Comment It actually looks good (Score 1) 379
I have the original Surface Pro, and all the complaints about lousy keyboard covers and the fact that it's not enough of a PC to be a laptop replacement are justified. But, if they bring back more desktop functionality in the next Windows update, this could work for them. 8.1 Update brought back just enough desktop (removing the absolute requirement for the Charms bar, etc.) and if they bring back the Start menu plus a few other tweaks, they might have an audience.
I think everyone just went "OMG iPad, OMG Android tablets" a couple years ago, and went too far over to the "everything's a tablet" camp. Tablets are great for media consumers but really awful for content creation, and that includes any sort of Office for Touch coming out. They do replace the PC for many people, but not all. I still think there is a place for workstations and laptops -- maybe not so much desktop PCs anymore, but I can't see using Excel beyond the simplest uses on a tablet. A laptop that can be docked to a huge monitor, keyboard and mouse can these days be a desktop replacement -- not so much a tablet yet.
This new Surface Pro looks like it's poised to take over the "executive laptop" range like the ThinkPad X series or similar -- small screen, weight optimized, with just enough features to make it usable. I'm actually glad they're not chasing the consumer market by making a Surface Mini, etc. The reality is that Windows will probably be mainly a business OS as the home PC market erodes, so I think they're right to target this market. I also happen to think that there is a lot of life left in the content-creation device market, despite what Gartner, etc. think. Those devices just might not all run Windows, but I don't know if Chrome OS, etc. are the answer either.
The big factors for me are the bigger screen (Surface Pro 3 is just at the low end for usability for me -- I prefer 15" or 14" laptops.) and the keyboard. I really hope they got the keyboard right -- I continue to buy ThinkPads just for the keyboard and TrackPoint. I guess the problem is that they can't just roll out a 14" tablet with a folding keyboard and have a differentiated device.