First Reviews of Microsoft Surface Pro: Good Display, Full Windows 8, Compromised Experience

[Michael Scrip]

Originally Posted by Pakaku

One thing this Surface has, that the Air does not, is that touch-screen with a Wacom pen. That to me sounds like a strong selling point, at least to graphic artists. So many pressure-sensitive bluetooth pens are being made for the iPad, with varying success, but the Surface comes with the pen out of the box.

I'm reminded of all the tablet PCs that came before it. They had a stylus.

What's different today versus the decade of tablet PCs before?

[Bubba Satori]

You can almost hear the spittle hitting screens and the drool splashing on keyboards.

[Aidan5806]

I think one of the biggest problems this tablet will have is with battery life in the real world. It has a battery smaller than the iPad's, a fairly demanding processor in terms of power consumption (for a tablet with this battery), a 1080p 10.6" display, 2 fans, 2 touch sub-systems, 64 bit pathways, DDR3 RAM, full desktop-style multitasking, and many other laptop-style components, all on a smallish battery. And its running full windows 8, which in my experience draws slightly more power that 7 on the same system. I find it hard to believe that this device can go for more that 4 or 5 hours without a charge.

[ThunderSkunk]

Dammit MS, still can't get it right.

Barely powerful enough to run vanilla Autocad, and still not powerful enough to run Autodesk Inventor.

The old Motion 1300's could run then-current Inventor 6. Perhaps I should hunt down one of those decade+ old creaky slates for a sketchbook instead.

+100 points for the wacom digitizer, but -several million for the same old underpowered, underperforming tablet strategy as before.

[Aidan5806]

Originally Posted by Michael Scrip

I'm reminded of all the tablet PCs that came before it. They had a stylus.

What's different today versus the decade of tablet PCs before?

Now the use of a stylus is pretty obsolete.

[zhenlek]

Originally Posted by MacRumors

Image



- "Of the 64 GB of solid-state storage on the entry-level $899 model, only 30 GB of that is free for the user, according to Microsoft. On the $999 model, 90 GB of the 128 GB total is available for the user."


Gizmodo




Article Link: First Reviews of Microsoft Surface Pro: Good Display, Full Windows 8, Compromised Experience

30GB available for a 64GB storage? Who would put up with that kind of crap? Just get a MacBook Air.....

[Roessnakhan]

Originally Posted by Michael Scrip

I'm reminded of all the tablet PCs that came before it. They had a stylus.

What's different today versus the decade of tablet PCs before?

Multitouch. Having the option to use a stylus IN ADDITION to your fingers is great. So many people buy a stylus because while interacting with the OS is better with your finger, drawing or note taking something more complex than words (math problems, diagrams) is better with a stylus.

[Navdakilla]

played around with one for a bit at the local tech store.. not a fan.
If I was on the market for a windows 8 laptop. I would get a touch screen ultrabook.

[Jensend]

I'd like to see a ~$1000 MacBook Air with an IPS display (doesn't need to be Retina, though that would be a plus)

I'd also like to an iPad with with Wacom tech.

Don't necessarily need both at the same time.

[Aidan5806]

Originally Posted by mrsir2009

Although the 64gb iPad still has more actual storage than the 128gb surface

I KNOW RIGHT. Frankly i think the fact that Microsoft feels comfortable shipping a device (and now 2) where the majority of the storage is consumed by the OS and bloatware the OEM calls features. The mail app in widows 8 is pure s***, yet it takes up about 200mbs on the hard drive. You can't even install windows 8 on a 20 gb hard drive, yet OS X has the same functionality and more, and can run on 20 GB with space to spare.

[bdkennedy1]

By the time Microsoft makes its revisions they will be so behind everyone else. They are too big and clunky to make quick changes. They are too much like Blackberry and HP. By the time they figure out how to copy someone else, they are 3 years behind in the market.

At this point they need to focus on Office and Xbox. And if Apple succeeds at casual gaming in the living room, Microsoft may even lose that in the next 5 years.

What happens when you try to please everyone when developing your product? It takes forever to bring it to market. This is a major distinction of why Apple can bring new products to market quickly and other companies take forever.

I used to work for TI. Back in 2000, they were still supporting their products running Windows 3.0 because there were a few countries still using it. I told management, how are you ever going to move forward in technology supporting a 13 year old OS that even Microsoft doesn't support anymore?

Originally Posted by dagamer34

At some point in the next 2 years, we are going to get the power of a Core 2 Duo in the thinness of an iPad, and Microsoft's path will probably make sense. Until then, we are going to see the same fumbling that Apple had with the first MacBook Air which was terribly expensive ($1799+), ran too hot, had too little storage, was slow, and only one USB port. And sales didnt take off for a while. And boom, October 2010 revision rolls around with all flash storage at $999 entry price point and a legend is born. Everyone knew that the future of computing would come from the DNA in the MacBook Air, it just wasnt worth owning in 2008.

So just remember that even if the first version sucks (and for any product, it's almost bound to), the revisions are what you really need to watch out for.

