{"id":1724,"date":"2017-06-19T09:55:05","date_gmt":"2017-06-19T13:55:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/?p=1724"},"modified":"2017-06-28T06:33:50","modified_gmt":"2017-06-28T10:33:50","slug":"surface-pro-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/2017\/06\/19\/surface-pro-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Surface Pro (2017)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I really loved my Surface Pro 3 (purchased June 2014), but earlier this year, it became useless as a portable with a non functional battery. If I hadn\u2019t encountered the (well known) battery issues, I would still be happily using my SP3. But being chained to AC outlets isn\u2019t my idea of portability. I was hoping that Microsoft would offer a special trade in allowance for SP3 owners in light of the well publicized battery issues afflicting this model, but alas, it didn\u2019t happen. Nevertheless, I decided to spend the money and splurge on the new Surface Pro, i7, 512\/16 configuration. The form factor is perfect for me and the extreme portability (bad back) just can\u2019t be equaled elsewhere.<\/p>\n

After three days, my opinion is that this is a dream machine powerhouse.<\/p>\n

\"sp1.2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Clearly there are speed increases moving from an older i5 processor to the latest Kaby Lake i7 and moving from 8GB to 16GB RAM (and I have to assume that the new 512GB SSD is faster than the old 256GB SSD) and then there\u2019s the eye popping display. Wow.<\/p>\n

Benchmarks may be meaningful to some (and I noted that some of the technical reviewers included them) but for me, real world use with the apps and programs *I* use are what is important. I\u2019m not a gamer (and I\u2019ve heard that gaming is much better on the newer Surface than every before). I\u2019m an advanced user\/creative (photography) and I care about things like Lightroom, Capture One, Photoshop, etc.<\/p>\n

The new Surface Pro also has a neat feature for creatives: a dual color space where you can select sRGB or Enhanced.<\/p>\n

\"colorspace\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So why is sRGB\/Enhanced important? If you are a photographer producing for print using a commercial print house, you want as accurate a color space as possible, and sRGB is the way to go. Enhanced is great for watching movies, videos, and just general computing; colors pop and seem vibrant, almost three dimensional. It\u2019s pretty difficult to show the differences in the two color spaces on the web, but I decided that showing thumbnails side by side of sRGB vs Enhanced might illustrate the difference. Using Lightroom 6, I switched color spaces and took a screen shot the two thumbnail images below in File Explorer (making no changes in Lightroom). I\u2019m not sure how this will appear on the web in various browsers\/platforms, etc., but hope that the difference is discernible. With the \u201chot\u201d color the subject is wearing, the sRGB would make a better print (in my opinion).<\/p>\n

\"compared\"<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve found the new Surface Pen to be more responsive (seemingly no lag at all) on my new Surface. I have an older version of Photoshop (CS5) which does not have native Surface Pen support. Microsoft didn\u2019t post the needed Wintab drivers on the specific download page<\/a> for the new Surface Pro, but I downloaded and installed the 64 bit version (Wintab_x64_1.0.0.20.zip)  from the SP4 download site<\/a> and this works just fine. I\u2019ve asked an internal contact about why this is missing from the new Surface Pro downloads. <\/p>\n

Everything seems zippier on my new Surface Pro. It\u2019s a real pleasure to use and I\u2019m glad I made the purchase. I\u2019ve had a fair number of \u201cportables\u201d over a 28 year period. I\u2019ve captured most (but not all) of this history as I didn\u2019t include the first Surface Pro that I bought in 2013 (or the Macbook Air I bought in 2011) in my trip down memory lane.:<\/p>\n