Tag: Surface

Last updated by Thomas Maurer at March 23, 2018.

Mar232018March 23, 2018March 23, 20184 Commentsby Thomas Maurer

My First Impressions of the Surface Book 2

Posted in Hardware, Hardware, IT, Microsoft, Surface, Windows, Windows 10, Work

Last week I got my early (or late) Christmas gift to myself. The Microsoft Surface Book 2 15-inch version was finally shipping to Switzerland. The 13-inch version of the Surface Book 2, was already available last year. I am a long time Surface user, since I got my first Surface and my first Surface Pro back in 2012. As you might remember I got a new Surface Pro 2017 as a new company device, back in July 2017. I picked the Surface Pro as a replacement for my Surface Book which I used quite a while and I am very happy with it. It is a light and mobile device, perfect when you are traveling. I think the new Surface Pro with LTE would even be better if you are on the road.

However, one thing I always knew, was that I am more productive with a larger screen. Even the 13” Surface Book, made a huge difference against the 12” Surface Pro. The thing is simple, it is mobility versus screen real estate. I am often working on the go, which means I like the mobility. On the other hand I am also working a couple of hours on the device with no extra screens. Having some extra space on the mobile device, makes me more productive.

When Microsoft announced the new Surface Book 2 13-inch and 15-inch, I knew I want a 15” version. It would give me more screen real estate, more productivity, paired with the Surface quality and design. The combination of a 15” screen in a 3:2 aspect ratio, together with a touch screen and pen support, will provide you with the best possible work setup.

The Surface Book 2 also comes with some performance improvements. With the higher end models, you get new 8th Gen Intel Core i7-8650U quad-core processor, and a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060, which will provide you with the necessary performance. For me, these performance improvements are a nice addition, but not the reason I would upgrade. If you are a creator, designer, editor, you might highly benefit from the additional graphics performance. However, Microsoft also updated the disk to a faster NVMe SSD, and this you can see and feel in your day-to-day tasks.

Surface Book 2 – First Impressions

I haven’t used the Surface Book 2 long enough for a full review, but I want to share my first impressions.

Hardware and build quality are amazing as for all the Surface devices, no surprises here.
Performance improvements from the 8th Gen Intel Core i7-8650U quad-core processor, and the NVMe SSD are great. They are helping a lot if you are running Docker containers and Hyper-V on your machine. I can also imagine if you are doing graphic intensive work, you also benefit heavily from the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060.
The amazing 15” PixelSense display with the 3:2 aspect ratio and a resolution of 3240 x 2160 is just stunning and really makes a difference if you need screen real estate. The quality of the display is also amazing and you can switch between “Enhanced Mode” and sRGB. And as always I am very happy with the Surface Pen support.
Yes you can still detach the screen from the keyboard to use it as a giant 15” tablet.
Microsoft now includes 2 x USB type-A (version 3.1 Gen 1), 1 x USB type-C (version 3.1 Gen 1 with USB Power Delivery revision 3.0), 3.5mm headphone jack, 2 x Surface Connect ports, Full-size SDXC card reader. The only thing missing is the Thunderbolt port, but to be honest I never missed it before, but of course it would be nice to have it.
Of course the Surface Book 2 15” version is huge if you compare it to the Surface Pro or the Surface Laptop. With 1.9kg also heavier, but with the performance improvements, battery life and the larger screen, what else can you expect. However, if you undock the screen from the keyboard, the tablet part is still very light.
It also provides you with the necessary modern Wi-Fi standards a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth Wireless 4.1 technology and built-in Xbox Wireless for the 15-inch version.
Since I am using it only since a couple of days, I cannot really talk about battery life. Microsoft claims up to 17 hours of video playback. To be honest the first Surface Book was already very good in terms of battery life. I think, with the Surface Book 2 I will make it trough a day.
Of course it also ships with a Windows Hello face authentication camera. A 5.0MP front-facing camera with 1080p HD video and a 8.0MP rear-facing autofocus camera with 1080p HD video.

Overall my first impression of the Surface Book 2 is amazing. The Surface Book 2 is the laptop I was waiting for, for a long time. I think this is the best notebook I have ever owned. Are you owning one, or thinking about buying one for yourself? Let me know in the comments.

