Microsoft Surface Pro 6 (Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 128GB)

Edit after some hardcore use:I took my Surface Pro out to a client manufacturing facility (they make trucks) for a city water survey. I had it in a Moko case. I was absolutely blown away with a few aspects of this device.I was marking up a very large PDF, a layout of the entire building I was in, complete with all city water plumbing drawn. Zooming, panning, marking up, nothing ended up fazing this device performance wise. I used Drawboard PDF, which was exactly fit for my purpose.I was there surveying for 6 hours, no breaks and no charging. I ended up with 63% battery left! Amazing considering the workload(this was a LARGE PDF)!I really cannot say enough good things about this device. I ended up buying the Surface Pen and it is absolutely worth it over the Ciscle. I don't have a single complaint at the moment about this device. I highly recommend it.Original Review:---I was debating between a new i5 Pro6 and a refurb i5 Pro 5, until I learned that the new i5 in the Pro 6 is a real 4 core 8 thread. I opted for the 6, and oh boy am I glad I did.Performance wise, it really is kind of amazing that a system this powerful can run on passive cooling. I have been mostly using the Surface to annotate PDFs of building blueprints using Drawboard. Zooming, panning, writing, all of it is as fluid as I could ask for, even on massive PDFs of entire factory buildings.Aesthetically, the Surface is a REALLY handsome device. Very pleasing to the eye, and very ergonomic as well. I love folding down into studio mode for drawing.Drawing is great. I opted for a cheap 3rd party pen(Ciscle), but I think I will probably buy a Surface Pen before too long. It is impressive how little lag there is for drawing, it really does feel very natural.I was debating long and hard with myself whether to get the Surface Pro 6, or just get a cheap windows tablet. 300% price difference, but I am absolutely, hands down glad I got the Pro. Awesome device.

I use this tablet for illustration. It is by far the best system I’ve used for drawing. It’s responsive and feels very natural. My biggest gripe so far is the onscreen keyboard. It sucks, and since this is running full blown windows you really need a decent keyboard to work fluidly. Fortunately this is an easy fix since any keyboard can be plugged in to the usb. I had an old wireless keyboard/mouse combo that works greatThe software available for pc is substantial compared to Mac, but this is actually not a big deal. Most of the best programs are on both systems.The pin is were the real magic happens. The Apple pin has an all plastic tip which feels terrible for drawing. The rubber tip on the surface pin is perfect and actually feels like drawing on paper (sort of). It’s other features work flawlessly as well. There are cheap knockoff pens available but the surface pin is far superior.I’ve used Wacom and iPads in the past but am definitely sticking with the surface pro. If all it did was run my drawing programs I’d be happy. And then it’s a fully functioning pc.The future is now :)

I haven't had a need for a full PC in years. I rarely do anything interesting in my leisure computing. I was compelled to buy a Surface Pro when I needed to do tasks outside my work computer that couldn't be fulfilled by my Samsung tablet. I'm pleasantly impressed by this machine. It's the perfect hybrid -- extremely lightweight, highly portable but capable of doing all those things that lazy developers haven't brought to the tablet universe yet. I'm totally sold. I really love this design. It was a bit of an investment (~$1k with the keyboard accessory) but the sting eases as you use it. It's a powerful little travel companion, keeping me well connected on the road. I'll admit. It's not the fanciest machine or the heaviest duty processor but it's a good household machine for when you want some distance to have hobbies outside of your work life. (Admit it. You're using your work computer to read this review...) Plus these days if you really need advanced compute, you can use an AWS workspace to spin up the right machine for that specific task and spin it down. Overall, I'm converted. I can't imagine not having this machine in my arsenal. I feel like a wizard. I'm much more organized and productive having a machine that's capable of being both a tablet and a legitimate PC. Huge win in my book.

I will point out some minor things first: for Google websites, like Google docs, Google Sheets, it can take a while to load up first and their websites are not so touch-friendly, plus there is a lack of official Google apps in the store, take note if you rely on those heavily. (I bet my device this is because Google wants to promote their Chrome OS)Bring the charger with you if you plan on using it for like 8 hours because without power save (which can affect you performance and touchscreen) it wouldn't last so long. I would say that is understandable consider how much stuff is already packed in this device. Plus the charger is really mobile device charger weight.But besides all those, it's indeed a 2-in-1 that packs all the functions of a laptop in a tablet weight device, I can run all my apps (like MATLAB, mingw) and do some painting (with clipstudio) with this thing. It makes my works seem more fun than they were. It feels like my productivity improved. For the entire week I spent more time concentrated in my work and didn't touch my other laptop at all.I wouldn't say it is the best device yet to exist, but it is definitely one of the best things our current consumer technology can offer.