Thursday, October 19, 2017 at 3:07PM |
What to look for in the Surface Book 2 USB C, 17 hour video playback on battery, both a 13.5 and 15 inch version, lots of memory, lots of CPU, lots of storage. Watch this video that will walk you through the design and reasons for the design by Jeff Stewart, Senior Director and Product Line Manager at Microsoft. |
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Tuesday, September 5, 2017 at 12:43PM 
It has been a pet peeve of mine that Microsoft had held back regular channel partners from selling their Surface Series Products. We are now authorized so if you are in the market let us know so that we can get you over some pricing information.
Surface Laptop in Graphite Gold, Burgundy & Cobalt Blue are (finally!) coming to distribution.
Surface Laptop Colors are launching in distribution on November 1, 2017.
Thursday, July 27, 2017 at 1:18PM This is an upcoming app that is targeted to the Education Market. Very simple UI with lots of easy to understand capabilities. Has built-in shape recognition. Automated graph creation by writing out the equation. You can insert images from Bing. You can then share the white board with other people easily. You can also share the same board with off-site individuals as well for collaboration.
Microsoft originally introduced this in May 2017. It was designed to work with Surface devices and provides two-way inking for windows 10. Currently in private preview for Surface Hub devices, the new whiteboard includes collaborative inking, geometry recognition, table conversion, and automatic table shading. It’s really designed to let people share ink across multiple devices, and will be available on all Surface devices later this year.
*Note that collaboration features require Office 365 business accounts with OneDrive for Business, and are only available on Surface Hubs at this time.
No information that I can find when it will be available for other Surface devices or on Windows 10 generally.
Friday, June 23, 2017 at 1:00PM This is a well presented Review of the new Microsoft Surface Pro. If you were thinking of a new purchase this might be a good choice for you.
Monday, June 19, 2017 at 11:57AM Just caught this on Paul Thurrott’s site and was initially intrigued but… For $129 it is a bit pricey. Granted it is built into an aluminum case, has finger print recognition, is Bluetooth wireless or USB wired connectivity. Short battery life, 4 months when you compare against Logitech’s line of keyboards although the batteries that come with it are rechargeable. And look at what is operating systems that it isn’t compatible with:
Here is Microsoft’s introductory video:
Monday, June 19, 2017 at 9:31AM 
This is Microsoft’s newest hardware offering directed to higher education users that is using the new Windows 10S operating system. Microsoft touts that this operating system is more secure so is safer for the users to work with primarily because it only allows applications that are in the Microsoft Store to be installed on the system. Hmmmm…
It all sounds good but I think that the price is a little more than what I would want to pay for Just a LAPTOP! I’d rather spend a few extra dollars and get the Surface Book that gives me Windows 10 Pro (yes I’m a business user) and the detachable screen. I really like those features. I understand that isn’t what everyone is looking for but that’s how I feel.
Friday, June 16, 2017 at 4:55PM An article in Windows Central asked the question whether the Microsoft Surface Dock is worth purchasing at its high price tag. The funny thing is, $200 for a docking station is not really that expensive when you are purchasing one with dual video ports and all of the other accessory ports that you get. See Specs Below: See at Microsoft
The first benefit is that the connector to the surface is the same magnetic connection that you are used to in the smaller power supply that comes with your Surface product. So with the one connection you are not only powering your device but you are adding all of the ports listed above with losing anything on the Surface at all.
The second thing I like are the dual display ports that allow you to connect two monitors giving you three active monitors altogether. They are mini display ports so it easy to convert them to whatever you monitors have on them.
Thee are a total of (4) USB 3.0 ports with power to charge your USB devices if you wish to plug them in. There is also a 1 Gigabit Ethernet port and an Audio out port to complete the group of ports being added to your device.
I drove with my family down to South Carolina for a week of sun and fun and for me training and catching up on work as well. I decided to bring my two monitors from my desktop setup with me and my wireless keyboard and mouse. It ended up being a really great setup and I felt I had an even better setup then I had at home with the three monitor display. I also hooked up a 3TB USB drive and a few other items to round up my desktop. It was really nice.
So to answer the question, heck yea! When you look at some of the other similar products on the market they are all priced right around the same amount so I really don’t feel that you would be paying a premium for this product. So if all of this sounds like something that you would want to do with your setup then I would say do it. You will find that it was well worth it.
Thursday, June 15, 2017 at 9:45AM 
Do you have a spare $99's handy? Well that's what this new pen is going to run you. Are you the creative type? Then this pen may well be worth the outlay it will cost you.
This pen responds with 4,096 pressure points to the lightest flick of the point on screen. The lag time is virtually undetectable to help make your drawing experience more lifelike to pen and paper.
