Tag: Surface

Nov232018November 23, 2018January 28, 20197 Commentsby Thomas Maurer

Surface Headphones – First Impressions

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

Today my early Christmas gift to myself, just arrived, the Microsoft Surface Headphones. Yes, Microsoft at their Surface Event in October, announced a new product called the Surface Headphones. The Surface Headphones are wireless noise cancelling headphones. This is especially handy when travelling or in a open space office. The will compete with products like the Bose Quiet Comfort 35 II and the Sony WH-1000XM3. If you are travelling a lot, especially if you fly a lot, you will never ever want to travel without noise cancelling headphones. By myself I was using the first generation Bose Quiet Comfort 35, which were my steady travel companion. I was really happy with it, even the sound quality could have been slightly better. However, with Microsoft releasing the Surface Headphones, it was time for an upgrade.

Of course, I didn’t really have time to test them yet, but I wanted quickly share my first impression and a little review about the Surface Headphones.

First of all, I really like the design and build quality, the have this premium feel and design, like the other Microsoft Surface products.
Boy the feel comfortable. Even do they are heavier than my Bose QC 35, the feel lighter and very good when wearing them. Especially when being on a flight for over 10 hours, this is a must.
Setup is so easy, Cortana on the Surface Headphones let you quickly go through the whole setup process and everything just worked like you expect it to be. No pairing errors or things like this.
They work great with Windows 10, iOS or Android.
With Cortana you can also use voice commands to check your calendar or play your Spotify playlist.
Connecting multiple devices like the Surface Book 2 and my phone at the same time, is really useful. Especially when a Skype for Business or Microsoft Teams call comes in, you can easily switch to your PC.
In my opinion the sound quality of the Surface Headphones is better than on my Bose QC 35, and it is a joy to listen to music. Again, I am not a sound enthusiast, but for me the quality is really good.
One of the unique features are the wheels or dial on the side. The wheel on the right allows you just adjust the volume and the wheel on the left allows you to adjust the level of noise cancellation. I like the wheels much better than, the buttons on my Bose headphones, they are way easier reachable.
The Surface Headphones also have buttons on the side, which allow you to pick up and end calls, skip to the next track, pause and resume music playback.
You cannot only regulate the level of noise cancellation, you can even amplify the background around you, which is handy when someone starts talking to you.

Overall the first impressions of the Surface Headphones has been great, and I can’t wait to test them on my first trips. They are a great edition to the other Surface Peripherals.

If you are living not in the US or UK you can order them from www.bigapplebuddy.com. If you are using the coupon code “THOMASMAURER” you will get $10 off their 1st Big Apple Buddy purchase. This not only works for the Surface Headphones but for other items as well.

Aug242018August 24, 2018January 28, 201911 Commentsby Thomas Maurer

Surface Go – My first Impressions and why I bought it!

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

I just received my Microsoft Surface Go. Yes, in Switzerland it was released just now, a couple of weeks after the US. The first review videos out there, did convince me that this is the right device I was looking for, but more to that later. In this short blog I want to give you a look at my first impressions of the Surface Go.

Why I bought the Surface Go

First, let me tell you why I bought the Surface Go. I am a long time Microsoft Surface user, since the first Surface Pro. I went to several iteration of the Surface family and currently I am using a 15-inch Surface Book 2 and a Surface Pro. Surface Book 2, I like because of the power and screen size, and it is perfect for me to do some serious work. The Surface Pro is more less my light travel work devices to day.

As you know I spend a lot of time travelling at conferences or to customer for meetings. Every weight and space I can safe during traveling is basically a great thing. A lightweight device for doing some simple work like mail, browsing the web or working with office would be enough for most of the tasks. Another tasks I need my device a lot for is taking notes. Since I started to use OneNote, I never took notes on paper again. Most of my note taking I do with the Surface Pen. Especially during meetings, it is much nicer to take notes on an almost flat surface, instead of hiding behind a laptop. The Surface Pro and the Surface Go are prefect for this, since with the kickstand. They let you switch easily from taking notes with a pen, to using the keyboard.

Benefits I expect from the Surface Go

I think the Surface Go would have all these requirements and benefits:

Lightweight and small
Surface Pen support
Full Windows 10
Touchscreen and Keyboard with trackpad support
Great built quality like other Microsoft Surface Devices
Enough power to still do some simple work
LTE to be always connect

I know the Surface Go LTE version, comes later this year. I think this would be perfect, but with conference and travel season coming up, I didn’t want to wait. Let’s see if I upgrade later to the Surface Go LTE version. These always connected devices running Windows 10, cannot come soon enough.