Feb182018February 18, 2018February 18, 20180 Commentby Thomas Maurer

Mini Review of the Microsoft Modern Keyboard with Fingerprint ID

Posted in Hardware, Hardware, IT, Microsoft, Surface, Web, Windows, Windows 10

As you may know I am a big fan of the Microsoft peripherals like the Microsoft Arc Mouse, Surface Pen, Surface Precision Mouse, Surface Dial and the Surface Keyboard. The last one I have just upgraded to the Microsoft Modern Keyboard. The Microsoft Modern Keyboard almost looks the same when you compare it to the Surface Keyboard, except for some minor changes, like the on/off button, the USB charging port or the integrated Fingerprint reader.

As like the Surface Keyboard, the Microsoft Modern Keyboard feels extremely comfortable to type on, and in my opinion also looks perfect on your desk. It is thin and light and matches the style of the other Surface products. Microsoft Modern Keyboard with Fingerprint ID’s aluminum frame makes it not only of the highest quality, but heavy and virtually indestructible. The keyboard not only supports Bluetooth Low Energy 4.0 / 4.1 / 4.2, it also supports USB as a wired connection, which allows it to be a great choice even at work.

One of the main new advantages of the Microsoft Modern Keyboard is the new integrated Fingerprint reader. This allows you to use it together with Windows Hello, to easily login to your computer, without the need of a password.

You also get a on off switch for they keyboard, which is really handy, especially when you are traveling and storing the keyboard in your bag.

The Surface Keyboard came with batteries which you needed to replaces after a while. The Microsoft Modern Keyboard brings a rechargeable battery, which can be easily recharged using the included USB cable, which also lets you connect the keyboard not only using Bluetooth, but also using the wired USB connection. Microsoft promises up to 4 months battery life on full charge.

After using the Surface Keyboard and before the Microsoft Designer Bluetooth Desktop since 2015, the Microsoft Modern Keyboard with Fingerprint ID is a great successor.

Dec102017December 10, 2017December 10, 20173 Commentsby Thomas Maurer

Microsoft Surface Precision Mouse Review

Posted in Hardware, Hardware, Home, IT, Mac OS X, Microsoft, Surface, Web, Windows, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Work

Last week I got the Microsoft Surface Precision Mouse delivered. The Surface Precision Mouse will become the replacement mouse for my Microsoft Sculpt Mouse, which I used for the last couple of years. Now I want to give you some impressions about the Surface Precision Mouse, since I am very happy and very surprised about the feature set.

First of all the Microsoft Surface Precision Mouse feels awesome, very high quality and it is very comfortable in your hand. It feels very precise and you get very quickly used to it.

Now let me write about some extra features you might didn’t know about. You first get a button to configure the scroll wheel in two different speeds, one feels very light and fast and the other one is slower and is more resistant, so you can choose what you like more and switch between them, depending on your task.

Of course you get some extra buttons which you can customize with different shortcuts, for example to open the Windows 10 Tasks View or other applications. You can also customize the buttons depending on the application you are working with.

By already having the perfect mouse, in terms of feeling, comfort, precision and customizability, you get a really cool extra feature. The Surface Precision Mouse gives you more multi-tasking power by allowing you to work seamlessly across up to three computers, supports both Bluetooth and wired USB connections. You can pair your Surface Precision Mouse with three different devices and you can manually switch between them with the button on the bottom of the mouse, or you can use something called Smart Switch.

Smart Switch on the Surface Precision Mouse can be enabled by using the Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center. It allows you to setup the workplace layout in the app and now you can move the cursor to the border of the screen and the mouse will seamlessly switch to the other device. So if you are working on your desktop and you have your notebook right next to it, you can easily move the mouse from one device to the other.

Overall I am super happy with the new device!

Tech Specs

The mouse also works with Windows 7, Windows 10, Windows 8.1 and macOS devices as long as they support Bluetooth 4.0 or higher.


