This is how Microsoft needs to advertise. No dancing around in the park with smart covers, no petty google-bashing, just a great no-nonsense overview of their product's actual standout features.
I agree, though I'd like to see a bit more focus. There wasn't a take-away where I said "The Surface Pro 2 is good for..." I think they had 5 things in there, maybe focus on 3, but really give the person the idea of how they can do those things well.
I expected to click through and have my belief that Microsoft just doesn't "get it" reinforced, but I have to say, that is a really appealing device to me.
My biggest gripe with my (school issued) iPad is that text entry is awful and I can't get serious multi-tasking work done. This looks like it's specifically trying to address those concerns.
That said, that ad sucked imho. If Microsoft has ever not "gotten" something, it's establishing an awesome brand (sans Xbox and Word, perhaps). I have no idea how they can improve this, but I really hope Microsoft's surface line is a huge success so Apple and Google have some more competition.
Microsoft's brand problems stand in stark regard to Apple's success with branding - lack of a coherent overall product strategy, releasing too many products, releasing too soon, changing tone and strategy too often - failing to make up their mind and focus. In response they seem often to try and compensate by racheting up the enthusiasm levels, with limited success. It's hard to trust a company pushing their newest product on you with maniacal enthusiasm - the emotional environment that attitude creates makes it virtually impossible to really enjoy a product, to feel comfortable and relaxed and as if the product truly belongs to you. This is something Apple has been really successful with, and it's absolutely crucial if Microsoft is to host a truly creative user community which can match Apple's.
The big problem as I see it is it's a situation which naturally leads to desperation for a quick solution. But desperation and rushing are actually what Microsoft needs to avoid. And I'm not convinced in the slightest that Microsoft has recognised or addressed these issues, because they seem to be moving so fast and hoping for such rapid responses with their current efforts. Unfortunately the costs for trying too hard/too fast are pretty high - you taint the brand image indefinitely, as it's pretty hard to change that initial impression - certainly hard to even try without seeming like a company that has no self-identity but . With the amount of resources and innovation they're putting into their current efforts, it'd be a shame to see them blow it. I think they would have done better taking their time and letting momentum build slower.
I'm reminded of the story of how the Lotus guys (the car company) managed to convince the James Bond franchise managers to place a Lotus in a Bond film. At the time the Bond guys were being bombarded with requests from car companies, because being featured in their films was so lucrative. The Lotus guys went the other way - they took the car they wanted to push, stripped off all the signage which indicated it was a Lotus, and left it outside of the Bond franchise HQ. As they hoped, the Bond guys came out, saw the car, thought it looked amazing, but because they couldn't work out what car it was, they became obsessed with it and determined to find out. Lotus used quietness and confidence to rise above the fray of car manufacturers all trying to out-shout each other.
The true proof of confidence is relaxation. Without it, a company is always on the defensive.
Did you watch the Surface Ads - they look pretty damn confident of their product. Their strategy for the last 18 months has also been consistent, "Tablets are great for portability, but the iPad is not a knowledge workers tool, it's a media-consumption devices for most people - the Surface gives you the portability, and the knowledge worker flexibility"
Sorry, but trying to say that Microsoft satisfies the consistency criteria because of its behaviour over the last 18 months is absurd. 18 months is nothing - the timespans that matter in this game are more like 18 years.
Microsoft over the last 13 years has flopped around from one idea to another. Their attitude has been build first, worry about identity second. They've rushed around, trying something, failing, rushing into another thing. Even within the space of one push they lack consistency. The Surface ads might be well-made but they're completely all over the place in tone, attitude and feature emphasis. Think about it: there was the liquid metal one, then the dancing clicking one, then this one. The first was hardcore/intense, the second one was exuberant/dizzying, the third was calm/productive. What's the common link? Where's the consistency in their messaging?
Think about Apple's strategy in contrast. Their product strategy, company image, attitude and presentation has basically been one smooth progression from the iPod to the iPhone 5S. The image they've presented has been the epitome of stability and consistency. It's not that they don't make mistakes or make strategy shifts - it's just that Apple astutely realises that it's best to make these changes subtly.
It's only techy people like us who notice shifts in emphasis (specs don't matter > A7 64-bit processor). Everyone else loves it. They're not saying the same things over and over again - their messages and emphasis changes over time, but the change is gradual and smooth. Each product, each launch, each ad builds on top of the last.
It's not to say that there aren't recurrent themes in Microsoft's messaging - but the difference between the two is night and day. And what's the result? Apple makes vast amounts of money - all without seeming to lift a finger convincing people to buy their products. They're reaping the fruits of taking the time to work out their strategy early on, and sticking to that strategy.
That's the problem for Microsoft - this is a game where it's your behaviour over years, not months, that matters most. Until they really learn and absorb that lesson they are extremely vulnerable I think.
Fair enough - I agree that Microsoft has been shifting it's messaging quite a bit - but I think a lot of that has to do with Apple being a functional organization (singular vision directed on downwards) and Microsoft is a Divisional Organization (multiple business lines). Where the single vision is communicated (Windows Everywhere) - it's not always appropriate -(Consumers care about experience, not product lines)
Sorry, but trying to say that Microsoft satisfies the consistency criteria because of its behaviour over the last 18 months is absurd. 18 months is nothing - the timespans that matter in this game are more like 18 years.
You can't compare MS to Apple regarding those products on the basis that you believe an 18 year time-span is what matters in this game. Because the ipod, the iphone, the ipad and the macbook air aren't even 10 years-old.
But I agree with you on your main point: MS is highly inconsistent regarding its branding and that's a problem for consumer identification and reliance perception.
The 18 year figure was just illustrative of the fact that I thought he was an order of magnitude off. I didn't mean that a company needs to remain consistent for 18 years exactly - but it is years of consistency that count, the more the better.
As far as Apple's performance - the iPod range is 12 years old at this point. Apple has been producing consistently branded Macbooks since 2006, this line is clearly continuous with the iBooks which go back to 1999. The iPhone range is 6 years old at this point. Consumer OS X is 12 years old - they've only just dropped the cat name motif, and Mavericks is still recognisably a progression from 10.0. Etc.
Get a type cover not touch cover. Surface Pro is an amazing device for college-goers. Onenote with stylus is a good note-taking tool. I ran SolidWorks, Matlab on it, with Mozilla going 20+ tabs at a time. Pulls serious power, and importantly it has portability. Only problematic thing sometimes can be small screen, which I solved by having an (pre-existing) external monitor. It entirely replaced ipad+laptop for me with added comfort of running legacy apps which windows has no dearth of.
Battery on the Surface Pro 1 is anywhere from 4 to 6 hours on average for me. You can squeeze out 7 with all wireless off, and using it only for typing. The Pro 2 addresses the battery life. It adds 20% more.
One of the most useful features for me, is the (pen)handwriting recognition on the Pro. I have terrible handwriting, terrible. I take a lot of notes in OneNote, and then convert them to text. This way I can share with my team, all the info I jotted down, in a "professional" manner. A few typos come up, usually upper vs lower case.
The pen is my favorite feature, I use it in Illustrator and Photoshop, daily. Running Ps and Ai, the battery will last about 4ish hours. Not bad, but not great. I usually will hook up an external monitor for Photoshop.
MSoft needs to work on communicating the pen, is not a stylus. It has pressure sensitivity, and lets you rest your hand on the screen while writing. A major difference from the iPad stylus(es).
The pen is amazing in quality. Its a full Wacom pen, with full pressure sensitivity. It counts as a totally separate input, so your "finger" and "pen" are seen completely differently.
In contrast, an iPad stylus thinks that the pen is just another finger. "Write then swipe" simply works on the Surface, for instance.
I have a Surface Pro 1 with the type cover. Great tablet, I really like it. However the type cover is only a marginal improvement over the iPad (which I also own) for typing. If you really need to type a lot, a laptop is still your best bet.
