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TheHateMachine

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 18, 2012
846
1,354
Not a bad price but how long does the battery last?

Depends on how much more of a battery they give this thing to compensate for that Intel cpu. But my current Surface can last quite a few days without even dipping below 60%. It is on par with my iPad 2 I used to own, of course it is running an ARM chip so it should be very good regardless.
 

GroundLoop

macrumors 68000
Mar 21, 2003
1,583
62
So, it is about 50% thicker than the current iPad and about the same thickness as a 11" MBA (when you add a keyboard cover). Hopefully most of that thickness went into battery capacity. This thing can be awesome if it lasts a full work day of professional/heavy use.

GL
 

Rogifan

macrumors Penryn
Nov 14, 2011
24,142
31,199
I'll be interested to see how well this does considering there are rumors Microsoft is cutting back production of the Surface RT. My guess is people will still chose to purchase a decent laptop over Surface Pro. I mean is the market for a pen and touch screen that large? Still seems awkward and not ergonomically correct touching a vertical screen for much of anything.
 

mattopotamus

macrumors G5
Jun 12, 2012
14,666
5,879
those saying to expensive.....you are getting a laptop and tablet in one. A 64gb LTE ipad cost $150 more than the 128gb surface pro and you get a full out windows 8 OS. I was expecting closer to $1200 to be honest.
 

mattopotamus

macrumors G5
Jun 12, 2012
14,666
5,879
I meant less, and it is running just IOS. Imagine if the ipad ran OSX....you would easily pay $999 for an IOS and OSX combo.
 

dojoman

macrumors 68000
Apr 8, 2010
1,934
1,089
Especially since there are a slew of nicely featured touchscreen laptops already at that price point and under.

But laptop is much heavier and thicker. This is perfect for people who travel a lot and actually want to do work on the plane instead of playing Angry Birds, no need to check-in tablets at airport.
 

onthecouchagain

macrumors 604
Mar 29, 2011
7,382
2
I thought MS said they'd price them competitively. That's... difficult to buy into.

At this point and time for large tablets, the iPad is still the way to go. I hope iPad 5 next year finds a way to, once again, make it thinner and lighter. I'd upgrade my 3rd gen for sure if they pull that off.
 

TheHateMachine

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 18, 2012
846
1,354
I thought MS said they'd price them competitively. That's... difficult to buy into.

At this point and time for large tablets, the iPad is still the way to go. I hope iPad 5 next year finds a way to, once again, make it thinner and lighter. I'd upgrade my 3rd gen for sure if they pull that off.

The original quote from Ballmer I believe said they would price the Surface Pro as an Ultrabook.
 

TheHateMachine

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 18, 2012
846
1,354
Especially since there are a slew of nicely featured touchscreen laptops already at that price point and under.

Problem I saw with my latest trip to the supermall in Houston... just about every touch screen laptop for Windows 8 was equipped with a lower res screen, a low clocked i3/atom, clad in shoddy Acer style plastic and had some horrid designs cues. Even then they weren't much of a discount that the base Surface Pro. While finding a 1080p laptop running a higher spec i5 made of some better materials that looked nice seemed to be about 1200 plus.
 

Rodster

macrumors 68040
May 15, 2007
3,177
6
Especially since there are a slew of nicely featured touchscreen laptops already at that price point and under.

Yup, I was seriously considering the Dell XPS 12 but was holding off until the Surface Pro was announced.
 

Jessica Lares

macrumors G3
Oct 31, 2009
9,612
1,056
Near Dallas, Texas, USA
If I know anything about the pen technology used in Windows based products for a long time, then I know that it's going to be a PITA to use. Too sensitive to start with!

I'm not saying it's not great, because it is, but it's always been hard to navigate Windows with, and I'm pretty sure that because people who have already used thing like their Tablet PCs in the past, are not going to buy into it.
 

spinedoc77

macrumors G4
Jun 11, 2009
11,394
5,257
Awesome, that's my dream machine, I'll be waiting in line for it. If you haven't seen the Pro keynote address it's worth looking up on youtube, it's simply an amazing tablet with some really cool features.
 

tbayrgs

macrumors 604
Jul 5, 2009
7,343
4,867
I meant less, and it is running just IOS. Imagine if the ipad ran OSX....you would easily pay $999 for an IOS and OSX combo.

Completely agree. I expected them to be a bit more expensive and think it's a pretty good value, considering you're getting the functionality of both a laptop and tablet in a single device.

But laptop is much heavier and thicker. This is perfect for people who travel a lot and actually want to do work on the plane instead of playing Angry Birds, no need to check-in tablets at airport.

I also personally hate consuming media on a laptop. Yes, you can watch a movie but the footprint is larger and you're limited by the laptop hinge for viewing position.

I'm truly now curious about this device and would like to be able to test one in person--possibly hits the sweet spot between my iPad mini and desktop.
 

spinedoc77

macrumors G4
Jun 11, 2009
11,394
5,257
The cloverfield units have amazing battery life, I'm talking 12-14 hours with a lot, but not constant use, I'd say about the use a busy professional would have. Mine would easily be at 40% by the end of the day. I'm not sure if the RT/Arm CPU had better battery life than cloverfield, but if the i5 version has half the battery life I'm sold. I'll bet that it will run all day, and start to get low at the end of the day or in the evening when you go to plug it in. Also from talking to others who have the i5 in the Samsung 700T it has a low power mode which greatly increases battery life and doesn't compromise too much performance, certainly it would still be above the cloverfield ones which impressed me with their performance.

But after that the next generation Atom processors should be out next year, providing true all day performance but with much more power to match today's i5.

One of the things that amazed me, watching the keynote, was the way the cooling works. It has fans, but it has a seam going all the way around the entire tablet which is where the heat escapes, so no matter how you hold it it's not an issue which would be a complete buzz kill otherwise.
 
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