The Microsoft Surface Pro 3

The Microsoft Surface Pro 3 is the perfect companion for anyone who wants the versatility of a fully functioning laptop and large screen tablet in one.  As an added bonus the Surface Pro 3 tablet also comes with a Bluetooth stylus (the stylus comes with the tablet but the attachable keyboard is sold separately) which gives you that added feature so now you can leave your traditional pad and pen at home and save some trees in the process!

surface-pro-3-official-1

The Surface Pro 3 is designed to rival that of Apple’s MacBook Air and I must admit that Microsoft have definitely done a great job of creating those additional differentiators over its fruit rival like a detachable keyboard and a multi-function Bluetooth stylus.

The question of whether you want to purchase an Apple MacBook Air or a Microsoft Surface 3 really depends on your preference.  What I like about these two devices is while they both are excellent products they each have distinct features and benefits that put them in different spaces depending on your need.  This blog post is focused on the Surface Pro 3 today so let’s continue to look at this marvelous piece of innovation.

surface_pro_3_vs_macbook_air

The Surface 3 has a built in stand that can be positioned in virtually any viewing angle depending on your viewing needs.  I find that an incredible feature and I am sure that the technology is patented because I have been using my stand quite a lot and it still remains robust every time I use the stand.

Surface-3-kickstand-positions

The tablet also has a slot for a microSD card which is a great feature indeed.  The Surface 3 is available I many configurations that can affect the price of your tablet so if you are cash sensitive you can get the base model that comes with 64GB of onboard memory and use the expansion slot to add an additional 128GB of external microSD card memory.

The Surface 3 comes with Windows 8.1 which can now be upgraded to Windows 10 via an over the air software update from Microsoft free of charge (I believe that the free upgrade to Windows 10 will continue till sometime in Summer of 2016.)

The Surface Keyboard (sold separately) can easily snap itself to the tablet by way of magnetic connectors.  They keyboard is nicely designed as well with the keys surface nicely lined up and level with the surface of the rest of the keyboard.  Some users may prefer a keyboard with protruding keys like in a conventional keyboard however.

Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Keyboard

The Surface Pen connects to the Surface 3 via Bluetooth and there are some features that comes with the pen that I will talk about now.  The top of the pen has a button that, when pressed automatically starts the OneNote application on your tablet (The OneNote note taking application still works even when the tablet is locked which is a great feature if you need to quickly jot down something and you do not want to have to spend extra time unlocking your tablet).

There are also two buttons located near the front of the pen.  These buttons act like those on a mouse in that one of the buttons, when pressed, is used when you want to select an object on the screen and the other button is used when you want to erase things off of your screen.  I believe that the pen is also pressure sensitive as well so when you write the thickness of the lines becomes greater the harder you press while writing.

Surface Pro 3 Pen

The keyboard also has additional stability built in when it connects to your Surface 3 tablet in that along the top of the keyboard there is actually a lip that extends about a quarter of an inch that makes direct contact with the screen.  This small feature makes it feasible for you to balance the Surface 3 and the keyboard on your lap like a real laptop and you can type comfortably without the fear of the device flopping around.  This simulates the real experience of using a laptop which is great indeed!

Checkout my video review below.