Any windows tablet alternative to MS Surface pros?
- Thread starter JimboJet
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Its pretty tough finding a decent Windows tablet especially 2-in-1 style - Toshiba used to some OK ones but pulled out the market - a lot of the generic brands have poor cooling and thermal throttle quite quickly under any kind of load despite impressive figures from initial benchmarks others are hampered by low RAM or storage or just general little gremlins and glitches that stop them being quite perfect 
and then you have Windows 10 which is quite tragic on a tablet.
Depending on your needs Lenovo do a few offerings under the Miix, Yoga, etc. lines and there are a load of Dell ones. I ditched the Surface for a GPD Pocket but that will only appeal to a fairly limited usage case and again has a few glitches that need some advanced tweaking to work around there is a second generation version coming out soon that supposedly sorts most of those but removes the mouse nub which is actually quite useful on the device.
and then you have Windows 10 which is quite tragic on a tablet.Depending on your needs Lenovo do a few offerings under the Miix, Yoga, etc. lines and there are a load of Dell ones. I ditched the Surface for a GPD Pocket but that will only appeal to a fairly limited usage case and again has a few glitches that need some advanced tweaking to work around
there is a second generation version coming out soon that supposedly sorts most of those but removes the mouse nub which is actually quite useful on the device.
I have had my i7 surface pro 2017 since last year with no issues. The SP is simply not in the same league as my previous asus TCHi and linx 10 tablets. Most tables don't come with same screen quality and resolution as the SP and would be just as expensive if they do.
If you intend to use as a tablet (like you will an ipad), windows 10 is still far behind IOS as a touch Operating system. I use mine on client site for work, can vpn into my virtual servers at home to do cpu intensive stuff. Its the only computer I really need on the move.
If you intend to use as a tablet (like you will an ipad), windows 10 is still far behind IOS as a touch Operating system. I use mine on client site for work, can vpn into my virtual servers at home to do cpu intensive stuff. Its the only computer I really need on the move.
Soldato
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i've got an 8gb/256gb i5 SP 4 and it's a great machine. The only issues ive had with it are software, which you will likely run in to with any windows based tablet, but the device itself is brilliant. We've got 10 or 15 i5/i7 surface pros at work and we've not had issue with any of them. Well, one was smashed but that's hardly Microsoft's fault 
Soldato
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I've got a dell latitude 5285 which has been absolutely brilliant for me but I don't do a lot other than reading/browsing in the full tablet mode, I use the detachable keyboard often for emails etc
if you buy the surface pro 2017 these seem to get good reviews and just make sure to buy the microsoft complete care package which gives you 2 years accidental damage cover too.
The surface pro is an amazing machine but there is lots of little buggy quirks still which is mainly software based.
There is also the surface book which can become a tablet, I really prefer the surface pro 2017 but unfortunately for what i needed I wanted a maximum screen size and 12.5" is not good for my needs,13.5" was good but 15" was preferable and the only tablet that size is the surface book 2 but problems with it is that it has no stand or any USB or any kind or ports on the tablet section all those are in the base station. Strange decision by Microsoft, should have included at least one usb port on the tablet section.
apart from that Samsung, dell, HP and Lenovo all do these tablet stroke laptop hybrids.
The lenovo is really good machine and Samsung ones have excellent screen but the specs are little outdated.
never even knew the EVE V even existed until someone mentioned it in this thread.
The surface pro is an amazing machine but there is lots of little buggy quirks still which is mainly software based.
There is also the surface book which can become a tablet, I really prefer the surface pro 2017 but unfortunately for what i needed I wanted a maximum screen size and 12.5" is not good for my needs,13.5" was good but 15" was preferable and the only tablet that size is the surface book 2 but problems with it is that it has no stand or any USB or any kind or ports on the tablet section all those are in the base station. Strange decision by Microsoft, should have included at least one usb port on the tablet section.
apart from that Samsung, dell, HP and Lenovo all do these tablet stroke laptop hybrids.
The lenovo is really good machine and Samsung ones have excellent screen but the specs are little outdated.
never even knew the EVE V even existed until someone mentioned it in this thread.
I've only found it this week.
