The Planetary Extreme Baseball Alliance

As I understand it, there's more than a few computer experts on these here boards.

So I've got a question for you: which of these should I buy?

I'm a lawyer and I have a powerful work desktop. That said, I'd love to have something that runs "real" MS Office, can be used on the road, and also allows me to "mark up" large PDF document files when doing "document review." I'd also like to have something that I can carry, can run OOTP, and also the regular Netflix viewing. Finally, I want something that has the cellular data option if I need it.

I looked at Macs / IPads of all kinds, but it really seems like the Surfaces are the best.

So which should I buy?

Surface 3 -- cheaper, less powerful, kickstand is limited ... but probably does what I need and no fan(!)

Surface 3 Pro -- more expensive (but $100 off currently, if not more ... so it'll be @$200 more than Surface 3), heat issues, but will do everything.

Surface 4 Pro -- coming out in July, maybe. And who the heck knows what it will do. Likely to be the most expensive.

I can get it through work so there's the "expense" tax deduction. Plus my firm will buy it so I'm really only paying for part of that.

Any thoughts?

Any thoughts?

You know, I'd be curious on this, too, and I'm not just limited in interest to Surface - I'd like to know about any and all tablets.

Truth be told, my #1 interest with a tablet is as a mobile reading device. I know that doesn't require much horsepower at all. I'd also like to content create on the go. Word is my go-to text composition tool, and I gather that runs best in a Microsoft environment. Scrivener is another tool I use, and that one works best in a Mac environment. Right now, though, Word is my clear #1 program of choice - I use it every day. But I'm not sure if a tablet will be any good for content creation.

Playing games and watching films? It's tempting. I'd love to feel like I could spare the time, but the truth is I'd probably be too freaked about time-wasting to indulge. So it's really reading and content creation #1 and #2, and entertainment all the way down at #13. Does that help at all with making a recommendation?

Sounds to me like you need a MacBook Air. But that doesn't have 4G to my knowledge. And it might cost a bit more than the surface. Unfortunately I don't have any experience with the surface. I don't know how useful features like a touch screen would be for actual work like doc markup.

The MacBook Air is a good, solid option. Most importantly, it doesn't have cellular data capability -- so I'd be dependent on WiFi networks. Seems like that's not a huge deal, though, as almost everywhere indoors has them at this point. I'm mostly intrigued by the idea of using a full-fledged Word and Outlook program. It isn't bad on the Mac, but it definitely isn't the same. Also, I'd be marking up PDFs ... so instead of printing out 200 page documents, carrying them around, and highlighting them I could use the pen function to make notes, circle text, etc. And then there's the added benefit of having a tablet that does tablet things, like watching movies or MLB games via the app.

But I have no idea if this is an idealized view of what you can do on a Surface or whether it's legit.

That said - John, seems like you have no need for a tablet so sticking with a stripped down, light laptop would be the best.

It looks like one can connect to a 4G network using something like this:

http://www.clear.com/support/download/s ... -4g-apollo

I've never used one though. I'm a wifi kind of guy. :)

I've been using a Lenovo Ultrabook as my secondary system for the past year or two. Admit I hate windows 8, but the tablet/notebook aspect of it has been pretty okay. It runs all Windows stuff, natch ... and OOTP.

Regarding PC laptops and the reputedly crappy Windows 8, it's worth noting that Windows 10 will be coming as a free upgrade next month. That's worth considering, especially for those of us tied to Microsoft's Office suite.