[Aidan5806]

Originally Posted by Jensend

I'd like to see a ~$1000 MacBook Air with an IPS display (doesn't need to be Retina, though that would be a plus)

I'd also like to an iPad with with Wacom tech.

Don't necessarily need both at the same time.

As for the MBA, you will probably get your wish around WWDC. But I'm not to sure about the Wacom support. The problem is that unless its an app, or standard tech (which i dont consider Wacom, though some artsy folk might), apple, is very stingy on licensing other companies' hardware tech.

[Michael Scrip]

Originally Posted by Roessnakhan

Multitouch. Using your fingers and having the OPTION to use a stylus in addition to your fingers is great. So many people buy a stylus because while interacting with the OS is better with your finger, drawing or note taking something more complex than words (math problems, diagrams) is better with a stylus.

Ah... so bad touchscreens and styluses were the reason the tablet PC didn't take off all those years ago. I thought it was something else.

Glad to know that in 2013 people will finally get the stylus experience they've been waiting for since 2001.

[iphone495]

I think Microsoft is finally beginning to get the hang of the "cool" factor.

[jonnysods]

Cool. Really excited about some HP and Acer reviews coming to the front page soon.

[blahblah100]

Originally Posted by mrsir2009

Although the 64gb iPad still has more actual storage than the 128gb surface

Care to elaborate? From my reading, I read "On the $999 model, 90 GB of the 128 GB total is available for the user" which does not align with your comment given than 90 > 64

[ThunderSkunk]

Originally Posted by Jensend

I'd also like to an iPad with with Wacom tech.

Yep. Every time I hear someone say the iPad can only improve by incremental performance bumps to its existing hardware, it makes me realize how few of us have written or drawn on-screen with Wacoms precision digitizer. The iPad will become a much more usable platform once that input technology is integrated in.

Apple should buy Wacom, even if they don't utilize it for years yet. Enjoy that revenue stream for a bit, & then pull the rug out from everyone and feature it solely in their own products. Blammo.

[Roessnakhan]

Originally Posted by Michael Scrip

Ah... so bad touchscreens and styluses were the reason the tablet PC didn't take off all those years ago. I thought it was something else.

Glad to know that in 2013 people will finally get the stylus experience they've been waiting for since 2001.

An iPad with stylus support from someone like Wacom would be amazing. Paper is a great app, but with a Wacom stylus it would be a game changer.

[macsrcool1234]

It's ridiculously expensive...the price of keyboard and cover just put it over the top.

Barely any space left on HD, runs a crappy version of an already crappy OS (im a huge windows 7 fanboy).

Please get rid of Ballmer MS.

[1Alec1]

As expected, it's junk. Just an overpriced laptop.

----------

Originally Posted by macsrcool1234

Please get rid of Ballmer MS.

How has he been CEO for so long? He's made Microsoft a laughingstock.

----------

"Of the 64 GB of solid-state storage on the entry-level $899 model, only 30 GB of that is free for the user, according to Microsoft. On the $999 model, 90 GB of the 128 GB total is available for the user."

WTF is it using the other approx 30 GB for??!!! Don't tell me that's how much Windows 8 alone takes! Actually, that's the only possible answer (or some horrible file system).

[monkor]

Originally Posted by Sixtafoua

Tablets won't replace laptops until they're truly better than a laptop, and I think the surface pro hits the nail on the head in that regard. Wether you like it or not, the surface is the future.

It really is. The touch screen laptop is truly something to behold, especially when it functions as a tablet as well. I've tried the Surface more than a few times, and I'm considering picking up the Pro version.

I only hope Microsoft doesn't suffer to fate of the Sega Dreamcast, for lack of a better product to exact this scenario. The Dreamcast was ahead of it's time; I mean, way ahead of it's time with online play and 480p. Unfortunately, it was early to the market and flopped, while others (PlayStation, Xbox, GameCube) copied and slightly refined it to massive levels of success.

It'd be a shame to see a company who innovated greatly suffer the same fate as Sega.

[1Alec1]

Originally Posted by jontech

The Surface RT cured me of wanting one of these


SOFTWARE SOFTWARE SOFTWARE


I can get a better experience and better pricing on iOS or Android

I think that's what MS was going for when they made something that dedicates 30GB presumably to the system.

[jfriedman8]

I dont know about everyone else, but I thought that these touch screen laptops / hybrids were a terrible idea. I went and played with a few of them, and I am beginning to come around- they're pretty cool. Never thought I'd say this, but I think Apple has some catching up to do in this area. Being able to touch the screen every so often makes for a solid experience on a laptop/convertible. On the Windows side, I'd say all of the products out are a revision or two away. Hoping Apple comes out with something that would be up to par on the first release in this area.

[StealthGhost]

The Zune was better and cheaper than the iPod, why are you people comparing it to this. Plus the software was amazing, while iTunes continues to suck

Surface however, yea...no thanks.

[PinoyAko]

That 30gb remaining for the user to use on will eventually be eaten up by gargantuan set of windows updates in the next few weeks.