Customer Ratings & Reviews

I really like the Surface so far. The keyboard is great -- big enough for comfortable typing, and I like that it is flat under the hands. I have found Windows 8 not to be too hard a transition, though I did have to get a little help getting remote desktop set up. As other reviewers have noted, the support stand for the Surface is not adjustable and is really at the wrong height for me in most situations (needs to be lower). I can usually just prop it on something. Overall, very happy with its speed and ease of use.

Taking a long time to get all the ins and outs learned. Screen is perfect. Wish it were lighter and that it didn't get so hot when holding it.

I have wanted a Surface for quite some time. It was not until it went on sale for $499 that I was able to finally talk myself and my wife into getting one. I love the idea of the surface, meaning that it is portable, full featured and easy to use. I like having a full USB plug and that it is a complete computer in a tablet package. I purchased a Type Cover with it mostly because my wife has the Surface RT with the Touch Cover and there is just something about not having moving keys that is just off to me. Overall I enjoy my Surface just wish it came with Office but that is another story.

The Surface Pro is an excellent tablet machine. With the optional touch or type cover, the machine is also a very workable desktop replacement computer. The battery life is not the best, but the machine sports a quad core Ivy Bridge processor, so it is no slouch. The built-in digitizer is particularly awesome if you are an artist. The WACOM CINTIQ screen digitizer pad is not far from the cost of this device, and still requires a separate computer to connect it to. Zhis has the computer built-in.

Bought to use windows based applications (not win 8 apps) while traveling. Installed Classic Menu to get around win 8 tiles and to run stuff that does not have tiles and while I learned more about Win 8. Start/shutdown is fast - screen is very clear - even though the resolution is high for such a small screen. Use with type pad which also works great. Memory RAM and SSD are adequate for what I do - Office apps, Lightroom, remote to servers. Think MS made mistake with Win 8 native interface - tiles take too much space and the major problem is the hidden or scrolling to get to functions that are used frequently but not obvious - things like internet connection choices, etc. A lot of wasted space on the main tile menu that could be used to directly do most of what you need to go to the desktop to do.

Great tablet allows me to do everything a computer can do and load all the programs I need. I love the split screen. Battery life could be better and heavier than an IPAD. USB ports allow you do do much, much more than an IPAD.

I got my Surface Pro from a my sister in laws visiting NYC. Having had it for 2 wks now I am firmly in love with my Surface Pro! You can tell Microsoft went all out on this!. The specs mean that this is a laptop and even desktop replacement. As a tablet it's fantastic and I surprisingly really liking windows 8. Productivity is incredible with this thing. Easily kills the ipad that I've used. I can run any program > 1993 which some estimate to be 4 million (app store is 750k at present). I've installed lots of older programs esp games and they run excellent. Would this be my gaming rig? No but it is very respectable. You can watch my benchmarks on games I've run if you youtube my channel kakamesh. Put it this way those games blow ANY mobile game out of the water including real racing 3 (which I've installed on the ipad 2). You can output the display via displayport and play the games as if it was a console!! My wife is a designer and having a Wacom stylus built in is PERFECT. You can even output the display via the displayport and use the surface as a intous drawing pad - very very cool. Unfortunately though currently pressure sensitivity is not supported with Adobe which is a real shame but a promised update is coming out to fix this so I guess we are patient at the moment. Sketchbook pro works perfectly though and the stylus is so natural with the slightest of lag - but make no mistake this is the closest I've come to feeling like i'm writing down on apiece of paper!! The fact that you can flip the pen and erase is very cool. The surface design with the touch cover is a real eye catcher. It's thin and light enough (in fact lighter and thinner than a MacBook air). The built in kickstand is perfect for watching movies in bed and as it's a pc I can stream ANY movie via wifi and installed codecs - something I can't say about the ipad. In fact I can watch any flash content, games or website as I would with my desktop - the complete experience. Overall it's a very sturdy device and beautiful in it's simplicity. It's the only tablet bar an ipad that feels premium. In fact it might edge out the ipad even in this department. The downsides is that I wish there was another usb port and the marketplace at present is low in games and apps. Some are amazing but I wish gameloft and EA brought there games over. Hopefully this would be fixed as time goes on. Overall i'm blown away by the surface. It's the perfect device for me. A tablet and laptop when I need it. Heck I can output the display out to a monitor to have it as my desktop (with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse)! Same goes for our tv/home theatre!!

