FOR the better part of a month, I’ve been trying to replace the laptop that I use for my daily work, an Apple MacBook Pro, with Microsoft’s new tablet computer, the Surface Pro 3. I say “trying” because that’s what it has felt like; this is a machine that I’ve had to put a lot of work into adjusting to, in the hope that, at some point, I’d get used to it and see some kind of payoff.

In the end, I didn’t see that payoff. My time with Microsoft’s new tablet computer began with a feeling of minor annoyance and eventually leveled off into a sense of settling for something less than ideal. I never felt fully at ease with the Surface Pro 3, and I’m typing this review on the MacBook.

But don’t let my experience put you off from trying the Surface Pro 3. In fact, I encourage you to think of this review as something like a George Costanza breakup: Dear Surface Pro 3 — we’re not right for each other, but it’s not you, it’s me.

There is probably an audience out there that will love the light, stylish and surprisingly powerful Surface Pro 3. I suspect it isn’t a huge audience, but it may not be a tiny one.