Good to see I have supporters in the Windows camp, both positive and negative. 
@Hifihedgehog and @Nnthemperor: great find at ITsavvy - less than $1400 with keyboard & pen
As for @Marty - remember who’s in control…
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If experience has taught us anything, it is that the unicorn must never be found. We should be in a constant state of flux.
Be more in love with the search than in search for the love
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But, but wise master…isn’t that just the experience we get watching the never-ending samsara of @dstrauss?
What of @Bronsky, who has found his nirvana with the latest mini Surface and Note phone? His is the model of constancy and contentment.
What can us mere mortals do, caught between two such unfathomable ways of the tablet PC?
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I use both PC and Mac. For the main software I use the mac OS version is the best. So I converted my Wacom Studio Pro 16 to run Mac OS Catalina, and is working great. But I also use my giant Acer Concept D 9 pro. Both systems are useful depending on the software, ultimately they are great tools
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Started following this thread because it’s very parallel to my situation/dilemma.
I just upgraded to an HP Spectre 360 14 (with i7-1195G7) and it won’t run Photoshop properly. Can’t even use a Smart Sharpen filter without deactivating Graphics Processor acceleration, crippling performance in other areas. I have a project to digitze almost 1,000 family photos and my old Surface Pro 6 was struggling hence the new HP. I dread having to engage Intel & Adobe to try to fix it, as each one will point the finger at the other party. <sigh…>
So, I started thinking about getting a Mac. “They just work.” Sounds appealing to me.
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TL&DR: Just because @JoeS and others regularly check my signature (betting purposes) - I am now in the Surface Pro 8 camp. Still haven’t decided whether to keep the x360-14 as backup insurance (smarter idea) or give Swappa a try - NO FLEABAY!
Here’s “the rest of the story:”
- Price: Thanks to a solid tip and the fact I do have my own business and TIN number, I was able to snag a commercial evaluation demo SP8 (i7/16gb/1tb/WinPro) from ITSavvy -TTL $1559. The TTL on the MBP 14 plus iPP 11 was $3787 - a savings of $2228. That’s some serious change, and I know I am getting 100% of my productivity computing and think about 60-70% of all my other computing needs. But for that big savings with ITSavvy this would be a lot closer contest.
- OWC TB4 Dock : The SP8 took to it like it was custom made for it. After connecting to SP8 from a fresh restart, it recognized my Ethernet connection, then I plugged both monitors into the dock and they configured correctly immediately. Images are crisp, clear and stable.
- Lawrence of Arabia : Yes, went back to my “go to” test during lunch and it displayed beautifully on the SP8 display; nearly as good as the x360; and the sound quality was not quite MBP 14 quality, but very solid and full.
- Form Factor : Having been a Surface Pro 1, 3, and 5 owner, I’m a sucker for this form factor (despite it being iPP 12.9 size now). I can remove the keyboard, recline it on the desk to drawing mode for note taking, and type away with my Surface mouse and Bluetooth keyboard.
- OneDrive : I have set all my OneDrive storage folders to “Always keep on this device” so no waiting on synching changes
- OneNote : Same here - no more synching issues - my notes are there all the time regardless of OneDrive status.
- Media : Follow on to Lawrence of Arabia comment above - iTunes, Disney+, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video all playing beautifully and not missing the iPP11 versions (for now).
- Make Do Moment : I’ll have to learn to “make do” with Facetime, iMessage, and communication on my iPhone 13 Pro, and forgo News+/Kindle for the time being. I don’t know if that means I’ll be looking for a refurb iPad Mini 6 down the road, or just learn to do without News+ once the Android Kindle app drops for Win 11.
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Yeah, you can’t blink around here or you’ll get lost. 
I hope the SP8 serves you well!
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I literally mumbled “wait what?” to myself here 
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Well, if you don’t follow the whack jobs you’ll be ok - show any interest in the dstrausser and you’re a goner. However, I have to say this is actually a full circle back to my Surface Pro 5 days (my son still has that one)…
Thanks for the well wishes…
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PS - I’m still “Comic Relief” from the TPCR days…
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I know, right? Was it even King Kong or Godzilla who won this battle because I forgot to tune into that station? I mean, seeing that the Surface won, that would mean it was Kong if we’re going off of the old-school original Toho classic.
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I wonder what the payout was for those bet on “<1 week”?
That was faster than Frazier going down in the second vs. Foreman.
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You’re thinking of Mike Tyson over Michael Spinks in 1988 - 91 seconds.
Some of us don’t need long to look at a hot horseshoe. The immediate turning point was when I realized all that power of a MBP 14 was going to waste with 90% of my workflow and I really couldn’t leave it behind and rely just on the iPad Pro 11 unless I was absolutely sure I’d only be taking notes. Then you compound that with delays in synching those OneNote notes from the iPad to OneDrive and back to the MBP 14 was driving me nuts. This is NOT Apple’s fault - but OneDrive is always hanging up, and also couildn’t rely on it updating so I could use th mobile Office 365 apps on the iPP 11 when remote.
So back to old faithful (Surface Pro) - that and the great deal on an evaluation unit that I got as a business customer.
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There’s hope yet left that you haven’t been fully subsumed by the Apple garden!
We’ll see you with another Fold yet*, I bet.
As for the OneNote syncing stuff; it’s things like that that have kept me on Windows. You can control off stuff much more granularly and aren’t dictated on how to use your device (but it’s not the extreme of Linux/BSD).
And I can’t really blame Microsoft. It’s their product and ultimately they don’t want to help a competitor too much. It’s not as if Apple is very generous sharing their services and products either.
*Although that might be an Apple one…
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The benefits of living in the U.S. My SP 8 is still on transit and you’ve created an ITSavvy account, ordered and received yours, all in one fell swoop!
Still glad you’ve not been trapped behind the walled garden yet.
On that note, (with the permission of @Hifihedgehog and his team, I hereby declare TPCR 2 open for business. 
Gentlemen, start your engines!
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This thread didn’t age well after all.
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