Windows Surface Pro 3 A Gamechanger?

Windows Surface Pro 3 A Gamechanger? By Rohan Pal The 12-inch tablet backed by a powerful processor and stylus that can increase your artistic skills will be a gamechanger in the tablet market. But will this new sleek tablet replace your existing laptop? Microsoft has unveiled its latest tablet-cum-laptop, the Surface Pro 3, which has been designed to replace both tablet and laptop with one device. The company is confident that its flagship will challenge the domain of laptops in the technology market. Microsoft has genuinely tried to put all the features in one tablet like that of laptops. While the latest avatar of Surface Pro 3, running on Windows 8.1, does offer some notable improvements on its predecessors, it is still a question whether the consumers will abandon their laptops to shift to tablets. Starting with its hardware, the Surface Pro 3 is lot thinner and lighter than its older sibling Surface Pro 3. It has a 12-inch display, which boasts of 2,160 by 1,440 resolution with around 800 grams weight with a thickness of 9.1mm. One of the notable fixes on the Surface Pro 3 is the reconfigured kickstand. Surface devices have relied on the standard 22 degree angle, but a new friction hinge on the kickstand means that viewing angles are fully adjustable and feel sturdy. In canvas mode—an angle of about 150 degrees—the Surface Pro 3 is sturdy as you’d want it to be. But talking of the laptop context, the tablet comes with a type cover attachment which allows users to use it as an average laptop. Microsoft has admitted that the older version of the trackpad was a disaster but the upgraded type cover seems a much improved trackpad that is nicely responsive and larger than its predecessor. Microsoft boasts that it’s 68 per cent larger and 78 per cent more responsive than previous iterations. The stylus has been redesigned so that you can click the top of it to launch OneNote, even when the Surface Pro 3 is powered off. When you write notes using OneNote you can then click the top of the stylus again, just like an ordinary pen, and it will sync those notes up to the cloud instantly so they’re available elsewhere. Overall, the Surface Pro 3 is still not revolutionary enough to completely replace laptop, but it’s a well-designed device that delivers improvements on its predecessors and some new features that might boost one’s productivity compared to a standard tablet. Prices start at $799 for the basic Intel Core i3 model. And it is also available with Core i5, or Core i7 processors, with 4GB or 8GB of RAM and four storage options, ranging from 64GB to 512GB.

By Rohan Pal