PC, but l have been informed that this is the case, and you set it up just as a new PC. As it's a full Windows machine, you can add and remove users as needed from the Control Panel, so if you have a single tablet for the entire family to use, you can now have individual accounts - something the iPad and, to my knowledge, Android don't have. No longer will you have to be concerned with another family member accidentally destroying data that they shouldn't!
As a full Windows 8 device, you can connect the Surface to NAS devices and other items on the you network extremely easily. Frankly, it put the iPad to shame in how easy I could access my music and videos on my NAS! I was also able to edit files directly on the NAS itself and was able to use Dropbox to sync my files to and from the Surface. The iPad version of Dropbox only lets me access my files and doesn't have automatic synchronisation. With Microsoft Office installed, I was able to access all the office documents as well. For me, one of the best things the Surface allowed me to do was to browse A4 PDFs as a full page, due to the extra size, in portrait mode. This was a fantastic help for reading academic papers, which I have to do fairly regularly. Obviously, the smaller Surface may restrict this slightly, but the Pro version was great. I would have no problem using the Kindle App on here as well as using it as an ebook reader in a push (I still prefer the Kindle) and because it's Windows, you can happily run Calibre on the device and fully manage your reading library!
In general, it using as either a laptop or tablet was perfectly adequate. Moving between portrait and landscape while in tablet mode meant the screen moved as one might expect, though in general, using Windows in portrait mode was a bit frustrating - a decade of widescreen monitor usage makes getting used to the narrow space difficult. Yet, as above, it makes reading documents a breeze. In fact, I would have liked to have seen the keyboard allow me to place the tablet in portrait mode for writing, as it would be nice to have a full Word document visible in the screen at once.
Keyboard
To make the Surface a laptop replacement, you need to provide a keyboard. Microsoft does sell a keyboard for the Surface, but this is an optional extra (which is never the case with an actual laptop!), which naturally means added expense.
However, the keyboard does work flawlessly with the Surface, which to be honest, considering the price, you would expect. The keyboard attaches magnetically to the base of the Surface (so you can only use it in landscape mode, rather than portrait, which some iPad users might like), and it connects via exposed connectors, so there's no need for relying on Bluetooth. Once connected, it replaces the on-screen keyboard automatically, similar to iOS, where the keyboard will hide itself when connected to a Bluetooth keyboard.
The keyboard does contain a touchpad and buttons as well, turning your tablet into a laptop. The keyboard itself isn't the nicest to type on, but when you see how thin the cover (and therefore, the keyboard) has to be, you can forgive Microsoft, as it would have to cut corners somewhere to allow this to still be thinner and lighter than other laptops on the market. With the cover and tablet together, I think the new Apple Macbooks still trump the Surface in terms of thinness, but at the end of the day, they don't convert into a tablet and are still cost more than the Surface Pro and keyboard cover!
Pen
The Pen (or stylus) is an optional extra with the Surface 3 but is included with the Pro. Of course, you might never use a stylus with a laptop or tablet, but in the tablet mode, the stylus can really provide benefits. I was amazed to discover that the stylus blocks input from you hand, so you can happily rest your hand on the Surface while you take notes. It means you can actually handwrite notes comfortably. It meant that in Onenote I was able to handwrite everything that was being discussed in a meeting.
In addition, the stylus provides a measure of pressure sensitivity. While perhaps not as good as attaching a Wacom tablet to the Surface, the basic Microsoft stylus does extremely well in responding to pressure in specific applications that support it (Onenote being one).
As a Bluetooth stylus, this does require batteries - either a single AAAA or two 319 coin batteries. I wasn't able to test the battery life of the Pen over the course of my testing.
Options
The Surface has a number of optional accessories that you can purchase along with it. Some of these vary from extremely useful to nice to own.
For example, the keyboard cover is almost essential if you want to use the tablet as a laptop replacement. While a separate Bluetooth keyboard would work just as well, the Surface keyboard allows you to use it as a cover for the Surface but software support is built in (so it clears the on-screen keyboard when attached and it includes a trackpad).
The stylus is an optional extra for the Surface but is included with the Pro version.
Microsoft sells a dock that allows you to hook your Surface up to desktop peripherals such as a keyboard, mouse and monitor. This would allow you to make use of the portability of the Surface and then set it up as a desktop machine when you either get home or to work.
Battery Life
The battery life isn't the best on the Surface Pro, certainly in comparison to the iPad, which features a battery that could last all day. I could certainly spend two evenings with the Surface on battery, but I'd also be switching it off when I was done; the iPad could be left on all day and work for at least three days on a single charge.
Conclusion
To my mind, the Surface functions somewhere between a laptop and a tablet, but I wouldn't say as one or the other it excels. For example, as a pure tablet, it is reasonably heavy, and you wouldn't be sitting in bed with this above your head browsing, and occasionally using a full blown Windows operating system actually hinders it when the programs you're using having been modified for a touch-screen interface. However, with the keyboard attached and in use as a laptop, this isn't an issue. The Metro interface to Windows 8 really makes much more sense on the Surface, and I found using the iPad afterwards restrictive. In general, as a laptop, the Surface is extremely good, though I had some issues with the 'multi location' stand at the back, in that I could only seem to get one location. The cheaper Surface has three angles, while the Pro apparently is fully adjustable, but I just couldn't get this. Likewise, using the Surface on my lap produced wobbles, though it was more stable than I expected, but less so than I would have wanted - I'm typing this article on the train on my Thinkpad on my lap, and I'm not sure I'd have risked the Surface in a similar situation.
However, I believe that while it's perhaps not the best at either the tablet or the laptop function, it does perform extremely well in each function, and I believe that, yes, Microsoft's claim of replacing your laptop with a single device is entirely justified. In fact, I may have to save for one as my next computer purchase!