Surface Pro 3 review

OK guys food for thought.

A question if i may. Can you use a 2 port USB hub and copy from CF card to HDD, this is where the RT fails, probably due to lack power to the USB port? But even plugged into the power it tends to be sketchy.
Copying from CF to MicroSD and then to HDD is not a nice option. I skipped iPad and Android as the RT had a USB port, but it seem there may be a reason for other tablets not to have bothered.

I already have the keyboard, v1, for the RT I guess that will work? I would be looking at using only LR mostly anyway so a mouse would be plugged in.

Thanks for the input.

Neilyb wrote in post #17310530
OK guys food for thought.

A question if i may. Can you use a 2 port USB hub and copy from CF card to HDD, this is where the RT fails, probably due to lack power to the USB port? But even plugged into the power it tends to be sketchy.
Copying from CF to MicroSD and then to HDD is not a nice option. I skipped iPad and Android as the RT had a USB port, but it seem there may be a reason for other tablets not to have bothered.

I already have the keyboard, v1, for the RT I guess that will work? I would be looking at using only LR mostly anyway so a mouse would be plugged in.

Thanks for the input.

Yes, absolutely. The Pro series of the Surface are all full Windows laptops in tablet form. The RT series runs Windows RT, which is closer to Windows Mobile than real Windows.

The V1 keyboard 'will' work, but it will look a bit funny on the version 3's.

I use the Surface Pro 2. I've been looking hard at the SP3 as a direct upgrade simply for more screen real estate.

The OP mentioned that video and network interfaces are expensive -- You can use any USB network card, and any Mini Displayport style display adapter, they're always cheap on Newegg. Don't spend the money for the official Microsoft versions unless you really want to pay that much.

OK thanks for that, might have to try and get to use one, see how it works.

I am picking up a 3 USB3 port with SD network adapter this weekend and I will report back. I was going to puck up the one with a SD reader but I would have more use for the network jack instead, especially for hotels. I will also be picking up a USB3 card reader. I will test and let everyone know the results this weekend.

I actually also ordered the same usb hub as DTBaan, but it's far bulkier than I wanted. I'm on the hunt for a more compact usb3 hub that I can take with me traveling.

The trackpad still has some issues, but isn't too bad. It's on par if not better than many other ultrabooks, but falls short of the Macbook series trackpad. However, using the pen is absolutely brilliant. Taking notes in one note is just like writing on paper, expect it is endless. And using it as a mouse works very well, especially in tablet mode.

I also think that SP2 vs SP3 is a pretty big gap (And surface RT is in another league all together, in a bad way). The screen is much nicer, and IMO, the pen works better on SP3.

I had no intentions to buy SP2, and really, when news broke that SP3 was using the Haswell line of processors, I was really tempted to wait for SP4. However, I'm happy that I got it and my wife and I fight over it enough that when the next version does come out, it's probably going to be an instant buy for us.

http://www.amazon.de …oh_aui_detailpa​ge_o04_s00

This the one I have for the surface RT2, fits to the bevel but only attaches to the port so is not stuck.

I've got the USB 3.0 version of that for my surface pro 2. Note that the card reader is NOT USB 3.0.

It is yes but would that cause the HDD and/or the card reader to drop out of windows?

So I was able to test the USB3 hub and my findings so far

-Cannot use two external hdd at the same time. Causes power issues.

But

I can use a external HD and card reader with no issues. It seemed slightly slower when trying to copy two files to the HD and the card reader.
Using each either just the card reader or external HD alone, read/write speeds were pretty close to directly connecting to the USB3 on the SP.

Ok, that is not perfect but as a backup solution will work. Thanks for the test.

I wonder if 2 ssd's or something with lower power usage would work well..

did you try the transfers plugged in or with out plug?

DTBaan wrote in post #17316502
I wonder if 2 ssd's or something with lower power usage would work well..

did you try the transfers plugged in or with out plug?

I was plugged in.

I used a SSD and HDD and that is when I started to have issues.

I find it annoying that a fully specc'd PC would only have one port, even if it is a tablet.

shikhan wrote in post #17311457
I actually also ordered the same usb hub as DTBaan, but it's far bulkier than I wanted. I'm on the hunt for a more compact usb3 hub that I can take with me traveling.

The trackpad still has some issues, but isn't too bad. It's on par if not better than many other ultrabooks, but falls short of the Macbook series trackpad. However, using the pen is absolutely brilliant. Taking notes in one note is just like writing on paper, expect it is endless. And using it as a mouse works very well, especially in tablet mode.

I also think that SP2 vs SP3 is a pretty big gap (And surface RT is in another league all together, in a bad way). The screen is much nicer, and IMO, the pen works better on SP3.

I had no intentions to buy SP2, and really, when news broke that SP3 was using the Haswell line of processors, I was really tempted to wait for SP4. However, I'm happy that I got it and my wife and I fight over it enough that when the next version does come out, it's probably going to be an instant buy for us.

If you get a Matte screen protector and the Wacoom Bamboo stylus that works with the surface, it feels EXACTLY like paper. It's lovely.

JacobAllison wrote in post #17317147
If you get a Matte screen protector and the Wacoom Bamboo stylus that works with the surface, it feels EXACTLY like paper. It's lovely.

Just remember that that stylus will not work with the SP3 since it uses n-trig instead of Wacom technology. SP2 uses Wacom.