Microsoft Surface Pro 1

SonniLombardi

SonniLombardi

SonniLombardi

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Hello all

Just bought a Surface Pro 1 - 128gb 4gb RAM i5 3317u, along with the type 2 backlit keyboard, all boxed with pen and mint for £200.

I understand that is a pretty good deal no? I was going to go for a Linx 1010b but decided I wanted 1080p and more RAM and a full i5 CPU, but now we are on the Surface pro 4, are there any niggles to watch out for on the Pro 1?

Also how big of a Micro SD can it take?

I'm sure I'll be happy with it, such a great looking device.

Thanks!
 
Don't go dropping it on your foot, take it from me that your foot will come off far worse than the device itself, its built like a brick proverbial.

I had a 64gb MicroSD in mine which worked fine, go for the higher speed cards and you should be fine. Never tried a 128gb but don't see why it wouldn't work.

Things to look out for - not a whole lot, I had battery issues which were mostly sorted after a replacement battery was fitted. Also had issues with the contacts for the snap-on keyboard which MS sorted under warranty.
 
Loved my SP1, nothing at all wrong with it, nor the exact same model I bought for the other half. The only thing I did get from time to time was reverting from hibernation (shutdown -h) would result in an unusable WiFi, nothing that a reboot wouldn't fix, but annoying none the less.
 
Thanks for the replies.

It arrives tomorrow so will have a play and report back!

I see you can get a power type cover that gives it another 3 hours battery life too which may be ideal.
 
paradigm said:
When mine was new I'd get a good 5-6 hours of web browsing. The SP2 was a little better, maybe 6-7 hours, and my SP3 can get me a little longer again.
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I can't decide what to get.

Lenovo yoga 2 £199
Surface pro £195
Surface pro 2 £335 don't really want to go over £200

But surface pro has 16:9 screen which is what I like, the better power connector and 4gb of ram.

Where Lenovo has better battery life. But the 2gb of ram worries me.
 
That was exactly my issue Glaucus.

I decided on the surface in the end, it's a windows tablet built by Microsoft who created windows. So that's a good start.

Wouldn't bother with the pro 2. Exactly the same as the 1 but just a newer gen CPU 4xxx series but the power increase is negligible for the extra price.

You can also get the power cover for the pro which extends battery life, also it comes with the wacom stylus so Photoshop drawing and creativity will be good if you are into that.

Excellent screen viewing angles and colour reproduction. Full i5 CPU and not atom. 1080p, 4gb ram. USB 3.0, excellent keyboard.

2gb really isn't enough these days I personally think.

Well worth the £200 IMO and beats the other options.
 
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I think you are right to be worried, I made sure that my SP2 and SP3 were the 8GB models because my usage ended up stretching my 4GB SP1 quite a bit.

If your desired usage has you questioning 2GB, I'd get the SP1 or SP2.

SonniLombardi said:
Wouldn't bother with the pro 2. Exactly the same as the 1 but just a newer gen CPU 4xxx series but the power increase is negligible for the extra price.
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Not so sure about that, the increased battery life and 2-position kick-stand are both worthy upgrades, but perhaps not at the difference in price of used models right now. Pretty sure I could get a 4GB/128GB SP2 for £200 ish though.
 
I wont use the keyboard or pen.
It's literally, webrowsing, and video watching.

However I have surface 2 at the moment, and IE keeps refreshing web pages, I can only assume due to 2gb of ram.

Have they fixed edge yet in w10? So the page actually moves up the screen when the keyboard pops up?

I'm worried about surface pro battery life, it wasn't very good when it was released and they're what 3 years or so old now.

paradigm said:
Not so sure about that, the increased battery life and 2-position kick-stand are both worthy upgrades, but perhaps not at the difference in price of used models right now. Pretty sure I could get a 4GB/128GB SP2 for £200 ish though.
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Where from? Haven't seen any at that price.

I didn't think about the kickstand, I do use the second position a fair bit. Well not that my surface 2 has a kickstand now.
 
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paradigm said:
I think you are right to be worried, I made sure that my SP2 and SP3 were the 8GB models because my usage ended up stretching my 4GB SP1 quite a bit.

If your desired usage has you questioning 2GB, I'd get the SP1 or SP2.

Not so sure about that, the increased battery life and 2-position kick-stand are both worthy upgrades, but perhaps not at the difference in price of used models right now. Pretty sure I could get a 4GB/128GB SP2 for £200 ish though.
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Yeah I suppose your right about the kickstand, my usage isn't going to be bothered about that too much, mainly in bed usage and on the go, main PC is used for mostly e everything else.

I also haven't seen the 2 for that price?

You got me worried about battery life now Glaucus.. I'll see what its like and report back to you.. If anything I'll get the power cover if its bad and I want to keep the tablet. If not I'll sell it on.

Wonder how easy it is to replace the battery and if the surface pro 2 battery is compatible and if they're cheap?
 
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Ah, that would be through work (we're a large phone/tablet trade-in company).

With regards to battery life though, my SP1 is still going strong (now in the hands of my brother) and I haven't heard any complaints. My SP2 is now the fiancées which means I still use it a fair amount, that's also just as good as it was when I first bought it.
 
Ok received the device this morning and been playing with it today.

First thing to say is the tablet is a fantastic little machine. Such a sleek looking device and it's everything I hoped it would be.

The screen is very nice and the viewing angles are great. As soon as I got I installed Windows 10 which works great for tablets now.

The pen is a great addition with the wacom drivers and Photoshop work is superb for drawing.

The fan is barely noticeable so that's a touch.

The type cover keyboard is nice to use, The keys are quite tactile, I am having difficult with the touchpad though, it will need some getting used too..

Performance is fantastic, This is why I chose this over Atom tablets with lesser RAM.

Videos look great in 1080p mkv files etc..

The back does get quite warm in heavy use but temps in HWMonitor never exceed 65c.

Battery life could be better.. getting around 3-4 hours continuous use.

That's pretty much all I got to say for it for a days use, I'll report any more findings after I've spent some more time with it.

Glaucus I say go for it! 9/10 from me so far.
 
first go with pen, loving the pressure sensitivity

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I also got myself the Pro 1 after considering all the other options closely.
I mainly got this for a 4 week holiday Im having soon, wanted the 16,9 screen as this
looks better for the TV shows and movies I plan to watch.

Got the power cover for some extra juice for £40, great little extra thats perfect for my trip.

Its running most the games I want to play on the trip, Portal 2, Half Life 2, Dirt and some modern games like BF3,4 and Metal gear.

The only downside so far as gaming goes is, when playing some games like Burnout and Resident evil I notice the thermal throttling.
its doing my head in as I can only under-clock the CPU in 3 stages, low, medium and full on.

Cant adjust the volts manually or change any of the GPU settings via Intel Extreme tool.
the options on my Pro are grayed out :(

So I have ordered a USB fan to take on my holiday, should I have problems maybe the fan will help as it has for people with the surface pro 3.

No problems with normal use, Photoshop, web, youtube and HD movies.
with powercover I can get it to last more than 12hrs after altering the power settings.

BTW. nice stretch Sonni :D
 
Firstly, nice drawings!

Secondly, I'm been using a surface pro 1 for the best part of a year and frankly I love the damn thing. It's made me want the other surface pros and have been willing to pay the premium for this laptop replacement. Whilst not the most powerful device, it's great having a mini gaming thing as well as tablet with me at all times. I'm sure you'll love it!
 
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