Buying Microsoft's Surface Pro 3

Buying Microsoft's Surface Pro 3

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I am thinking of getting Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 to use in the practice and wanted to know if anyone has had any experience of using it in a business enviroment and whether its practical.

We mostly use PC's in the office (still using XP) and not sure if our accounting and tax software would run on the latest version of Windows.

Thanks

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By Tickers
27th Aug 2014 13:39

Best of both worlds

It seems to be getting good reviews as a laptop replacement but it also serves as a tablet. The Surface Pro 3 will be able to handle anything you throw at it in terms of email, ms office, accounting and tax software. The only issue for you will be whether you can adapt to Windows 8. You will eventually need to upgrade anyway because XP is end of life, and if the software you use can work on Windows 7 then it will work on W8.

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By Archon
27th Aug 2014 14:17

Best of all 3 worlds

The I7 model makes a pretty good desktop replacement with docking station.

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BB
By brenbrady
28th Aug 2014 08:52

YouTube Review/discussion

There's a link to the Surface Pro 3 here, which explains the concept of the SP3 and why it is a good desktop replacement. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOs7YBBggyA&list=UUT9D87j5W7PtE7NHOR5DUOQ

I've had discussions with other accoutants in the past about whether they use an iPad/Tablet as their daily driver for work and although some people do, the biggest flaw is that iPads are primarily for internet consumption and email but in terms of real productivity it's not really at the races. SP3 works well as both a tablet and a desktop replacement with all the specs of a desktop machine so power, speed etc will never be an issue. You can also get a docking station when you're in the office and you are using a desktop PC. 

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By palcouk
30th Aug 2014 13:33

Tablets

Personally I use an Asus T100 transformer, it runs win8.1 and my VT software runs fine on it.

I only use the tablet when visiting (sometimes) and on holiday and for that I have a LogMeIn account which allows me to access my desktop systems

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Morph
By kevinringer
01st Sep 2014 17:03

Re old software

You mention you are running XP and wonder whether your software will run on newer devices. We are still buying Windows 7 devices for the office. Windows 7 runs everything: legacy and latest. The only issue I am aware of is 64 bit Windows 7 will not run DOS (but 32 bit Windows 7 will run DOS). There are a few DOS packages still in use. I use Windows 8 on my home devices. I only run the newest software at home (Office 2013 etc). You could contact your existing software suppliers to find out if they support Windows 8.

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Glenn Martin
By Glenn Martin
01st Sep 2014 17:44

are they not over priced for work.

The I7 chip ones are about £1500 which is MacBook money.

a good lightweight laptop is £500 and you can get a Samsung Galaxy tablet for £200

A decent laptop and a tablet are so small and light these day so would go in the same bag.

think it is a bit of gimic personally.

 

 

 

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Replying to Daybooks:
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By Tickers
02nd Sep 2014 12:06

Apples and Oranges

Glennzy wrote:

The I7 chip ones are about £1500 which is MacBook money.

a good lightweight laptop is £500 and you can get a Samsung Galaxy tablet for £200

A decent laptop and a tablet are so small and light these day so would go in the same bag.

think it is a bit of gimic personally.

 

That would mean carrying around two devices (one of which is running android) which would defeat the purpose of buying a portable device like the SP3. Also, the SP3 is also a tablet with much better hardware than the Samsung tablet and on a different operating system.

 

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By James420
01st Sep 2014 18:36

.

mine arrived today. 20 mins use so far. Great!!

 

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By Howard Marks
01st Sep 2014 21:03

Go away

This thread needs to disappear before I buy one!!

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By James420
01st Sep 2014 22:15

.

Finally MS came up trumps. Lessons learnt from 1 and 2 versions. You can use this for work and don't have to mess around finding apps that talk MS office files. 

Platform - it is very good. Beats Mac book and ipad air. 

 

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