Interface	USB 2.1, Bluetooth® Low Energy 4.0/4.1/4.2	Dimensions	4.8 x 3.05 x 1.7 (122.6 mm x 77.6 mm x 43.3 mm)
Wireless Frequency	2.4GHz frequency range	Weight	4.76 ounces (135 grams) including rechargeable batteries
Buttons	6 buttons, including right and left click and scroll wheel button	Battery	Rechargeable lithium ion battery (included)
Design	Ergonomic design with side grips	Battery Life	Up to 3 months
Scrolling	Smooth or magnetic detent customizable horizontal and vertical scrolling¹	Color	Gray

Oct042017October 4, 2017October 4, 20172 Commentsby Thomas Maurer

Boot from Storage Spaces Virtual Disk in Windows 10

Posted in Hardware, Hardware, IT, Microsoft, Powershell, Surface, Web, Windows, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Work

A couple of weeks ago I got my new Microsoft Surface Pro, I decided to go with the 1TB version to have enough space.

After the first minutes of setup I quickly wanted to run disk optimization, which for SSDs usually does quick trim operations. In my case this was running way longer then on my Surface Book, so I checked what was going on, and I realized that it was running Optimization on a Storage Spaces Virtual Disk, which is kind of strange.

I checked the disk configuration and really, my Surface Pro (2017) does have a Storage Spaces Virtual Disk which it boots from. The Storage Spaces Pool does include two physical 512GB NVMe drives with one Virtual Disk on top configured as simple (striped) volume. Right now I don’t know how they did it, but it seems now possible to boot Windows from a Storage Spaces Virtual Disk with the Windows 10 Creators Update or some Surface team magic. Then when Storage Spaces was introduced with Windows 8, boot from Storage Spaces was not possible.

Sep212017September 21, 2017September 21, 20170 Commentby Thomas Maurer

What is in my Bag for Microsoft Ignite 2017

What’s in my bag for Microsoft Ignite 2017

Posted in Cloud, Events, Fun, Hardware, Hardware, IT, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Azure Stack, Office, Pictures, Powershell, Surface, Virtualization, Web, Windows, Windows 10, Windows Server, Work

In a couple of hours I will catch my flight to Orlando FL to the Microsoft Ignite 2017 conference. I am happy to join the itnetX team and be able to speak at the largest Microsoft Conference this year. I am really looking forward to it and meet other enthusiast around Microsoft Cloud solutions and of course meeting with members of the Microsoft Product Group.

I am already preparing and packing stuff for my two weeks trip to the United States. After Microsoft Ignite I will spend another week on the Microsoft Campus in Redmond (Okay, actually it is in Bellevue at the Azure Cloud Architect Bootcamp) so I have to pack enough stuff so I can pre productive for these two weeks and especially Microsoft Ignite.

My main devices is of course my new Microsoft Surface Pro which I use as my 3-in-1 device, replacing my notebook, tablet and desktop using the Surface Docking Station. Of course it is running the latest Microsoft Windows 10 Insider Preview. Battery life I get is around 8 hours depending on what I am doing I get even some more. I will leave my Surface Book, which I was using for over a year and was my daily driver for a long time, back home. The Surface Pro is lighter much more portable, and especially at a huge conference like Microsoft Ignite, it helps to have a light devices to carry around.
The Surface Pen, well especially for conferences, workshops and trainings, I like to take handwritten notes or draw things to discuss ideas and solutions with people. The Surface Pen and OneNote are a must have for such events! (Quick Tip: Check out my blog post about Why OneNote is Awesome to learn some new OneNote skills)
As my day to day phone I use the Microsoft Lumia 950 XL (Yes sometimes I still use a Windows Phone) and the Samsung Galaxy S8+, which are the perfect devices for me with great cameras to take picture from the place I travel to and listen to music.
Even I like the track pad of the new Surface Pro Signature Type Cover I think I am more productive using a mouse. For that I got the new Microsoft Arc Mouse, Microsoft delivered together with the new 2017 Surface Pro. It follows the same line of design as the Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse and others, which are perfect for traveling. If you don’t need them, you can just click them, to turn the off.
The Bose Quiet Comfort 35 Audio Headphones and their Noise Cancelling feature are some real life savers. I like them especially when I travel and have some long flights. But I also like that they now support bluetooth, so I can connect wirelessly. I also use them for Skype and Skype for Business calls.
To get some extra power if needed, I also carry a Microsoft DC-34 portable power charger with a 9000 mAh battery
I am also carrying the Garmin Forerunner 325 which helps me tracks the steps I walk during Microsoft Ignite and the limited sleep I get during this event. Trust me, you will definitely walk a lot during that conference.
For presentations I got a Microsoft Mini-DisplayPort to HDMI and VGA adapter as well as the Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter which acts as a Miracast Receiver and is great for presentations.
I also carry a USB 3.0 drive, since you never know when you need to share some files, which might be to larger to share over the conference WiFi.
I just use power adapter of the Microsoft Surface Pro which also has a USB port for charging the phone, speaker and other stuff.
Next to that, I will bring some cables, sunglasses and a bunch of other stuff you need during a conference.

