While the feedback from my customers has been overwhelmingly positive since the launch of Surface Pro (“This is things is awesome… people are drooling over my unit over here”, “I can’t wait to show our users”, “I think this is going to dramatically slow down iPad orders”) I’ve still heard a couple concerns about the device from folks that haven’t used it yet or gotten them in their hands.
This is difficult because I don’t have seeding or evaluation units right now (as all of you know by now) and ultimately, people’s opinions about Surface Pro are formed once they get their hands on it and provision it for the first time for their own personal use.
To assuage certain concerns, I thought I’d take the time to correct certain misperceptions of folks that haven’t yet procured one to help them understand why “what they hear” often times isn’t representative of what the actual experience is of using Surface Pro.
- START BUTTON: “My users (and I) won’t use this without a START button.”
<ks> “Individuals that need the comfort of the START button can install on using Stardock’s START 8 tool which is a $4.99. It’s enterprise-deployable, comes with an .ADMX template, and is Group Policy manageable.”
http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/ - BATTERY LIFE: “The battery life is only 4-5hrs.”
<ks> “4-5 hours was found to be a good balance between battery weight & battery life. GM Panos Panay has made references to an upcoming accessory that will provide more portable power for individuals that require longer term or emergency power, leveraging the special power contacts at the base of the tablet.”
http://allthingsd.com/20130207/microsoft-hints-at-battery-add-on-for-surface-pro/ - LAP USAGE: “It’s hard to balance & type on when it’s on my lap.”
<ks> “Customers that require the ability to type on their lap may buy optional, low cost leather portfolios which provides a more stable base for typing. These cost as little as $13.”
http://www.amazon.com/KHOMO-Leather-Microsoft-Surface-Windows/dp/B00A0M3MY4/ - DISK STORAGE: “The hard drive only has 23GB/83GB free space.”
<ks> “The Surface Pro is a PC so it should be compared with other PCs. The current space available is almost exactly the same as what is available on MacBook Air devices of the same drive sizes. Additionally, during provisioning for most users, they will find that 6GB+ of additional space can be freed by uninstalling Office 365 trial & transferring the recovery partition to a USB flash drive.”
http://www.zdnet.com/surface-pro-versus-macbook-air-whos-being-dishonest-with-storage-space-7000011009/ - PROVISIONING: “Since we’re not buying through our traditional OEM, how do we provision these?
<ks> “Surface Pro can be provisioned in the same manner in which any other PC is imaged & prepared. Volume shipments can be directed to the service provider for provisioning, leveraging the process in place today simply deploying an image for Windows 8. Volume orders for Enterprise customers may be made at our Commercial Order web site.”
http://www.surface.com/commercialorder - VIEWING ANGLE: “The viewing angle of the display is not adjustable.”
<ks> “The display kickstand is angled at a specific degree based on average usage. For people that require an adjustable viewing angle, there are low cost portfolio cases that provide multiple viewing angles.”
http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Multiple-compatible-Keyboard-Features/dp/B009SE4DNO/
Kurt Shintaku's Blog 