Microsoft's Surface family has grown rapidly in recent years, with a range of devices now on the market. While the traditional Surface Pro remains a staple of the premium hardware line, the Surface, Surface Book and Surface Laptop all deliver portable experiences in differing form factors.

However, with a premium design comes a matching price tag, making Surface devices hard to justify for some users. Although well-rounded solutions for those on the go, with some portable Surface devices priced over $3000, they're not for those on a budget.

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A discussion recently kicked off on the Windows Central forums, with one college student curious whether a Surface device is right for him.

nickpoppy23

Hey guys! I'm a college student looking to buy a good product that I can easily load and read my textbooks from. Do I need to drop the large amount of cash for a pro to be able to efficiently do this? Or will the atom processor handle this just fine? Basically just looking for some pro's and con's to help me make a decision. Thanks!

Reply

But we want to hear from you. What's your recommended Surface device for students? If not a Surface, we device do you recommend from other manufacturers? Make sure to jump into the forum thread below and share your thoughts with the community.

From the forums: Surface Pro or Surface tablet?