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As it happens I bought a second hand Surface Pro from ebay and it arrived today. Moving to it from a laptop thats a couple of years old, the Surface Pro is abso

As it happens I bought a second hand Surface Pro from ebay and it arrived today. Moving to it from a laptop thats a couple of years old, the Surface Pro is absolutely blowing me away. Faster than my old laptop, also acts as a tablet, using desktop applications via touch actually works, the pen is brilliant. The 128gb will be fine for me, because I've got used to living within about 120Gb.

JonFish85 13y ago
128GB minus whatever OS overhead there is... I know it's a nitpick, but definitely something to keep in mind.
- mcintyre1994 13y ago
  It's relatively significant for a nitpick, "The 128 GB version has approximately 85 GB free hard disk space." per http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-gb/support/storage-files-and-folders/surface-disk-space-faq http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-gb/support/storage-files... That's probably a combination of OS and the doublespeak/marketing definition of gigabyte though.
  - mahyarm 13y ago
    Just like the Macbook Air with it's 128GB SSD has a bunch of it taken up OS X when you get the device? I look at the surface pro as microsoft's macbook air equivalent.
    - steve-howard 13y ago
      I'd say the Ultrabook family is Microsoft's macbook air equivalent. I'm a big fan of the Samsung Series 9, and I don't think I could go back to a bulkier form factor for my next machine. Disclaimer: I work at Microsoft, not in anything related.
  - codeulike 13y ago
    Its actually 96GB free on the Surface Pro 128GB (source: http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-officially-and-confusingly-discloses-surface-pro-storage-figures-7000011078/ http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-officially-and-confusingly-di... ), and you can get it up to 104GB of free space by moving the recovery files (for if you need to reinstall the OS) off onto some other media. Of the 24GB still taken up, I gather some of that is because Office is pre-installed (but not activated) and presumably that can be removed too.
  - wluu 13y ago
    You can also utilise the microSD slot (which sits behind the kickstand[1]). A few of my coworkers who have the Surface Pro brought a 64gb microSD card and store media (music/videos/photos) on the microSD. The speed of the card isn't too bad when used for that purpose. So in this sense, while you may lose space for the OS, at least you can still expand it with a microSD card. [1] - http://tablets.wonderhowto.com/how-to/add-extra-storage-space-your-microsoft-surface-your-apps-can-actually-use-0140145/ http://tablets.wonderhowto.com/how-to/add-extra-storage-spac...
pingu 13y ago
How much did you pay for it, if you don't mind me asking?
- codeulike 13y ago
  £600 - theres lots of them going for around that price on ebay and places like CEX. Suppose they will get cheaper as ver 2 becomes available. NB: I buy second hand because of 'blood minerals' etc, not because I'm trying to save money exactly. Due to moores law second hand tech from last year is rarely much cheaper compared to new stuff from this year.

JonFish85 13y ago

128GB minus whatever OS overhead there is... I know it's a nitpick, but definitely something to keep in mind.

mcintyre1994 13y ago
It's relatively significant for a nitpick, "The 128 GB version has approximately 85 GB free hard disk space." per http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-gb/support/storage-files-and-folders/surface-disk-space-faq http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-gb/support/storage-files... That's probably a combination of OS and the doublespeak/marketing definition of gigabyte though.
- mahyarm 13y ago
  Just like the Macbook Air with it's 128GB SSD has a bunch of it taken up OS X when you get the device? I look at the surface pro as microsoft's macbook air equivalent.
  - steve-howard 13y ago
    I'd say the Ultrabook family is Microsoft's macbook air equivalent. I'm a big fan of the Samsung Series 9, and I don't think I could go back to a bulkier form factor for my next machine. Disclaimer: I work at Microsoft, not in anything related.
- codeulike 13y ago
  Its actually 96GB free on the Surface Pro 128GB (source: http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-officially-and-confusingly-discloses-surface-pro-storage-figures-7000011078/ http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-officially-and-confusingly-di... ), and you can get it up to 104GB of free space by moving the recovery files (for if you need to reinstall the OS) off onto some other media. Of the 24GB still taken up, I gather some of that is because Office is pre-installed (but not activated) and presumably that can be removed too.
- wluu 13y ago
  You can also utilise the microSD slot (which sits behind the kickstand[1]). A few of my coworkers who have the Surface Pro brought a 64gb microSD card and store media (music/videos/photos) on the microSD. The speed of the card isn't too bad when used for that purpose. So in this sense, while you may lose space for the OS, at least you can still expand it with a microSD card. [1] - http://tablets.wonderhowto.com/how-to/add-extra-storage-space-your-microsoft-surface-your-apps-can-actually-use-0140145/ http://tablets.wonderhowto.com/how-to/add-extra-storage-spac...

pingu 13y ago

How much did you pay for it, if you don't mind me asking?

codeulike 13y ago
£600 - theres lots of them going for around that price on ebay and places like CEX. Suppose they will get cheaper as ver 2 becomes available. NB: I buy second hand because of 'blood minerals' etc, not because I'm trying to save money exactly. Due to moores law second hand tech from last year is rarely much cheaper compared to new stuff from this year.