Some of the applications that are working with this pen include: OneNote, Microsoft Office, Adobe Suite, Sketchable, Bluebeam Revu, Drawboard, and Staffpad.
Eventually you will have four colors to pick from (Platinum, Black, Burgundy and Cobalt Blue) but only Platinum will be available at first.
Pen Compatibility List:
[1] Surface Pen tilt functionality is available now with Surface Pro. Coming to other Surface devices via Windows Update soon.
Sunday, August 7, 2016 at 9:00AM I am going to have to really control my need to have the newest and greatest gadget next spring when it is expected the replacement for the current Surface Book is expected to be released. While this one took me about a year of drooling over before I finally bit the bullet the new one might go come to me much more quickly.
So what should we expect for the next generation? First, the Intel next-gen Kaby Lake processor that will give you lower power consumption and it is suspected that it will be even thinner than it is now (how can that be). We may see NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 10 series inside, either the GTX1050 or GTX1060. That would make it extremely popular for those who need the graphics power.
The current Surface Book has a 3000x 2000 resolution display so expect we will reach 4k resolution of 3840 x 2160 or so. It is not expected to release until late Q2 2017 but with all these upgrades it should be worth the wait. I just hope that the battery life is still going to be there. That would be a big disappointment if we lose that aspect.
Tuesday, July 12, 2016 at 8:57AM Sometimes the simplest solution to a problem can escape you completely. One of the SurfaceBook Pen’s neat features is its ability to launch the OneNote App and initiate screen captures in OneNote. I was doing some adjustments turning off functions in the SurfaceBook to conserve battery life. However, I noticed that when I clicked the top button on the pen it no longer launched OneNote. I am sure you are all instantly knowing what I did but if you don’t, take a quick look at whether you have turned off the Bluetooth receiver. I’m sure you can guess that the pen communicates with the tablet through a Bluetooth connection. Silly me.
Sunday, August 30, 2015 at 10:09AM If you put past articles that have written, you’ll see that I have many different postings talking about speech recognition and used on either a computer or mobile device. When I write about the speech recognition program I like to use the program itself to write the article which helps to test how well the program works.
In this case are done the same thing and I am writing the article using Microsoft Windows 10’s Speech Recognition application. I will only run through the initial training session to give the system of brief analysis of my voice characteristics. While with some programs like Dragon Naturally Speaking, this is sometimes sufficient to give an accurate response, I think Microsoft’s product will need multiple sessions to get to the same level of recognition capabilities that some of these better programs offer.
The basic control commands all seemed to work well and it may be that some of my issues are that I’m also using a new blue tooth headset that might not be transmitting as clear as I would hope. I probably should listen to my voice in conjunction with what the system was typing out. However, I do not see that as an option.
All in all, I find that the program is working sufficiently to use it but it does seem to get lost every so often and I have to bring the system back to the program started up again. This is a frustrating issue but quick on the screen bring everything back to life. My suggestion is to run multiple training sessions to increase the accuracy of the system so that you have a lower threshold of frustration when you begin using it.
Wednesday, June 17, 2015 at 1:35PM 
I just picked up an original Microsoft Surface Pro and even with it's limitations I have been fairly impressed with it. So much so that I am now eyeing up the Surface Pro 3 as my next laptop computer. Of course, I'll wait until I find a good deal on that as well. The one I picked up has 64gb of storage and 4gb of RAM. It is an i5 so it is pretty snappy. My biggest issue with it is the screen size and the storage. I just upgraded it to Windows 8.1 and that gave me a bit back but I have 20GB's free with my basic load on it. I am running Office 2013 (Office 365 Load), Connectwise (this is our service management program, Netflix, Hulu Plus, Kindle, Plex, Readiy, Facebook Apps.
However, before I upgraded, I was all the way down to 8GB so that was a little worrysome, especially when I didn't have enough space to install the upgrade to 8.1.
It is snappy, runs well and I am beginning to really like the 8.1 interface. I have found a few programs that don't like the new operating system but for the most part I am running fine. I have signed up for the Windows 10 upgrade that should be availablle late July and this will give me a chance to work more with it as well.
Friday, August 8, 2014 at 7:12PM This may be the first Microsoft Surface that really caught my interest enough to think about buying one for myself. The screen is slightly larger which makes it nice for my old eyes, and is thinner and lighter than its predecessors. The kickstand has been improved to have multiple positions and the keyboard connection is a little better I feel by being on an angle. This tablet is now available in five models that take you from an i3 through i7 with various storage options. The systems are a little pricey but if you have the money they may be worth it.
