Surface 2 REVIEW
The internals aren’t the latest and greatest, but for non- gamers this is a choice machine
People who does a lot of typing, photo editing and YouTubing will love this piece of technology that will not break your back lugging it around.
Looks are important to you? Yes, this Microsoft Surface 2 laptop (at 49,000 baht) rivals MacBook in quality build and attractiveness with its expensive-looking aluminium case. It’s thin, slim but since it’s made of aluminium, it’s not bulky and yet not the lightest laptop around.
A great typing experience comes with this laptop’s backlit, responsive keyboard which is surrounded with a sheet of special synthetic fabric that covers the whole keyboard surface area, except for the actual keys. This synthetic fabric adds a nice velvety feel to your palms while typing, but decolorisation may occur if you are the kind of person who has sweaty hands (it can be cleaned easily with soap).
The laptop is nicely balanced in weight distribution and its lid can be opened with one finger without the need for another hand. Too bad you can’t open it to a 180-degree position, which may be preferred by some people when using it lying down on the bed (me included).
The screen can be used with a stylus, aka Microsoft Surface Pen, but it gets a bit wobbly when drawing hard or applying pressure against the screen. Also, the 3:2 aspect ratio that this laptop has is very good for two-app-half-screen-each use than the usual 16:9 screens out there.
It comes with Windows 10 S, which is a lighter weight of Windows 10 that only allows programs that are provided on the Windows Store and do not allow the typical legacy software installation. However you can upgrade the OS to Windows 10 Pro for free, for now. As a Photoshop addicted person, I find Windows 10 S not the best option. So I upgraded right away for my photo manipulation needs.
The performance that this machine has is more than enough to do general things, like web surfing, photo editing, word processing and any kind of PowerPoint presentation. The integrated Intel HD graphics means saying goodbye to playing demanding 3D games. So, gamers beware.
I really love the responsive face detection, aka Windows Hello, to log on to Windows instead of typing in passwords. It even works in very low light. This is such a handy feature that logs you on to the computer securely without any hassle. Just look at the screen and you’re on.
The notebook sleeps (or hibernates) really well also and loses very little power over days of non-use. I used it for work purposes (update websites, retouch photos, etc) for about half-an-hour each day for five days in a row without charging it once and ended up with about 60% of battery left. Considering that I just simply close the lid in between use, the power management of this laptop is very impressive.
Now, if you’re the kind of person who wants the latest chips and components in your things, this lightweight laptop will not satisfy you. It basically has one-year-old technology and components in it which still work very well, but not the latest or greatest. Moreover, upgrading this machine will be near impossible, because there is no way to open the machine without damaging it. Also, Microsoft is so stingy with ports: one USB port, mini display port and a headphone jack is quite a let-down.
Even with all the setbacks above, the typing experience on this laptop is so smooth that I just loved it so much.
I really love the responsive face detection, aka Windows Hello. Just look at the screen and you’re on