Proclamations that Microsoft’s tablet-laptop hybrid, the Surface Pro 3, does not beat Apple’s popular MacBook Air grow tiresome. Since when is this a zero-sum-game? Are consumers and business people really choosing between one and the other, or is the reality somewhat more nuanced and based, as I suspect, on platform allegiances and desires?

As I noted in my original review of the first Microsoft Surface RT tablet, the device was the right tablet choice for someone who wanted a Windows tablet. On the other hand, there were significant limitations, not the least of which was the fact that the ARM CPU-based device was not running true Windows, or at least it couldn't run all Windows 7-compatible software.

See also: How the Surface Pro 3 Compares to the MacBook Air

For those who demanded needed a no-compromise Windows tablet solution, they’d have to choose the pricier, heavier and more power-hungry Intel-powered Surface Pro tablets. I thought they were overweight and unappealing and more or less ignored them.

Then along came Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3.

This, finally, was the Windows tablet that did not ask you to choose portability over power, looks over compatibility. However, Microsoft made it clear from the outset that it was done comparing its tablet efforts to the iPad. With that war lost, the company has a new target: Apple’s MacBook Air. At the unveiling event, over and over again, Microsoft Surface lead Pano Panay sought to show how the Surface Pro 3 favorably compares to the MacBook Air. He even put it on a scale opposite the Apple ultraportable.

I’ll try it

Now, weeks after the launch and almost two weeks after I packed a bag with both the Surface Pro 3 and an Apple MacBook Air, I can tell you that the comparison is apt and, on balance, fair. Better yet, the Pro 3 survived the journey and, despite some annoying bugs and bad decisions, exceeded my expectations.

Before I start heaping on the praise (actually, not sure I’ll “heap”), let’s set the record straight. Microsoft said that the Surface Pro 3 costs $799 and is a bargain compared to the 13-inch MacBook Air, which starts at $999. When Panay first put the tablet on a scale opposite the MacBook Air, he actually left off the Type Cover keyboard, which, notably, is not included in that $799 price point.

I think you see where I’m going here. Microsoft wants to compare a powerful tablet hybrid to an ultrabook, but does not include the price of the keyboard, $129.99, in the base price. Without the keyboard, the Surface Pro 3 is essentially half a product. Considering that even with the keyboard, the Surface Pro’s price still compares favorably to the MacBook Air, which, obviously, still lacks a touch screen and does not, as the Surface does, ship with a digital pen, it seems like Microsoft was being needlessly disingenuous.

I think I understand why Microsoft did this. It saw an opportunity appear to be $200 cheaper than the nearest MacBook Air, even if the comparison was borked. My advice to Microsoft, though, is twofold: Start shipping the Surface Pro 3 with a Type Cover Keyboard included and embrace a $999 base price (it’s not as if you’re trying to compete with a $499 iPad, anyway).

Good, bad and ‘lapability’

Packing my bags for what would be nearly two weeks of sustained business travel, I debated whether or not I could afford to take just one computing device. Even on my best days, I usually have at least one back-up computing device. So an iPad often accompanies an ultrabook and sometimes I even throw in a Logitech mini keyboard.

Even for such an extended journey I rarely take what, in essence, would be two laptops: a MacBook Air and Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3. However, considering that I’d be doing everything from live-blogging to tweeting as well as instant and deep reporting, as well as photo editing and uploading, I could not afford to blindly trust Microsoft’s new device. In the end, I hedged my bets and packed the MacBook Air, Surface Pro 3 and an iPad mini, but left behind the mini keyboard.

I was determined, however, to use the Surface Pro 3 exclusively. So I put the Air in my luggage and the Pro 3 in my backpack and started using the Pro as soon as my first flight hit cruising altitude.

At roughly 2.5 pounds — again with the keyboard — the Surface Pro 3 is no featherweight, but more than lightweight enough for the bag, my lap and just carrying around. I literally spent hours with it perched on my lap, taking notes, and touching the screen impulsively like a restless but purposeful child. Apple is wrong about laptops and touch screens; they work remarkably together. Surface Pro 3’s touchscreen actually worked as well in Desktop mode as it does in Windows Design, which was actually made for touch. Now, if I have to use the MacBook Air, I often touch the screen in frustration.

Remember that ridiculous word Panay coined at the Surface Pro 3 launch even? “Lapability?” Okay, try not to laugh, but I think it’s real. All that time I spent with the Surface on my lap was made infinitely more pleasurable (or bearable) thanks to the highly adjustable kickstand. I could always find the perfect angle for comfort and screen viewability. Plus, Microsoft has done some component-battery jujitsu to help the Surface Pro 3 and maintain near-perfect balance. No matter how I place it on my lap, it was never in danger of topping over. The tablet does far outweigh the keyboard, but with the magnetic edge clinging to the screen, it never felt that way.

I also took Microsoft’s ‘no compromises’ promise to heart and prepped the Surface Pro 3 for its live-reporting task by installing all the key apps, extensions and plugins I would need for the next dozen-or-so days. On my Surface 2, I would never think to, nor could I, install Adobe’s Lightroom 4. The Surface Pro 3 is a true-blue Windows PC, so I didn’t hesitate — nor did the Surface.

