Sunday was an out-of-the-house day so “Day 3” was Monday. This was the first day I used the Surface as a work device. My main focus was around using it as a second screen for non-core work tasks (IM, To-do lists, social media work etc.) and then as a note-taking device in meetings. Specifically, I wanted to play with the stylus and handwritten notes in OneNote.
Second Screen
My work setup is a powerhouse Dell laptop that’s essentially a desktop replacement. The laptop is docked and hooked up to 2, 24″ monitors, a Microsoft Natural Elite ergonomic keyboard (wired, split key design) and a Evoluent vertical mouse. Basically, a pretty robust standard setup with a lot of screen real estate and computing power to get most of my work done.
In the past, I’ve used my Nexus 7 as a secondary screen to display my to-do lists, keep up on industry news etc. so I’ve already played around with the idea and found I liked it. I just found having to interface with the Nexus only by touch to be annoying.
The Surface Pro acquits itself very very well as a second screen device. It lets me keep what are normally distracting tools and tasks relegated to a separate device entirely, so I only engage with them when I make a conscious choice to. I don’t have to alt-tab or minimize my work windows anymore to deal with non-time-critical things. Plus, the size of the Surface means it fits very easily on my desk without crowding me.
Note Taking
Around my office, I’m definitely the odd man out in meetings. Most people lug their laptops with them everywhere, furiously typing away the entire meeting. It makes it *look* like everyone’s taking careful notes, but my bet is most people are checking email, work IMs, or surfing the web. I like to go into a meeting with a notebook and a pen and take notes by hand. It forces me to pay more attention, and I don’t end up hidden behind a screen.
With the Surface Pro, I have two options for meeting note-taking: Typed notes in my app of choice, or hand-written notes in OneNote.
I went with the handwriting for my Monday meetings, and chose OneNote 2013 Desktop over OneNote MX (the Metro App version) for the extra pen options (colors, brush types, highlighters etc).
The results were, in a single word, great! While I need to get used to writing on a super-low-friction surface (you may not realize it, but writing on paper provides a significant amount of resistance for the pen tip that you will definitely notice the second you try writing on a glass screen), my initial attempts didn’t turn out so different from my regular handwriting (read: terrible, but I can read it).
Being able to free-write during a meeting changes the way I take notes. Being able to scribble a note in the margins, or a quick diagram, or highlighting an important point on the fly feels so much more natural to me and results in much more detailed notes that I can act on after the meeting. Plus, it all resides within OneNote’s organizational structure that I love. Add in SkyDrive syncing to my desktop at home, work laptop etc. and I have a super-notebook on my hands here.
Stylus + OneNote = The Surface Pro Killer Feature
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So far, it’s working out great as a work tool. It’s going to be a pretty busy week with a lot of different meetings (Wednesday is packed with meetings from 8am – 5pm) so we’ll see how the battery holds up with moderate, all-day use, and if I can manage to use the device consistently all day without growing uncomfortable with the weight, heat or form-factor.