Microsoft Surface Pro 2 became a truly laptop computer with great battery life

Microsoft Surface Pro 2 had a lot improved on the original Surface Pro, it has became my favorite laptop computer and a truly portable PC.

A few days a week, I leave the confines of my office to work at my remote annex site—better known as my local Starbucks. If I had a true desktop PC, I’d need a supplementary laptop of some sort for these off-site excursions, and I’d need SkyDrive or Google Drive, or some other system, to keep files in sync between the two. The Surface Pro 2 is the PC I can take with me.

Microsoft offers the Touch Cover and Type Cover keyboard covers as optional add-ons, but they’re really necessities. I needed some sort of protective cover for the tablet display while mobile anyway, and the keyboard covers let me use the Surface Pro 2 like an Ultrabook when I choose.

Both covers work well enough, but I struggled at times with the less-tactile keys on the Touch keyboard cover. I also found the Touch Cover a bit flimsy when trying to use it on my lap, so I prefer the Type Cover even though it’s a little thicker and heavier. With the Type Cover, the Surface Pro 2 is still lighter and thinner than most Ultrabook or hybrid options, and the cover folds all the way back when I just want to use the device as a tablet.

Tablet form factor aside, the Surface Pro 2 is every bit a Windows 8.1 computer, so it’s not surprising that most of the time, I use it in my office, sitting at my desk. Here, the optional docking station really makes it shine: I just set the Surface Pro 2 in the docking station, slide the connectors into place, and the device is instantly connected to my network and peripherals. When hooked up to a traditional keyboard, monitor, printer, and mouse or touchpad, I find the the Surface Pro 2 to be a more-than-adequate PC replacement.

My workdays involve writing, communicating, and researching. So I spend the vast majority of my time in Microsoft Word, Outlook, and Internet Explorer. With most mobile devices, I’d have to use a stripped-down mobile or Web version of these applications or else find substitutes. I love how the Surface Pro 2 lets me run the full, uncompromised versions of Microsoft Office and all my other Windows software.

The original Surface Pro had pavilion dv3500 battery life that was mediocre at best. The two or three hours’ worth of juice put it on a par with most comparable laptops but made it woefully inadequate as a PC replacement. The Surface Pro 2, however, has vastly improved hardware that lets me get through days of working in the field without needing to recharge.

You can find cheaper desktops, lighter tablets, and more powerful Ultrabooks. There are even alternative tablets that run Windows 8.1 Pro, like Dell Venue or the Asus VivoTab with Asus Eee pc 1201 Battery. But for my purposes, none of them handle the daily transitions from PC to portable device, and from creating content to consuming it, as smoothly as the Surface Pro 2.

It’s clear to me that the Surface Pro 2 represents the future of computing. It is proof of the concept that tablets aren’t killing PCs—they’re just a natural evolution of the PC experience. Whatever device that ultimately succeeds may not come from Microsoft, and it may not even run Windows, but eventually devices like the Surface Pro 2—ones that deliver power and portability, and that exist comfortably as both productivity and entertainment devices—will replace traditional PCs and become the norm in the near future.