Its amazing. It is a fully functional laptop in a tablet. I can use this for work. Its a little heavy for a reader and the app store is just ok. It is super fast. I was worried about win8 at first but now I'm hooked. I have an Pad and android tablet, but surface is now my favorite, just make sure u go pro. I will say the Pad has a longer battery life. I can't wait for the battery keyboard to come out in spring 2014. Surface gives me about 8 hours. Love the way the charger plugs in too, no way for it to damage the unit by accident. I can't say enough, love this thing.

I do the IT for our healthcare offices. We are switched from PC's to tablets for charting our medical records. When researching our purchase, I was told by the BEST BUY sales representative when I asked why purchase a SURFACE instead of other windows tablets that it was better. His answer was much longer but his point was it is optimized for windows. It is like a perfect marriage of hardware and software. I purchased a Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro it is very nice but the SURFACE IS BETTER. I tried SONY and would not do that again. I did an ACER. I also did a SURFACE. It was the ultimate head to head experiment. Based on this, I added three more SURFACE pro tablets. I plan on adding two more shortly. While my staff initially though they liked the others (primarily the larger screens), over time, they would pick up the SURFACE and tell others how they "loved it" and preferred it over all our others. SURFACE was the easiest to set up. It does not have an excess of useless programs/apps. It is easier to use. The touch screen functionality is superior. The stylus is genius. WINDOWS 8.1 is impressive on a tablet and wonderful on the SURFACE.

This device is between a laptop and a tablet but it is closer to the laptop in weight and battery life. The build quality on the outside is excellent. Video quality while watching HD Netflix movie is excellent. Power connector does not want to stay connected and is difficult to align - does not snap in like the magnetic keyboard. There is no place to store the stylus, it is designed to plug into the power jack on the side but it does not stay put. Only one USB, would like to have two, the USB port on the charging brick is power only. Type keyboard is very good, amazingly light and offers good key feel/response. Keyboard stops responding sometimes so must detach and reattach to get it working again - this doesn't happen too frequently.

I have used a few tablets including iPad and Viewsonic. iPads of course are great, but they do not offer complete control of your system and you must use iToons to do just about anything, which is my main gripe about Apple "i" products. Apple products do most things very well, but I am from the old school in that I want complete control of the system I use. The Viewsonic VPAD10 was very nice as well in that it runs full Windows and also dual boots, allowing you to run Android if you wish to, which I never did, but I will not go into my reasons for this here. The Surface Pro is what you want to know about and I have got to say, it was well worth the wait. I held out for the Pro, I really didn't want to get the RT, which I am sure is fine, but I wanted the capability of full Windows functionality. Until I got my Surface Pro, I basically did most all of my work, and surfing, on my trusty 'ol Laptop. Well, I have to say: Not any more. The Surface Pro Can do pretty much everything my laptop can do, particularly paired with the Touch Cover (which is well worth the price of admission, and I recommend that addition if you decide to take the plunge and purchase your own Surface Pro). I was going to knock the Pro down a bit because of price, but I gave it a second thought. I realize, to be a bit cliché, "you get what you pay for". I wish this were always true, if you could actually gauge something's value simply by it's price, but of course this is not necessarily true. But in the Surface Pro's case, it actually is true. Case in point: The VPAD10's Hard drive barely had enough space to load a working copy of Windows on it right out of the box. The first thing I had to do was to search out a SSD compatible with the VPAD10, then figure out how to get it installed and working. I dare say, few people would be capable or have the resources at hand to do this. But once I got through modifying it to make it a well working stable device, I was into it for quite a few dollars, about the same as I am into the Surface Pro. Anyway, enough of that. The Surface Pro display is absolutely beautiful. it sports a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 dpi which is HD 1080i capable (notice, not compatible, but capable). The color depth is seriously breath taking. One thing to keep in mind is the screen width is 10.6 inches diagonally which makes for super resolution. However, when running in "Desk Top" mode, which is similar to running Windows 7. At that resolution the text can get very small on many of the Icons and other standard controls. Some people may need to wear their reading glasses occasionably. However, this can all be adjusted so it really is not a problem, just something to be aware of. I read a couple reviews in here where the only complaints were having to do with heat and/or weight. My only response to these kinds of silly criticisms is this: Give me a break. Anyone whom has any experience with computers, be it PC, Mac or otherwise; all computer processors generate a certain amount of heat. A little bit of warmth to a running tablet is completely standard and normal. I mean, the Surface Pro is running an intel i5 Processor! That is like, WOW! It is amazing how far computing has come. Very impressive. And, the weight of the Surface Pro is rated at 2 Lbs. I think that speaks for itself. Whether you are looking for a work tool, a portable gaming platform, or you simply want to sit in front of the TV and surf the net or read, unless you are a staunch Apple (anything without an Apple sticker on it is no good) fan, I think you will be quite impressed.

