I’ve been a Mac user since 1993, when, that spring, I returned from my senior class trip to find a Colour Classic on the table; my father had, despite my lack of enthusasim about having my own machine, purchased one for me to take to college. Before that, we had an Apple IIe. I fell in love with that Mac, writing my graduation speech on it and playing Prince of Persia. A procession of Macs has graced my computing life since: A PowerBook G3, PowerMac G4, PowerBooks G4 (titanium and aluminum), a black plastic MacBook, an Air, and many more.
My First Mac
My usage of PCs and Windows has always been either professional or academic, where I had to use a machine for work because that’s what they gave us, or because the library at school used it for literature research. A succession of uninspired HPs and Compaqs took unwelcome residency on my desk at work, until the day came when I was able to use my own computer because everything had moved to the cloud, the network admin told me how to log onto the district wireless network, and platform didn’t matter quite so much.
But even when you get what you want, you always wonder what’s going on on the other side. In that spirit, I took a chance to borrow a Microsoft Surface Pro 7 for to kick the virtual tires and see what life is like for a Mac user taking up a Windows device. That, and my kids are Windows users who don’t care a lick about troubleshooting. And now, a couple of years later, I’m trying out a Surface Pro 9.
Surface Pro 7
The good news? Both devices are nice hardware. Windows 11 is a fine OS. And a lot of my favorite, must-have apps are available for Windows. 1Password? Yes. TextExpander? Yep. OmniFocus? Sorta.
The bad news? Battery life isn’t great, although the 9 is much better than the 7. The hardware/software integration is not what you would expect for a boutique expression of a platform. And surprisingly, the software landscape is thin.
I’m going to whack this up into a few different posts: Hardware, The Windows-as-Tablet Experience, and Software.
Hardware
“People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware.” -Steve Jobs
Unlike the plasticky, off-the-shelf garbage that I had been handed at work, the Surface Pro 7 hardware is top notch: it feels solid in your hand. The magnesium backing provides a pleasing texture; the lines are tight and clean, and the power cable, while proprietary, uses magnets. The newer Surface Pro 9, however, a less premium-feeling aluminum.
The Surface Pro kickstand, possibly the most polarizing design choice, allows for a remarkable array of viewing positions. (t works only OK on my lap, which is a common criticism of the device’s design, but not as well as a traditional laptop or Apple’s iPad adhered to a Magic Keyboard. The soft, texturized plastic surrounding the Surface Pro 7’s Keyboard feels great, and the keyboard itself is a minimal, island-style keyboard in the vein of Apple’s Magic Keyboard. (The blue Alcantara on the 9 is nice, too, but I prefer the 7’s feel.) The use of magnets allows for both flat and angled keyboard layouts, which is both clever and useful. Typing feel is excellent, with enough travel to provide tactile feedback, but not mechanical or loud. Overall, the hardware feels very well conceived and considered. You want to pick this thing up.
Surface Pro 9 Kickstand
The magnets on the Surfaace Pro 7 hold the Pen firmly on the side of the device, where you can mount and unmount it as needed. It’s not so strong that you won’t find yourself fishing around in your bag for it from time to time. Unlike the Apple Pencil, I don’t feel the need to secure it while moving around.
The Pen on the Surface Pro 9 is tucked into a small dugout at the top of the keyboard, and probably necessitated the carpenter-pencil design of the new Pen. It’s not a better design, and the expensive device feels much cheaper than the textured metal barrel of the original Pen.
Surface Pro 9 Pen
Speaking of the Pen, Microsoft’s version is different than the iPad’s, in ways that compare both favorably and otherwise. For example, the Pen is held onto the left side of the Surface Pro 7 via magnet, and it is a strong, reliable attraction. It does not, however, charge the pen; for that, you’ll need a AAAA battery (that’s correct, quadruple A, and you’ll need to pay attention to the charge level since it doesn’t charge while connected to the device. (On the Surface Pro 7, I was at 93% after about a few weeks of use, and eight months later, at 67%.) Unlike Apple’s Pencil, you can erase with the back end of the Pen, and there are programmable gestures available by using a (gasp) hardware button on the top of the Pen. For example, two firm presses will bring up either the Inking input panel, or the full screen Snip application, while one press drops me into Microsoft Whiteboard. Both Pens are stouter than the Apple’s Pencil.
The refresh rate on the Surface Pro 7’s display pales in comparison to any Pro-level iPad, even an older 2017 10.5″ Pro I compared it to. Windows 11 has appreciably improved the smoothness of scrolling on most applications, but you will immediately notice the difference if you’re a heavy ProMotion-enabled iPad user. The Surface Pro 9’s display runs at a much smoother 120 Hz.
The Steve Jobs quote above (ironically) points to why Microsoft went in this direction: they wanted to show off best-of-breed hardware, how they imagined Windows 11 best showcased on a premium hardware device.
Windows
So let’s talk about Windows, specifically how it works on this device. Oogling the hardware will only get you so far; at some point, you need to sit down and use it.