Paul Thurrott wrote a guide on how to choose the right model for you needs and I have included it below:
Core i3 model. Panay says that the base Core i3-based Surface Pro 3 model ($799 plus Type Cover) "is one of the fastest Core i3 devices available," but is aimed at "customers who want the versatility of a Surface Pro 3 but who don't run the most demanding applications or workloads." He recommends this version to students (for note-taking and web-based research) and for "anyone [who] wants a very portable device to be productive on the go, run Office and other desktop applications, make Skype calls, watch video, and casual gaming."
Core i5 models. The mid-level Surface Pro 3 models ($999, $1299 plus Type Cover) should satisfy the needs of most users, providing "the power and efficiency to be productive across a huge range of activities ... This machine outperformed any laptop I've used, and it will be the machine of choice for a lot of our customers." I'm using the $1299 version (8 GB of RAM/256 GB SSD) and find the performance to be just fine, though as I've noted the fan does kick in if you really press the machine.
Core i7 models. Of most interest to power users and the well-heeled, the Core i7-based Surface Pro 3 models ($1549, $1949 plus Type Cover) is "the most powerful Surface [Microsoft] has ever released" and is "designed to provide the power that [its] most demanding customers need." Panay specifically says that these Surface Pro 3 models will be "brilliant" for photo, video, or music editing, and they are aimed at scenarios as diverse as "connected to multiple monitors and peripherals or travelling."
Tuesday, June 18, 2013 at 7:43PM Nice updates to both Surface devices
Jun. 11, 2013Paul Thurrott
Nice overview of the updates that became available last week. So if you have Surface RT or Surface Pro you may want to take a look at what is new by taking a look at Paul’s article.
Update includes these firmware and performance improvements
Update includes driver and performance improvements including
To learn more about Windows Update, see Install Surface and Windows updates.
Friday, November 30, 2012 at 11:31AM So we finally have some initial specs and pricing for the upcoming release of the Surface Pro tablets. Basic specs include your choice of either a 64 or 128 GB SSD, i5 processor, 4GB RAM, 10.6 inch 1920x1080 10 point touch screen (this is higher resolution than the Surface RT, 1366 x 768), a Digitizer Pen for Pen input, Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.0, 42E-h battery, (2) 720p front and rear facing cameras, microphone, stereo speakers, full-size USB 3.0 port, microSDXC card slot, Headset Jack, mini DisplayPort (that can output a 2560 x 1440 resolution), and the following sensors: Ambient light sensor, Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Compass.
Priced at $899 for the 64GB version and $999 for the 128GB version there are a couple things that concern me about this device. First and foremost is the short battery life. The Surface Team confirmed that it will get half of the 8-10 hour battery life that the Surface RT has. So at 4-5 hours that is really pretty poor for this type of device. Is is a powerful i5 Ivy Bridge processor so we should see good performance and with the unit only weighing in at less than 2 pounds, for many the battery life might not be an issue. However, I would have liked something between 7 or 8 hours to get one through a full day at work.
For a person on the go that wants the lightest computer possible in a form factor that makes it great for doing intake data collection (medical) or a writer that is on the move this is something that might really work for you. I live with both my iPad and my Nexus 7 at my side pretty much 24x7. My phone is less of concern for me anymore since I have gotten a 7 inch tablet (I just slide the tablet in one of my pockets without a problem). It would have been nice if the keyboard had been included in the price but that will be something that you will need to add to your basket when you purchase this tablet. Also missing in this tablet is Microsoft Office, so you will need to add that back in as well.All in all if you are in need of tablet that will allow you to run your Windows 7 applications and want something that is light and in a tablet format then you may be a candidate for this version of the Surface.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012 at 8:58PM Windows RT comes with an overhead that you may not of know about. There is a reason you wouldn’t want a 16GB Surface RT tablet you wouldn’t have any storage space left over to load apps or data. On the 32GB Surface, Microsoft reports that 29GB is available. However, you will need to subtract 5GB‘s for Windows recovery tools and another 8GB’s for Windows RT, Microsoft Office and other built-in apps. That leave only 16GB’s for your use for storing music, pictures, video, documents and more apps… On the 65GB model you will be left with 48GB that would give you a lot more breathing room.
Sunday, November 4, 2012 at 11:07AM It is funny that even after my bad experience last week with the Nexus 7 failing for me, I am back to using it more than I am my iPad. Each device has its own characteristics that make it more useful in different ways.
When it comes to videos and podcasts I find my iPad is a better choice most often because I have it in a nice case that holds it up at a great angle and makes for easy viewing. I tend to use my Nexus 7 for gathering emails, working on my grocery list, calendar entries, and reading my RSS seeds while I am listening to podcasts on my iPad. It makes a great one-two punch.