There was a small glitch that I eventually adjusted to: Even though Microsoft promised that the traditional desktop was scaled to 1.5x of the Surface’s native screen resolution, Adobe never got the memo. Menu items and objects in Lightroom were so small they were almost impossible to read.

I added a Box account and even Google Chrome. The latter was necessary because of a LastPass/Internet Explorer bug that wouldn’t allow the former to populate the latter’s password dialog box for WordPress. Google Chrome’s LastPass extension handled this task without issue.

Leave out the 'design'

Over the ensuing days, the Surface Pro rarely disappointed me. It worked just like any other touch-screen Windows 8 PC.

It was entertaining to see how many people marveled that I was using Surface Pro 3. It was almost as if I was trying to type on a ferret. I had to explain that, yes, I was using it, and quite successfully thank you very much. Most of these doubters were, like me, MacBook Air users.

It should be noted, however, that I rarely, if ever, spent time in the Windows Design area. First of all, I was using the Surface Pro 3 as a work device and had little use for its entertainment apps, most of which reside in this area. Just about the only time I did use it was when I needed to launch an app. I’d hit the Windows Key and start typing my app query, which would show up instantly in a list on the righthand side of the screen. I’d hit enter and be back in the familiar Windows Desktop running, for instance, Microsoft Word.

I even installed Google’s Picasa and made it the default image viewer so I could avoid being thrown into Microsoft image viewer, which resides in the Design interface. The one exception to this interface rule was when I drew in FreshPaint using the digital pen, but I see no reason this app can’t migrate to the desktop side.

My second big piece of advice for Microsoft is to find a way, immediately, to better consolidate the desktop and this Windows Design interface. I’d suggest taking elements for Windows Design and sprinkling them into the Windows Desktop, while leaving the Desktop architecture intact, because I have almost no use for Windows Design on a PC or laptop.

For the life of a battery

While Surface Pro’s features and performance didn’t disappoint, battery life is the one thing that nearly forced me to switch back the MacBook Air. I know Microsoft promised 9 hours of battery life, but I’d say you can expect 7 hours, at best. I managed battery life by turning off the Bluetooth radio and, naturally, dimming the screen way down. To be fair, I’ve often run into the same problem with the MacBook Air, though when that battery was fresh, I got nearer to 9 hours of battery life. Instead of giving up on the Surface Pro 3, though, I made sure to plug in during extended breaks.

One issue that really hurt my battery strategy is that the Surface Pro 3 lies like an eight-year-old about going to sleep. In between Code Presenters or sessions at WWDC, the two events where I road-tested Surface Pro 3, I would select “sleep” in the power options and close the Surface Pro, which meant folding the tablet onto the face of the keyboard, and sticking it in my backpack. Invariably, I’d reach into my backpack a half hour later to find my super-hot Surface Pro 3 still running.

I have a theory why this is happening. The Surface Pro 3 automatically wakes when you open it up and because the tablet and keyboard are held closed together by magnets, they likely get jostled apart in my bag, causing the device to wake and then stay running. If you’re concerned about battery life, though, this is unacceptable. Microsoft may need to either do something on the software side or introduce more powerful magnets between the tablet and keyboard to keep them firmly together.

While we’re on the subject of battery life, one time I couldn’t boot the Surface Pro 3 and had to guess the battery was probably dead because there’s no onscreen low-battery indicator similar to what you find on, say, an iPad or iPhone if you try to turn them on when the battery is depleted. That dead battery happened, by the way, because of another little nit: The connection between the power brick and plug is too loose. The two components were slightly apart, so while I did plug it in, Surface Pro 3 was not charging.

As much as I enjoyed using the Surface Pro 3, I did get the sense this is a device in need of a good firmware update. Bluetooth, for instance, was not always a friend to accessories. I had trouble pairing the included digital pen, and even Microsoft’s own Surface edition Arc mouse works only haltingly with the device.

And then there was the “I don’t want to boot” problem. On at least four occasions not related to battery power, I could not get the device to either wake up or boot. It took repeated fiddling with a combination of holding down power and volume (up or down) to get the Surface Pro 3 to boot. This was the one bug that pushed me closest to putting the Surface Pro 3 aside in favor of the Apple MacBook Air.

In the end, I shut down the device when not in use, which seemed to help it restart successfully every single time. I didn’t mind doing it this way since the Surface Pro 3 boots in well under 30 seconds. And every once in a while, the keyboard would go haywire, turning, for example, an “enter” and spaces into random characters. I usually solved this glitch with a reboot.

Now, as I finally fly back home and write this post on the Surface Pro 3, and the despite the aforementioned, but utterly solvable bugs, I am more convinced than ever that this is the ultimate hybrid device for Windows devotees. The interface is not always as smart, intuitive or nearly as cohesive as what you’ll find in a MacBook Air, but I suspect that if you already use that laptop, nothing short of the Cupertino company disappearing is going to make you switch anyway.

In the real world, Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3 is an impressively capable laptop replacement. If Microsoft follows my suggestions the Surface Pro 4 could be unstoppable. And yes, fellow flyers, that is the Surface Pro 3 in my lap.