It's better than you'd expect out of a machine this small, however. You can run legacy Windows applications on the Surface to your heart's content, but those won't be nearly as touch-friendly.Īudio, conveyed through built-in stereo speakers, sounds adequate but not spectacular. The 'fun factor' is definitely present in the Surface Pro, but there isn't the incredible level of tablet-friendly app support that iOS and Android enjoy. It took some fiddling to get window sizing just right, but I found that working on my desk with the innocuous Surface on the side of my monitor as a PC-slash-second-screen was a bit of a treat. Working in multimonitor mode operated exactly the same as you'd expect on a Windows PC. A built-in Mini DisplayPort carries audio and video, and with adapters (sold separately) you can switch over to VGA or HDMI if needed. You can connect the Surface to a larger monitor easily many will.

It's not quite as brilliant as the iPad's Retina Display, but it feels like it's getting spiritually close. The Surface Pro, in painting programs and a few other apps I tried, felt comfortable to navigate. That's the magic that made the iPhone and iPad so fun to use. Capacitive multitouch feels buttery-smooth. Even if you didn't use another monitor, the Surface's IPS display is one of the best I've ever seen on a small Windows computer. The good news is that the Surface Pro supports up to 2,560x1,440-pixel resolution on an external display. I found myself able to work on it easily, but I could also see that you'd want to plug in a monitor for all-day use.

The 10.6-inch display is small, especially for a full Windows laptop, but it's crisp and bright and has a full 1,920x1,080-pixel resolution.

Surface windows 8 pro 256gb