Accessorize your Surface Pro 3
Since you are here, chances are, congratulations are in order. You got yourself the awesome Surface Pro 3. Congratulations. As great as this laptop/tablet is, with some right accessories you can get even more functionality and productivity out of your new Surface Pro 3. To help you get more out of your tablet we created a short list of must have Surface Pro 3 accessories.
# 1 - Protection - Surface Pro 3 case.
If you use your tablet on the move, you need to make sure that your Surface Pro 3 stays well protected beyond a simple Anti-glare Screen Protector. For an ultimate protection, our number one choice is the URBAN ARMOR GEAR Case for Microsoft Surface Pro 3.
Often a good protection for our tablet can be associated with bulky, bloated case that hides the tablet's design and changes it into a clunky monster that we rather leave at home. Urban Armor Gear's designers managed to provide a great looking case without compromising a state of the art protection for our Surface Pro 3.
The UAG case provides an ample protection all around with an emphasis in common impact areas. A combination of a super light honeycomb core and a soft rubberized material, creates one tough shell for your Surface Pro 3. In addition it provides some extra shock absorption for your tablet's corners. Its slightly raised edges provide screen protection around the bezel, yet allows for the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Type Cover to fit perfectly, even in the magnetic tilted position. When the UAG case is used with the Microsoft Type Cover keyboard, according to manufacturer's website, this combo configuration meets the military drop-test standards (MIL STD 810G 516.6).
The outside case's surface is made of a proprietary soft rubberized material aptly named "Frogskin Technology", it provides a very comfortable grip even when wet. The technology used for the outer shell also allows liquids to simply roll off the surface to protect your Surface Pro 3 from an accidental water damage.
All that extra protection does not compromise your Surface Pro 3 accessibility. Slightly raised rubberized protection for tactile buttons, provides a very comfortable feel when you need to use them. All ports and heat vents are perfectly matched with cutouts around the edge of the tablet and provide an unobstructed access for all your Surface Pro 3 peripherals.
The only sacrifice that you are facing when using your tablet dressed in UAG Cover is the ability to use Surface Pro 3's original kickstand. Urban Armor Gear provides its own kickstand that unfortunately does not feature the smooth movement of the Surface's original support. Still, UAG kickstand's five positions give you enough control of the the screen angle to find one that works for you. Another trade-off is the kickstand's stability, especially when used on your lap. The total width and the T-shape of the UAG's kickstand cannot match the stability of the Surface's original support. The good news is that if you really need it, take the Surface out of the case and you can use the build-in support.
The only one setup that cannot be accommodated by the UAG Case is a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Docking Station configuration. To connect your Surface Pro 3 to a docking station you would have to take the tablet out of the case before you insert it into the docking station.
If you use your Surface Pro 3 on a go, this 24 ounce addition, would be a well worth inclusion in your Surface Pro 3 accessories arsenal. UAG's great design in either classic Black or Rogue is easy on the eye and will help you to avoid costly repairs down the road.
# 2 - Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Docking Station
Surface Pro 3 promised to be a tablet that can replace your laptop. By all accounts that promise had been fulfilled with some power to spare. For most users the Surface Pro 3 can easily be a three-in-one: a tablet, a laptop and a desktop. For a full desktop configuration, all we need is a full size keyboard, mouse and maybe a monitor. This is where a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Docking Station comes in. The docking station provides all the necessary ports and connections to make your Surface Pro 3 a perfect replacement for a desktop Windows PC.
With your Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Docking station you get more ports for all your peripherals. The number of USB ports grows to five, three full-size USB 3.0 ports and two full-size USB 2.0 ports that can be used to connect any standard USB device. If you opt for a full size keyboard, a mouse, a printer and an external CD/DVD player, you still have one port left for more devices of your choice. If you need more USB ports, for charging your phone or other devices, you can use one of your ports to connect a USB hub (like this one: Sentey Aluminium 10 Ports USB 3.0 Hub with 3 Charging Ports ). With the five build-in docking station USB ports and the ability to add more ports you should never run out of room to connect your favorite desktop devices.
The list of build-in connections doesn't end with just USB ports. The docking station provides also a wired network connectivity with a Gigabit Ethernet port that will allow you to join a wired network for a faster network data transfer or when Wi-Fi is not available.
