The folks at Motorhead Garage did a segment on our VMSpc product recently – you may have seen it on the Velocity Network. For that video we installed VMSpc on a Surface Pro. I thought the results were excellent, and I ended up making the Surface my personal machine. Installation was easy using the newly Signed Drivers. I found a lot to like with the Surface Pro. The screen was sharp and bright – especially if you keep it plugged in so it doesn’t try to save power. The form factor is different from the other pads – it’s taller or longer, depending on how you look at it. I made some custom screens, but I found that it was easier to do this using the touchpad than by trying to use the touchscreen, even with the stylus. There is also a little glitch in Win8 where if you turn the unit so the screen switches portrait/landscape mode, and then back again, it doesn’t restore the window to the full screen size. But I expect that Microsoft will fix that glitch.
Overall, I really like the Surface Pro. I own an iPad and two different Android pads, and the Surface is easily superior to them all. The only advantage the iPad has is battery life, but the Surface is faster and runs all the software I need to run. I also prefer the Surface form factor. What really surprises me – I generally dislike Microsoft products and I heard a lot of Win8-bashing before I bought this machine – is that I find it easier to use than the iPad. I still make a lot of use of my Netbook – mainly because it has the best keyboard. I also use an Android pad a bit, since it has by far the best battery life. Occasionally, I bring along my full-sized laptop, but only if I know I am going to need it for some serious work. But the Surface Pro is now my main road machine, and I have hardly touched the iPad in a month.