Gadgetory

while the original surface RT had a lot of issues Microsoft really delivered when it came to the surface pro 3 now we've got a smaller and cheaper version but is the surface 3 worth it looking at the design Microsoft has a nice looking package here it's solidly built out of magnesium and it feels durable enough to handle normal wear and tear easily we now have a three by two aspect ratio which goes a long way in making the surface more usable as a tablet it's still good for watching video but it's now actually usable in portrait mode you'll also find the built-in kickstand and this is a big part of the surface pair it with the type cover and you've got a device that transforms from laptop to tablet in a few seconds it resembles the iPad Smart Cover but on top of protecting the screen you've got a surprisingly decent keyboard pop open the kickstand and this is a pretty decent little laptop although the stand can be a little uncomfortable to use on your lap after a while as you might expect there's not a ton of travel and it's slightly smaller than a normal keyboard but it's totally usable and the addition of adjustable backlighting is a nice touch there's also a trackpad tucked below the keyboard it works well but it's a hoe most commonly tiny you've got the touchscreen as well but I found myself falling back to the trackpad quite a bit when using the normal desktop the biggest problem with the type covers price it runs a steep $130 the surface is totally usable with a USB or bluetooth keyboard but the type cover really completes it which makes it basically a must-have unlike previous models the surface 3 is running full Windows 8.1 that's upgradeable to Windows 10 later on that means you can run basically all Windows apps like Chrome and that's a huge advantage for a more tablet experience there's the modern UI which is much more touchscreen friendly and the app ecosystem is getting better but I spend the majority of my time on the normal desktop Windows might not be the best tablet OS but it's easily the best option if you want to get work done performance wise this is definitely closer to the tablet side of things we've got a quad-core Intel Atom x7 2 gigabytes of RAM and 64 gigs of storage which can be expanded with a micro SD card for $100 more you can double it to 4 gigabytes of RAM and a 128 gigabyte Drive which is pretty reasonable cover throw in the tight cover and the service can start to get expensive the atom is reasonably powerful it's slower than something like an ultrabook and you won't want to spend all day in Photoshop but it's good enough for lighter use it's definitely not a gaming PC but you can't play some lighter titles like Minecraft and of Legends if you don't mind playing on lower settings the surface does have a good selection of ports we've got USB 3.0 which is useful since with full windows you can plug nearly anything in and it should work no problem you can also power an external monitor up to 1440p using mini DisplayPort and there's a micro SD card slot for expanding your storage tucked behind the kickstand for charging there's a micro USB port and while having a standard port is nice it charges slowly very slowly with the included 13 watt adapter it takes hours to fill up the battery and even longer if you're using the tablet battery life is good enough to get me through a full day of moderate use but when it comes time to plug it in you're going to be waiting awhile get to the display and you won't be disappointed it's a 10-point eight inch panel with a resolution of 1920 by 1200 it's got great color and gets pretty bright although I did notice the auto brightness can sometimes get a little confused in darker environments which can be distracting while watching video the surface also sports a pair of front-facing speakers hidden away on either side of the display they don't get as loud as I'd like they sound better than something like the iPad with side or rear firing speakers the surface 3 is rocketing a 3.5 matrixyl front-facing camera and actually surprisingly decent so it's more than good enough for things like Skype and video calling and the rear facing camera is actually not too bad either well as long as you don't mind carrying around the PC to take pictures with anyway the surface 3 is a good tablet it's also a good laptop the problem is it's not really a great laptop and it's not really a great tablet either at $500 it can do a lot more than most tablets but add the tight cover and upgrade the storage and it's solidly into laptop territory it's not for everyone but if you want to tablet the can get work done the surface 3 is worth it