Microsoft Surface Pro 2

garys1 wrote in post #16443478
I have the sp2 for a little over a week. iPad has been relegated to the closet. Just received a SSD external drive to hook up to the sp2. Finally I have a tablet that runs all the applications my company has as well as VPN and RDP. Now got see how it works tethered to my DSLRs.

I can see why. Just doing an across the board comparison between an iPad Air, Lenovo Helix and SP 2 the SP 2 seems like the best choice for anyone that also needs a tablet for business. I initially though the Helix was the way to go, but to me there are enough improvements with the SP2 that it's now a bit better choice IMO unless you absolutely need a convertible. I also could care less about "apps" and I don't need a camera on a tablet to do any more than act as a copier.

The biggest neg for the SP2 is weight. I also couldn't determine what it supports for mobile data. Doesn't seem to support LTE from what I can tell.

If all I needed was a bullet proof web browser, access to email and listen to music or watch videos then the iPad Air would be the way to go ... but then for that I'd just keep using my first gen iPad until it completely dies (battery life for mine is really low now, so it's almost there). The biggest neg for the iPad for me is that I need to take hand written notes during meetings. A capacitive screen is horrible for this purpose where the Helix and Surface Pro 2 support Wacom pressure sensitive pen input. Another negative is that I need to use a Citrix app to run MS Office applications especially to view Excel spreadsheets with graphs. It's pretty awful.

I have tons of apps on my Android tablet and phone but 90% of them is because it's easier to look at then on the web browser. Apps like US Airways, National Car Rental, IHG Hotels, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Skype, Netflix, Amazon, Paypal, BoA, Chase, Fidelity and Google finance.

Apps like media player since I want options like MX player, QuickPic, Pandora, IHeartRadio and so on are all media apps that just have options I like. Like sorting by title and not date or thumbnail view vs list view or simple things like that.

The only apps that I will truly miss on a tablet is Google books for offline reading. As for notifications, I have them off on my tablet cause I have my phone for that and even then, I ignore those notifications too.

Have a full Office support is awesome but I will be rarely using it for all of it's function.

It's just going to be a tough choice and it's probably going to come down to the price. Both will get the job done whether it's based on apps or full web browser support. I do need to get gifts so the Note 10.1 is looking up for me. Now if the SP2 64GB drops to $799 by the holidays then I might spend the extra $100 for the SP2. I could go for the 128 or 256 but since it supports SD cards, I can pick up 64GB cards for cheap and I have a 1.5TB external HD I use to store files. Now if the Note10.1 also drops $100 then that could be a possible choice too.

The change of them dropping by $100 in the next few weeks..not likely.

Thinking of getting the Surface Pro 2 to replace laptop and iPad. Was wanting to run Photoshop and lightroom on the SP2. Anyone doing this? I have LR 5 and Photoshop CS6/CC

Does 4GB ram cut it? I have an external hard drive for storing photos so I don't necessarily need the huge SSD, but wasn't sure 4GB ram would be enough. Can you get the 4gb/128GB SSD version and just upgrade the RAM to 8?

Also - does the built in stylus work well with Photoshop or would I still need to drag my small Wacom tablet along?

Thanks!
James

Memory on the Surface Pro 2 is not intended to be user replaceable. Not saying you couldn't figure out how to open the case and upgrade it, but it would definitely be a "do at your own risk" kind of thing, you'd be voiding the warranty.

The stylus supports pressure sensitivity and is excellent. You'd need to decide for yourself if it's as good as your Wacom, but know that it is quite good.

I probably wouldn't use Photoshop on the surface 2 but I would use light room to view RAW files. I have a labtop that has 4gb of ram and it does handle lightroom pretty well but not Photoshop.

I use my SP2 for full graphic design & photography editing work.
All of my CS6 programs including LR 5.2 runs perfectly, well, not as fast as my i7 32gb ram desktop, but my SP2 is just perfect for my on-site work.
The wacom digitiser is just a God-send, I can work directly to the screen. Perfect for illustration & photo manipulation.

virsago_mk2 wrote in post #16515576
I use my SP2 for full graphic design & photography editing work.
All of my CS6 programs including LR 5.2 runs perfectly, well, not as fast as my i7 32gb ram desktop, but my SP2 is just perfect for my on-site work.
The wacom digitiser is just a God-send, I can work directly to the screen. Perfect for illustration & photo manipulation.

The Wacom digitser is the biggest selling point for me. I love the Intous and very accurate.

How is the battery life when your running those programs?

virsago_mk2 wrote in post #16515576
I use my SP2 for full graphic design & photography editing work.
All of my CS6 programs including LR 5.2 runs perfectly, well, not as fast as my i7 32gb ram desktop, but my SP2 is just perfect for my on-site work.
The wacom digitiser is just a God-send, I can work directly to the screen. Perfect for illustration & photo manipulation.

