I was over musing in the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i how enticing it was, but my last post I had to admit that the concept of this 11" Surface Pro 2023 (hopefully NOT 2024) has me smitten.
WHY? Because I have come to learn that 80+% of the time my computer is on my desk here at the office or at home connected to hubs/docks/multiple monitors, so IF (the BIG IF) they can get me Pro level performance in an 11" package, I’ll enjoy the tiny form factor for those truly portable moments between desktop anchoring.
The funny thing is that, for true note-taking, I have been using my Boox Nova 3 with Wacom Pen. I love writing wtih it. The only thing I still do on my Surface tablet is PDF annotation.
My mantra going forward is still “one device” for all my notes, annotation, work files, photos, you name it. In fact, the SP8 handles that in every way except for the larger footprint. I just don’t want to rely on syncing across multiple devices; just THE ONE to backup to both external SSD and cloud backup.
I know, I’m annoying that way, but I can’t handle living “in the cloud” except as a convenient off site backup location.
PS - wasn’t joking earlier - the M1 iPad Pro 11 has been sitting on my desk at home for almost two months - used only for editing some photos/videos from my iPhone 13 Pro. I really expect that I am headed for an iPhone Pro 15 Max/Surface Pro future this fall.
Doesn’t solve my text message preservation, but I may have a solution for that either better exporting in iOS17 or switching business customers to messaging via RingCentral my business line provider.
So, here’s a thought, @Bronsky. Could you see yourself transitioning to a pure e-ink tablet setup? Assuming say Office 365 was revamped on Android, and there was a robust PDF annotation app. Same for Lexis.
Do you still do a lot of file management? Let’s say their was an e-ink DEX mode too for that. How close would that bring it to full daily-driver status?
I’m going to rate it only on its use as a business productivity device. As a tablet, we all know it is 100% the gold standard. For creatives it appears to be very competent (much more so than business) but I still see a lot of complaints that even the power house apps (DaVinci, Final Cut, etc.) just lack a lot of Mac features because Apple insists it has to be “iPaddy” in function, rather than an 11" or 13" MacBook.
For business users I’d say it is 50-60% there as long as you’re willing to live with a lot of limitation:
The professional apps (Office 365, Adobe Acrobat) are feature restrained or incomplete.
File Manager SUCKS; partly feature restraints but a lot to do with Apple’s disdain for hierarchical file structures that most every business uses.
External monitor support - ditch Stage Manager and just give us Mac window management.
Window management - while you’re at it Apple, adopt/steal/borrow M$'s far superior window snap management. This c r a p of rearranging the windows every time you switch applications (to maintain “focus” on the active window) is annoying as H-E-L-L!
If my business career were behind me, I’d probably put up with most of that nonsense for the power, battery life, reliability, and tablet use as a solo device. Given that I live in Office and Acrobat all day, it is not going to happen.
RANT AGAIN (as Monica Chin wrote three years ago) - Just put MacOS on it you cowards!
Everything we hear of late through our supply chain folks is that this is highly likely what MS will do with the long gestating 7CX gen 3 being the processor on board.
I’m beginning to be like @Bronsky - full on love for LTE in my SP8 - even if only 4g. Best of all not even a hint of breaking protocol for a quick look at email on the hotel WiFi - LTE already has my back instantly without having to tether. I sure hope they go back to offering a cellular SKU for the Surface Pro 11"
I like the Boox Eink display. If EInk displays ever get refresh rates anywhere near an LCD display and color saturation improves, I would love to have one. But, Android is still out of the question for me. I can not function without WordPerfect and they don’t make a Mac or IPad version (althought they once made an IPad version). I am wedded to Windows.
Couldn’t imagine tethering again. Love the freedom of opening the tablet anywhere and having immediate access to the internet. I particularly like the added security of not having to use public Wifi systems.
My “divorce” from WordPerfect came in 2001 when M$ released Windows XP and ALL my corporate clients were getting Word “for free” with their new hardware purchases. Clients were buying into “collaboration” which meant they wanted to tinker with your documents (and reuse them for their next small project) and they had to be in the freebie format without need to convert back and forth…
Ha Ha. Yep. I can’t live without it. I do a lot of document drafting, including pleadings. Word lacks the ability to view and change individual codes. WIth “reveal codes” in WordPerfect, I can produce flawless documents. Word has too many automatic functions that makes it difficult to have the same degree of control over documents.
Word, on the other hand, is the lingua franka between transactional lawyers because of universal availablilty of the software due to the market dominance of Microsoft Office and the ability to track changes easily.
Even to this day I miss this feature for my corporate documents - nested sub-paragraphs were a snap to fix in WordPerfect - just never have become a fan, or expert, of Styles in Word.
I’m just really curious, what is it about Word Perfect that keeps you wedlocked? Is it a file compatibility thing, or specific features that just don’t exist in new word processors?
This! WordPerfect has the ability to see and correct each code embedded in the document. You can’t do that with Word or any other word processor that I know. It gives you infinite control over the format of the finished product. It particular matters with pleadings, which must adhere to the Court’s stylesheets.
Me too. Word has an option to show formatting marks that I used all the time when cleaning manuscripts. It was beyond helpful to visibly see extra spaces, tabs, paragraph marks, page breaks, etc. Pic showing a few of them:
