Babies, blogging, and becoming more organised

February 6, 2015

Microsoft Surface Pro 3 review

My quest for 2015 was to banish my new mum, baby brained forgetfulness and become a more organised person. I’ve been trying out the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 (a laptop / tablet hybrid, with a case that’s also a proper keyboard) to see if this can help.

So a month in, is my house a calm oasis of zen-life peace? Do things run smoothly, and do we get everywhere on time?

Well, not quite. But the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 is really helping, in loads of different ways. Here’s a few of them:

Microsoft Surface Pro 3 tablet

Babies: It can’t babysit, clearly, but it does help me better use the little free time I do have by speeding up the things I need to do, such as blogging. It’s easy to use in most places where having the laptop out is tricky (such as on the sofa trapped under a sleeping baby, and during nightfeeds).

The toddler is drawn to its lovely new shininess like a moth to a flame – while I hover and worry about fingerprints – but she really enjoys things like the Fresh Paint app and that gives me a few minutes of peace.

Review of the Microsoft Surface tablet

Blogging: Having two children and everything else to deal with means you don’t have any time, and before using the Surface blogging took a lot of time. I’d have ideas, lists and drafts of posts on my phone, but then would have to use the laptop to format photos and for lots of other things (like SEO and social sharing). Our old MacBook takes a while to boot up, is quite slow, and is not the most user-friendly for balancing in bed.  But I can do this all on the Surface, and in a much quicker time.

It’ll be great for using when I go back to work (there’s the full set of Office programmes) and I’m sure I’ll take it along to meetings and blogging conferences.

Becoming more organised: you can read my five ways to be more organised here. No longer having to Google ‘what’s the hashtag on a Mac?’ 8000 times a day is a time saver too (it’s F3 if you’re wondering).

Tablet laptop hybrid

And is it good value for money? The model I have is £849 and the case is £109, so it is on the pricier end of the scale. However, it can replace both a proper laptop and a tablet, so if you’re looking for something new it’s definitely worth considering (as a comparison, it costs around the same as a MacBook Pro or the higher-end Air). You can get a cheaper version at £639 with less memory.

I held a Twitter chat yesterday where someone asked me if I’d ever go back to a traditional laptop. So many of the features – full touch screen capability on a laptop, for example – would be hard not to have now. It offers the full functionality I need, combined in a really portable and easy-to-use format, so I can’t imagine going back. I’m working on the organisation, but more than anything it really is brilliant to use, and I can’t imagine what I did without it.

Read my initial review of the Microsoft Surface Pro 3, see my unboxing video, and also five ways to be more organised,

This post is in association with Argos.

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