MICROSOFT SURFACE PRO 2

With the first Surface Pro, Microsoft laid out its vision of the future: one mobile device with the guts of a laptop that can replace your tablet, laptop, and maybe even desktop. Unfortunately that first model also brought along some sketchy battery life. But what happens when you improve on that by 75 percent? You have the Surface Pro 2, a much less compromised hybrid PC.

Like on the Surface 2, the kickstand has been changed to work in two positions, as opposed to the one on the first Surface Pro. The screen is still the same 10.6 inch Full HD display used in the first generation, with ten points of touch supported, but underneath it, so much has changed.

The Surface Pro 2 comes with an Intel Core i5-4300U Ultrabook-class processor, along with 4GB of memory and a 64GB SSD. As configured, the system topped our benchmark charts for the day-to-day PCMark 7 test, 3DMark11 gaming tests, and even our multimedia tests like Handbrake (video encoding), CineBench (3D software rendering in CPU), and Photoshop CS6. Essentially, if you want a powerhouse Windows 8 tablet PC, this system won’t let you down, even compared to ultraportable systems like the Apple MacBook Air.

If you're looking for an attractive, powerful tablet with good battery life, Microsoft's much-improved Surface Pro 2 delivers. Just don't expect this top-tier slate to come cheap—it's priced at over $1,000 when you add in the cost of the keyboard cover.

In all honesty, I like the Surface Pro 2. It’s a nice device that has some good specs and great build quality. I really don’t like the Type Covers much, so I’d recommend getting a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse instead. Once you have that, I really think that the Surface Pro 2 could be a laptop replacement for those who don’t need to do too much with it (mainly because of the lack of multiple USB ports).