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Does the Surface Book have any one second thinking the iPad Pro?

I have to admit, the Surface Book with its detachable hi res large screen is certainly going to make people think hard about it when pitched against the iPad Pro, especially if they aren't already part of the Apple ecosystem.

I had been planning to buy the iPad Pro myself, along with a Pencil, and replace my Lenovo Yoga 13 sometime later, but I'm seriously going to have to reconsider now. It's not that I'd be abandoning Apple (I've made far too big an investment in my kit to do that) but that the Surface Book would cover a lot of bases that would have otherwise required me to buy two separate products.

Well played, Microsoft. Very well played.
 
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cogitodexter said:
I have to admit, the Surface Book with its detachable hi res large screen is certainly going to make people think hard about it when pitched against the iPad Pro, especially if they aren't already part of the Apple ecosystem.

I had been planning to buy the iPad Pro myself, along with a Pencil, and replace my Lenovo Yoga 13 sometime later, but I'm seriously going to have to reconsider now. It's not that I'd be abandoning Apple (I've made far too big an investment in my kit to do that) but that the Surface Book would cover a lot of bases that would have otherwise required me to buy two separate products.

Well played, Microsoft. Very well played.
Click to expand...

It really is like the Macbook, iPad Pro, iPad Keyboard, Pencil all wrapped into one. Interested to see if the performance is what they claim, but they for sure focused on the GPU end during the presentation.

By the way, if you didn't watch it live, check out the presentation. MS came out of nowhere today. Will be keeping Apple on their toes for sure.
 
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I'm gonna be able to play League of Legends on high graphics, and also be able to do digital drawing and painting on that same device like it is a Surface Pro?? Microsoft just reinvented the laptop. It is really the ultimate laptop. I was sincerely thinking about getting a Macbook Pro, but I also have to carry at least a Wacom tablet to be able to draw. I'm really getting this thing now, unless Apple comes out with a rip-off idea immediately, which won't happen I guess iPad Pro will sell only because it is "Apple".
 
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Surf Donkey said:
It really is like the Macbook, iPad Pro, Apple Keyboard, Apple Pencil all wrapped into one. Interested to see if the performance is what they claim, but they for sure focused on the GPU end during the presentation.

By the way, if you didn't watch it live, check out the presentation. MS came out of nowhere today. Will be keeping Apple on their toes for sure.
Click to expand...

Never mind keeping them on their toes. Microsoft just cut Apples feet off. The only issue I have is that they run Windows.

It'll be interesting to see Apples next move.
 
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being a Windows man, and the fact the SP3 and 4 are laptop replacements, makes for a most tempting offer. really does. especially as Apple cant do this.

but heck, its still super fugly in my opinion. at least my new ipp will look and feel beautiful, and deliver a world class experience, even if not a desktop experience. 🙂
 
AnthonyHarris said:
The only issue I have is that they run Windows.
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Yeah. With it's horrendous problems with privacy (i.e. phoning home about absolutely everything) I'm not the biggest fan of Windows 10. But, that said, you can turn pretty much all of that nasty stuff off, if you're diligent about it and prepared to sacrifice some less important features. Still not as good as OS X, but getting pretty close.
 
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My interest in these devices is all about the pen functionality so I'll have to wait and see how they really perform. SP3's N-trig digitizer was really disappointing, even compared to the low-tier Wacom digitizers used in SP1/2/Samsung Note series. Now that MS has bought N-trig I expect the tech to move forward quickly, but Apple also seems to have made big strides with active capacitive digitizer tech. Can't wait to try both of them... finally some real competition for Wacom.

If pen performance were equal I'd definitely go full Windows over iOS. Of course I own and like the original Surface Pro (as a tablet) so YMMV.
 
I recently bought a surface pro, but now I think I'm going to return it and get this instead.

I have nothing against the iPad pro. It's just I'm looking for something that's less a tablet and more a laptop replacement I can write on. This looks perfect for me.
 
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Which one to get? I'd say it depends on what is more important to you. Based on what little information we have, my feeling is that if you want a really good tablet experience, get the iPad Pro. If you want a good laptop experience, get the Surface Pro 4 or Surface Book. Yeah, the SP4/SB can be used as a tablet, but the ecosystem is lacking. Yes, you can try to use the iPad Pro as a laptop, but the ecosystem is lacking and iOS makes certain tasks very difficult or outright impossible.