Why is the type cover only a marginal improvement? I recently tried a type cover for the first time and was able to hit my typical 100 WPM on typeracer.com. To me, it seemed like a significant improvement over both the on-screen keyboard and even the touch cover.
Maybe you had better luck with it than me. I've tried on many occasions to buckle down and use it for typing and I always give up and get a real keyboard.
I just gave typeracer a try and got 81wpm, so you also may just be a better typist than me.
The iPad has a Lightning connector, for which you can get an USB adapter. That way, if you absolutely must connect a wired keyboard (instead of Bluetooth), you can.
Could you expand on this please - why would anybody believe that a laptop running a 1.7 GHz Intel Core i7 with 8 GB 16000 MHz DDR3, OS X 10.8.5, and a very snappy flash based storage system wasn't a "real computer?" I think you were trying to say, "It's a real computer with great battery and portability" - right?
I continue to be intrigued by the surface pro - Apple has been slow to bring a stylus capable tablet to market - and there are times when sketching is really important - and it's painful on the "crayon stylus" that you have to use on the iPad. Also - Windows has a lot of great Games. :-)
Multitasking/task switching and lack of a real shell make the iPad a non-starter for me for getting real work done - I would never consider going on a trip with just my iPad.
I think Microsoft is onto something - I just wish they had a decent Terminal App (something better than putty) and bash (cygwin always just feels like it's been tacked on).
"it feels like real computer" was to contrast it with the surface and other devices that are supposed to replace the laptops, not to imply that macbook air is not a real laptop.
The main problem with the Surface Pro IMO, is that it has no Ethernet port... or ports in general. (just one USB3.0 port). Larger laptops are needed if you want to connect to say, your Gb-Ethernet network or whatever.
The Macbook Air may gain a USB3.0 port over the Surface Pro... but thats about it. It also fails to have an Ethernet port, and also lacks the ability to run any Windows-compatible application.
Compared to the Surface Pro, the Macbook Air's resolution is poor and restricting. Finally, a decent Surface Pro will cost you $1030 (Type Cover + Surface Pro), while a similarly specced Macbook Air costs more.
Aside from having "one more" USB3.0 port, I don't think the Macbook Air has any real advantage over the Surface Pro. A "real portable workstation" would be either a Dell Precision Pro, or something similar to those specs. (IE: DVD Drive, tons of Ports, Gigabit Ethernet).
Granted, both companies offer a solution. Surface-Dock seems rather complete for the Surface Pro, and Thunderbolt from the MacWorld does work. Nonetheless, it'd be nice to have enough features built into a laptop... extra devices / gadgets / attachments are annoying to handle.
Macbook Air is cheaper - it has a 10 Gigabit Thunderbolt port (useful for docking to a Gigabit Port, external display, etc..), Two USB 3.0 ports, and 4 GB memory for $999. A 4GB/128GB Surface Pro goes for $1128.
Pro has the touch screen, and stylus.
I think, at the end of the day, what decides this is how much you can use the stylus and want windows apps/games.
I don't have very much hope for Thunderbolt. It seems to be going the way by Firewire.
The Thunderbolt Cables cost like $40 a pop, adapters can cost more as well. Its a far cry from just being able to plug a GbE port directly into the darn thing.
As stated before, Thunderbolt is roughly comparable to the Surface Dock. You can connect an external display and Ethernet port through Thunderbolt, but you have to pay through the nose on extra wires and extra adapters. (or $200 for the Surface Dock).
BTW: Surface Pro prices are much cheaper. $1030 gets you the 128GB model now. The SurfacePro has 1080p screen. Not a single Macbook Air model has a decent resolution.
I think at the end of the day, what decides it is how much you want the 1080p screen, Stylus, Windows applications (and Windows Domain Joining for those business users), and portability.
Price-for-price, Surface Pro just gives you more than even the cheapest Macbook Air. Its just a better deal frankly.
Re: Thunderbolt - You have USB 3.0 for generic connections. Thunderbolt for VGA/Gigabit/Docking/DVDI. Thunderbolt is thankfully compatible with Display Port, so you can connect your 30" monitor at 2560x1600 over a $5 mini-display port to display port cable (as I am right now). I haven't used my Gigabit Adapter in a couple years, and this was even before 802.11ac came out. I don't know if I'll ever use one again.
I guess if you are resolution sensitive - then the Surface Pro has that going for it as well (I've never preferred the retina versus the normal resolution on Laptops - so that's kind of wasted on me)
Regarding what's a better deal - like you said, it all depends on what you want. I've got bash/terminal.app/aperture/quicksilver all in my finger memory now, so kind of stuck on OS X. And - we can't overlook the keyboard. Be interesting to see if the Surface Pro can go head to head with a laptop keyboard.
Regarding Windows Domain Joining - works fine on OS X for the last couple iterations, pretty much the same as the PC for things like accessing file shares. And, Office Productivity Apps (Excel/Office/PowerPoint) are pretty identical on the Mac (plus we get Acorn, Pixelmator, iDraw)...
You've got me intrigued though - I'll have to go into the Microsoft Store and play with one for a bit - the Stylus alone is really, really intriguing. And all those PC Games...
I have SecureCRT on my Windows systems (been a loyal users since 1998). It's somewhat better than Putty - but neither of them compare to Terminal.App/iTerm2.
It's always been unclear to me why nobody has written a great terminal application for Windows. Is it just because the majority of those who really care are already using Linux or OS X?
I find it somewhat ironic that a significant portion of the command line population has migrated to the macintosh.
Indeed, I own a 2012 MacBook Air and I'm convinced they're the best line of laptop computers on the market right now. I severely underestimated how much I would enjoy the tremendous portability.
I guess I don't need both an MBA and a Surface, considering I also have an iPhone.
Honestly now that I think about it, I think my biggest concern with the surface would be the fact that it runs windows. As a hacker who grew up on UNIX/Linux I find that really limiting, but moreover as someone who has heavily adopted the Apple ecosystem, I feel like I could never use the surface to its fullest potential.
I think what I want is a Surface which runs iOS X. (You read that correctly.)
The thing is, however, that when you actually try them out, the MB air leaves a hugely better impression.
The MB air is light, sleek, elegant, it feels good in your hands, it makes you want to use it and carry it around—and that's despite it being a notebook, not a tablet.
The Surface Pro 1, however, is exactly the opposite: it's heavy, thick, uncomfortable to hold because of the weird sharp-edged shape, and insanely hot during operation. The Surface Pro is exactly what a tablet shouldn't be. I suppose MS has all but admitted that with their strong marketing emphasis on using it with a stand and a keyboard.
I certainly hope for MS's sake that the Surface Pro 2 is better, because the SP1 was a disaster...
I used Surface Pro for my graduate thesis extensively. It left a huge impression on me. Metro side apps were all fun for me, while a swipe to desktop meant all work business. Yeah 1 kg is not a big deal for me, i taught classes with it, took notes with it, ran IBM SPSS doing ANOVA, wrote papers in LATEX and did some SolidWorks, and heavy MATLAB work on it. It is hot, yes. But then, it remained in my lap for around 5% of the time.
I find your claims ("heavy, thick, uncomfortable to hold because of the weird sharp-edged shape") to be without merit, since I used it extensively for some major work. Going forward, Surface Pro is the future for me and my household.
Honestly, i think this really is a game changer in the so called "post pc era".
In a device like this the concept of Windows 8 seems to make perfect sense, you have all the easy to use Metro-style Apps and if you need to, you can switch to the full Desktop experience which can run Development Enviroments, Full Office Suite, Photoshop, PC Games etc.
This seems to be the perfect personal computer that does everything people need and they didnt even show the docking capabilities that allow a high res Screen and complete Desktop experience. It might be a bit worse than a laptop when using on your lap but people should avoid that anyway as its not very ergonomical.
This is not a workstation PC for developers but the perfect PC for my girlfriend and my parents as it doubles as a tablet for around the house!
