"From a laptop perspective, Surface Pro falls down too. The traditional laptop has a stiff hinge to hold the screen at an angle of your choosing. It is hard to understate the importance of this hinge. I use laptops not just because they're small and I want something that won't take lots of space in my home, but because I actually need portable computing. I go to conferences, I stay in hotels, I ride trains, and take planes. My laptop's hinge means I can comfortably use my laptop with coffee tables, dining tables, the little desks you get in hotel rooms, and wherever else I happen to be.
The hinge also means I can comfortably use the laptop even without a desk at all, on my lap. As long as the laptop's center of gravity is over my knees, it will be solid and stable, which means I can keep it a comfortable distance away from me so my arms aren't all scrunched up just typing on the thing. In practice, this means I have the hinge hanging in free space.
The Surface kickstand offers me none of that. It puts the screen at the right angle when my desk is a particular height, but at any other height it's the wrong angle. And worse, when using it on my lap, unless the kickstand is supported the screen flops uselessly. The result? In practice, the Surface RT and Surface Pro have a bigger footprint on my lap even than my old 15-inch MacBook Pro. And if I move a little, whomp, the screen drops off the back of my knees and folds out of sight. The Surface Pro is smaller and more svelte than my MacBook Pro, yet it's far more demanding of space."
"From a laptop perspective, Surface Pro falls down too. The traditional laptop has a stiff hinge to hold the screen at an angle of your choosing. It is hard to understate the importance of this hinge. I use laptops not just because they're small and I want something that won't take lots of space in my home, but because I actually need portable computing. I go to conferences, I stay in hotels, I ride trains, and take planes. My laptop's hinge means I can comfortably use my laptop with coffee tables, dining tables, the little desks you get in hotel rooms, and wherever else I happen to be.
The hinge also means I can comfortably use the laptop even without a desk at all, on my lap. As long as the laptop's center of gravity is over my knees, it will be solid and stable, which means I can keep it a comfortable distance away from me so my arms aren't all scrunched up just typing on the thing. In practice, this means I have the hinge hanging in free space.
The Surface kickstand offers me none of that. It puts the screen at the right angle when my desk is a particular height, but at any other height it's the wrong angle. And worse, when using it on my lap, unless the kickstand is supported the screen flops uselessly. The result? In practice, the Surface RT and Surface Pro have a bigger footprint on my lap even than my old 15-inch MacBook Pro. And if I move a little, whomp, the screen drops off the back of my knees and folds out of sight. The Surface Pro is smaller and more svelte than my MacBook Pro, yet it's far more demanding of space."