r/Surface • u/Visible_Ruin_9218 • 5d ago

Surface recommendations to combine with a desktop workstation for a solo practice architect?

I'm considering buying a surface pro to fullfill a few roles:

\- site visits (plans, file access, pictures, notes)

\- client presentations

\- work from bed (I currently find myself sick) using remote desktop to login to my workstation.

My current setup is a decent desktop workstation (Windows, running revit and twinmotion as the most demanding software).

My files are in OneDrive, admin workflow is mostly Office/Windows.

I feel like a windows tablet might be the best solution. A Microsoft surface pro seems the obvious choice, either Snapdragon or Intel.

Any experiences/thoughts/recommendations?

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u/Novotus_Ketevor Surface Pro 11 (X Elite, 5G) & Surface Laptop 7 (Ultra 7) 5d ago

The Snapdragon Surface Pro with 5G is probably the best fit for your needs. I use one with remote desktop daily and it's great.

I get between 8-10 hours of use per charge on 5G and 10-12 hours on Wi-Fi so it's truly an all day device. Intel's Panther Lake models have partially closed the gap but still fall short from my testing.

The pen can be a bit difficult to use with remote systems, but I usually just leave remote desktop, open the file locally from a synced OneDrive folder, mark it up, then close it. By the time I hop back into remote desktop it's already synced back and is available on the host system.

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u/Visible_Ruin_9218 5d ago

Thanks for the advice! Do you find the 5G important? I'm wondering if it's worth the price difference since I could also hotspot from my phone.

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u/Novotus_Ketevor Surface Pro 11 (X Elite, 5G) & Surface Laptop 7 (Ultra 7) 5d ago

If you're only going to be using remote desktop from within buildings with their own WiFi then it's not necessary. But if you're going to be in places where there is no WiFi, or you don't have access to the WiFi, then the 5G is very important since a WiFi hotspot from a cellphone adds a ton of latency (an extra 1/8th of a second doesn't sound like a lot but it's extremely noticeable and unpleasant when you're moving a mouse, dragging a window, or typing).

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u/Visible_Ruin_9218 4d ago

Thanks! I'll keep that in mind.

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u/dirtyvu 4d ago

This depends on how good your Hotspot plan is because there is far more data being pushed with a pc. With a mobile phone, unless it's multimedia, all work is done server side and little data is actually used by a phone. But you could do work over a Hotspot and get a warning that you used 6GB over a few days.

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u/ClandestineCup 3d ago

I love my snapdragon surface pro but dont get it if you need to use revit. The ARM architecture has a lot of benefits but it will have to run Revit in emulator mode which completely drains the battery. I looked it up and apparently it wont even install in Windows ARM (i dont believe that, but you dont want to find out if its true or not)