I’m curious about (experienced) takes from the iPad power users of our community on the Microsoft Surface.
I used Surfaces and their predecessor tablet PCs for years before I switched to Mac. I still have a lot of nostalgia for the hardware.
I think I’m realizing that Apple’s ecosystem lock-in efforts are the main reason I’m not using a Surface as well as my MBP.
This will not be particularly helpful—I’ve been tempted on occasion, but Surfaces were initially not officially available in my country at all, nor have they ever been formally promoted by Microsoft here, although they can now be bought at various retailers.
This feels risky in terms of warranty, and I’m wary of potential support issues down the line, whereas I know I will be able to get support for my Apple devices, if needed, anywhere in the world with no questions asked about where they were bought (I’ve had an iPhone replaced by Apple in the past in an entirely different country, with no questions asked).
I’ve never used a Surface. It’s not the same but I have run Windows remotely from an iPad on many occasions. I was never tempted by the earlier surface hardware but the latest ARM machines look promising.
No vendor is the best at everything so I’ve always avoided any kind of lock-in.
This is the first time in memory that I have chagrined the walled garden.
Lock-in might be an unfair characterization, though. If I got a Surface, I’d lament e.g., not being able to use Sidecar and related features with it. That’s not really lock-in, as I would never expect Apple to think it was feasible, viable, or desirable to allow me to wirelessly move my mouse and keyboard from MBP to Surface.
I tried out the Surface years ago it was and still is a really cool concept. My main issue was screen size. Also trying to use it as a laptop on the couch was not ideal. The Surface Book was my favorite. Really nice screen and aspect ratio, can rotate the screen to use it as a tablet you also had a stable base that had a lot of angles to adjust, compatible with the pen. I was thinking about buying a cheap Surface a few months ago. Then I realized all my favorite apps don’t exist on Windows. For a few minutes i started looking up Windows alternatives for a few of the big apps I use. Then I had to step away from the computer and tell myself not to go down that rabbit hole.
My last Surface was an i7 and I remember trying to play Civ V with it sitting on the couch. The fans were going full blast, it got hot, and the thing was just too heavy to hold for long. Neat idea, but it did not work well in practice. I am really excited about the new Arm models assuming they are as good as MS claims they are and they get the software support from 3rd parties.
In this case I was talking about data portability. For example, I avoid using Notes because of the difficulty of restoring lost data. If I use Pages or Numbers I always save the files as Word or Excel.
I’m a Google Workspace user but I keep copies of everything in standard formats, MBOX, HTML, DOCX, XLSX, etc. One of my backups is a drive that I can use with any Mac, Windows, or Linux computer. Or an iPad with USB-C 
One of my colleagues has been using them for a number of years. She uses Dragon dictation which doesn’t work on Macs.
She seemed to be replacing them roughly yearly.
Last time and currently, she uses the HP equivalent - said to be more powerful and reliable (but not ARM).
I used a Surface tablet for about 5 weeks at work, it was a good Windows Device, easy to use. Decent peripheral, and I believe that the6 now use USB C (they used to have a proprietary connector.) I used it with both Windows 11 and 10. 11 was better.
While the form factor is comparable with the ipad, the UI isn’t. It’s still not designed for a tablet, so iI wouldn’t buy one as my only computer.
The biggest miss of all, for me, would be the app store, Apple’s tablet app store is much better than anything I found on Microsoft’s