Surface Pro 3 – Portable desktop.

Not a laptop replacement but something much better.

• The Surface Pro 3 has significant issues but it is the first product capable of changing the higher-end mobile computing landscape.
• (It is important to note that I am specifically excluding the tablet market as tablets are focused on content consumption which is now a very different market).
• Both Microsoft’s and the reviewers’ fixation on the laptop is the wrong way to view the Surface Pro 3 which offers so much more.
• I believe that the real value in this form factor is its ability to provide the user with such flexibility that it becomes a no brainer to ditch the laptop.
• A generation of mobile computer users are fixated on the laptop form factor which offers a horrible, uncomfortable and un-ergonomic computing experience.
• Until recently, technology limitations have meant that the keyboard had to be attached to the screen which is what led to the laptop form factor in the first place.
• However, now a computer with the power of desktop can now be crammed into a tablet weighing 800g.
• I have been using the Surface Pro 3 i5 / 8GB / 256GB for two months and am now comfortably over the initial euphoria stage.
• This device has issues.

1. It is a little bit heavy for extended one-handed use.
2. The WiFi and Bluetooth performance are far from ideal.
3. Battery life in real usage is 6 hours in the best instance.
4. It requires restarting far more often than my Windows 7 desktop.
5. It is expensive. My device costs $1,299.

• Against this, the 12” screen, pen based input and powerful innards give the user 3 further use cases that a laptop cannot.

1. The use of a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse allow the device to be used just like a desktop almost anywhere. This offers far better usability with much greater comfort for extended use, much easier interaction with the device and far superior ergonomics.
2. The pen allows the device to be used as both a notebook for taking handwritten notes as well as annotating and marking-up documents created by others.
3. Held in both hands, the device can be comfortably used for reading for watching video.

• The use of the attachable keyboard cover can re-create the laptop form factor when there is no table upon which to rest the device but it does not do a very good job of it.
• I believe that this is a minor issue as the vast majority of laptop use is not done on the lap of the user but on a table.
• Here the greater versatility of the Surface Pro 3 leaves a laptop in the dust.
• The user can easily purchase an excellent bluetooth keyboard, tablet stand and the superb Arc Touch Mouse Surface Edition for less than the optional Surface Pro type cover. 
• When I pick up the Surface Pro 3 my first action is almost always to remove the cover and to use it one of the three configurations above.
• The problem is that users are so fixated on mobile computing being based on a laptop form factor, that they have completely missed the other options that this form factor offers.
• I am hoping that the lumbering marketing machines of Microsoft, Intel and the OEMs will finally realise where the real value in this form factor lies, and will stop trying to replicate the laptop.
• Instead they should educating users that this form factor offers a far superior, more comfortable and healthier computing experience when not at one’s desk.
• Once this is achieved, this form factor could easily trigger a strong replacement cycle where laptops are replaced with devices of this form factor.
• Price is going to be an issue but I think that the usability improvement that is offered will go a long way towards enticing users to pay-up.
• I would also not be surprised to see a future generation of the MacBook Air incorporate touch and a form factor with a separate keyboard and mouse that all click together for easy transport.
• Intel and Microsoft are the obvious winners from this but if Apple is sharp there is an opportunity for it to upgrade its entire MacBook population with new high margin devices.
• Apple also has the opportunity to meaningfully gain share if it can use its expertise in form factor innovation and design to produce cool looking devices that are even better at meeting these use cases.