Microsoft’s high-power Surface Pro 3 tablet just got better

MICROSOFT’S Surface Pro 3 is great, but is there a market for it?

MICROSOFT has been nothing if not obstinate in its belated ­pursuit of the tablet market, and its new Surface Pro 3 device is the ­latest attempt to punch through into a market dominated by Apple and Android tablets.

With its notebook-class processing grunt and comparatively high cost, this is probably not the tablet you would want to buy for simple web browsing and media watching, given you can pick up a basic Android or Apple tablet for less than $400.

If you want a cheap, Windows-flavoured tablet, Microsoft sells its Windows RT powered Surface 2 for $399.

The big difference between the Surface and Surface Pro lines is that the latter runs full Windows 8.1 and all the software that goes with it.

The Surface, on the other hand, runs the cut-down Windows RT which relies on its own, more limited, app library and uses lightweight processing hardware, similar to Apple and Android tablets.

The Pro 3 costs $979 for the entry-level version with an Intel Core i3, 4GB of system memory and a 64GB SSD drive, and the price tag rises all the way to $2279 for the muscled-up top line model with a meaty Core i7 brain, 8GB of system memory and a 512GB SSD.

The $1549 review unit came with a Core i5 processor, 8GB of system memory and a 256GB SSD packed into a strong, well-built case that measures 292.1 x 201.4 x 9.1mm and weighs 800g. While larger in area than the 10.6-inch screen Pro 2, the Pro 3 is thinner and a tad lighter. I found it quite wieldy, although Pro 2 is a bit more bag-friendly.

In use the Core i5 equipped review unit was swift and responsive, with enough grunt for light gaming and heavier duty productivity tasks like video editing.

Graphics handling comes from Intel’s HD 4400 processor — the Core i7 version gets the speedier HD 5000 graphics chip while the Core i3 makes do with the lowlier HD 4200.

Running the popular Cinebench R15 test, the review unit scored 26.20 frames per second on the OpenGL graphics test and 262 on the processor test. The Pro 3 beat out the Pro 2, which scored 23fps and 230, despite driving a higher-res screen.

The goodies common to the Surface Pro 3 line-up include a brilliant 12-inch, 2160 x 1440 pixel resolution touch screen, said to have class leading colour accuracy. There’s also a single but handy USB 3.0 port, a micro SD slot for boosting the storage memory and a mini DisplayPort for hooking up larger monitors. Personally I’d prefer an HDMI connector to the DisplayPort, but there are adaptors available to make the switch.

Also on the price front, from the bottom to the top of the Surface Pro 3 range, you should budget in another $150 for the optional Type Cover keyboard, which not only protects the screen but turns the Pro 3 from a passive media consumption device into a serious digital productivity tool.

The Type Cover should be bundled in with the Surface Pros, especially on the more expensive models.

Microsoft has clearly been listening to gripes from customers who bought either the first Surface Pro or its successor, the Pro 2

Surface Pro 3 fixes many of the annoyances found on the first two gadgets including one of my pet hates, the power lead.

You would think the magnetised power connector found on the Pro, Pro 2 (and on the original Surface RT and its successor the Surface 2) would work well but in reality it’s fiddly to place correctly and once locked in often fails to begin passing electrical juice into the machine without an extra wiggle or two.

The new connector is also magnetised but has a tab that positively locates it into a slot on the tablet and I found the connection worked every time. The downside is the new power connector doesn’t work with previous Surface tablets.

The latest Type Cover is also much improved. The backlit accessory still latches to the bottom of the tablet via a magnetised connector, but a new magnetic strip along the top of the keyboard can prop it up against the screen and the slope helps when the Surface Pro 3 is balanced on your lap.

Microsoft has made much of the laptop prowess of the latest Surface, but alas, I found I could only just squeeze the gadget on to my lap, being short of thigh and large of middle, whereas a true ­ultrabook class laptop fits comfortably.

The Type Cover is far better than a touchscreen keyboard, if a bit clacky, especially when in slope mode, but well short of the keyboard action on any decent laptop. The touchpad has been enlarged and now features a positive left mouse click action, a big improvement on the annoying touchpad found on the Surface Pro 2 Type Cover.

The nifty kickstand that hinges out from the back of the case and props the tablet up has also scored an upgrade. It now moves through an infinite range of positions between holding the tablet up just past the vertical to lying almost flat.

The almost flat orientation comes in handy when drawing with the digitiser pen bundled with the Pro 3. The pen slides into a neat little holder stuck on to the side of the Type Cover and allows the tablet to be used like a legal pad.

The pen has a few tricks of its own, such as double clicking the button on top of the unit, which opens Microsoft’s information gathering OneNote app on the tablet. I found myself using the pen a lot more on the Pro 3 than on previous models for tasks such as scribbling down phone numbers and test results.

In a battery run down test looping a movie with the screen on full bright, the Pro 3 ran out of gas in a little over five hours. This was less than I expected, although turning down the brightness to 70 per cent may have squeezed a couple of more hours out of it.

Microsoft clearly thinks there’s a market made up of mobile workers who want a tablet and a notebook in one device. After all, for the $1700 it would take to land the review unit with a Type Cover, you could buy a perfectly decent Apple or Windows notebook plus a tablet, and have some change left over.

Will the Surface Pro 3 sell in greater numbers than its two predecessors?

I don’t know. The Pro 3 is a stylish, very well made and executed piece of kit. Some features, such as the excellent kickstand, are not available on any other tablet.

It performs extremely well as a high-power tablet and is functional enough to double as a light to medium-use notebook, although I reckon the Type Cover could use a further round of improvements, and should be bundled in with the device.