Selling my sell-out

OK, I'm being a little facetious there.  My using Windows 8 on a tablet device does seem a little bit...well, you know...  Especially after all the snide little asides I've made.

But it works.  Granted, there's no way in heaven nor hell that I would want it on a desktop.  But here, on the Surface Pro, it's in its native environment.  And it does work.  After a fashion.

I used the Surface all last night, putting it through its paces.  Used via the battery, and got around 4.5 hours out of it, with a LOT of YouTube videos thrown in.  I know people have griped about the older generation Surface batteries, but this is fine for me.  I used the system both in what I consider its "ultrabook" mode, and as a tablet.  (The latter being where I really cranked the videos.)  I had nary a problem.

Well, OK, one.  The touch cover.  It works.  It's functional.  But...  Problems.  Including what I discovered was a rather infamous random "muting" bug that hits during video and audio playback.  And, no matter how hard I tried, typing was just a chore.  It just ran agains the grain of the "muscle memory" old timer typists develop.  (Should I admit that I learned to type partially on an old 1940s manual typewriter?  Probably not...)

So, this morning, I did go back and trade up to the typing cover.  World of difference.  Night and day.  For me, the touch cover is functional.  The type cover is usable.  And pure usability is what matters to me.

I note that a lot of people have griped about the size of the type cover, and problems using the keyboard because of that.  It doesn't bother me, as I'm a heavy laptop user, and this is is in line with a laptop keyboard.  An "island-type" keyboard it ain't.  But it works well.  I can touch type on it with a good amount of speed and accuracy.

For all my Apple love, I've never really felt it towards the iPad.  Never really wanted one.  A good friend uses one, even for doing his work, and he loves it.  But I just could never come to terms with it.  I now hate to admit it, but for what I want to do, Microsoft has trumped Apple.   For me (and notice that "for me"), the Surface seems more productivity-oriented.  (I just caught that I'm starting to sound like a company shill.  I'm most definitely not.  See the above comments about Win8 on a desktop to dispel that.)

But, to be honest, I'm not going to be using this thing as a productivity machine on any type of regular basis.  I've been griping about the small size of my 13" Macbook screen.  And my Macbook dwarfs the Surface.  So...

In the end, this is a really expensive toy that I truthfully couldn't afford to buy.  But I did buy it, and now I've got it.  And I'm going to use it.  It's blindingly portable.  And it's a tablet that is running a full-tilt OS with real applications.  I can use this as a full-tilt computer as needed.  (And I've been experimenting with it on my work files.  No problem.)

No, I'm not going to try and justify this.  I'm an idiot for buying it.  But, I like my new toy.  I think it'll fit in with my other toys quite well.

I just won't be getting anything for Christmas this year.

Nor Easter.  Nor my birthday.........