(Also i am pretty sure with Haswell, the dock and 2 external screens (one via USB3.0 To DVI) it would even make a good software development workhorse for many people)
Impressive stuff, but I can't help but cringe watching these cool young professional actors hunching over tiny devices and stabbing glass with their fingertips. Fingers, backs and necks are not evolved to be used like this.
I just watched the linked video - I only saw one instance of "hunched over" - and that was during the point where they were showing off the fact that you don't have to hunch over your MS Surface, you can just pick it up and use it like a tablet.
edit: I actually watched the video because of the parent comment because most of the time when I see laptops/tablets in use, people ARE hunched over & stabbing away (usually some game).
At $899, Surface Pro 2 is an amazing device. Microsoft needs to do a much better job at educating people about its capabilities. It's not just a combo of Macbook Air & iPad, it is your good old Windows with all the legacy apps.
Obviously it's not for everyone due to its screen size.
The challenge is on pricing - bring it to 128 GB and add a keyboard, and it comes to $1128. For $999 you can get a Macbook Air with 128 GB storage, keyboard, 4 GB Ram.
I agree the Surface product looks great - I just don't know who really needs the functionality of a highly portable laptop that wouldn't just get an Air instead. Possible exceptions would be people who can use the stylus or want the Microsoft applications/games.
This is what must have Microsoft scratching their heads. Google has done just about nothing with QuickOffice. The Google Drive Document app for Android sucks, as does Blogger. There is no good offline editing in productivity apps for Android other than QuickOffice, which edits microsoft document formats, so it doesn't integrate cleanly with Web-based editing in Drive. It's a mess!
And yet, it seems like nobody cares. Google gets away with completely crap productivity apps.
Maybe nobody is seriously trying to displace enterprise PCs with tablets yet. But this has to start biting them in the ass someday soon.
They're both pretty awful if you've used office on windows for a number of years which is the market they're trying to break into.
iWork is absolutely terrible from experience as well. It's not possible to effectively work with others, the UI is horrid and unproductive and it's completely unmaintained.
Speaking as one who had to use it for six months, Microsoft Office 2008 for OS X was a disaster, particularly Excel.
Microsoft Office 2011 for is pretty much close to perfect, and is certainly as capable as Microsoft Office 2010 that I run on Windows 7.
I run them side-by-side all day (PC Desktop with a big honking Monitor, Mac Laptop, 13" screen) - and I don't see any significant functional/usability issues with the Macintosh version.
Ironically, Microsoft Office is not a reason to use the Microsoft Surface instead of the MacBook Air. In fact, I'm willing to wager it runs better on the MBAir than it does on the surface. (Keyboard on MBAir laptop is probably better than one on Surface)
Air doesn't have a touch screen or Wacom. Those things cost money. Also you can use Surface while standing (check maps, watch videos in public transport etc.).
Right - I understand the use case for both the Stylus, and PC Games (aka the "Penny Arcade" use case). I'm dubious about the reading while standing element - even the iPad is a bit cumbersome for that - you need something like the Kindle Fire/Samsung Phablets/iPad Mini for mobility it turns out.
I'm thinking about what your average knowledge worker who wants to just have an email/excel/terminal/browser tool would want on a business trip - I think if we took an unbiased sample of people, 75%+ would rather go with the Air for that particular use case than they would surface pro.
There is the catch - excluding the gaming/stylus scenario - people still need a laptop - Few "knowledge workers" go on a serious business trip with just an iPad except as an experiment (that usually works out poorly), and they aren't going to carry both a laptop and a surface pro to meetings with them - therefore - just a laptop.
The iPad (and better yet, the Mini/Kindle Fire) - are great for just kicking on the couch, the Subway, reading in bed when you don't want to lug a laptop (and power cable) around with you.
It remains to be seen - but I don't think the Surface is going to get overwhelming traction. Yes, it's a better laptop than the iPad - but the iPad / Mini /Kindle Fire is a better media-consumption tablet than the Surface.
1. Keyboard covers are superfluous. Bluetooth keyboards are what people use with tablets. The "DJ" cover is especially superfluous. That's what touchscreens are for.
2. It's a PC in a tablet form factor. It weighs like small PC. It has battery life like a small PC. It costs like a small PC.
3. The OS is better than previous attempts at tabletizing Windows, but it's still Windows with a tablet UI that has little traction with app developers tacked on.
4. It will make you fiddle with touch-unfriendly controls. Bad things that would never happen in iOS or Android will happen: You open an app, and wham! You are trying to touch a tiny button or drag a window by a tiny title bar.
5. Windows is a brand with negative value for buyers of mobile devices. "You're running Windows on your tablet? Why?"
Microsoft is a company that could have chosen to make any product. But the problem there is that XBOX and Zune haven't made any profit, so choosing "Windows everything, everywhere" was at least a plausible choice, on the basis of a history of making money. Who could argue for "Zune II?"
1. Seriously? I'm retiring my Samsung Series 7 Slate for a Surface Pro 2 just because of the Bluetooth keyboard on the Slate. It's a good keyboard for sure, but being separate it needs a cover, so uses far too much space in my bag, and I'm tired to death of fucking about with it every time I need to type something (which is all the time).
Also, in 2 you're obviously talking about Surface Pro. Pro 2 is hugely improved. And in 5 you're doing little more than stating a personal opinion.
I don't know why anyone would think otherwise, one supports real hardware-integrated digitizers, the other supports rubber nubs on sticks pretending to be fingertips.
I've been playing around with one and was amused to see that CTRL-ALT-DEL still works as expected, right after I read the article about Bill Gates saying it was a mistake.
Also, while Bill called it a mistake in the video, I don't think he truly believes it.
In that same video Bill starts to explain how CTRL-ALT-DEL fires of a (low level) hardware interrupt and for that reason it had to be a key that was hard to accidentally press.
He then dumbs it down for the audience saying they could have used a button, but that was not approved and finally he flippantly calls it a mistake.
The reality is the requirement for the hardware interrupt was real and without a hardware button the only other approach is to use a weird easy to remember, hard to accidentally press key stroke, something like CTRL-ALT-DEL.
In real mode, which was all there was when these keys were assigned, Ctrl+Alt+Del didn't actually fire any special low level hardware interrupt. I didn't watch Bill's video yet, so I don't know what he may have been referring to, but it definitely doesn't do that. (Maybe he just meant that it reboots the computer?)
In real mode, Ctrl+Alt+Del is handled by the same BIOS code as any other keystrokes. Each of those three keys generates the usual keyboard interrupt, and BIOS code checks for Ctrl and Alt being down when Del is pressed. When that happens, the BIOS jumps to the POST (Power On Self Test) address.
Or alternatively, Ctrl+Alt+Del is handled (or not handled!) by any other code that has taken over the keyboard interrupt.
There are no low level hardware interrupts involved at all other than the normal keyboard interrupt that handles any other keystroke.
I wrote up the details over on Reddit a couple of days ago, including some code listings from the XT BIOS:
"We could have had a single button, but the guy who did the IBM keyboard design didn’t want to give us our single button.."
"You want to have something you do with the keyboard that is signalling to a very low level of the software - actually hard-coded in the hardware - that it really is bringing in the operating system you expect, instead of just a funny piece of software that puts up a screen that looks like a log-in screen, and then it listens to your password and then it’s able to do that," Mr Gates said.
Now what that means in terms of hardware/software I don't know, but it sounds a lot like some sore of interrupt to me.
Does it matter? I think not.
I don't think the combination of keys was ever picked for their ease of use, but instead became widely know only because the Windows of that time was not the most stable of systems.
But once again I don't thin any operating system running in real mode would've had the power protect the user from badly written programs.
Thanks for posting that transcript. Bill was seriously mixed up here! It's understandable since he was speaking off the cuff about events of 30 years ago.
The guy who did IBM's keyboard design had nothing to do with Ctrl+Alt+Del. The keyboard doesn't know anything special about Ctrl+Alt+Del or any other key combination. It just sends scan codes over the wire for each individual key press or release.