When your Surface Pro 3 is parked in the dock, its internal speakers are disabled, so to enable audio in your desktop configuration, the docking station provides an audio jack (speakers + microphone) for a headset or an external speaker system and a microphone. You can also use a USB speaker (like this one: iLuv Compact USB-powered stereo speakers for Mac and PC laptop), or even a Bluetooth speakers (like this set from Creative Labs: Creative T15 Wireless Bluetooth 2.0 Computer Speaker System). If you are connecting an external monitor with build-in speakers, you can also receive the audio via the docking stations' or tablet's Mini DisplayPort. Audio volume can be controlled with Surface's control buttons that are still available even when the tablet is docked.
All this connectivity comes at a price, you need more power than your Surface Pro 3 can provide. Docking station comes with its own power adapter that connects to the charging port on the back of the base. The power adapter not only powers the docking station's ports but also provides charging power for your docked Surface Pro 3.
For video connectivity, Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Docking Station provides one Mini DisplayPort in addition to the tablet's build port that is not covered by the docking station's frame. The number of external monitors and supported resolutions can vary, depending on the docked Surface Pro 3 model. For more information on multiple monitor support, please visit Surface Pro 3 Multiple Monitor Support Detailed . In most cases you should be able to connect two external monitors and use the Surface's display as the third monitor.
The docking station's design enables users to continue to use the Surface Pro 3 in its laptop configuration, even after the tablet is locked in the docking frame. It positions the tablet at a relatively comfortable 25 degree angle. Unfortunately this disables the Surface Pro 3's signature feature of 22 to 150 degrees fluid angle adjustment. If you don't have a full size keyboard connected, you can still use the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Type Cover as your keyboard in flat or angled mode, as the docking frame does not cover the magnetic connector. For Microsoft Surface Pen for Surface Pro 3 users, docking station provides a special magnetized panel that will keep it handy at all times.
Users that are trying to capitalize on their tablet investment, docking station might be the one Surface Pro 3 accessory that can save them from purchasing a desktop PC. At the current price around $140.00 it is definitely less expensive than a new desktop PC while providing nearly the same capabilities.
For extended list of external monitors and video accessories, you can go to External Monitors and Video Accessories
To read more about Surface Pro 3 docking station, please go to Surface Pro 3 Docking Station Review, Options and Accessories
# 3 - Surface Pro 3 Accessories For Power On-The-Go
The battery life on the original Surface Pro had been subpar to put it mildly. With the second generation, we saw a great improvement in that department. The current model, despite a bigger screen and more processing power keeps the battery performance at the same, great level. The new and improved battery for Surface Pro 3 gives us, depending on the settings and usage, seven to nine hours of continuous use per single charge. In most cases that should be enough to get us to the next permanent power source. If we travel by car we can also use a car charger for a quick re-fill. There are however situations when we either don't have an access to a wall outlet or we cannot afford to be tied-down while our tablet recharges. If you find yourself in such a situation often, you might consider adding a portable charger aka external battery to your Surface Pro 3 accessories arsenal.
Unfortunately Surface Pro 3, as their predecessors, don't support a USB charging. Since we can't use most of the universal USB portable chargers available on the market, our choice pool shrinks considerably. We are left with two types of a portable charger configurations. They are: a portable charger that features a DC to AC power inverter or a multi-voltage portable charger that offers a 12V output setting. Fortunately that gives us still enough choices, to keep our Surfaces going beyond the internal battery capacity limits.
For our 5 Must Have Surface Pro 3 Accessories list we picked one of the best solutions from ChargeTech. Their ChargeTech - 18000mAh Portable AC Power Outlet provides 18000mAh of stored power, which by our estimates is more than double the capacity of the Surface Pro 3 internal battery. The combined capacity of the Surface's battery and the ChargeTech portable charger's, can provide up to 27 hours on a continuous use for our tablets. This particular charger uses a build-in power inverter to convert the electricity stored in its batteries into an AC current. All we need to do to use it, is plug in the Surface Pro 3 power adapter into the charger's AC socket.
For more portable charging info and Surface Pro 3 portable power choices please visit: Surface Pro 3 External Battery - Options And Accessories
# 4 - USB Hub card reader
If you consider the Surface Pro 3's slim and compact design, the number of ports and connectors available to the user is really impressive. The fact that in this small package, Microsoft's engineers managed to provide us with a full-size USB port, Mini DisplayPort and a microSD card reader, makes this design very unique indeed. All those ports come on top of the standard audio, charging and magnetic cover ports. This should be enough in most situations, but if you are to use your Surface Pro 3 as a laptop or a desktop, you might need a few more expansion ports for your peripherals.