Purchased this unit to replace my iPad 3. Have found that this unit better meets my business needs and can fully replace my laptop when needed. However the iPad 3 has a more crisp screen, is easier to navigate, and overall has a more enjoyable user experience. For only email and play, the iPad is much better, however for business the Surface Pro wins hands down.

This is a really nice Tablet/PC/Laptop, in fairness it's a little bulkier than a IPad and a Tad Heavier NOT a deal breaker for me. This is a fast (Insert) and does everything your Laptop or Desk Top can do, no more lugging a Laptop or wishing that Tablet you have could Download your Windows based Software, plug in a DVD player to the USB and Voila, loaded QuickBooks with no aggravations or just watch a DVD movie. Otherwise a fine piece of Hardware, it is well made and for MS actually seems well thought out, amazing. There are a few Shortcomings, 1. Get the BIG drive Win8 eats a lot of storage. 2. Download Blue Stack and enjoy your Android Apps otherwise you'll be missing the Free Stuff from Android, MS has a Lonnnnnng way to go. 3. For the money the Keyboard should be part of the deal, to extend the use of this Tablet the keyboard is essential. About the Money, this is an expensive Tablet, Best Buy is Selling it for the same price as MS. 4. Somewhat Heavy, for me no biggy, others may find it tiring to hold, but I'm not sure any 10" Tablets are a pleasure to hold in your face for extended periods of time. 5. Is there some predominant reason we can't just have ONE form of charging these devices, come on guys have a round table meeting and agree that one format to charge all these electronic gadgets is ok!!!

The surface pro is a ultrabook alternative. Created with windows 8 in mind, it works well with the OS. Let's just talk about the negatives. The battery life is nothing to write home about. (4 hours at best) When you run out of power you have a super short power cord that you will need a plug very close to you. The processor and internals are decent but I'm not recommending this for anyone who needs i7 processor power. Using this as a tablet is hard and you will find yourself using it with keyboard more often than not. The device is heavy and you will not like holding it to read sites or watching videos for long periods of time. If you need something that is even more portable than a ultrabook check this out.

It's like having a laptop on a tablet. Love the graphics. Having a real USB is a plus. It's heavy for a tablet but that's not that bad. It's pretty quick too. Battery life is good.

I have wanted an iPad, but did not want a 3rd device. This machine enabled me to get a tablet sized machine that has all of the capabilities of a PC. I have just upgraded from Windows XP (for tablets) and Office 2003. While I may still have some issues with Windows 8, Office 2013 caused me the most gas. Perhaps more frequent updates would ease my transitions.

I use this for work and found it easy to use once you get past the learning cure of Windows 8. From there, it is basically a tablet PC that comes with a pen. The USB port is great for use with accessories and I recommend getting a USB hub if you want to use jump drives, wired devices at the same time with it. Seems fast, portable and the type cover protects the screen. I think its a little heavier than it needs to be and its easy to loose the pen if your not careful.

This is a great little addition and complement to my work laptop and my home development computer. I've got it loaded up with Office 2013 and Visual studio 2012 and have no problems with it. While I don't think I would enjoy coding a whole application or writing a full spreadsheet or word document, it's fine for making the quick edit here and there. It's great for watching videos or surfing the net but the back gets pretty hot after awhile. Battery life could be better or I could use the recommended settings. ;) I wouldn't recommend it for reading books. There are other devices out there that are easier to use and lighter for book reading. It's pretty heavy after awhile and I notice that I use is propped up on it's built in stand most of the time. Some times the touch screen doesn't work the way I expect it too but I've got pretty big fingers so I find that I use the included pen more than I expected I would at first. The hand writing recognition is very good especially with my horrible writing. The three options for the on screen keyboard are great to have and I find switching between them quick and easy. All in all I really like this for a first gen product and it fits in great with the way I work. I'd buy another one but they are a little to expensive right now and the 64GB version doesn't have enough free space. If you do buy one of these don't lose the pen that come with it. They don't seem to have replacements anywhere and other pens won't work with it.