The guy who wrote (or specified) the PC BIOS is who gave Ctrl+Alt+Del its special meaning. As I explained in that Reddit post, the BIOS simply checks for those keys being down and jumps to the reset/POST address.
It's all done in software, and any real mode program running on the machine can disable or take over Ctrl+Alt+Del just like it can any other keystroke or combination. So any program in DOS, in real mode Windows, or in any other real mode operating system can be that "funny piece of software that puts up a screen that looks like a log-in screen".
It wasn't until we got chips that supported protected mode, so ordinary applications couldn't smash the interrupt vectors, that there was any possibility of a guarantee that Ctrl+Alt+Del be always handled by the OS itself and not intercepted by some other program.
Also, back in the real mode days, no one would ever press Ctrl+Alt+Del with the expectation that they would get a login screen or any other kind of operating system response. After all, when Ctrl+Alt+Del was working correctly it would reboot the computer completely!
The success of Surface Pro largely depends on other people's failure. Nexus 10 is $399 with 2560x1600 display. Many decent Windows 8 laptops are selling at $600. MacBook Air weights 2.4 pounds vs Surface Pro 2 pounds. Technically, it is feasible to build a lightweight laptop with high-res touch display. It would be more functional than Surface Pro (larger display, real keyboard) and cheaper than Surface Pro + keyboard. As a business user, a great laptop is still better choice than SPro.
If Surface is super successful, PC OEMs would fail a big time, which is not good news for Microsoft either.
I don't know about that. I would think a rising tide could lift the boats of PC OEMs. There is still the Baytrail chip that can be exploited for a lightweight tablet. They just need to step their design game up. Something like the Sony TAP 11 that uses Baytrail could be big.
I found the bit about the keyboard not having built in wireless (requiring an adapter) to be the obvious 'wtf'. Everything else looked pretty cool, though the Metro interface still hasn't grown on me.
Yup that gesture (swipe from the left hand side) switches between the active running apps (the desktop counts as one "app"). If you swipe slowly then you can dock the app to either side.
Yes. You can swipe in from the left to "alt-tab" through Metro apps. This behavior can be emulated in the desktop by moving your mouse to the top left and clicking when the preview thumbnail is visible.
Everything is awesome about this except the bloody OS. They gotta do something to populate the app ecosystem more.[at least comparable to Android and Apple]. maybe forget about their proprietary code for once and allow developers to code through some open sourced tools.
Some people don't like the Yoga, or XPS, just like some people don't like the Surface. This has always been Microsoft's game, let others make diverse hardware and make money on the software. This time, they're competing in the hardware game too, so far they haven't been too successful, but who knows what will happen.
Microsoft can take this risk because they see little chance that Dell, Lenovo, Sony, etc. will jump to only selling linux machine or Chrome devices. I don't necessarily agree with that mentality, I think Chrome could be more of a threat than they realise.
This, as device, is brilliant. Like it or not most PCs (or work machines) are powered by Windows so it's much easier for one to use a Windows Tablet /Laptop. If I was in the market, I'd forget iPad and Android and buy this, as an extension of my PC. If it can do everything iPad can, why would I buy a device with a new operating system, with it's limitations and where I can't use my existing apps? The need to easily type is vastly underrated IMO. This can also serve as a laptop replacement, at least temporarily, something iPad cannot.
Microsoft can easily mark it down to barely make any profit on it for quite a while, the screen resolution and tech behind it will be a non-issue soon, so it's just the ecosystem. For Windows users it makes perfect sense to stick with Windows.
>The need to easily type is vastly underrated IMO.
You can use a bluetooth keyboard with iPad, there are cases with built in keyboards too. I assume the same is true for Android.
Careful in your enthusiasm, you might sound like a fan boy :-)
But I will buy one when it can do what I miss on my iPad -- run Debian/Ubuntu/etc with good hardware support. Unless the Android pads seduce me first.
Edit: Oh my g.d, the comments on this video are more positive to Surface than Apple's users are about the polished UI/hardware. Lots of ip:s from Redmond? :-)
Sometime the integrated pads/computers will be good for most people, but I (and Apple, it seems) doubt it is 2013 or 2014.
The "concept" of Surface 2 is the same idea as the first, but maybe the execution is good enough to compete with the coming iPads/Androids, now... The extreme enthusiasm for something a year old seems funny.
Anyway, it is nice to see Microsoft trying to pioneer a niche for once. But maybe it is an unfilled niche for a reason?
(When/if this integration happens, there will probably be transparent use of extra processing units over the network. Considering needed rewrites and slow US network speed, it seems unlikely to happen even 2015.)
The old Surface Pro was nice, but for me the Docking Station is a huge step to replacing many peoples Home PC. Also Haswell which is more powerful and alot less power hungry with a decent GPU. Thats why i am alot more excited than last year.
Apple seems to think different right now, thats right, so did Microsoft when the first iPhone came out. Time will tell, i love that they try stuff!
Careful in your enthusiasm, you might sound like a fan boy :-)
Ah, only Android and Apple stuff can be praised? Sorry, but I don't care about their latest "innovation" or marketing hype unless it's worth it. And I don't care how I sound, as long as I'm being honest. I have Windows 7 on desktop and laptop and an Android tablet ~$100 range to check some news. If I could undo it, I'd have a Surface Pro to replace the laptop and tablet and do all an operating system can. That's all.
But I will buy one when it can do what I miss on my iPad -- run Debian/Ubuntu/etc with good hardware support. Unless the Android pads seduce me first.
That is probably less than 1% of the user base. On the other end, I still have Photoshop 6.0 installed and it does the job for the things I need. I don't know when I bought it but I keep transferring from machine to machine as I upgrade.
Comments
This is how Microsoft needs to advertise. No dancing around in the park with smart covers, no petty google-bashing, just a great no-nonsense overview of their product's actual standout features.
Much better than https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr3dFSzh1yU
A mix of the two styles would seem most appropriate.
I agree, though I'd like to see a bit more focus. There wasn't a take-away where I said "The Surface Pro 2 is good for..." I think they had 5 things in there, maybe focus on 3, but really give the person the idea of how they can do those things well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OqzxB-cSW8
I expected to click through and have my belief that Microsoft just doesn't "get it" reinforced, but I have to say, that is a really appealing device to me.
My biggest gripe with my (school issued) iPad is that text entry is awful and I can't get serious multi-tasking work done. This looks like it's specifically trying to address those concerns.
That said, that ad sucked imho. If Microsoft has ever not "gotten" something, it's establishing an awesome brand (sans Xbox and Word, perhaps). I have no idea how they can improve this, but I really hope Microsoft's surface line is a huge success so Apple and Google have some more competition.
Microsoft's brand problems stand in stark regard to Apple's success with branding - lack of a coherent overall product strategy, releasing too many products, releasing too soon, changing tone and strategy too often - failing to make up their mind and focus. In response they seem often to try and compensate by racheting up the enthusiasm levels, with limited success. It's hard to trust a company pushing their newest product on you with maniacal enthusiasm - the emotional environment that attitude creates makes it virtually impossible to really enjoy a product, to feel comfortable and relaxed and as if the product truly belongs to you. This is something Apple has been really successful with, and it's absolutely crucial if Microsoft is to host a truly creative user community which can match Apple's.
The big problem as I see it is it's a situation which naturally leads to desperation for a quick solution. But desperation and rushing are actually what Microsoft needs to avoid. And I'm not convinced in the slightest that Microsoft has recognised or addressed these issues, because they seem to be moving so fast and hoping for such rapid responses with their current efforts. Unfortunately the costs for trying too hard/too fast are pretty high - you taint the brand image indefinitely, as it's pretty hard to change that initial impression - certainly hard to even try without seeming like a company that has no self-identity but . With the amount of resources and innovation they're putting into their current efforts, it'd be a shame to see them blow it. I think they would have done better taking their time and letting momentum build slower.