I am perhaps the worst choice to consider its benefits and drawbacks, but it simply does not feel integrated in the way iPadOS does with the iPad, and macOS feels on a Mac. That used to make sense, when Microsoft was designing the OS, but vendors were loading the OS onto their own hardware. But this? This should be the true Windows experience.
The most obvious consideration is this: the Surface Pro wants to be two things: a Windows computer, and a tablet. The question is whether this works, to mix the two or not. As not-unrelated aside, this is the debate that has raged on since the dawn of the iPad. “The iPad is a just a big iPhone.” This was very much true in 2010, and while iPad has gained a number of features and its own branded OS, the criticism of the device today remains: It’s not Mac enough to be your only computer. And looking at the prices for the upcoming iPads Pro, you can understand why a buyer might want an iPad to do it all, no Mac required.
Surface Pro 9 with Signature Keyboard
Swiping and gestures, for example, are present on Windows. In a very Microsoftian way, Windows 10 allowed you to swap between a Tablet Mode and a more traditional Windows interface.; Microsoft didn’t seem to have an opinion about how you should use their device. (Tablet mode is no longer included in Windows 11) Unlike iPadOS, which was once described as a big iPhone, Windows proper was always lurking beneath the surface of Tablet Mode. It looked a lot like Windows 8, with the tile-based interface and Charms. If you were expecting the Surface Pro to turn into an iPad when you turn on Tablet Mode, you’d have been disappointed: The desktop was replaced with a kind of Springboard-like launcher, but it’s not a canonical list of your installed applications, a la iOS’s default behavior; rather, it’s a permanently visible Start Menu. You can toggle a full list of installed applications, though.
Windows 11 is bit more ChromeBook-like; its interface is more easily suited to tablet use (when you want it), but it works fine as a desktop OS, too. I should probably put that a different way: tablet affordances are baked into Windows 11, so it works acceptably well without a secondary mode. That said, many interface elements and touch targets aren’t sized for your fingertip. Having been able to use this device on both Windows 10 and 11, I agree that the latter is much improved. Is it as good as an iPad? No. But the Surface Pro is trying to be two things.
There is one area where the interface between hardware and software is well considered and thoughtful: the Pen. I don’t know how third-party styluses work, but Windows shows you where your pen is going to land when it eventurally touches the screen… like a hover, it shows the exact touch point, and even highlights menu items on hover. It’s a nice touch that gives you feedback about where you are aiming on screen, and is a nice visual interface touch. The Apple Pecnil, but contrast, registers touches in the interface.
One big difference here is that Apple created iPadOS (and iOS) to be touch-first interfaces. You can quibble about what this means, but the touch targets on Windows are pretty small in comparison to iPadOS. This is meaningful difference, but it fades when you consider that a lot of the work you’re going to do involves websites. And websites don’t necessarily go to any trouble at all to make sure that it works nicely on the iPad.
The Appmosphere is Suprisingly Thin
Shockingly, on Windows, the app ecosystem is utterly lacking compared to the Mac and iPad. Are there speicality apps that make Windows better in niche markets? Maybe.
There are a number of big-ticket applications that exist, happily for me, on both Mac and Windows: most notable is 1Password, the lack of which would really make my life difficult. TextExpander is also available, but my writing volume is a bit lower than it once was, and I could live without it. Office, of course, is at home on the Surface Pro; I continue to pay for Office, if begrudgingly, because I use Excel a lot.
Setting up a device on a new platform makes you think about what you really need. Through a far liess rigorous process than I’d ever admit, I started looking for:
- an RSS reader with Feedbin support
- Text Editor
- Utilities
Surface Pro 9
A pinch for me has always been that I don’t use Outlook. The obvious darling of high-volume email overachievers sat idle, because on iOS, it pales in comparison to both Mail and (most pointendly, for me, Spark), and on the Mac, my beloved MailMate. So I was excited to finally get to use Outlook on a proper Windows device, where it would emerge the (paid) victor of all options.
Or would it? What the fuck is the deal with Outlook and Gmail? Is it the competitive spirit that prevents them from letting Outlook exist harmoniously with a Gmail account? You have to manually add Google Calendar to Outlook using a “secret” URL. I can install iOS apps all day that will read my Google Calendar. Furthermore, it doens’t readily recognize Gmail’s dreaded “All Mail” folder, which is where (ahem) all mail goes, only to be tagged with relevant information such as “Inbox.” I get it: Gmail’s IMAP implementation is non-standard. But hey Microsoft: everyone uses Gmail. Support it. Out of the box. Make it easy. Like on the Mac.
I’m being a little harsh; Outlook handles IMAP, Echange, and Pop. My favorite email application, Mailmate, requires considerable configuring to get it working correctly because Gmail’s isn’t a standard IMAP implementation. Similar shenanigans are required to get it working on Outlook.
