Laptop Recommendation....Surface Pro or other?

mimico_polak

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All this talk about laptops on the Windows 10 thread has gotten me thinking that it may just be time to upgrade my old 8 year old laptop to something newer.
Been having a lot of interest in the Surface Pro 2 tablets but unfortunately they’re way overpriced for what I want to pay and am looking for something that would do the trick without the cost. Main use would be to have a word processor / Office in a portable platform.

I currently use an iPad mini, and have a Mac Mini (which I may consider selling both) and am looking for something in between because it’s annoying being in a room for the Mac mini, but can’t really do any work on theiPad mini. The Surface Pro seems to have everything I need, and I really like the fact that I can run regular software on it, as well as include a USB forextended storage, and the pen seems like a good feature. I also love how light the thing is as I do travel a fair bit and would like to take it along instead of my work laptop (VPN not needed). Otherwise I would’ve gone with the RT model…


Any recommendations out there? Anyone have any experience with the Surface tablets and whether the RT vs PRO is really an issue? I know that the RT is pretty limited in apps…but then again my iPad has about 20 apps maximum as I use it for casual use only. I’ve not had much success in finding apps that can edit / play around with Office files so that’s why I’m leaning towards something more Windows focused. Refurbished / used would be OK for my needs.

On the old laptop I did install Windows 8 which I hate, but if I can move up to Windows 10 it may make it more livable….I have Linux Ubuntu on it as well, and can’t remove Win8 to run only Ubuntu…but maybe that’s just my lack of IT skills talking.
 
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Take a look on Kijiji. I wanted something I could use outside of my home, but with features similar to my huge laptop that I don't take with my anywhere (its 17"). Something I could take on flights etc.. I was looking at the Surface range as well. I found one from a dude online for $500. Its a Surface Pro 3 with the i5 and 4g of ram and it came with that keyboard thing, and a case. Not a bad deal I think, and it has the touch function and pen for drawing or note taking. The person I bought it from was an Apple person and didn't want it. I happily bought it from him, with no damage at all. It took me a few weeks to find that deal, and I had to make the deal go down quick because I didn't want to miss it.

Its a good pc. Very quick. Functions with windows 10 really well.
 
Take a look on Kijiji. I wanted something I could use outside of my home, but with features similar to my huge laptop that I don't take with my anywhere (its 17"). Something I could take on flights etc.. I was looking at the Surface range as well. I found one from a dude online for $500. Its a Surface Pro 3 with the i5 and 4g of ram and it came with that keyboard thing, and a case. Not a bad deal I think, and it has the touch function and pen for drawing or note taking. The person I bought it from was an Apple person and didn't want it. I happily bought it from him, with no damage at all. It took me a few weeks to find that deal, and I had to make the deal go down quick because I didn't want to miss it.

Its a good pc. Very quick. Functions with windows 10 really well.

Wow...good deal. $500 for a SP3 with case and keyboard is a steal. I'd buy that LoL.
 
The RT version is dead. It will be obsolete quickly. The cost difference with the Pro will pay for itself if you keep the Pro for longer time. Unless you're so hard up for a few hundred bucks right now, avoid the RT. It will make you poorer in the end, and in the meantime the user experience will be terrible due to the lack of support and being stuck on 8.1 (there's no Win10 for RT)
 
Wonder if the surface will drop in price now that apple announced the iPad pro with keyboard and pen....
 
Acer laptops are fine ,what do you use it for?

Nothing special just general MS Office is the only thing I can't do with the iPad mini that I have. Thought that a Surface tablet would let me do that as well as browsing with a tablet.
 
Wonder if the surface will drop in price now that apple announced the iPad pro with keyboard and pen....

Theres also a rumoured pro 4 on the horizon so at some point prices might go down soon. I have a pro 3 and I love it. The only issue I have with it is that the screen is so high res that many projectors at my work don't talk nicely to the pro 3 without tweaking a few settings. Battery life is also not incredible but you can use the old power keyboard from another model for it and add some more.
 
Surface Pro is a tablet. If you want a laptop I suggest you look at laptops. You'll probably get more performance for your dollar.

Now if you want a tablet with the full functionality of a laptop, the Surface Pros are about your only option.
 
Surface Pro 3 $50 rebate at Costco

Sent from a Samsung Galaxy far, far away using Tapatalk
 
Surface Pro 3 $50 rebate at Costco

Sent from a Samsung Galaxy far, far away using Tapatalk

Thanks Joe. I think for the price I'm looking for...and the actual need of what I want I'm going to try and score a used one and hope to get a deal like JERICHO did.
 
Thanks Joe. I think for the price I'm looking for...and the actual need of what I want I'm going to try and score a used one and hope to get a deal like JERICHO did.

The most memorable part of the guys ad that I got my SP3 from was that he was dumping it for a new apple product. Which means that in their eyes maybe its value is diminished because Apple just announced (as you said) their version of a tablet with pen. Apple products always do well. From what your needs are a SP3 sounds like it would fit the role you require of it perfectly. I know I got a crazy deal.. I was harassing that dude to meet up QUICK..lol.. he told me when he met up with me that he had like 5 other people contacting him. He said I reached him first, and he was honorable about it, so there was definitely some luck in there for me.
 
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