I'm reminded of the story of how the Lotus guys (the car company) managed to convince the James Bond franchise managers to place a Lotus in a Bond film. At the time the Bond guys were being bombarded with requests from car companies, because being featured in their films was so lucrative. The Lotus guys went the other way - they took the car they wanted to push, stripped off all the signage which indicated it was a Lotus, and left it outside of the Bond franchise HQ. As they hoped, the Bond guys came out, saw the car, thought it looked amazing, but because they couldn't work out what car it was, they became obsessed with it and determined to find out. Lotus used quietness and confidence to rise above the fray of car manufacturers all trying to out-shout each other.
The true proof of confidence is relaxation. Without it, a company is always on the defensive.
Did you watch the Surface Ads - they look pretty damn confident of their product. Their strategy for the last 18 months has also been consistent, "Tablets are great for portability, but the iPad is not a knowledge workers tool, it's a media-consumption devices for most people - the Surface gives you the portability, and the knowledge worker flexibility"
Great Ads.
Sorry, but trying to say that Microsoft satisfies the consistency criteria because of its behaviour over the last 18 months is absurd. 18 months is nothing - the timespans that matter in this game are more like 18 years.
Microsoft over the last 13 years has flopped around from one idea to another. Their attitude has been build first, worry about identity second. They've rushed around, trying something, failing, rushing into another thing. Even within the space of one push they lack consistency. The Surface ads might be well-made but they're completely all over the place in tone, attitude and feature emphasis. Think about it: there was the liquid metal one, then the dancing clicking one, then this one. The first was hardcore/intense, the second one was exuberant/dizzying, the third was calm/productive. What's the common link? Where's the consistency in their messaging?
Think about Apple's strategy in contrast. Their product strategy, company image, attitude and presentation has basically been one smooth progression from the iPod to the iPhone 5S. The image they've presented has been the epitome of stability and consistency. It's not that they don't make mistakes or make strategy shifts - it's just that Apple astutely realises that it's best to make these changes subtly. It's only techy people like us who notice shifts in emphasis (specs don't matter > A7 64-bit processor). Everyone else loves it. They're not saying the same things over and over again - their messages and emphasis changes over time, but the change is gradual and smooth. Each product, each launch, each ad builds on top of the last.
It's not to say that there aren't recurrent themes in Microsoft's messaging - but the difference between the two is night and day. And what's the result? Apple makes vast amounts of money - all without seeming to lift a finger convincing people to buy their products. They're reaping the fruits of taking the time to work out their strategy early on, and sticking to that strategy.
That's the problem for Microsoft - this is a game where it's your behaviour over years, not months, that matters most. Until they really learn and absorb that lesson they are extremely vulnerable I think.
Fair enough - I agree that Microsoft has been shifting it's messaging quite a bit - but I think a lot of that has to do with Apple being a functional organization (singular vision directed on downwards) and Microsoft is a Divisional Organization (multiple business lines). Where the single vision is communicated (Windows Everywhere) - it's not always appropriate -(Consumers care about experience, not product lines)
Here is the last few years of Apple Ads.
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfv6Ah_MVJU (PC Ad)
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQw3mVWXncg (iPod Ad)
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMcrw8WTWSs (Genius Ad)
They have been hitting their stride recently:
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoVW62mwSQQ (iPhone Camera)
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu1jHtf_oUc (iPhone Facetime)
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDUKt_XgfJ4 (iPhone Music)
Interesting, one of the supposedly "Worst reviewed" ads really spoke to me
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=170fh2mvog0 (Designed in California)
I hope we see more like the last one. That's the sort of thing that I think a company should aspire to.
When Microsoft was confident, many years ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EcLdwYqwko
You can't compare MS to Apple regarding those products on the basis that you believe an 18 year time-span is what matters in this game. Because the ipod, the iphone, the ipad and the macbook air aren't even 10 years-old.
But I agree with you on your main point: MS is highly inconsistent regarding its branding and that's a problem for consumer identification and reliance perception.
The 18 year figure was just illustrative of the fact that I thought he was an order of magnitude off. I didn't mean that a company needs to remain consistent for 18 years exactly - but it is years of consistency that count, the more the better.
As far as Apple's performance - the iPod range is 12 years old at this point. Apple has been producing consistently branded Macbooks since 2006, this line is clearly continuous with the iBooks which go back to 1999. The iPhone range is 6 years old at this point. Consumer OS X is 12 years old - they've only just dropped the cat name motif, and Mavericks is still recognisably a progression from 10.0. Etc.
Get a type cover not touch cover. Surface Pro is an amazing device for college-goers. Onenote with stylus is a good note-taking tool. I ran SolidWorks, Matlab on it, with Mozilla going 20+ tabs at a time. Pulls serious power, and importantly it has portability. Only problematic thing sometimes can be small screen, which I solved by having an (pre-existing) external monitor. It entirely replaced ipad+laptop for me with added comfort of running legacy apps which windows has no dearth of.
What was battery like under that kind of work load?
Battery on the Surface Pro 1 is anywhere from 4 to 6 hours on average for me. You can squeeze out 7 with all wireless off, and using it only for typing. The Pro 2 addresses the battery life. It adds 20% more.
One of the most useful features for me, is the (pen)handwriting recognition on the Pro. I have terrible handwriting, terrible. I take a lot of notes in OneNote, and then convert them to text. This way I can share with my team, all the info I jotted down, in a "professional" manner. A few typos come up, usually upper vs lower case.
The pen is my favorite feature, I use it in Illustrator and Photoshop, daily. Running Ps and Ai, the battery will last about 4ish hours. Not bad, but not great. I usually will hook up an external monitor for Photoshop.
MSoft needs to work on communicating the pen, is not a stylus. It has pressure sensitivity, and lets you rest your hand on the screen while writing. A major difference from the iPad stylus(es).
The pen is amazing in quality. Its a full Wacom pen, with full pressure sensitivity. It counts as a totally separate input, so your "finger" and "pen" are seen completely differently.
In contrast, an iPad stylus thinks that the pen is just another finger. "Write then swipe" simply works on the Surface, for instance.
I have a Surface Pro 1 with the type cover. Great tablet, I really like it. However the type cover is only a marginal improvement over the iPad (which I also own) for typing. If you really need to type a lot, a laptop is still your best bet.
Why is the type cover only a marginal improvement? I recently tried a type cover for the first time and was able to hit my typical 100 WPM on typeracer.com. To me, it seemed like a significant improvement over both the on-screen keyboard and even the touch cover.
Maybe you had better luck with it than me. I've tried on many occasions to buckle down and use it for typing and I always give up and get a real keyboard.
I just gave typeracer a try and got 81wpm, so you also may just be a better typist than me.
81 is quite good. Can you get anything close 81wpm on an iPad? Maybe I'm just bad at on-screen iPad keyboards.
Does iPad have an USB port you can plug any external keyboard into?
The iPad has a Lightning connector, for which you can get an USB adapter. That way, if you absolutely must connect a wired keyboard (instead of Bluetooth), you can.
http://www.theipadguide.com/faq/can-i-use-usb-keyboard-ipad
I would say apple addressed that problem with macbook air. it feels like real computer, yet it has amazing battery and portability.
what I am seeing is that people use air for the more serious jobs when sitting somewhare and their smartphone for the rest.
" it feels like real computer,"
Could you expand on this please - why would anybody believe that a laptop running a 1.7 GHz Intel Core i7 with 8 GB 16000 MHz DDR3, OS X 10.8.5, and a very snappy flash based storage system wasn't a "real computer?" I think you were trying to say, "It's a real computer with great battery and portability" - right?
I continue to be intrigued by the surface pro - Apple has been slow to bring a stylus capable tablet to market - and there are times when sketching is really important - and it's painful on the "crayon stylus" that you have to use on the iPad. Also - Windows has a lot of great Games. :-)
Multitasking/task switching and lack of a real shell make the iPad a non-starter for me for getting real work done - I would never consider going on a trip with just my iPad.
