[bartread]

Sure, and I have a mouse both in my office, and at home, but don't tend to carry it when I'm travelling because space really is at a premium in my bag. The MBP is the only laptop I've ever used that has a trackpad that is tolerable as a replacement for a mouse. Still not as good as a mouse, but better (often way better) than the rest.

My issue with the Surface Pro specifically is that it's competing in the, well, I won't say high end (because that implies something about hardware specs that may not be true), but certainly the expensive [1] laptop market, yet is plagued with annoyances, some of which are quite severe: bad touchpad, sketchy WiFi, indifferent (at best) battery life, and rapid battery drainage during sleep, to name but a few.

[1] I won't say premium either because, given the issues, it's premium only in the sense that you pay one.