Surface Pro 3 sleep state issue

I apologize for my lack of forum activity/contribution in advance, but I recently bought a Surface Pro 3 (not a big fan of 2 in 1s) and I'm having issues with process activity in "sleep" mode.

Elaboration:

I would like to use the power button to simply turn the display off, AND continue to download/compile/install things with the screen off. I am aware that the type cover could potentially solve this issue, however I don't intend to have it on hand 100% of the time.

Thanks in advance!

Go to the control panel - Power options - and on the left side should be "choose what the power buttons do"

set it to turn the screen off and not sleep/hibernate/power off

Thank you Vandal85, however the only options are "Do Nothing", "Sleep", and "Shutdown"

try this then

tap your username and select Lock

when locked tap the power button to turn the screen off.

not sure if that will work as i dont own a surface

alternately try this

http://www.redmondpie.com/turn-off-your-notebook-lcd-with-one-click/

its dated but may work for you.