Surface Pro 1 or 2

I use a 128GB original Surface Pro for my main computer (we are on a 1 year assignment in the States) including Photoshop, Lightroom, etc. I would be happy to answer your questions.

It is plenty fast enough. I have my processor clocked way down when I'm on battery and only then does it feel slow. My other computer back at my flat in China is a Core i7 overclocked at 4GHz with my Lightroom db on its own Raptor and a boot SSD. So it's not quite as fast as that. I would say, overall, probably 80% as fast and that's with my LR DB stored on the microSD card (much slower than built-in SSD).

Really the only thing you have to work around is having only 128GB SSD onboard, but you will have that in many other laptops as well. I believe the Surface Pro 2 is available with more storage, but again as with other laptops, the price climbs quickly.

The portability and the versatility of the Surface Pro are what I love about it the most. It can be a tablet, a laptop, or a mobile workstation (I carry a small mechanical keyboard and a bluetooth mouse sometimes). The screen is absolutely gorgeous, and the pen input is great when you need it (~1000 pressure levels, even in Adobe apps). Just don't ever try to use Lightroom or Photoshop with touch; the buttons are way too small in those apps.

 

I use a Vaio Duo 11 which is almost the same specs as the Surface Pro, and Lightroom runs perfectly fine, even the pen input. I would imagine the pen input on the Surface is loads better since it uses Wacom (Duo uses n-trig).

I suggest getting the Surface Pro 2 and then buy the docking station for use with a large display. And it has newer internals.

 

I'm not running a surface, but I do have a comparable setup. I'm using a Lenovo Helix. If you're stuck with 128GB, my advice is to use the USB 3.0 port to your advantage. Keep your LR folder with previews and what not on your regular hard drive since that's what's going to be written to the most, but store your images on a fast USB 3.0 drive.

I have one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E6502LM/

It's fast and small tiny so I can basically leave it in permanently. I'll fill it up at some point though. I'm sort of counting on there being 128GB versions available by the time that happens. Either way, It's significantly faster than anything you can get in a microSD form factor.

 

My 2011 11in MacBook Air have been great with Lightroom and CS6