I tried a SP3. I really wanted to like it, but as a tablet it was pretty subpar compared to a regular iPad. The pen was also quite disappointing from a drawing perspective. A very noticeable downgrade compared to my old Intuos 4 and I'm not even talking about the pressure sensitivity levels that people always bring up. I'm talking about the fact that the SP3 pen can't draw straight diagonal lines if you go below a certain speed. It just jitters all over the place. Known problem but not often talked about.

To me, it boils down to which one offers the best pen drawing and PDF experience, because that's what I would use it for. I already have great devices fulfilling all my other needs. I don't need a Swiss Army knife. I'm leaning towards the iPad Pro for what I want. But if I was looking for just one device that can do it all and be okay with it not being the best at everything, then I'd go for the Surface Book (or SP4 if on a budget). I'll wait for the reviews to show up before I make any decisions though. We have almost no information about the SP4/SB and only a spec sheet for the iPad Pro. There are so many crucial missing details at the moment, so it's way too early to make any final judgement.
 
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Atomic Walrus said:
My interest in these devices is all about the pen functionality so I'll have to wait and see how they really perform. SP3's N-trig digitizer was really disappointing, even compared to the low-tier Wacom digitizers used in SP1/2/Samsung Note series. Now that MS has bought N-trig I expect the tech to move forward quickly, but Apple also seems to have made big strides with active capacitive digitizer tech. Can't wait to try both of them... finally some real competition for Wacom.

If pen performance were equal I'd definitely go full Windows over iOS. Of course I own and like the original Surface Pro (as a tablet) so YMMV.
Click to expand...

I'm reasonably happy with writing on my surface pro, but I haven't used a tablet with a digitizer before, so may not know what's possible. There was an article in Wired that suggested the pencil on the iPad pro was awesome.

http://www.wired.com/2015/09/incredible-power-apple-inside-new-stylus/
 
sjleworthy said:
being a Windows man, and the fact the SP3 and 4 are laptop replacements, makes for a most tempting offer. really does. especially as Apple cant do this.

but heck, its still super fugly in my opinion. at least my new ipp will look and feel beautiful, and deliver a world class experience, even if not a desktop experience. 🙂
Click to expand...
I have the poor man's version of the Surface Book... Acer Aspire Switch 11. Not as elegant as the SB but it's only 1/3-1/4 of the price.

I had hopes for the iPad Pro but "looking beautiful" and "feeling beautiful" only go so far, and not very far at that. So I'll stick with the Air 2 + Anker keyboard cover + Adonit Jot Dash and look forward to what Apple will do (if anything) in response with the iPad Pro 2.
 
Would like to know how much battery life just the screen part has on its own. It only has 2 small batteries compared to the 4 in bottom section.

But yeah seems like a very cool product, I like the hinge, looks slick
 
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Okay, Apple is now playing catch-up in my opinion. The new Microsoft is becoming much like the old Apple, which I used to love. Surprising and full of ideas. This, while Apple has gotten a bit too predictable and boring.

That said, I cannot stand Windows as it is, so I'll most likely keep using Apple products for a long time, but I really hope Apple wakes up soon. The new iPad Pro should have been the revolution of the iPad line, but in my opinion it really isn't interesting at all. You're still stuck with a phone-OS for a 13" screen.
The new MacBook promises to be the laptop of the future. Yet it doesn't even let you charge it and connect pheripherals at the same time. The MacBook Pro feels dated, and let's not even get started on the MBA.

I hope we'll see some revolution from Apple with the new Skylake laptop-line and future iPads.
 
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As a Surface Pro 3 owner I will say this.....The Surface makes for an 'ok' laptop, and a terrible tablet. For those that think you can use the Surface to replace your iPad, I think you might be disappointed. There are almost no good tablet apps available. And before you say "what about all of the regular Windows apps you can run?"; most don't work well in tablet mode.

You will find you barely use it as a tablet. In that case it becomes a mediocre laptop.
 
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You know, back when Microsoft announced Windows 8 and their unified tablet/desktop morphing OS we all laughed. To our credit, Windows 8 was a mess and the hardware just wasn't there yet. Fast forward to today and it all makes sense now. Apple should take a page out of Microsoft's book and get true OSX on iPad. iOS on iPad Pro is its one true achilles heal.
 
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