[stinos]

Same experience here. I hear the 'unusable on lap' sentiment seemingly often (including in the OP article itself). Yet, I honestly cannot tell is because it's only the ones with a bad experience speaking up and the rest remaining silent, or because there really is a problem I'm not aware of. And in both cases: I honestly wonder how that is possible? Is my body different in some way that I don't see the difference between a Surface and a laptop for lap use? Or do I do things in another way than others? Are my legs longer than average? I mean I just put my legs next to each other, put the thing somewhere on my lap, screen like 15cm in fron of my knees, adjust the stand so it's in an angle I normally use and that's it. The only problem I could see is that if you'd want the screen to be roughly where your knees are that is impossible. But for me that distance is just a bit too much to be able to read text comfortably and I cannot rest my arms anymore because of how far the keyboard is.

[numpad0]

https://msegceporticoprodassets.blob.core.windows.net/asset-...

This image is from Microsoft.com. Think how much his upper torso will have to bend to look at the middle of his thighs.

[stinos]

Sure, but the image shows a desktop. I'm talking about differences of the Surface vs a 'standard' laptop when used on your lap.

[numpad0]

I’m talking the combination of a chair similar to that and Surface devices. I guess people who don’t have problems with Surface sits less often in surfaces that high and upright.

[rsynnott]

That seems very awkward versus a laptop, though; in particular you'd have stay very still. I'd expect it to be particularly problematic on a bus or train, where there was movement.

[stinos]

The hinge is sturdy so in comparison with a laptop you don't have one big contact area with your legs but the bottom of the kickstand and the botom of the machine itself which don't move with respect to each other. The bottom of the keyboard kan move wrt the rest but only in one plane. I don't see how movement of whatever you're sitting on changes much in how the thing sits on your lap. I also don't encounter that when I'm on a bus or so.