Just shy of twelve months in the past, I transitioned from a MacBook Pro and iPad blend to a Microsoft Surface Pro 128GB. In light of this week’s statement of Surface Pro 3 and my acquisition of a Surface Pro 2, I suppose it’s time to mirror what that experience was like. Like maximum parents, I was a bit skeptical approximately the concept of combining a computer and pill right into an unmarried unit.
Would it’s too heavy? Would the overall performance be too low? Would the battery existence be lousy? And what about the new Windows 8 OS that is the problem of so much teeth-gnashing? I’ll attempt to answer these kinds of questions and extra as succinctly as feasible. Hit the soar and permit’s get into the query: what is it want to stay with Microsoft’s imaginative and prescient for computing within the future?
The Operating System, starring Windows 8/8.1:
Windows 8.1 Update 1 had an awesome head start with Windows 8, as I commenced the use of it at some stage in the primary publicly available betas approximately 9 months before launch, twin booting on my MacBook Pro. That enjoyment gave me lots of time to figure out how to navigate the OS nicely earlier than launch, so I didn’t have the conflict that many human beings did. Of course, it in all likelihood facilitates that I simply clearly experience exploring.
Coming across new matters. The early Windows 8 enjoy did have its struggles, though. I’d grow to be accustomed to the iPad and even to my Windows Phone 7 tool, each of which had plenty of apps available in their stores. Windows eight’s shop became notoriously barren by evaluation, and that led to some early frustration whilst trying to use Surface Pro as only a tablet. Too many apps and functions were lacking to make for a fulfilling experience.
Nevertheless, the tool’s potential to handle legacy Windows computing device apps with aplomb stored me happy enough to keep, and the app shop predicament has become much less vital by the day. If there may be one aspect Windows certainly wishes to repair, even though, is its manner of supplying the computer. The desktop is still wrapped in the trappings of an archaic gadget whose time has exceeded. It is time for Microsoft to update it to an extra contemporary presentation with fonts large enough to read on high DPI screens and massive sufficient to operate with a finger.
With eight.1 and the brand new eight.1 Spring Update (certainly? We couldn’t just name it eight.2?), genuinely all my complaints approximately Windows 8 evaporated. While a few dislike the new aesthetic, I’ve, in my view, observed myself loving the flat shades, energetic tiles, and removal of extraneous outcomes. My honest desire is that as Windows evolves, it receives even flatter, and the metro aesthetic becomes more pervasive.
Suggestion: Use a Microsoft account, and use OneDrive! I cannot pressure those enough. If you use Windows eight–and on a Surface Pro, you will be–you should not create an old school nearby account. Doing so cuts you off from several of Windows eight’s great functions. Among these is the ability to have almost your entire PC configuration, proper right down to tile sizes, locations, and apps installed.
Subsidized up in your OneDrive account if you both want to restore your PC; otherwise, you signal right into a one-of-a-kind Windows eight.1 PC. Best, though, is that with OneDrive, you get 7GB garage without cost, which, while now not enough to the cowl, say, your song and pix series, is probably plenty to make sure your vital files are all effectively subsidized up within moments of you making any alternate. It’s clean to learn to keep on your OneDrive folder, and as soon as you’ve got become acquainted with having that safety net you will surprise the way you ever lived without it.