I think Microsoft is onto something - I just wish they had a decent Terminal App (something better than putty) and bash (cygwin always just feels like it's been tacked on).
"it feels like real computer" was to contrast it with the surface and other devices that are supposed to replace the laptops, not to imply that macbook air is not a real laptop.
Really?
The main problem with the Surface Pro IMO, is that it has no Ethernet port... or ports in general. (just one USB3.0 port). Larger laptops are needed if you want to connect to say, your Gb-Ethernet network or whatever.
The Macbook Air may gain a USB3.0 port over the Surface Pro... but thats about it. It also fails to have an Ethernet port, and also lacks the ability to run any Windows-compatible application.
Compared to the Surface Pro, the Macbook Air's resolution is poor and restricting. Finally, a decent Surface Pro will cost you $1030 (Type Cover + Surface Pro), while a similarly specced Macbook Air costs more.
Aside from having "one more" USB3.0 port, I don't think the Macbook Air has any real advantage over the Surface Pro. A "real portable workstation" would be either a Dell Precision Pro, or something similar to those specs. (IE: DVD Drive, tons of Ports, Gigabit Ethernet).
Granted, both companies offer a solution. Surface-Dock seems rather complete for the Surface Pro, and Thunderbolt from the MacWorld does work. Nonetheless, it'd be nice to have enough features built into a laptop... extra devices / gadgets / attachments are annoying to handle.
Macbook Air is cheaper - it has a 10 Gigabit Thunderbolt port (useful for docking to a Gigabit Port, external display, etc..), Two USB 3.0 ports, and 4 GB memory for $999. A 4GB/128GB Surface Pro goes for $1128.
Pro has the touch screen, and stylus.
I think, at the end of the day, what decides this is how much you can use the stylus and want windows apps/games.
I don't have very much hope for Thunderbolt. It seems to be going the way by Firewire.
The Thunderbolt Cables cost like $40 a pop, adapters can cost more as well. Its a far cry from just being able to plug a GbE port directly into the darn thing.
As stated before, Thunderbolt is roughly comparable to the Surface Dock. You can connect an external display and Ethernet port through Thunderbolt, but you have to pay through the nose on extra wires and extra adapters. (or $200 for the Surface Dock).
BTW: Surface Pro prices are much cheaper. $1030 gets you the 128GB model now. The SurfacePro has 1080p screen. Not a single Macbook Air model has a decent resolution.
I think at the end of the day, what decides it is how much you want the 1080p screen, Stylus, Windows applications (and Windows Domain Joining for those business users), and portability.
Price-for-price, Surface Pro just gives you more than even the cheapest Macbook Air. Its just a better deal frankly.
Re: Thunderbolt - You have USB 3.0 for generic connections. Thunderbolt for VGA/Gigabit/Docking/DVDI. Thunderbolt is thankfully compatible with Display Port, so you can connect your 30" monitor at 2560x1600 over a $5 mini-display port to display port cable (as I am right now). I haven't used my Gigabit Adapter in a couple years, and this was even before 802.11ac came out. I don't know if I'll ever use one again.
I guess if you are resolution sensitive - then the Surface Pro has that going for it as well (I've never preferred the retina versus the normal resolution on Laptops - so that's kind of wasted on me)
Regarding what's a better deal - like you said, it all depends on what you want. I've got bash/terminal.app/aperture/quicksilver all in my finger memory now, so kind of stuck on OS X. And - we can't overlook the keyboard. Be interesting to see if the Surface Pro can go head to head with a laptop keyboard.
Regarding Windows Domain Joining - works fine on OS X for the last couple iterations, pretty much the same as the PC for things like accessing file shares. And, Office Productivity Apps (Excel/Office/PowerPoint) are pretty identical on the Mac (plus we get Acorn, Pixelmator, iDraw)...
You've got me intrigued though - I'll have to go into the Microsoft Store and play with one for a bit - the Stylus alone is really, really intriguing. And all those PC Games...
It's not cheap, but SecureCRT is a fantastic terminal app.
I have SecureCRT on my Windows systems (been a loyal users since 1998). It's somewhat better than Putty - but neither of them compare to Terminal.App/iTerm2.
It's always been unclear to me why nobody has written a great terminal application for Windows. Is it just because the majority of those who really care are already using Linux or OS X?
I find it somewhat ironic that a significant portion of the command line population has migrated to the macintosh.
Windows user here who spends a lot of the time on the command line. PuTTY is good enough.
I'm actually in the process of writing a Metro terminal app which will hopefully fill the void here.
ConEmu is probably the best terminal for Windows at the moment, but it takes some customization to get there, and it has some strange concepts.
Indeed, I own a 2012 MacBook Air and I'm convinced they're the best line of laptop computers on the market right now. I severely underestimated how much I would enjoy the tremendous portability.
I guess I don't need both an MBA and a Surface, considering I also have an iPhone.
Honestly now that I think about it, I think my biggest concern with the surface would be the fact that it runs windows. As a hacker who grew up on UNIX/Linux I find that really limiting, but moreover as someone who has heavily adopted the Apple ecosystem, I feel like I could never use the surface to its fullest potential.
I think what I want is a Surface which runs iOS X. (You read that correctly.)
You can turn off Secure Boot and install Linux to it if you really dislike Windows.
Ubuntu installs cleanly on Surface Pros. The only part that doesn't work is the WiFi driver IIRC, but people have found workarounds for that.
Touchscreen. Stylus. Tablet+Laptop. Portability. Battery. High resolution screen. All in Surface Pro.
The thing is, however, that when you actually try them out, the MB air leaves a hugely better impression.
The MB air is light, sleek, elegant, it feels good in your hands, it makes you want to use it and carry it around—and that's despite it being a notebook, not a tablet.
The Surface Pro 1, however, is exactly the opposite: it's heavy, thick, uncomfortable to hold because of the weird sharp-edged shape, and insanely hot during operation. The Surface Pro is exactly what a tablet shouldn't be. I suppose MS has all but admitted that with their strong marketing emphasis on using it with a stand and a keyboard.
I certainly hope for MS's sake that the Surface Pro 2 is better, because the SP1 was a disaster...
I used Surface Pro for my graduate thesis extensively. It left a huge impression on me. Metro side apps were all fun for me, while a swipe to desktop meant all work business. Yeah 1 kg is not a big deal for me, i taught classes with it, took notes with it, ran IBM SPSS doing ANOVA, wrote papers in LATEX and did some SolidWorks, and heavy MATLAB work on it. It is hot, yes. But then, it remained in my lap for around 5% of the time.
I find your claims ("heavy, thick, uncomfortable to hold because of the weird sharp-edged shape") to be without merit, since I used it extensively for some major work. Going forward, Surface Pro is the future for me and my household.
Honestly, i think this really is a game changer in the so called "post pc era".
In a device like this the concept of Windows 8 seems to make perfect sense, you have all the easy to use Metro-style Apps and if you need to, you can switch to the full Desktop experience which can run Development Enviroments, Full Office Suite, Photoshop, PC Games etc.
This seems to be the perfect personal computer that does everything people need and they didnt even show the docking capabilities that allow a high res Screen and complete Desktop experience. It might be a bit worse than a laptop when using on your lap but people should avoid that anyway as its not very ergonomical.
This is not a workstation PC for developers but the perfect PC for my girlfriend and my parents as it doubles as a tablet for around the house!
(Also i am pretty sure with Haswell, the dock and 2 external screens (one via USB3.0 To DVI) it would even make a good software development workhorse for many people)
Impressive stuff, but I can't help but cringe watching these cool young professional actors hunching over tiny devices and stabbing glass with their fingertips. Fingers, backs and necks are not evolved to be used like this.
I just watched the linked video - I only saw one instance of "hunched over" - and that was during the point where they were showing off the fact that you don't have to hunch over your MS Surface, you can just pick it up and use it like a tablet.
edit: I actually watched the video because of the parent comment because most of the time when I see laptops/tablets in use, people ARE hunched over & stabbing away (usually some game).
