A roundup of Surface Pro tablet reviews

The Surface Pro won’t be available to the general public for another few days yet, but Microsoft gave a number of tech journalists and media outlets Surface Pro units (mine must have gotten lost in transit) to review ahead of the launch. Apparently the embargo has lifted, because suddenly there’s a flood of reviews posted for the new Windows 8 tablet.

Here are some of the initial thoughts on the Surface Pro:

• “Give me more screen real estate, Microsoft. Give me a keyboard that I can type on all day. You’re getting so, so close to that sublime, perfect marriage of tablet and PC. Surface Pro isn’t the answer—but it comes close.” (PCWorld)

• “Microsoft may consider itself among those attempting to reinvent a computing device category by delivery a PC/tablet hybrid. But the Surface Pro isn’t the best on either front. I am hoping for another Microsoft Surface-branded device that might be my next Windows PC. The Surface Pro is not this machine.” (ZDNet)
  

• “If you equip it with an external display, keyboard and mouse, it becomes a serviceable desktop PC, and if you stick to Windows 8 apps, it may be the best Windows 8 tablet so far.” (TIME)

• “It’s too big, too fat, and too reliant on its power cable to be a competitive tablet, and it’s too immutable to do everything a laptop needs to do. In its quest to be both, the Surface is really neither. It’s supposed to be freeing, but it just feels limiting.” (The Verge)

• “As a tablet, it works well, although at 2 pounds without a physical keyboard, it’s heavier than the 1.44 pound iPad with Retina display…While there will be some people who will be able to use the Surface Pro as a laptop replacement, I’m not one of them – at least until the resolve my keyboard issues.” (Forbes)

• “ It’s better than a laptop because it’s more portable. It’s better than a phone because you can get more done on a big screen. It’s better than other Windows 8 tablets because it’s more powerful. And it’s better than an iPad because it’s made for productivity from the start.” (Mashable)

It seems that the Surface Pro is not living up to the expectations based on these early reviews. But, the potential is there if Microsoft can tap the market. Perhaps the new alliance with Dell will yield some innovative new tablet that can achieve the goal of replacing both the PC and the tablet at the same time.