Microsoft Mail is probably a better alternative if you use Gmail; it functions mch more like a modern, webmail-friendly application should. It also downloaded all 9 GB of my work email to the Surface Pro without warning. Mailmate downloads all of your email, and I understand this; I have seen the giant footprint that being a fussy Mac user invites. Mail doesn’t say anything; it just nukes and paves. It works though.
I alighted for greener pastures and tried out Postbox, which is an application I tried some years ago when I was looking for a Mail client for the Mac. I liked the Mac version quite a but, but it wasn’t terribly different from (at the time) Mac OS’s Mail client, which I generally liked using (and enhanced with InfoClick). It’s a good Gmail client on Windows, though, and-unlike so many applications-it looks good on Windows. It does not, however, handle large IMAP accounts well, and they charge for tech support, whether they actually help you or not. So it’s OK if you don’t need your old email.
I tried a number of other email clients, but I’ve settled on Spark Desktop since the latest version came out. It looks and runs like Spark Desktop on the Mac, and while I can’t yet replace MailMate with Spark Desktop, I do try to run it on my Mac. So that’s what I’m using on Windows, since I’m already paying for it.
RSS
I found FeedMill, an RSS reader that supports FeedBin, my aggregator of choice. Windows does not offer the embarrassment of riches this space that you find on any of Apple’s platforms, but this one looks the part and syncs, if a bit slowly, with FeedBin. The price was nice, too, and only 5 USD. It doesn’t appear to have been updated since 2020, though, and it chokes on my account after a while. So I created a web app of FeedBin using Edge. Boring, but that’s where we’re at.
Calendar
Calendaring is a different story. Outlook supports Google Calendar, but it’s not intuitive to set up, and at least for me, was a constant source of errors and stalled syncing. Microsoft Calendar is passable for keeping appoints documented and supporting a bevy of online sync services, but it lacks power-user features like Zoom and Meet support.Calendaring isn’t much better. Microsoft Calendar is passable for keeping appoints documented, but it lacks power-user features like Zoom and Meet support.
Until the New Outlook (aka Project Monarch) becomes available for me to use with my work Gmail account and home iCloud accounts, the only tenable calendar solution is Morgen, which isn’t free. It’s a solid calendar app and it’s available across platforms. I don’t prefer it to Fantastical, but that’s not an option on Windows.
Making Life a Little Less Painful
Here are a few gems I found that make moving to Windows more fun:
PowerToys app launcher: Launchbar fans will miss having a keyboard-based app launcher. This particular little gem of an app doesn’t do much besides open applications and URLs, but it’s better than nothing. It’s minimal interface is nice, too. Fluent Search is a commendable alternative, with built-in file searching across the file system (a la Spotlight) as well as other plugins, such as firing off terminal commands. Even better is the electron-based Ueli, which is available for the Mac as well.
Microsoft Edge: I have actually been using this as the Chromium-based browser to handle G-Suite duties at work on my Mac, so I was familiar enough with it. It handles PDF with annotation duties very nicely, and you can save to the files system once you’ve made your edits.
Ditto: I am embarrased to admit that I ignored the benefits of a clipboard manager until very recently, when I read Take Control’s excellent Take Control of Launchbar. I don’t do a trememdous amount of repetitive writing anymore, but there are many times when being able to grab the last few things I copied and reuse them comes in handy. Ditto isn’t Launchbar and it’s certainly not Pastebot, but it’s a nice little free app that does what you need. Alternatively, Microsoft’s own Windows-V keystroke is a nice, simple clipboard manager.
Morgen: Until the New Outlook (aka Project Monarch) becomes available for me to use with my work Gmail account and home iCloud accounts, the only tenable calendar solution is Morgen, which isn’t free. It’s a solid calendar app and it’s available across platforms. I don’t prefer it to Fantastical, but that’s not an option on Windows.
Make Mine Nine
Regaridng the Surface Pro 9, and I have a few things to add.
The experience of using the Surface Pro 9 after having the seven for a few years is incremental, to be sure, but it is decidedly better. Gone is the sluggishness that I associated with the 7; the 9 is snappy and fast in all the right ways. The 120 Hz refresh on the display is not only welcome but necessary; the Surface Pro 7 sruggled along with a premium price but suffered in comparison to older apple iPad hardware. And the Surface Pro 9 battery seems much improved, too.
I do miss the magnesium of the origintal design; this new Pro 9 is a bit more staid in its desig (although the black looks fabulous). I paired mine with a blue alcantera keyboard and it looks downright classy.
Conclusion
I really like using the Surface Pro. I like the size, I like the hardware, and surprisingly I like Windows 11. It makes for a weird tablet, though, and I can see why Apple didn’t Frankenstein the iPad and the Mac when their own slate first came to market. It’s not weird enough not to use it, but you are confronted with some level of dissonance if you’re used to something that was developed as a touch-focused device from conception to execution.
But the software situation on Windows isn’t great, and it’s a big surprise to me, because that was always the jab at Mac users back in the dark days of the late 1990s and early 2000s. The tables have decidely turned, and if you love software, you might not find Windows exciting.