My first impressions of the Surface Go

Let’s talk about my first impressions of the Microsoft Surface Go. The most important part is obviously the formfactor. The Surface Go is crazy small and light. It really feels great in the hand and it seems to be the right size for a small and light travel device. It is almost cute if you put it to the 15inch Surface Book 2. The build quality is great as expected from Microsoft Surface hardware. The performance feels great for the tasks I am looking for. Microsoft Edge and Outlook and the other office apps feel fast and responsive.

The Surface Go also comes with a Surface Connect Charger, which is a great magnetic charging port. With that it can also easily connect with the Surface Dock and power my external monitor. However, the Surface Go also has a USB Type-C Port, and you can also charge the devices using a UBS charger.

I also got the Signature Type Cover, which is a smaller version of the Type Cover which comes with the Surface Pro. It is small but typing feels great. It takes only a quick moment to get used to it. Great is the huge glass trackpad which on the Type Cover.

I think this is the first Windows tablet I really can use as a tablet. With the size and weight, it is ideal to also use it as a tablet. For example the Surface Pro is only a little bit larger, but it makes a huge difference when you want to use it as a “portable tablet”. I found myself using Windows 10 in tablet mode a lot, and using the Surface Go in landscape and portrait mode.

Audio quality seems to be very good for a device in that price category. And the front facing stereo speakers make the difference to other tablets.

What I also really like is the great quality cameras which Microsoft has build in. If you record videos or if you do Skype for Business Calls and video meetings, the quality is way better than other tablets or even notebooks.

These were my first impressions of the Surface Go. Please let me know in the comments if you have any questions about it

Jul262018July 26, 2018August 22, 20183 Commentsby Thomas Maurer

My Workplace 2018 – How does yours look like?

Posted in Dell, Hardware, Hardware, Home, Microsoft, Surface, Windows, Windows 10, Work

Last week I was browsing the web and I found a lot of cool looking home office setups. I realized it is quiet interesting to see how people workplaces look like. With that I want to give a quick look at my home office and my workplace setup. Secondly, I would like to share your setup as well. If you want to share yours write a blog, link it in the comments or show it on Twitter, what ever you like.

This is it, this is my workplace if I am not on the road.

My main machine today is the 15-inch Surface Book 2 attached to a Dell curved-ultrawide monitor (Dell UltraSharp 38 Monitor – U3818DW), which with Windows 10 and the Snap feature is absolutely great to use.
I also have a Surface Pro as a company work machine, which I use mostly on the road when I need a real mobile work machine. It has enough powerful to do serious work and still gives you a mobile work experience.
I am obviously using a lot of Surface accessories like the Surface Precision Mouse, the Surface Pen, the Surface Dial and the Microsoft Modern Keyboard.
I also use some wireless Bose Quiet Comfort 35 headphones, not only for travel but also in the home office
I like the Surface Pen on my Surface Pro to draw some quick stuff or take some notes in Onenote.

Jul162018July 16, 2018September 19, 20190 Commentby Thomas Maurer

Troubleshoot Windows 10 Battery Life and Modern Standby

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

More and more mobile devices are out there, and Windows 10 has some need features like Modern Standby, formerly known as InstantGo or Connected Standby. Modern Standby provides an instant on/instant off user experience that users expect to have with their phones. Devices like the Surface Pro, Surface Go, and Surface Book 2 are using Modern Standby. Now that said there are always scenarios where battery life or standby doesn’t work as we wish. This blog post should help to troubleshoot Windows 10 battery life and modern standby on Windows 10, using inbox tools. For example, “powercfg”, which allows you to create Windows 10 battery reports.

Check hardware support for standby modes

First of all, you can check with power states, standby modes, or the available sleep states supported by your hardware using the following command:

powercfg /a

General Windows 10 Battery life and standby issues

In some case, you can run in some issues where you have your battery draining more than expected during the Modern Standby time. This could be of the following reasons:

Drivers – Make sure you have the latest drivers installed
Firmware – Make sure you have the latest Firmware (BIOS) installed
Mails – The Windows communication app keeps the broker infrastructure (BI) system active. BI, in turn, keeps the WLAN network up so that the system stays up-to-date with emails. If you get a lot of emails, this can end up in a higher power drain.
Software – Some installed legacy Software which does not let you go into the InstantGo modus.
VPN Clients – Some older VPN Clients can also cause issues with InstantGo
Network Activity – The WLAN device might have a challenging radio environment, and the Windows system might not be able to establish a reliable Internet connection. We see how these events affect the WLAN device, which, in turn, impacts the battery.