Second vote for the galaxy book. John Lewis had them on offer a while back for a good price, and they are very handy little machines. If you just want something cheap the Linx12X64 I think it is called is a good one for not a lot of cash. Its not going to be a fantastic performer but for basic browsing and video its good for £180!
I'm in the same boat, looking for a replacement for my Asus T100 Chi which I really like for its size but it's showing its age now but I don't want to spend surface money on a replacement.
Surely there's something out there. I can't even find anything second hand around the £350 mark which is a big improvement.
Surely there's something out there. I can't even find anything second hand around the £350 mark which is a big improvement.
if you want something cheap then maybe Chuwi Hi13 from abroad can be had for £250 and if you want something better quality and dont mind chinese then CHUWI CoreBook Intel Kabylake M3 7Y30 for about £400.
But you should be able to find something on the bay if you look around for a surface book for £400 ish, might not be new though.
Associate
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Do any of the alternatives come close the surface?
I've used all the surface range but never owned one myself and haven't seen or used anything that comes close yet.
I've used all the surface range but never owned one myself and haven't seen or used anything that comes close yet.
IMO, No if were are talking about the Surface pro tablets. That's not the case for the surface book or laptop
The surface pro 2017 is a little heavy to be honest but it has such an amazing battery life. Having said that some of the chines stuff i posted above have gotten good reviews give or take, for something to just use around the house as a large tablet with more power and for just reading, some typing, basic programming watching movies and taking notes they are ok. The surface pro is just another kind of beast configurable with up to 16gb ram and 1tb hard drive they really are great but I would not touch them until they get the new intel quad core cpu just not worth paying that kind of money for just a dual core now.
I recently got the opportunity to try both the surface pro 2017 and surface book 2 and they are great products. The surface book 2 15" was just too heavy as carry with you laptop replacement and the 13" version was much more appealing and the detaching it and using it as a tablet works brilliantly except for one problem, detached the battery performance was terrible. The 15" is a strange decision by microsoft and seems more to be aimed at artists and graphics professionals who like large surface area but with detachability. The problem again the battery life. Also if you use the GTX 1060 to game and the charger the gave you could not charge it fast enough and the battery discharged, its a 90w charger and its just not good enough. Otherwise it could be a all in one desktop/basic gaming machine replacement. Also the hinges on them are so UGLY as hell, really could have though something much nicer. They need to sort the batter life in the tablet mode and i think microsoft would have a real winner here. I really thing this whole detachability thing is am amazing idea and really appeals to me but the battery life.
The screens are fantastic but found the screen on the surface pro 2017 a little better on the eyes than the surface book 2.
The speakers are decent and sound good on all surface line this year but still not apple level of good.
The keyboard on the surface book 2, which everyone was giving excellent review too, was good but not great. I have used other laptops with better keys like lenovo series of machines and also some of my sony machines had excellent keyboard feel. But still a very decent typing experience but key press felt too flat for me. Not much travel and feedback still good though.
The surface pro was excellent but as a tablet it really was too heavy. Given that all my laptops and tablets for the last 15-20 years has been ONLY SONY machines and with them I got used to the luxury of powerful machines at very light weights. My sony experia z4 tablet weights nothing but the surface pro was killing me after 30 min.
If i were not taking notes or using the pen then definitely a laptop is better and as student then I think taking notes on the surface pro is good but not great. The feeling with the pen was just too loose, like sliding on ice, not enough friction but if you can get used to that then its a fantastic bit of kit.I did forget to mention that the pen is so dam heavy, i dont mind some weight to the pen but its a little on the heavy side for me personally. They need something that does not take these large heavy batteries. I would rather have something that needs charging ever few months and little lighter that something that last for up to 1 year but heavy.
I did try another thing for taking notes and that was the Sony DPT-RP1 paper replacement and for JUST reading and taking notes its excellent but its not back light and no internet. Much easier on my old eyes and the writing on it is much closer to real paper than the surface book.
I wish they used a better material on the surface line that was more easier to clean. They don't show fingerprints much but if you get some dirt on it and try clean it, it can stain, like kinda soak into the material, hard to explain.
to summarise surface pro and books not perfect but great machines.
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