Could a 11-12" Surface Pro be "the answer?"

Posted by Explosive Diarrhea on February 6, 2013 04:42 pm 23

I will be picking up a Surface Pro when it is released this weekend, or soon after at the least. The major selling points to me are the form-factor/portability, hardware design, and most importantly: digitizer! As someone who loves to sketch and works in the design field, the fact that I can run full-fledged photoshop w/pen, illustrator, rhino, etc. is pretty invaluable. The only alternative to this I see on the horizon is the Lenovo Helix, and that is still a few months out, and the overall hardware package isn't quite as attractive (subjective).

That being said, I understand that my priorities and requirements are pretty specific and many do not find the pro to be suitable for their needs. Probably the biggest and most unanimous complaint I read in Surface Pro reviews is battery life. Could a 11-12" Surface Pro solve this? More physical space means more room for a larger battery. The current processor/integrated graphics combo are plenty capable, and I assume that will only get better with Haswell coming later this year. Personally, I think a 10-11" screen is ideal, but 12" might be fine as well. Is this a deal breaker for anyone? Do you think a 12," or even 13" Surface Pro with 6-10 hours of battery life could be Microsoft's "halo" Windows 8 device and hush most complaints?

I'd love to hear some thoughts!