Because I like the dictation functions on my Nexus 7, I use it quite a bit for doing my entry level work. It is humorous sometimes with the mistakes it makes but I can get you basic ideas down in print quickly and I can come back later to make any changes that need made.
It makes it very easy for me to sit here and discuss my thoughts and discuss my opinions quickly and easily without having to type them with my single finger typing skills that I have adopted with all of these glass keyboards. I have found that being a touch typist does not help me in this kind of situation.
I just can't find myself typing with my thumbs as I see many of my younger colleagues doing. I don't know it's my lack of motion with my thumbs or if it is just my lack of dexterity from years of typing. I do find myself massaging my hands a lot these days.
I keep looking at some of the new tablets now available and I find myself wanting to acquire them. The Microsoft Surface is very appealing but I wonder if I really need to have another tablet with a different interface and I hesitate because I am not sure I can run it through all of the functions that I would need to, to fully evaluate its full potential.
I think that if one doesn't make a product your primary device while you are testing it, I don't know how you can fully learn all of it's potential usefulness. I am still waiting for the Pro version of Surface to be released before I decide on which unit I will get. One of our current projects that Ken is working on is to set up a Windows 2012 server and create a VDI host for thin clients to access. The Microsoft Surface RT tablet would be a good example of a thin client for use in this case. Hence, the reason for Ken acquiring one for testing purposes.
Sunday, October 14, 2012 at 2:57PM Xbox has officially announced Xbox Music tonight which begins rolling out to Xbox consoles on October 16th. Starting on October 26th, Xbox Music will deliver free streaming music on Windows 8 and Windows RT PCs and tablets.
Microsoft states that Xbox Music has a catalog that is on par with iTunes and will give you access to millions of songs and albums that you can subscribe to or purchase through their online store. You can also purchase an Xbox Music Pass for $9.99/month to give you access to ad-free, unlimited playback of any song in their catalog.
Check out this press release with all the details
Monday, August 13, 2012 at 6:25PM Unlike Acer Lenovo doesn’t seem to be afraid of the new Microsoft’s Surface Product.
Lenovo has officially announce their upcoming ThinkPad Tablet 2 and has listed pretty muck the same specs that have been rumored earlier. They still haven’t disclosed the price as of yet. The device is a 10-inch slate powered by Windows 8 and an Intel Atom processor. The screen is a 1366x768 IPS display, which should help with color reproduction and viewing angles. It reportedly gets 10 hours of battery life, comes with optional 3G/4G connectivity, and a micro-HDMI video output port. It sports two cameras, 2MP and 8MP. The cellular connection will mainly be HSPA+, however, the tablet will be compatible with AT&T's LTE network as well. More incredible is the thickness: 9.8mm. Inside that slim package, Lenovo has packed NFC connectivity, a fingerprint reader, and a stylus, which can be stored inside the tablet.
Windows 8 is going to be tightly integrated with Microsoft’s Cloud products and this may be a big draw for a lot of people to go this direction instead of Android and Apple especially in business environments. I would much rather have Windows running on my tablet because it would be linked more tightly with the way that I use a computer and would like a tablet to work as well. The big question is going to be price. We are still waiting to find out what Microsoft is doing and I am sure a lot of the PC Manufacturers are waiting as well.
The ThinkPad 2 Tablet will integrate tightly with Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, Outlook, Active Directory and other corporate business applications, and it also offers a pen stylus, said Lenovo VP Dilip Bhatia. “Ladies and gentleman, this is the tablet the industry has been waiting for,” said Bhatia during an announcement Aug. 8 in New York.
“It’s designed for professionals and it’s designed life,” said Bhatia, speaking at a Lenovo event honoring the ThinkPad’s 20th anniversary. Among his key points:
Engadget also had a hands on video as well:
Saturday, August 11, 2012 at 12:01PM Lenovo's upcoming Windows 8 tablet has been teased by the company several times and a mysterious source has leaked the specs of the device on the internet. The Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet successor will be running Windows 8 and come with a pen stylus and an optional physical keyboard dock that is similar to Microsoft's Surface's one.
The heart of the machine will be a dual-core Intel Clover Trail processor that has access to 2GB of RAM. The screen is said to be a 10.1-inch WXGA touchscreen--WXGA is 1366x768. The device will sport 64GB of storage. Looking at the spec list, it's pretty clearly set to be an iPad competitor, but if that's not enough convincing, one of the leaked slides shows a comparison of the device with the iPad.
Looking at the chart entitled "Best in Class", the iPad clearly wins out in several categories such as screen resolution and voice control. However, Lenovo's tablet features stereo speakers, which trumps the iPad's mono system, and dual microphones, which offer digital noise reduction. The ThinkPad Tablet 2 measures 262.6 x 164 x 9.8mm and weighs 650g.
