New Surface Pro 3 (i7/8/512) Initial Setup Considerations?

[Hooobi]

I recently picked up an SP3 which I'm hoping will replace my notebooks, most of my iPad usage, and eventually my desktop once I have a dock.

I've been reading some different things about the initial setup of these devices (updates, wifi issues, maximizing battery life, etc.) and am hoping to get this thing set up right, the first time. This will mostly be a productivity device, although I might toss a game like Civ 5 on there and do a rare bit of gaming.

Primary software I plan to install includes Office 2013 Premium, and Acrobat XI Pro, and possibly my java-based daytrading software if I get the dual screens running smoothly. Not sure if I should bother with a new Malwarebytes Pro license for this thing, or simply stick with the built-in Windows Defender?

I plan to pick up the dock soon, and hope to run two Dell u3014 monitors off of it, at max res, hopefully via DisplayPort (daisychained, if it works).

I'll also be switching from android to a Windows Phone shortly in hopes of keeping Outlook, calendars, certain files, etc. synced between the phone and the SP3. Currently have about 10 email accounts in Outlook, including gmail, Hotmail, and my own hosted accounts.

Right now I'm only using local accounts on Windows 8.1, but wondering if I should convert to a Microsoft account in advance to ease the transition via whatever syncing capability that would include.

I did pick up the bundle that includes Office 365, but already own the desktop version of Office 2013 (I've heard the desktop version of OneNote is better for the SP3?). At the same time, the 365 sub does include 1tb of OneDrive storage for up to 5 users, which is enticing, so not really sure what to do about this. I'm currently using dropbox for syncing between my iPad, notebooks, android phone, and desktop with a 6gb limit.

Thoughts on any of the above and anything else to consider before getting started?

 

[arod]

Do you use windows 8 now? If so you absolutely should be using your ms account to login (you will have to for wp). Will make everything easier with your email/calendar/ondrive logins. And you will want to start moving your dropbox sutff over there too.... onedrive is natively integrated already where dropbox will require extra apps and work (also will have native office compatibility with versioning).

Havent used the dock with mine yet so can't give any guidance there.

I personally don't bother with malware bytes anymore.... win8 is pretty secure these days.

 

[Hooobi]

Thanks for the reply arod. I'm on 8.1 now on my desktop, but the only MS account I set up was an @outlook account for use with OneNote so I could sync it to my laptop. Do I need to use that same one for my overall Windows login, or should that be a separate account?

Just received my Tech Armor matte screen protectors so I finally unboxed it, installed the screen protector (damn that one dust speck!) and set it to charge. Haven't even turned it on yet, until I figure out how I want to set up Windows.

Found some related tips here and now I'm wondering if I should run some "burn-in" apps before investing the time to get it all set up. PCMark 8 Productivity Suite was recommended.

 

[quikah]

Thanks for the reply arod. I'm on 8.1 now on my desktop, but the only MS account I set up was an @outlook account for use with OneNote so I could sync it to my laptop. Do I need to use that same one for my overall Windows login, or should that be a separate account?

You can use the same account or setup a new one, up to you, I would just use the same account.

If you are planning to go WP in the future I would switch to MS services now on your android phone. It will make the switch less painful. That said, there isn't really a much exclusive integration between WP and Windows now. You can get most everything on iOS and Android just by using MS services.

 

[Hooobi]

You can use the same account or setup a new one, up to you, I would just use the same account.

If you are planning to go WP in the future I would switch to MS services now on your android phone. It will make the switch less painful. That said, there isn't really a much exclusive integration between WP and Windows now. You can get most everything on iOS and Android just by using MS services.

Thanks for the info.

I'm not completely sure how to handle the various account transitions & setup so I posted some questions in the Windows OS forum.

More detail there, but in a nutshell I'm trying to understand how to replace my existing local/admin login with my existing MS/OneNote login so that all my settings will be linked to that account, and then whether it's ok to set that up as simply a user account on the SP3, and have the admin account on that one be local only.

 

[Demo24]

I think you're overthinking this. If you want some settings to transfer over, then go ahead and sign into your desktop fully with your Microsoft account. I can't remember how I did this, mostly because I've started off with them. I believe its under the metro PC settings. Then start up your sp3, and sign in. It walks you through all this stuff. I don't know about bitlocker, as I don't currently use it, the other stuff is basically setup for you.

I wouldn't bother with 'burn in', just install what you need and use it. I treat mine as a laptop most of the time honestly. I also only use the built in Microsoft security features, no its not as secure as say trend micro, but I had issues with antivirus software causing significant battery drain on surface pros.

FYI, the screen are actually quite solid, I've never scratched one even after I did accidentally pull it off a desk to tile flooring. Dented the edge a bit, but otherwise fine.


Remember, if you don't get it setup right the first time you can always reset it back to default and start all over again.

 

[Nebor]

I can't believe there are people using Windows 8 without a Microsoft account. I've got a WP8 phone, a Surface Pro, and Windows 8 on a desktop, laptop and HTPC. The windows account is key.

 

[IamDavid]

I can't believe there are people using Windows 8 without a Microsoft account. I've got a WP8 phone, a Surface Pro, and Windows 8 on a desktop, laptop and HTPC. The windows account is key.

This.
One Drive keeps them all in sync and Xbox Music covers all devices! One Note across all devices rock too.

 

[Unoid]

Check the screen carefully for bleed. Yellowing. And dead pixils the first week. I had two go bad . My third i still use has a yellowish bar on the entire left end of my screen

 

[Hooobi]

So I stopped overthinking it and spent most of the weekend getting things set up, and then all of this morning with Microsoft's tech support, whose suggestions ranged from useless to dangerous.

Swapped my desktop login to the same MS account that I was already using for OneNote and then used that same one to set up the SP3. Took a bit of time with all the updates, restarts, updates, install Office 365, updates, restarts etc.

Tried to find a way to migrate my 10 or so Outlook email accounts to the new computer, but that turned out to be a waste of time and I almost broke Outlook by trying to drag and drop my .pst/.ost files into it on the SP3 from my desktop system. Think I managed to undo that damage and will just have to manually set those up I guess.

Last night I noticed that my IE Favorites on the SP3 weren't properly reflecting those on the desktop. Basically, all links and the Favorites Bar links were showing, but all the subfolders I had set up to drop down from the Favorites Bar were MIA. Figured it was no big deal because I could just manually copy them from my desktop system. I was wrong.

The desktop system had somehow synced itself to match, including deleting all of those subfolders, very effectively. Numerous searches, use of data recovery tools, and hours with tech support all point to an alien abduction. They have vanished without a trace. Sadly, I didn't bother backing up that stuff since I figured that all I was doing was changing my login credentials, and if anything, it would automatically create a OneDrive backup for me.

Long story short, I finally decided not to smash the SP3, and instead will spend the next day or two manually setting up emails, and reconstructing what will probably be 20% of the missing links, from memory.

Overall, I think I'll eventually be pretty happy with this thing as a laptop replacement, and sell off my MBPro and Asus ultrabook. Just need a better grasp on all of the sync and metro settings before I do any more damage.

 

[Nebor]

I was on the phone with someone extremely boring and was trying to stifle my laughter at the above post. Goodness.