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Go me, got the 120gb i5 version. In any case was wondering if we had other pro 3 owners here because ms can go **** itself with those 120 usd keyboards, so pretty much in the market for alternatives.

what's the first impression like?

Does everything I want fast, I need to figure out how to take notes efficiently and in an organized fashion, I need a keyboard for efficiency but not a mouse for now, mouse needed for gaming.

Ended up buying original keyboard because the alternatives suck ass. Will get a wireless mouse for it at some point although my normal one works.

Not that I own one myself, but for the Surface 3, I think the best choice is to just go with the Microsoft keyboard as well.

I would love to own the i7 128GB Surface 3, but it is sorta expensive. Impressively fast as well, though. Definitely beats every other tablet out there.

Peeps if you have a windows 8 device with touchscreen do yourself a favor and grab bluestacks.

Now you have windows "rt", normal windows, android, and whatever simulator you choose to run on it. No compromise.

I've been eyeing one of these for a while now. Purchasing the keyboard separate is annoying though.. and expensive.

So, it is working now? When I tried it one and a half year ago, it didn't really run that smoothly. I played around with the Android simulator, but I could barely do a thing because of the very slow speed. The idea was good, but the execution not so good.

What has your experiences been with Bluestacks on the Surface Pro 3?

Bluestacks works almost perfectly on your typical applications but then you have higher computing apps such as battlefield commander. That I could run and play fine but you could tell that lag was a thing. In short bluestacks remains a work in progress emulator that is very compatible/stable at this point, lagging will be a thing on your higher complexity apps but the program is beyond acceptable at this point.

I tried Bluestacks about a month ago, it wouldn't launch for me, just load/initialize forever :\

I have it working on 3 machines o.o. Try re installing, I had to do it for my sp3 after updates.

Haven't been on here in forever due to med school, but thought I'd chime in on this.

I love the surface pro. Full windows, USB 3.0, microSD, and bluetooth. The touch screen and pen is perfect for note-taking. I've tried mouse and keyboard, ipad pens, etc. Can't find anything as good as the surface in terms of responsiveness and ease of use. OneNote is a beast. You can emulate so many things. This thing has changed the way I study. I've literally gone through med school carrying around only this device + an iPad for reading pdf.

I would recommend a bluetooth mouse simply because I tend to grab stuff on my USB pretty often so I don't like having the little USB dongle attached all the time.

Is it overpriced, yes. But if you can afford it, it's freaking awesome. Also, don't skimp on the keyboard. They go together perfectly.

As per note-taking. I would recommend OneNote. Learn how to organize folders, and the shortcuts. You can go through your notes, highlight, mark, section off things. Then hit a summarize page and BOOM, all your notes in an easy to read outline. It's also amazing for ppts and side notes. You can easily import, screenshot things, even link notes together. For example, I had a page on beta-lactam drugs. Now I have notes on gram-positive bacteria. I can write out the effectiveness of the lactam drugs, link it to my other note and voila. When I review it and click on it, it'll automatically pull up the other notes page. It's insanely powerful.

I have a law buddy that uses it for case summaries. Input all the case details, highlight and star things via the ctrl+ commands. Then just hit summarize to get a condensed version for his boss.

Bluetooth mouse, how did I not think of that ... thanks man.

edit: Actually is turns out my mouse is bluetooth already, mind sharing how you do the pairing ?

There should be a bluetooth pairing button you hold and release on the mouse that will start the pairing. On the surface, there should be a bluetooth devices option on the bottom right side in the taskbar. If not, swipe from the right and search bluetooth. Make sure it's on, then search for devices. You should find your device listed, then just click it to pair. Once it's paired, it should auto-connect whenever you turn the mouse on, at least that's how mine is. I bought the microsoft sculpt mouse and whenever I turn it on it automatically starts working. Great for everyday use, sucks for gaming since bluetooth will lag more than a usb will. It's not really noticeable for stuff like photoshop, except for the occasional jump stutter, but for a fps, you will notice that fucker not going where you want it to.