At $899, Surface Pro 2 is an amazing device. Microsoft needs to do a much better job at educating people about its capabilities. It's not just a combo of Macbook Air & iPad, it is your good old Windows with all the legacy apps. Obviously it's not for everyone due to its screen size.
The challenge is on pricing - bring it to 128 GB and add a keyboard, and it comes to $1128. For $999 you can get a Macbook Air with 128 GB storage, keyboard, 4 GB Ram.
I agree the Surface product looks great - I just don't know who really needs the functionality of a highly portable laptop that wouldn't just get an Air instead. Possible exceptions would be people who can use the stylus or want the Microsoft applications/games.
It has a dock which is where it wins for me. Oh and as you say, applications. OSX sucks for productivity apps.
This is what must have Microsoft scratching their heads. Google has done just about nothing with QuickOffice. The Google Drive Document app for Android sucks, as does Blogger. There is no good offline editing in productivity apps for Android other than QuickOffice, which edits microsoft document formats, so it doesn't integrate cleanly with Web-based editing in Drive. It's a mess!
And yet, it seems like nobody cares. Google gets away with completely crap productivity apps.
Maybe nobody is seriously trying to displace enterprise PCs with tablets yet. But this has to start biting them in the ass someday soon.
This is where Microsoft leverages the Office suite, I imagine.
There is MS office for mac. Apple's own office solutions are pretty damn good too.
They're both pretty awful if you've used office on windows for a number of years which is the market they're trying to break into.
iWork is absolutely terrible from experience as well. It's not possible to effectively work with others, the UI is horrid and unproductive and it's completely unmaintained.
Speaking as one who had to use it for six months, Microsoft Office 2008 for OS X was a disaster, particularly Excel.
Microsoft Office 2011 for is pretty much close to perfect, and is certainly as capable as Microsoft Office 2010 that I run on Windows 7.
I run them side-by-side all day (PC Desktop with a big honking Monitor, Mac Laptop, 13" screen) - and I don't see any significant functional/usability issues with the Macintosh version.
Ironically, Microsoft Office is not a reason to use the Microsoft Surface instead of the MacBook Air. In fact, I'm willing to wager it runs better on the MBAir than it does on the surface. (Keyboard on MBAir laptop is probably better than one on Surface)
Air doesn't have a touch screen or Wacom. Those things cost money. Also you can use Surface while standing (check maps, watch videos in public transport etc.).
Right - I understand the use case for both the Stylus, and PC Games (aka the "Penny Arcade" use case). I'm dubious about the reading while standing element - even the iPad is a bit cumbersome for that - you need something like the Kindle Fire/Samsung Phablets/iPad Mini for mobility it turns out.
I'm thinking about what your average knowledge worker who wants to just have an email/excel/terminal/browser tool would want on a business trip - I think if we took an unbiased sample of people, 75%+ would rather go with the Air for that particular use case than they would surface pro.
There is the catch - excluding the gaming/stylus scenario - people still need a laptop - Few "knowledge workers" go on a serious business trip with just an iPad except as an experiment (that usually works out poorly), and they aren't going to carry both a laptop and a surface pro to meetings with them - therefore - just a laptop.
The iPad (and better yet, the Mini/Kindle Fire) - are great for just kicking on the couch, the Subway, reading in bed when you don't want to lug a laptop (and power cable) around with you.
It remains to be seen - but I don't think the Surface is going to get overwhelming traction. Yes, it's a better laptop than the iPad - but the iPad / Mini /Kindle Fire is a better media-consumption tablet than the Surface.
You also get a 1080p screen on the Surface but no Thunderbolt. Depends on which is more important to you i guess.
Can you add on a digitizer built into the screen on the Air?
Have to admit, played with them at the Microsoft store today and even the ARM one feels way better than last years models.
Glad to see Microsoft taking this seriously and improving on them.
What's wrong with this?
1. Keyboard covers are superfluous. Bluetooth keyboards are what people use with tablets. The "DJ" cover is especially superfluous. That's what touchscreens are for.
2. It's a PC in a tablet form factor. It weighs like small PC. It has battery life like a small PC. It costs like a small PC.
3. The OS is better than previous attempts at tabletizing Windows, but it's still Windows with a tablet UI that has little traction with app developers tacked on.
4. It will make you fiddle with touch-unfriendly controls. Bad things that would never happen in iOS or Android will happen: You open an app, and wham! You are trying to touch a tiny button or drag a window by a tiny title bar.
5. Windows is a brand with negative value for buyers of mobile devices. "You're running Windows on your tablet? Why?"
Microsoft is a company that could have chosen to make any product. But the problem there is that XBOX and Zune haven't made any profit, so choosing "Windows everything, everywhere" was at least a plausible choice, on the basis of a history of making money. Who could argue for "Zune II?"
They will have to learn by failing.
1. Seriously? I'm retiring my Samsung Series 7 Slate for a Surface Pro 2 just because of the Bluetooth keyboard on the Slate. It's a good keyboard for sure, but being separate it needs a cover, so uses far too much space in my bag, and I'm tired to death of fucking about with it every time I need to type something (which is all the time).
Also, in 2 you're obviously talking about Surface Pro. Pro 2 is hugely improved. And in 5 you're doing little more than stating a personal opinion.
1. Midi controllers aren't superfluous. The DJ cover fullfills the exact same function.
2. Well, it is a small pc
3. That's kinda valid. On the other hand, it's a plain Windows PC, so runs millions of apps hence sheer amounts of developpers are in the running
4. I seem to remember a very recent post about tiny buttons in iOS 7 :P
5. Again valid. But that value might change over time: Windows Phone 8 is rather good, pretty hard to deny that.
I can see the Surface functioning better in a business environment than other tablets. It wouldn't be my first choice for a casual-use device.
The pen thing is actually a big win for business users, even if it doesn't actually improve on what's already possible with iPad stylii.
AFAIK, the stylus on the Surface Pro is significantly better than ones for the iPad/tablets with regular capacitive sensors.
I don't know why anyone would think otherwise, one supports real hardware-integrated digitizers, the other supports rubber nubs on sticks pretending to be fingertips.
It is pressure sensitive. It's a big win for artists as well. No need to buy expensive Wacom screens.
I've been playing around with one and was amused to see that CTRL-ALT-DEL still works as expected, right after I read the article about Bill Gates saying it was a mistake.
It's never easy to undo your mistakes.
Also, while Bill called it a mistake in the video, I don't think he truly believes it.
In that same video Bill starts to explain how CTRL-ALT-DEL fires of a (low level) hardware interrupt and for that reason it had to be a key that was hard to accidentally press.
He then dumbs it down for the audience saying they could have used a button, but that was not approved and finally he flippantly calls it a mistake.
The reality is the requirement for the hardware interrupt was real and without a hardware button the only other approach is to use a weird easy to remember, hard to accidentally press key stroke, something like CTRL-ALT-DEL.
In real mode, which was all there was when these keys were assigned, Ctrl+Alt+Del didn't actually fire any special low level hardware interrupt. I didn't watch Bill's video yet, so I don't know what he may have been referring to, but it definitely doesn't do that. (Maybe he just meant that it reboots the computer?)
In real mode, Ctrl+Alt+Del is handled by the same BIOS code as any other keystrokes. Each of those three keys generates the usual keyboard interrupt, and BIOS code checks for Ctrl and Alt being down when Del is pressed. When that happens, the BIOS jumps to the POST (Power On Self Test) address.
Or alternatively, Ctrl+Alt+Del is handled (or not handled!) by any other code that has taken over the keyboard interrupt.
There are no low level hardware interrupts involved at all other than the normal keyboard interrupt that handles any other keystroke.
I wrote up the details over on Reddit a couple of days ago, including some code listings from the XT BIOS:
http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1n68nz/bill_gate...
