JimUBC

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  JimUBC 12:20 am on May 9, 2016 Permalink | Reply  

  Surface Book and 4K Monitor 

  With 4K TVs coming down in price I was curious to see if I could use a 4K TV as a monitor with my Surface Book.

  

  For this discussion I’m using the UHD-1 definition
  4K is  3840 x 2160 pixels
  That’s the equivalent of four 1920 x 1080 monitors.

  Why would anyone want to do this? Well in my case it was because I was already running four 24” monitors with 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution. When I came across a great deal on a 48 inch 4K TV it held the promise to get the equivalent of my four monitors all on one screen.

  I had already shopped around and tried a couple of those 21:9 monitors. These are 3440 x 1440 and there are several of these 34” monitors..  The result was less than I wanted because there wasn’t enough screen real estate to replace my four monitors.
  (3440 x 1440 vs. 3840 x 2160)

  I had already tried several 4K monitors and found that the Surface Book could run with fine in Duplicate mode (3000 x 2000) on both the Surface Book and the external monitor, but in Extend Mode, I couldn’t get the external monitor to run 3840 x 2160. I have since found out that not all mini-display port to HDMI adapters are equal.

  In my hunt to find just the right combination I found a retail store that was willing to let me try different 4K TVs who happened to have a mini-display port to HDMI adapter that worked.   I got a 48” curved screen TV.  Got it back to my place and it wouldn’t run at full resolution.  The difference – I wasn’t using the same mini-display port to HDMI adapter, so I went back to the store to get one of theirs.  And it all worked.

  This is the TV that I got. This is information NOT a recommendation. It’s too soon for that.
  Samsung UN48JU6700 Curved 48-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV

  

   

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  JimUBC 7:14 pm on October 6, 2015 Permalink | Reply  

  Microsoft Windows 10 Devices Event 

  If you are at all interested in the future of mobile computing you have to watch this!

  Microsoft Windows 10 devices event

  And a quick look at the devices

  Microsoft Surface Pro 4

  Microsoft Surface Book

   
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  JimUBC 6:42 pm on September 1, 2015 Permalink | Reply  

  Surface 3 Why? 

  Surface | Windows Touch & Tablet

  

  I’m probably not the target audience for a Surface 3.  I’ve had the other Surface devices, my daily driver is a Surface Pro 3, and I’m probably going to get a Surface Book. As it turns out, I really like this tiny marvel.

  I’ve always bought top end Surface devices opting for the fastest processors, highest memory and storage capacity. Each decision taken in isolation was on the assumption that the machine I was getting would be my primary and possibly my only device. I didn’t really expect the Surface 3 to compare well with my previous Surface devices.

  I got the Surface 3 with 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage, the Surface 3 keyboard and pen.

  Here’s what I got.  The friendliest and most likeable Surface so far. For an everyday user, I’d be quick to recommend this. Friendly means that it’s quick, light, has decent battery life, it’s tiny  it’s silent and it stays cool.

  It’s light, quick enough for most things, and it gets great battery life. I haven’t done a formal battery run-down test, but I’ve as yet to have it run out before I was done with it in a day.

  I say that it’s friendly because it’s small. It’s easy to toss it into my backpack with little concern for its weight or size.  Instead of taking the power supply I can use an external battery pack for extended work.  Being able to charge it through the micro-USB port makes this possible. Even a cell-phone charger can extend the battery life in a pinch. I do that in the car with power accessories that  I already owned for my phones.

  Silence is golden, and the Surface 3 is silent. When I’m using my Surface 3 for music related applications it’s an easy choice.

  With Office 365, Windows 10 Pro (and option for business users), keyboard and pen this makes for a great, general purpose business machine.  I would take it on a business trip without hesitation. To my surprise I find that I’m more likely to take it out than my Surface Pro 3, simply because it has great battery life, and it’s smaller and lighter.  When I’m meeting with others I am not likely to need all the processing power that comes with the Surface Pro 3.

  

  And let’s not forget the pen. The pen is fully functional on the Surface 3 and in that, it compares with Surface Pro 3 working just fine with all my drawing applications. I also use the pen a lot with OneNote.

  In short, this is a very productive machine. I’m using much more than I expected, and I’m enjoying it.  Highly recommended.