I finally made it down to my local Best Buy to spend some time with the recently revealed Surface Pro 3.
Best Buy put the Surface Pro 3 on display in their stores this past Sunday which followed the devices debut in Microsoft Stores on the 6th of June.
I found the Surface Pro 3 on what is called the Surface pinball table. Just look at the table from the side next time you are in Best Buy and that name will make sense.
They have chosen to display just one device at the moment and it is the 128GB i5 version of Surface Pro 3 that will cost $999.99 without the Type Cover.
In my local Best Buy it was in the number one position on the Surface Pro side of the table.
One of the unique things about the Surface Pro 3 being sold at Best Buy is that you can get an exclusive deep blue colored Type Cover to go along with your device.
I am a big fan of the color blue and this color is awesome on the Type Cover as you can see below and very different to the standard Type Cover colors.
Unfortunately the device is well locked down, which is understandable, but it prevents getting a true sense of the weight and feel of the device including using it in portrait mode.
I will say picking it up and feeling it reminded me a lot of my Surface 2. I really like the silver color of the magnesium case compared to the darker color of other Surface models. It is amazing how thin the Surface Pro 3 is when you finally see it up close.
The kickstand is solid and easy to adjust but it still has the right amount of friction to hold the angle you place it at.
The screen is crystal clear and when I selected to show more tiles on the Start Screen from the default it showed me six rows of tiles. Lots of Live Tile density for sure.
I did some typing tests with the Type Covers magnetic strip attached to the Surface Pro 3 and with the keyboard flat on the table and found it was solid when flat. I did not notice any bouncing as I typed with the magnet attached to the screen however, there was a slight vibrating sensation as I hit the keys with that strip against the Surface Pro 3 but it was not annoying – at least not during the brief time I did some typing on it.
The touch pad on the Type Cover is very nice and a major upgrade from the one on previous generation type covers.
I also snapped the power connector in and out a few times and found it easy to plug in.
With the Surface Pro 3 display device chained to the table there was not a lot more I could do but it was nice to finally check this piece of hardware out.
Overall I consider this a solid first impression. Of course, getting more hands on time is my next goal to see what it is like to use the device on a daily basis.
Until then – stay tuned.