Here a transcript of the video:
"We could have had a single button, but the guy who did the IBM keyboard design didn’t want to give us our single button.."
"You want to have something you do with the keyboard that is signalling to a very low level of the software - actually hard-coded in the hardware - that it really is bringing in the operating system you expect, instead of just a funny piece of software that puts up a screen that looks like a log-in screen, and then it listens to your password and then it’s able to do that," Mr Gates said.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/technology/news/bill-gates-confe...
Now what that means in terms of hardware/software I don't know, but it sounds a lot like some sore of interrupt to me.
Does it matter? I think not.
I don't think the combination of keys was ever picked for their ease of use, but instead became widely know only because the Windows of that time was not the most stable of systems.
But once again I don't thin any operating system running in real mode would've had the power protect the user from badly written programs.
Thanks for posting that transcript. Bill was seriously mixed up here! It's understandable since he was speaking off the cuff about events of 30 years ago.
The guy who did IBM's keyboard design had nothing to do with Ctrl+Alt+Del. The keyboard doesn't know anything special about Ctrl+Alt+Del or any other key combination. It just sends scan codes over the wire for each individual key press or release.
The guy who wrote (or specified) the PC BIOS is who gave Ctrl+Alt+Del its special meaning. As I explained in that Reddit post, the BIOS simply checks for those keys being down and jumps to the reset/POST address.
It's all done in software, and any real mode program running on the machine can disable or take over Ctrl+Alt+Del just like it can any other keystroke or combination. So any program in DOS, in real mode Windows, or in any other real mode operating system can be that "funny piece of software that puts up a screen that looks like a log-in screen".
It wasn't until we got chips that supported protected mode, so ordinary applications couldn't smash the interrupt vectors, that there was any possibility of a guarantee that Ctrl+Alt+Del be always handled by the OS itself and not intercepted by some other program.
Also, back in the real mode days, no one would ever press Ctrl+Alt+Del with the expectation that they would get a login screen or any other kind of operating system response. After all, when Ctrl+Alt+Del was working correctly it would reboot the computer completely!
The success of Surface Pro largely depends on other people's failure. Nexus 10 is $399 with 2560x1600 display. Many decent Windows 8 laptops are selling at $600. MacBook Air weights 2.4 pounds vs Surface Pro 2 pounds. Technically, it is feasible to build a lightweight laptop with high-res touch display. It would be more functional than Surface Pro (larger display, real keyboard) and cheaper than Surface Pro + keyboard. As a business user, a great laptop is still better choice than SPro.
If Surface is super successful, PC OEMs would fail a big time, which is not good news for Microsoft either.
I don't know about that. I would think a rising tide could lift the boats of PC OEMs. There is still the Baytrail chip that can be exploited for a lightweight tablet. They just need to step their design game up. Something like the Sony TAP 11 that uses Baytrail could be big.
I found the bit about the keyboard not having built in wireless (requiring an adapter) to be the obvious 'wtf'. Everything else looked pretty cool, though the Metro interface still hasn't grown on me.
Right around the :57 mark the lady pulls an application in from the side. Is that possible/normal? I run W8.1 but only desktop, do not own a surface.
Yup that gesture (swipe from the left hand side) switches between the active running apps (the desktop counts as one "app"). If you swipe slowly then you can dock the app to either side.
Yes. You can swipe in from the left to "alt-tab" through Metro apps. This behavior can be emulated in the desktop by moving your mouse to the top left and clicking when the preview thumbnail is visible.
towards the end of the video when people close the screen, it seems more of a "laptop that is also a tablet" rather than the other way around.
Everything is awesome about this except the bloody OS. They gotta do something to populate the app ecosystem more.[at least comparable to Android and Apple]. maybe forget about their proprietary code for once and allow developers to code through some open sourced tools.
You just need a Pro version... Then run an Android emulator on it :).
exactly, and pro version doesn't come cheap right? Visual studio 2012 pro right?
why would you get this and not a dell xps 12, lenovo yoga/helix, sony duo or something from toshiba/acer/asus?
not being negative, just wondering.
Some people don't like the Yoga, or XPS, just like some people don't like the Surface. This has always been Microsoft's game, let others make diverse hardware and make money on the software. This time, they're competing in the hardware game too, so far they haven't been too successful, but who knows what will happen.
Microsoft can take this risk because they see little chance that Dell, Lenovo, Sony, etc. will jump to only selling linux machine or Chrome devices. I don't necessarily agree with that mentality, I think Chrome could be more of a threat than they realise.
It doesn't have a preinstalled Norton trial.
Slimmer, lighter, magnetic ports, quality materials, Wacom pressure-sensitive stylus.
This, as device, is brilliant. Like it or not most PCs (or work machines) are powered by Windows so it's much easier for one to use a Windows Tablet /Laptop. If I was in the market, I'd forget iPad and Android and buy this, as an extension of my PC. If it can do everything iPad can, why would I buy a device with a new operating system, with it's limitations and where I can't use my existing apps? The need to easily type is vastly underrated IMO. This can also serve as a laptop replacement, at least temporarily, something iPad cannot.
Microsoft can easily mark it down to barely make any profit on it for quite a while, the screen resolution and tech behind it will be a non-issue soon, so it's just the ecosystem. For Windows users it makes perfect sense to stick with Windows.
Bluetooth keyboards work on iPads too.
Exactly, and everyone has an iPad/iPhone... so...
Also you should check out the music/dj scene on iOS. It is crazily well developed and integrated, and unique to iOS.
Windows is to tablets what mac was to PCs in the 90s. A kind of underdog that despite good efforts never seems to pull it off.
"Bluetooth keyboards work on iPads too."
Which is a substantially smaller set than all the USB/Wireless/Bluetooth keyboards that will work on Surface.
You can use a bluetooth keyboard with iPad, there are cases with built in keyboards too. I assume the same is true for Android.
Careful in your enthusiasm, you might sound like a fan boy :-)
But I will buy one when it can do what I miss on my iPad -- run Debian/Ubuntu/etc with good hardware support. Unless the Android pads seduce me first.
Edit: Oh my g.d, the comments on this video are more positive to Surface than Apple's users are about the polished UI/hardware. Lots of ip:s from Redmond? :-)
i praise the concept of this device and i own a Mac Pro, Macboor Air, iPad and iPhone 4s (now replaced by Android).
Sometime the integrated pads/computers will be good for most people, but I (and Apple, it seems) doubt it is 2013 or 2014.
The "concept" of Surface 2 is the same idea as the first, but maybe the execution is good enough to compete with the coming iPads/Androids, now... The extreme enthusiasm for something a year old seems funny.
Anyway, it is nice to see Microsoft trying to pioneer a niche for once. But maybe it is an unfilled niche for a reason?
(When/if this integration happens, there will probably be transparent use of extra processing units over the network. Considering needed rewrites and slow US network speed, it seems unlikely to happen even 2015.)
The old Surface Pro was nice, but for me the Docking Station is a huge step to replacing many peoples Home PC. Also Haswell which is more powerful and alot less power hungry with a decent GPU. Thats why i am alot more excited than last year. Apple seems to think different right now, thats right, so did Microsoft when the first iPhone came out. Time will tell, i love that they try stuff!
Careful in your enthusiasm, you might sound like a fan boy :-)
Ah, only Android and Apple stuff can be praised? Sorry, but I don't care about their latest "innovation" or marketing hype unless it's worth it. And I don't care how I sound, as long as I'm being honest. I have Windows 7 on desktop and laptop and an Android tablet ~$100 range to check some news. If I could undo it, I'd have a Surface Pro to replace the laptop and tablet and do all an operating system can. That's all.
But I will buy one when it can do what I miss on my iPad -- run Debian/Ubuntu/etc with good hardware support. Unless the Android pads seduce me first.
That is probably less than 1% of the user base. On the other end, I still have Photoshop 6.0 installed and it does the job for the things I need. I don't know when I bought it but I keep transferring from machine to machine as I upgrade.