Watch CBS News

Tech Report: Microsoft's Surface Pro Tablet Falls Flat

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— Microsoft's highly-anticipated Surface Pro tablet goes on sale starting on Saturday. I've had the fortune of testing it out for the past couple of weeks and was really excited when it arrived.

I love the idea of a lightweight computer that's also a tablet and I thought, 'this is great' and really hoped that I would love the actual product. Unfortunately I didn't love it.

As a tablet, it's okay if you forgive the fact that it only has about four and a half hours of battery life, which is really, really bad by tablet standards (The iPad can go up to 10 hours).

As a laptop I gave it mixed reviews. The biggest problem is that you can't use it on your lap. The way the optional keyboard is attached is with a magnetic attachment and if you put it on your lap it's going to flop over. There's a kickstand, so it does okay on your desk, but it doesn't work on a lap.

The other problem I had (and not all reviewers found this) is that I was making a much higher number of typos on the keyboard, because if you touch it the wrong way it seems to just freeze up on you.

Tech Report: Microsoft's Surface Pro Tablet Falls Flat

I had to give it poor marks as a laptop and mediocre at best as far as being a tablet. Every piece of software that I use on my regular Windows desktop or Windows laptop ran on that Surface device. When I do radio segments for the CBS network I use a program called Audacity. That worked fine by plugging in my microphone into the USB port, but the actual physical device itself didn't quite make it.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.