Microsoft Surface Pro 4: More a notebook than a tablet

The device sports great hardware and a fabulous touch experience but is too big to be used as just a tablet

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It has been more than a couple of decades. And yet I felt the same kind of helplessness. But this time I was on the other side - I was the one grading someone, okay something. Here I was scribbling "See you at 8" using the Surface Pen on Microsoft's Surface Pro 4, but all that the note-taking app understood was "dee you at 8". Frankly, this time it wasn't the device's fault; my handwriting is, as my teacher so succinctly put it so many years ago, is "illegible".

But let's start at the beginning. The magnesium Pro 4 looks sleek in silver and weighs a tad below 800 g. The 12.3-inch screen is not something you'll take to bed with to read and watch movies; it's way too big.

Once it was set up, I was prompted to set up Windows Hello, which is basically face-recognition software. Hello works well, once you get a sense of the angle at which you need to look into the camera.

I attached the Type Cover, which sadly, isn't bundled with the device. As soon as the cover was attached, the Pro 4 automatically switched off tablet mode. I logged into my Office subscription, and was good to type away to glory. The touchpad, too, is fabulous, with multi-touch supported, such as swiping three fingers up to get to Task View. In fact, the Pro 4 sets the standard for Windows 10's touch features. But a caveat: The Pro 4 with the keyboard and kick stand work best on a level surface; using it as a laptop literally is tricky - one has to balance it precariously on one's lap.

The review sample's Intel Core i5 processor with 4 GB of RAM never let me down on any of the tasks, including photo editing and video encoding. I daresay this could also be a good gaming device, but the 128 GB solid state drive would be cramped for current-generation games.

The battery, though, tends to get depleted much faster than most tablets I have used.

I still had to use the Surface Pen and this I did while taking notes, which brings me to where I started. I got around the problem of OneNote not recognising my handwriting by noting everything in capital letters.

The Surface Pen has a click switch on top, which doubles up as an eraser, and feels like one. Clicking the switch once brings up OneNote, the note-taking app; while clicking it twice takes a screenshot - but I would have preferred OneNote to not make an appearance again. Also, the OneNote app had a tendency to crash after I installed Office.

The Microsoft Surface Pro 4, at Rs 89,990 without the Type Cover, is an expensive proposition as a tablet; while it works seamlessly with all Windows products, bear in mind it has a weak battery. As a notebook it does well and trumps the iPad Pro as a workstation.

SPECIFICATIONS

Price Rs 89,990

OS Windows 10 Pro

Processor 2.4 Ghz Intel Core i5 (6th generation)

RAM 4GB

Storage 128 GB SSD

Weight 786 g