**I HAVE UPDATED THIS REVIEW WITH A COMMENT REGARDING SURFACE PRO 3**
I got this 2 weeks after it was released last year. I was against purchasing laptops, but wanted something to help with my studies. I am a Physics student, so we do a lot of math work with a lot of letters from the Greek alphabet. It's much easier to draw these letters than to type them, so I began looking for a touchscreen laptop with a stylus.
After looking at a few different products, I decided I wanted something with a detachable screen so that the keyboard wouldn't get in the way, the stylus had to work well, and palm rejection was a must to allow natural handwriting. I eventually narrowed it down to this, which had just been released, and it seemed like the perfect timing. This was everything I was looking for, just at the time I wanted it.
Looking at the selection of covers, I immediately ruled out the first-gen Touch Cover. Many keystrokes would not register on this cover, so it wasn't really suitable for use. They improved a lot with their Touch Cover 2, but I had to go with the Type Cover 2. I'm pretty good at touch typing, and I can do it quite fast. It was important to me that I was able to continue touch typing with the Surface - Type Cover 2 allows this, mainly because of the feedback you get from physical keys, and the spacing is good for me. I'm very particular with my keyboards.
The Type Cover 2 is so thin that you don't expect much key travel, but after you try one out, you will be pleasantly surprised. The keys move a fair amount, and provide a great typing experience. The keyboard attaches magnetically to the bottom of the Surface, and the connection is very strong. You can dangle the Surface Pro 2 from the keyboard, shake it about, and it won't fall off unless you're really trying. The great thing about this is that even though the magnet is so strong, the keyboard is still very easy to remove - I remove mine with a twisting motion. I use the US version of the Type Cover 2, for the sole reason that it has an enter key which I find more suited to touch typing than what the UK version has. Both the Type Cover 2 and the Touch Cover 2 have great backlighting.
The typing experience on the Type Cover 2 is fantastic, especially considering how compact the keyboard is. The only issue I have with the Type Cover 2 is that the trackpad isn't up to the same standards as the rest of the keyboard. I find that as the trackpad is so small, it's quite difficult to use, and it is tricky to use left and right click. I mostly just touch the screen, or use the stylus, but this is something to consider and be aware of.
The build is certainly premium, it's constructed from VaporMg, giving a very nice finish. It's definitely one of the more stylish devices out there, and works with the covers very elegantly. One thing to be aware of is scratching the back of the device when resting it on other surfaces. To prevent this, I recommend putting on the cover backwards, so that the keys touch the back of the device, and the back of the cover is what touches the table, or desk, to keep your Surface protected. I did scratch the back of mine with salt at a restaurant, not a major scratch, but after that I stuck to this method.
The 1080p display offers fantastic viewing angles, you can look at it near-sideways on and still see what's on the screen. The screen is bright and colors and text are very clear. It's a fantastic display, and it's scratch resistant. I think it is gorilla glass, but I can't find a definitive answer on that. I know gorilla glass was used in the first gen Surface Pro, and I assume they wouldn't downgrade on this for the second gen model. It hasn't been scratched by dropping the stylus on the screen, something I've done quite a few times.
The stylus is well made, and nice to use. It has a button on the side which acts as right-click, but you can also right-click by holding the stylus on the screen. The most impressive thing about the stylus is that the top end acts as an eraser. If you make a mistake writing in OneNote, which I use all the time, you can flip over the stylus and erase it. Very simple, and much more convenient than opening menus to change to an eraser, which you will have to do on many other devices. The stylus tracks well, but struggles around the bezel and in corners. It's not a major issue, but you will notice it if you try to close a desktop program. When not in use, the stylus attaches magnetically to the charging port.
Connectivity is good, with a USB 3 port, micro SD slot, mini display port, and 3.5mm headphone jack. I think that ideally, they should have included a second USB port, but it's not a major deal. This device is also bluetooth.
Battery life is around 8 hours, depending on use.
The kickstand is fantastic. It has one position for using it on a desk, and another for using it on your lap. The kickstand is very strong, you can hold it by the kickstand if you want to.
When your battery is low, you can charge the Surface with the magnetic charger. Usually I don't like proprietary chargers, however, this magnetic design is quite nice, and works very well. You can charge devices such as your phone through the USB port located on the charger.
I feel that this is the best device in its class, it's certainly the most powerful hybrid available. You can navigate Windows without lag, and if you wish, purchase the dock and have it act as a desktop. Personally, I like having something more powerful for my desktop machine, but some people will want an all-in-one.
**UPDATE REGARDING SURFACE PRO 3**: Microsoft will have you believe that the new Pro 3 is a straight upgrade to this device, but that's not actually the case. Benchmarks from Anandtech have shown that in prolonged processes (as little at 20 minutes), Pro 3 suffers from temperature problems and the CPU can throttle massively, decreasing performance to as low as half of the Pro 2 performance.
What does this mean? It means that Pro 2 is about twice as good as Pro 3 in gaming at 1080p. That said, Pro 3 has many advantages of its own. In short and light processes, Pro 3 performs marginally better than Pro 2.
This is considering the Core i5 version. I assume Core i3 will throttle less and Core i7 could be worse... time will tell.
Does this mean you shouldn't get Pro 3? No. I intend to get a Pro 3 as soon as it releases in the UK and I will review it shortly after, and also compare it to the Pro 2.
This review is also available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R99RAPTQ7KN05/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm
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