Juiced Systems Microsoft Surface Pro 3 - 4 in 1 Adapter is a perfect companion for your tablet. Small enough to travel with you anywhere, yet providing two full-size USB 3.0 ports as well as an extra microSD and a full-size SD card reader. With no wires, it fits perfectly along the edge of the Surface Pro 3 and when not in use, it is small enough to fit in your pocket.
If you need a hub for you desk, you might consider something bigger like Sentey Aluminium 10 Ports USB 3.0 Hub with 3 Charging Ports but when the portability counts, Juiced Systems' adapter gets our number one vote as a port expander on-the-go.
# 5 - Input devices - Mouse and Keyboard
Using your Surface Pro 3 as a laptop and/or a desktop comes with some challenges. One of them being, choosing a pointing and a text input device. When in tablet mode, we are ready to sacrifice productivity and ergonomics for the convenience of the Surface's portability. Once we setup our Surface as a laptop/desktop, we can be more productive with a full-size mouse and a standard keyboard.
When it comes to a pointing device, we can pick and chose between hand, stylus and a mouse. When the Surface is set on a desk or in a docking station, using our hand or a stylus gets a bit awkward and uncomfortable. Additionally, some of the operations in traditional Windows applications had been designed with a mouse in mind and are a lot easier to complete with a regular mouse (right-button context menus are a perfect example of such an operation). Thankfully, Bluetooth connectivity provides an easy way to add a wireless mouse and use it as our pointing device in addition to the motion controls.
Our number one choice for mouse is the Arc Touch Mouse Surface Edition by Microsoft. Its stylish and slick design makes it a welcome sight on your desk. Esthetics aside, this little rodent features a relatively good ergonomic shape, a pleasant touch and an overall good pointer control. The one feature that makes this mouse unique is the ability to flatten it, this makes it a lot more portable and now, you can take your mouse to wherever your Surface is going. Another notable feature is the lack of a traditional scroll wheel, it had been replaced with a touch-sensitive scroll tab. It features a vibration feedback and an accelerated scrolling that works similar to a quick swipe on you tablet screen, to scroll more than a single screen with a single motion.
When it comes to a keyboard choice, for web browsing, email and other light typing tasks you might consider a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Type Cover. It is by far the most portable solution and it can also provide a screen protection on the road. For heavy typists, especially in a desktop/docking station configuration, I would strongly recommend a wired ergonomic keyboard like a Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard or similar. But most of us will use our Surface Pro 3 as a laptop/desktop and the most sensible solution would be somewhere in the middle.
For those reasons our number one Surface Pro 3 accessory keyboard is: Susan's Full Size Bluetooth Keyboard With Numeric Keypad. This keyboard provides a lot of functionality in a relatively small package. Its 5.5" x 14.5" surface area is almost entirely dedicated to keys. People that often work with numbers will definitely appreciate the presence of a dedicated numeric keypad. Its low-profile quiet keys create a very comfortable typing experience.
What is more, the Bluetooth connectivity provides a quick and easy setup with no wires to connect. Even though it requires two AA batteries, with its power saving mode you should not be replacing them more than two times a year.
If you need a keyboard on-the-go, this keyboard at 5.5" x 14.5" can almost qualify as an alternative to the Type Cover and it will fit in most any shoulder bag or a backpack. In our opinion it is a great addition to our Surface Pro 3 Accessories collection.
More Surface Pro 3 Accessories
We hope the our top 5 list will help you to expand your Surface Pro 3 capabilities and/or improve your user experience. If you are looking for more accessories for your Surface, please browse the list below. We collected some of the most popular Amazon's Surface Pro 3 accessories and provided them here for easy browsing and review. Enjoy.
Surface Pro 3 Cases and Screen Protection
Incipio Sleeve for Microsoft Surface Pro 3
Protec Zip Sling Bag for Surface Pro 3
Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Screen Protector
Surface Pro 3 Chargers and Power Accessories
(Surface Pro 3 Accessories)
Car charger parameters: Output: 12V/2.58A
Mouse, keyboard and input devices.
External Monitors and Video Accessories
Currently not available.
(DisplayPort.org Mult-Stream certified)
(DisplayPort.org Mult-Stream certified)
(DisplayPort.org Mult-Stream certified)
(DisplayPort.org Mult-Stream certified)
Non DisplayPort Daisy-Chain
(Surface Pro 3 Accessories)
Designed for Surface - Licensed
(Surface Pro 3 Accessories)
(Surface Pro 3 Accessories)
No comments:
Post a Comment