For the second day of my 30 day experiment, I took the Surface Pro out of the box, and set things up.
Actually, Day 2 really was focused on getting the tablet out of the box and setting things up, but moving forward the daily posts will share my thoughts and experiences, but not necessarily be a literal day-by-day chronology. For example, I might write about installing and using Office at some point down the road, but it was actually one of the first things I did because I need Microsoft Office in order to make the Surface Pro functional so I can actually use it as my primary computing device for the 30 Days series.
So, now that I’ve clarified that, let’s talk about the first experience unpackaging a new Surface Pro tablet. Like its sibling–the Surface RT tablet–the Surface Pro seems to be engineered and manufactured with a level of detail uncommon for Microsoft. It is a solid, well-crafted piece of hardware.
Have you ever waited to see a popular movie? After weeks of hype and glowing reviews, your expectations are so high, the movie can’t possibly live up to them when you see it. That’s sort of how I felt about all of the Surface Pro reviews, and comments about the tablet being significantly thicker than the Surface RT. Despite reviews stating that the Surface Pro is thicker and heavier–or perhaps because of them–I was surprised at how it felt to pick it up. In this case, there were so many reviews about it being thicker–which is technically true–that my experience didn’t live up to the expectation and it seemed thinner and lighter than I anticipated.
It is definitely a heftier device than my iPad, or even the Surface RT, but why shouldn’t it be? It’s a full Windows PC squeezed into a tablet form, so give or take an ounce or a few millimeters still seems like a victory for the Surface Pro. This is a device that a business could give an employee that can replace the PC while she’s working at her desk, and replace the need for a tablet or ultrabook when she needs to go to a meeting or work from home.
I spent the rest of Day 2 getting familiar with the Surface Pro hardware, and getting the tablet connected and ready for use. Check out the full 30 Days with Surface Pro: Day 2 post for more details.
On Day 3, I’ll go through turning it on for the first time and get to work actually playing with the Surface Pro tablet.