Some other tips for the conference:

You are going to talk a lot, and the days will be back with a lot of information and discussions, so make sure you pack something light to carry your devices around or a comfortable backpack. Also make sure you stay hydrated during the day, not just during the evening events 😉

By the way, check out my video interview with Marcel Zehner about my sessions at Microsoft Ignite during one of the itnetX X-Talk videos:

With that, hopefully see you at Microsoft Ignite 2017 in Orlando, and if you are there, contact me if you want to grab a coke, coffee or beer.

Jul162017July 16, 2017August 3, 20172 Commentsby Thomas Maurer

First impressions on the Surface Pro 2017

Posted in Cloud, Hardware, IT, Microsoft, Pictures, Surface, Windows, Windows 10, Work

I am one of the lucky persons owning an brand new Microsoft Surface Pro as a new device for work. This is the my devices I used for the last couple of days and weeks as my daily driver and this allows me to write a quick review about my first impressions about the Surface Pro.

After using the Surface Pro, the Surface Pro 2, the Surface Pro 3, the Surface Book became my daily driver. And I had to say that it is a great notebook. But after using the Surface Pro for awhile, I really got used to the form factor. The 2-in-1 form factor and the small and light design, made the Surface Pro a really great travel companion and this was the reason I decided to go with a Surface Pro again.

My first impression when I took the Surface Pro out of the box was: “wow, this feels premium”. Even the Surface Pro and the Surface Book always felt really great, Microsoft improved it even more. The amazing premium sound of the kickstand, the new rounded edges and the display of the Surface Pro making it even more premium and as mentioned the build quality is amazing.

The second thing I realized while using it, is the resume form standby is incredible fast. You basically press the on button and you can start working. And this while battery life is still great, I get around a whole working day out of it with a single charge.

Unfortunately I couldn’t really test the new Surface Pro Signature Type Cover, because it was not available at launch. But I will included it in my final review of the Surface Pro 2017, after I have used it for a couple of weeks.

May042017May 4, 2017May 4, 20170 Commentby Thomas Maurer

Surface Keyboard User Review

Posted in Hardware, Hardware, Home, IT, Microsoft, Office, Surface, Web, Windows, Windows 10, Work

A couple of days ago I finally got the new Microsoft Surface Keyboard to replace my Microsoft Designer Keyboard which I used for the past year. If you just have a quick look at it you might see not a lot of differences, but the new Microsoft Surface Keyboard is a great successor of the Microsoft Designer Bluetooth Keyboard. It is also a Bluetooth keyboard using 4.0 and 4.1 LE, it has a slightly changed key layout and of course it comes in a soft-finish grey as the Surface Pro, Surface Book or Surface Studio, making them a perfect match, and the finishing touch to a well thought-out desk space. Besides these small design changes Microsoft worked on the keys. The key travel and spacing are perfectly engineered for fast, quiet, and responsive typing, making it feel much more premium.

For me, this is the perfect keyboard right now, since I prefer the flat key design which matches the ones of the Surface Pro and the Surface Book.

Tag: Surface

My First Impressions of the Surface Book 2

Surface Book 2 – First Impressions

Mini Review of the Microsoft Modern Keyboard with Fingerprint ID

Microsoft Surface Precision Mouse Review

Tech Specs

Boot from Storage Spaces Virtual Disk in Windows 10

What’s in my bag for Microsoft Ignite 2017

First impressions on the Surface Pro 2017

Surface Keyboard User Review

About

Follow Me

Sponsor

Sponsor

Sponsor

Sponsor