Which SP2 do you have? How much RAM? I have an i7 desktop with 32gb too so if you are happy with your SP2, I would be as well I imagine.

James33 wrote in post #16515790
Which SP2 do you have? How much RAM? I have an i7 desktop with 32gb too so if you are happy with your SP2, I would be as well I imagine.

I believe all SP2 has 4GB RAM. The only difference is the HD space. from 64GB to 512GB.

RHChan84 wrote in post #16515817
I believe all SP2 has 4GB RAM. The only difference is the HD space. from 64GB to 512GB.

The 256GB and 512GB models have 8GB of RAM.

CincyTriGuy wrote in post #16515926
The 256GB and 512GB models have 8GB of RAM.

Exactly. And I'd rather pay $999 than $1299 if the 4gb model is good.

RHChan84 wrote in post #16515760
The Wacom digitser is the biggest selling point for me. I love the Intous and very accurate.

How is the battery life when your running those programs?

My SP2 battery life is kinda okay. Opening Outlook 2013, Photoshop, Lightroom & InDesign at the same time, usually it runs for around 3-5 hours. Even less when working on bigger PSD files & exporting 100+ images in LR.

James33 wrote in post #16515790
Which SP2 do you have? How much RAM? I have an i7 desktop with 32gb too so if you are happy with your SP2, I would be as well I imagine.

I have the SP2 256 8GB model. Having only 4GB ram on original SP is what made me holding off buying it. 4GB is just not enough for my needs.

I mainly use my SP2 for quick post-processing / minor post on-site, after the photoshoot job. But if some jobs requires more extensive editing & manipulation with large numbers of files, I do quick LR adjustment in SP2 then transfer the catalogue to my desktop & work via desktop.

Plus I also use my SP2 to store most of my graphic design & photography portfolio. So when I see a new client or going for a job interview, I do not need to carry bunch of my previous works. I can just show them my works via SP2.

The only thing I wish that SP2 could do is display tethering from the desktop. Kinda like how wacom Cintiq works, plug it in to your desktop & the SP2 becomes an additional display. Working directly on the SP2 screen is just awesome.

I don't see myself editing much on the tablet. I would probably use Lightroom to show some of the photos that I might of just shot.

I rarely use my laptop for edits now unless I'm bored at a hotel or something. I usually wait until I get home until I do it on my 24" monitor and use my laptop screen for web browsing.

I find is just easier on the eyes.

I do like the SP2 but the price is just too high to jusifty for what I'm going to do with it. Mainly movie and a lighter travel bag.

virsago_mk2 wrote in post #16517292
My SP2 battery life is kinda okay. Opening Outlook 2013, Photoshop, Lightroom & InDesign at the same time, usually it runs for around 3-5 hours. Even less when working on bigger PSD files & exporting 100+ images in LR.

I have the SP2 256 8GB model. Having only 4GB ram on original SP is what made me holding off buying it. 4GB is just not enough for my needs.

I mainly use my SP2 for quick post-processing / minor post on-site, after the photoshoot job. But if some jobs requires more extensive editing & manipulation with large numbers of files, I do quick LR adjustment in SP2 then transfer the catalogue to my desktop & work via desktop.

Plus I also use my SP2 to store most of my graphic design & photography portfolio. So when I see a new client or going for a job interview, I do not need to carry bunch of my previous works. I can just show them my works via SP2.

The only thing I wish that SP2 could do is display tethering from the desktop. Kinda like how wacom Cintiq works, plug it in to your desktop & the SP2 becomes an additional display. Working directly on the SP2 screen is just awesome.

Did you do the recent firmware update? Depending on what you're using your SP2 for it's supposed to increase battery by 20 to 25%.

At least your SP2 is doing better than my old iPad1. I only get about 3-4 hours of continuous use from it ... and along with the lower quadrant of the screen flickering on some sites (Netflix) it looks like it's on it's last legs.

Bob_A wrote in post #16518029
Did you do the recent firmware update? Depending on what you're using your SP2 for it's supposed to increase battery by 20 to 25%.

At least your SP2 is doing better than my old iPad1. I only get about 3-4 hours of continuous use from it ... and along with the lower quadrant of the screen flickering on some sites (Netflix) it looks like it's on it's last legs.

I did actually, running the latest firmware, including the new firmware released today 11 December 2013.

Well I guess the reason why my SP2 only got 3-5 hours of battery is because I usually run at least 4 programs at once, including outlook which I set the send-receive email rate at every 5 min. That might be the biggest battey eater in my SP2.

If I open just one or two programs at once, the battery level might doubled.

But, I still think that my SP2 battery level is pretty acceptable. IT's not like I'm using it full time as a full desktop replacement. So I guess for my current usage I think it's okay.