I want an honest opinion from people not paid reviewers.... so does anybody have a surface pro 3? Has anybody seen anybody with one? My main concerns are the following:

• Can it run a 3d program like 3dcoat
• Can it run photoshop
• Can it run both at once (3d coat and photoshop)
• Can it run a usb hub from the one port it has (for the mouse and keyboard if i need it)

I dont want to drop 2k on something that will be wasted and be given to my wife who will install angry birds on! Thoughts?

It'll run any Windows software, but of course its not going to run as well as on a high-powered desktop or laptop. Specs are comparable to most high-end ultrabooks, which many people find perfectly productive for light-moderate duty. The biggest limitation you're likely to face is the fixed 8GB of RAM on the high-end model, or 4GB on lesser models. 3D performance will be limited by the integrated Intel graphics, but they'll certainly allow you to work.

It certainly will run a USB port, and also has Bluetooth built in for wireless keyboards or mice. For working at home, there's a dock with additional USB, display ports, USB and power.

Thanks for the detailed info. Dont want to waste 2500 on this when I could get a desktop replacement laptop and get something better.

It really depends on what you're after. You're paying a premium for the small size, the industrial design, and the pen interface here, whereas on the desktop replacement, you're paying for premium performance in both monetary terms and in design trade-offs -- larger physical size, heavier, hotter, less battery life away from the wall-socket. Neither machine is better, they're playing entirely different games -- if productive portability is your game, the Surface 3 is a strong contender, if performance alone is your game, a DTR or desktop is what you probably want -- in general, you probably shouldn't be considering both of these devices for the same role unless you woefully misunderstand your requirements.

I have the i5 128GB model.


"Can it run a 3d program like 3dcoat?"

I haven't tried that particular program. Generally, it can run anything that a medium-to-high-end x64 laptop with an Intel HD4000-series video card can. I've been able to run every program that I can on my desktop PC on it, just with less performance. My desktop is a beast. Intel GPUs tend to be about halfway between a desktop-grade discrete GPU and software rendering, as far as performance goes.

"Can it run photoshop?"

Yes. Though like Ravyne said, if you use a ton of RAM when editing large/complex files, 4GB or 8GB may not be enough for you. You can't upgrade the RAM like you can in most laptops.

"Can it run both at once (3d coat and photoshop)?"

Like above, that depends on how much RAM you're using and how much performance you need out of the GPU.

"Can it run a usb hub from the one port it has (for the mouse and keyboard if i need it)?"

I haven't tried any USB hubs myself, but I'd wager you would need a hub with its own AC power adapter. I don't have the dock, either, but that is another option.

Thanks for the in depth answers. I am thinking I might get the low end just to try it. I am not oposed to $700 for a good tablet and at worst I hand it over to my wife.

It can do anything that a desktop/laptop/whatever can do with the same CPU/GPU/HD/memory. The HD is pretty tiny, so hard-core image/video editing and 3D rendering won't have a whole lot of space, but it can run things just fine. USB hubs work fine.

I would be more concerned about the missing express keys.

I know I know, besides the slightly overprice wacom tablets which used old tech CPUs even when they came out, have the wacom digitizers some people seem to loathe because of the screen border inaccuracy (I totally love my cintiq, but this regularly drives me mad. Trying to hit something on the Toolbar at the border is a mess, as long as the toolbar is not totally huge with gargantuan icons on it), and seem to be all but forgotten by Wacom this year (I mean, a haswell refresh would be really needed to bring battery life to a usable level... the new M Core from Intel would be even sweeter), nobody seems to have thought about that until now.

Still, trying to work on a cintiq with a keyboard for the modifier keys is awkward. Trying to work on a digitizer tablet with ONLY the touchscreen (touchscreens, how I totally HATE them!) keyboard -> the horror! Either you have good palm rejection (forget that with windows 7, don't know if windows 8 is better), or you will constantly have to ctrl-Z unwanted touch events. And the fact switching off the touch screen is buried deep into the settings in windows does also not help.

And then there is the fact you are have just obscured about 1/4th or 1/8th of your usable work area with a touch keyboard!

Personally, I will throw away my aging Samsung Series 7 Slate, which is "barely usable" for serious graphics work as soon as either Wacom releases a new generation of their Tablets, giving them better battery life and a keyboard case (because really, I hate typing on touchscreens!)... altough a slightly better GPU Part (if it has to be an intel "freebie" part, so be it, just make it a good one), a digitizer that slots into the tablet, and a lower price would be also welcome (last part is wishful thinking I guess... because Wacom )

.... or other manufacturers finally get their shit together, throw away the idea that a tablet has to be as light and small as possible, finally fatten up that bezels and fill them with programmable keys I as an artist so desperately need to keep my already small screen area free from touch keyboards and the touch screen switched off.

Add again a good keyboard cover (Can't blame MS here, the Surface Keyboard covers must be brilliant), good battery life (Again MS nailed it), and I will be onboard.

I don't care much about the whole N-Trig vs Wacom argument. From what I have heard, the new N-Trig digitizers must be as good as the best Wacom delivers, minus the border inaccuracies. I could live with less presure levels and a battery in the digitizer for that alone.

But besides that point, I am happy with wacom digitizers.

I have the Lenovo Helix, a very similar device to the Surface Pro 2, but significantly cheaper. I regularly use it to program database applications with a full database and a heavy analysis process. For that, I can run Visual Studio (Ultimate, I just got approved for BizSpark), my application (which takes a ton of memory), SQL Server, SQL Server Management Studio (which is a pig), and several Google Chrome and Firefox windows (which are also pigs). I don't play games on it, but I am *developing* a game on it. I can run Blender, Photoshop, NetBeans, and several Google Chrome windows at the same time, no problem. And that's with SQL Server still running in the background, as I don't shut it down when switching projects.

And if I'm pegging the processor and WiFi, I can usually get 4 hours out of the two batteries (it's a convertible tablet with a backup battery in the keyboard). If I turn off WiFi and don't do any graphics work, I can usually get to 6 hours. Which incidentally is how long the train ride to visit family takes, so I can go visit and not lose a day of work.

However, I greatly underestimated how easily it'd be able to read the screen. Windows in any version is not designed to run at 190PPI. I've tried every setting, there is *something* wrong with all of them. I often just opt to keep everything small and use the built-in UI zooming feature most applications seem to have these days. I should have skipped the "convertible tablet" feature, as I never use it detached, and gone with a slightly larger laptop, perhaps 13 inches.

I use the Surface Pro 2 256GB edition, which has an i5 and 8GB ram. I would really recommend going for one of the 8GB ram versions since that's pretty much the limiting factor in my opinion.

I use my Surface for touch input testing, travelling and overall "light" usage. I also have an i7-4800MQ/15-inch 1080p/32GB RAM/480GB SSD/GTX780M laptop which I use for heavy duty work, but I'm switching over more and more to my Surface since it's quieter, faster to boot and overall easier to handle. I also use Hamachi+Radmin to remote control my desktop.

The one giant issue I have with my Surface is that right-clicking on the touch pad is super awkward, but apparently they improved that alot in the Surface 3 series of keyboard covers.

It can definitely run a USB hub, but even though I bought one for it, I've almost never had to use it. I use the keyboard cover (type cover highly recommended!) and some cheap and small usb mouse.

I wouldn't recommend using it as a primary system, but it's a really nice compliment.