A Video Demo of the Surface Pro from the Microsoft Launch

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A look at Microsoft's tablet that runs full Windows.

On Saturday, February 9, Microsoft unleashed its second salvo against the dominance of Apple’s iPad in the post PC tablet world, the Surface Pro. Like the Surface RT, which was released last year to lukewarm reviews, the Surface Pro is designed and built by Microsoft, and is a full Windows 8 Pro device, unlike the Windows RT running tablet.

We were at the Toronto Microsoft Store for the launch on Saturday, and while there we were able to video a short demo of the Pro. Mitch Garvis, a Microsoft Technical Evangelist, took us through some of the Pro’s features, and showed us how the Surface Pro has changed the way he works. You can check out the video below.

In the video he addresses some of the issues people have brought up about the Surface Pro. For example, with regards to the usable storage on the Pro’s SSD, he shows how you can claim some of it back by moving the recovery partition to an external device. One topic that wasn’t brought up, though, was the Pro’s 3-hour battery life (in fairness we didn’t ask), which is probably, in our opinion, the tablet’s biggest weakness when compared to both other tablets and Ultrabooks.

Have you bought a Surface Pro? If not, do you plan to? Let us know in the comments below!

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Alex Davies
11 Comments Comment from the forums
  • MotherFerJones
    I bought the 128GB Pro on Saturday. I'm typing on the type cover right now. I use it for my work computer comfortably. Once i installed an app (Classic Shell )for the start menu it takes me straight to the desktop on bootup which is sweet. I've even played Torchlight 2 over steam for 1 hour using 1920x1080 res, high detail, didn't stutter a bit, as you can imagine the fans got a tid bit loud. I just got it so I'm still putting though its paces but the early verdict is extremely positive.
    Reply
  • victorintelr
    Awesome. I originally wanted the Surface Pro, but ended up getting the X230T from Lenovo. I'd love one, though I'm not regreting my purchase. It's not the same as carrying my tablet around and it would be a similar feeling using the Surface Pro, however I love it anyways. It looks very promising. The only limitation is the price. But for the functionality is worth it! Surface FTW!!!!!
    Reply
  • merikafyeah
    I'm still waiting on the Lenovo Helix. It looks like the perfect tablet/laptop convertible.
    It has all the good stuff about the Surface Pro, without the two downsides: "Short" battery life, and non-adjustable viewing angle (inflexible kickstand).

    I don't consider weight to be a downside. 3-4 lbs is nothing to me. (I'm a man btw)
    Reply
  • boiler1990
    MotherFerJonesI bought the 128GB Pro on Saturday. I'm typing on the type cover right now. I use it for my work computer comfortably. Once i installed an app (Classic Shell )for the start menu it takes me straight to the desktop on bootup which is sweet. I've even played Torchlight 2 over steam for 1 hour using 1920x1080 res, high detail, didn't stutter a bit, as you can imagine the fans got a tid bit loud. I just got it so I'm still putting though its paces but the early verdict is extremely positive.
    How does the stylus/handwriting work? The shut-off-the-touchscreen feature sounds great in theory, but I'm really wondering how it does in practice.
    Reply
  • Soda-88
    I'm waiting for Haswell version later this year.
    Also hoping for extra USB port to plug mouse into on Surface 2 Pro.
    Reply
  • IAmVortigaunt
    boiler1990How does the stylus/handwriting work? The shut-off-the-touchscreen feature sounds great in theory, but I'm really wondering how it does in practice.
    I checked out the Surface Pro at the MS store over the weekend. The pen input was my main focus, and I'll say I was impressed. I've used over pen inputs before, and they tended to lag when writing with them, but this was pretty responsive and smooth. I could definitely see taking notes with this or drawing or whatever. I was able to write fairly finely, which made it seem more like taking notes with a regular pencil, as opposed to a crayon. I could write comfortably with my hand resting on the screen and there was absolutely no issue with it wanting to read my hand as an input. Yet I could easily switch to using my finger to slide the page up and down to get more space to take notes. I was using OneNote, btw, but I also tried it with the Fresh Paint app. Both worked very well. In OneNote, you could just flip the pen around and use the back to erase, and that worked very well, too. Pretty impressive.
    Reply
  • The Stealthinator
    I'm going to be getting a surface soon...!!!
    Reply
  • MotherFerJones
    boiler1990How does the stylus/handwriting work? The shut-off-the-touchscreen feature sounds great in theory, but I'm really wondering how it does in practice.I agree with Vort, i didnt think i would be using the pen as much as i have been. OneNote is a joy to take notes in, I used it in our daily operations call today to jot a few things down. I suck at drawing but the sketch app i downloaded is still pretty neat. And you can pen input into pretty much any textbox by selecting the pen input keyboard.
    Reply
  • merikafyeah
    Soda-88I'm waiting for Haswell version later this year.Also hoping for extra USB port to plug mouse into on Surface 2 Pro.Having two USB 3.0 ports would be awesome. Nevertheless, there are always hubs:
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1HD0HZ1777

    I'm just happy there's at least ONE port for $1000 (looks disapprovingly at iPad 4) .
    Reply
  • cr_buck
    I bought the only 125gb Surface at my Best Buy. I will agree the that on regular settings the battery life is around 4 hours but its faster than any desktop at my work. If I want to keep it cooler and increase the battery life. I just change the power management from Balanced to Power Saver while in desktop mode. Its a little slower but still faster than my iPad 3 and I get 6-7 hours! That is a pretty food compromise to me. :-)
    Reply