I bought an iPad, but found lack of ability to import data directly to be a big limitation. Also, could not handle office programs. Great for movies, surfing and basic e-mail, but not useful for work. I returned the iPad and got the Surface Pro at Best Buy. Office 365 is a very good product, and can be as completely productive as useing my lap top or desk top. Very good quality screen. This was my first use of Windows 8. After some time on learning curve, it is actually pretty good. Only problem is when I do use my laptop, I am continuously poking at the screen. Works very well as a reader or for watching videos. Equal to iPad. However, volume on built-in speakers is low which I learned from reviews. Most of the time I am using on plane or coffee shop, so I am using headphoces most of the time any way, so the sound has not been a real issue for me. The device does not have wireless cell capability. When I bought, I also picked up a Verizon hot spot, and works fine if I am in an area with limited or no cell service. Only real problem is that processor seems to get overwhelmed sometimes when I am processing large amounts of data (20 meg Wor documents or large spreadsheets). Every once in a while, the reponse to keys when typing becomes very slow. Like I will type a sentence and the it shows up on the screen at about 1 letter per second. Stopping, saving and rebooting fixes issue, but still a little frustrating. Not a frequent problem, but for the price and brand, it should not occur at all. All in all, good product for business. If you do not need Office functionality, iPad is cheaper and a very good product for typical personal use. As an additional note, this was also my introduction to sky-drive, the microsoft cloud storage system. Works very well. SHould have started using sooner.

First this is a real computer not a Nexus 7 or iPad or the like. Real Windows programs get the job done. There are three experiences to the Surface Pro. 1. Tablet. Good, with a slick collection of Microsoft apps that will cover most of what you do: email, social networking, browsing the web, and keeping track of people and appointments. Some games and other apps, but relatively few compared to the 485,000,000,001 for iPad, and nearly as many for Android. Consider a nice tablet with live tiles a very useful and attractive bonus. 2. Tablet Computer. This is where the Surface Pro racks up the points. Microsoft has squeezed a mid-spec laptop into a one-handed device that's all gorgeous screen. With the Surface Pro, the stylus has taken its place alongside the mouse in the office ecology. Programs run great, and some are actually better experienced than on a conventional setup. As a trial lawyer, I finally have a computer I can casually take to the podium with me, jot notes on, or run Power Point from. This is the heart of the Surface Pro experience. Get it now while it's still got the wow effect. People will look twice. Oh, and handwriting recognition is excellent. You may not miss the keyboard. 3. Desktop Computer. The Surface Pro has a built-stand, but you'll need to spring for a keyboard cover and a tiny, but useful Wedge Bluetooth mouse to use it in the desktop mode. There is a touch keyboard and one with real, depressible keys. Both snap on magnetically to the Surface Pro and can flip over the screen when not in use. As mentioned, the little mouse not only works just as well as its big brothers, but is... well, cute. In fact the whole setup is adorable. Sit down to work, though, and it is nothing more or less than desktop computer, albeit scaled down. The keyboard feels a little small (I have big paws) but in no time I was comfortably touch-typing legal documents. If you don't mind feeling a bit cramped, this could replace your work computer. Whenever someone combines things, there's always the risk they will wind up ruining two perfectly good things. The Spork. The Snuggie. But this is a work of art. With the Surface Pro, you get a decent tablet, a fabulous tablet computer, and a good desktop (or laptop, if you prefer). If this sounds good to you, you'll probably love it. Since I did mark down for price and usability, let me close with a couple of observations. Price is what it is, will probably drop, but you could probably buy a laptop and tablet with money to spare for the price of the Surface Pro. And that would be completely missing both the point and the fun. Usability is not so easily dismissed. It isn't hard to use, it's frustrating hard the LEARN to use. Microsoft seems to have delighted in defeating reasonable expectations about what right clicks ought to do. The "Modern" or "Metro" interface is not exactly seamlessly integrated with your familiar-looking Windows desktop when you drop down into it to run a program. Once you learn the quirks, the ease of use is fine. But make no mistake. Touch is different. You will have to rewire some neuronal pathways.