Jun282018June 28, 2018September 22, 20190 Commentby Thomas Maurer

What Microsoft Surface Peripherals do I use

Posted in Hardware, Hardware, Home, Microsoft, Surface, Windows, Windows 10

As you may know, the Surface devices are my work devices of choice since the first release of the Surface Pro back in 2013. I had a couple of different generations, like the Surface Pro 2, Surface Pro 3, the Surface Book, and my current daily driver, the Surface Pro (2017). The Microsoft Surface devices are quiet known now. But what a lot of people don’t know is that Microsoft also creates some great Surface peripherals for your Surface or your PC. So I try to go through what devices and peripherals I am using with my Surface.

The Keyboard

When I am on the go, I am using the Surface Pro Signature Type Cover for my Microsoft Surface Pro. I decided to go with the grey Alcantara version because the grey matches the other Surface devices perfectly, and the Alcantara has this high-quality premium touch. I always liked the Surface Type Covers, and Microsoft improved them a lot over the past years.

If I am at home and I connect my Surface Pro to the Surface Docking Station, which connects it to two external monitors. I use the Microsoft Modern Keyboard with Fingerprint ID. This keyboard is the successor of the Surface Keyboard and brings the great feeling and quality from the Surface Type Cover and the Surface Book keyboard to the desktop keyboard world. I especially like that it can be not only be connected wirelessly using bluetooth but also wired using USB. The USB port also lets it charge the keyboard when the battery after four months goes down or in offices spaces where you want to use a wired keyboard. The big thing about the Microsoft Modern Keyboard is the integrated Fingerprint sensor, which allows you to use Windows Hello to login to your PC.

The Mouse

May022018May 2, 2018November 15, 20193 Commentsby Thomas Maurer

Use the Surface Pen as remote for PowerPoint

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

As some of you may know, I am giving a lot of presentations using PowerPoint on my Surface Pro or my Surface Book. And since I am using Surface devices, I also added a Surface Pen to my setup. I can draw on my screen in meetings or take notes. And the Surface Pen does a great job inking, drawing, and taking notes, especially when using Windows Ink on Windows 10. But you can also use the Surface Pen as a PowerPoint remote.

A couple of weeks ago, I was presenting at the Microsoft Tech Summit Switzerland, and I realized that my USB clicker was empty. I could not find a battery replacement that quickly before my session started. Fortunately, I remember a new functionality Microsoft added a couple of weeks or months ago to PowerPoint and the Surface Pen. Since you can pair the pen with your computer to use some cool features in Windows 10, like starting apps by clicking the back of the Surface Pen, the Microsoft Office team took advantage of that.

Use the Surface Pen as a PowerPoint clicker

To use the Surface Pen as a PowerPoint clicker, you need to pair it using Bluetooth. When you are running Microsoft PowerPoint in Presenter Mode, you can start using the Surface Pen as a PowerPoint Remote. You can use your pen as a clicker or as a remote for PowerPoint. If you are doing a presentation and you want to jump to the next slide, press the back of your pen once. If you’re going to jump back to the previous PowerPoint slide, hold the button at the end of the pen, and PowerPoint will switch to the previous slide.

I know this is a pretty small feature, but it can turn out to be a very cool presentation saver!

If you want to know to set this up, check the Microsoft Office support page: Use your digital pen as a slide-show clicker

Mar232018March 23, 2018January 28, 20193 Commentsby Thomas Maurer

My First Impressions of the Surface Book 2

Posted in Hardware, Hardware, 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.

Tag: Surface

Surface Headphones – First Impressions

Surface Go – My first Impressions and why I bought it!

Why I bought the Surface Go

Benefits I expect from the Surface Go

My first impressions of the Surface Go

My Workplace 2018 – How does yours look like?

Troubleshoot Windows 10 Battery Life and Modern Standby

Check hardware support for standby modes

General Windows 10 Battery life and standby issues

What Microsoft Surface Peripherals do I use

The Keyboard

The Mouse

Use the Surface Pen as remote for PowerPoint

Use the Surface Pen as a PowerPoint clicker

My First Impressions of the Surface Book 2

Surface Book 2 – First Impressions

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