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That's the problem with so many"hybrid"devices,isn't it?Sometimes when you try to do too many things you end up doing them all badly.
Will it be a crappy tablet and a crappy PC?Time will tell but going strictly by the reviews I wouldn't consider dropping that much cash just yet.

Yep same for me too, until the technology allows a hybrid device with 16gb ram, 512 gb ssd, 10 hour+ battery etc I'll view it as too much of a compromise. That's just me obviously, for others the compromise of a hybrid might well be outweighed by the advantages of an all in one unit that doesn't detract with their own usage of the device.

I still can't help feeling that hybrids will become a niche product and that includes Surface. I don't buy into the 'endism' that lazy technology journalists love to role out. Laptops are not going anywhere, they'll most likely adopt some of the successful properties of new technology e.g. touch screens from tablets but will continue to form a significant market share.

Ultimately the tablet is a different paradigm from the laptop and the form factor of both have their respective advantages. One of the reasons that laptops significantly replaced desktop devices for many is that the user interface paradigm is largely the same despite the differing form factor. This isn't true with tablets. Steve Jobs put it best by describing desktops and notebooks as ultimately ending up as the trucks on the highway.

It's why Windows 8 is doomed to failure, it has many positive features but the attempt to force a single user experience across multiple paradigms is a compromise too far.
 
Like the leather smart cover with your initials in gold leaf that Apple includes with the 128GB iPad?

A smart cover isn't needed to make operation of an iPad manageable because iOS is built exclusively for touch screens.

- The physical $129 Type Cover and the capacitive $119 Touch Cover are "essential to the Surface Pro experience."

No one says this about a smart cover.
 
I have to ask... what's the point of this device??

If battery life is the same, or worse than a laptop, then what market is this device supposed to be filling?

In order, corporate, medium to small business, average windows consumer. So probably about 70% of the computing market.

It's bizarre how people says this falls short. The Surface Pro does everything an iPad can do better. It's also better on most accounts that the MBA.

Sure, it might be a little heavier, little thicker, shorter battery life, on one dimension or another relative to the above, but if I remember, it's not about specs on this forum right? :)

And yes, the "experience" isn't quite there, whatever that means, but unless you love the limitations of iOS or the quirkiness of OSX, I'd much rather have the enterprise-grade apps AND the mobility AND the build quality. Of course, let's wait and see the Lenovo and Samsung, ASUS and ACER versions which will be coming soon enough.
 
A smart cover isn't needed to make operation of an iPad manageable because iOS is built exclusively for touch screens.

I thought that the sarcasm in my post would be quite obvious. And Windows RT and 8 work fine with the touch interface. Office, etc aren't suited to a touch interface.
 
In order, corporate, medium to small business, average windows consumer. So probably about 70% of the computing market.

It's bizarre how people says this falls short. The Surface Pro does everything an iPad can do better. It's also better on most accounts that the MBA.

Sure, it might be a little heavier, little thicker, shorter battery life, on one dimension or another relative to the above, but if I remember, it's not about specs on this forum right? :)

And yes, the "experience" isn't quite there, whatever that means, but unless you love the limitations of iOS or the quirkiness of OSX, I'd much rather have the enterprise-grade apps AND the mobility AND the build quality. Of course, let's wait and see the Lenovo and Samsung, ASUS and ACER versions which will be coming soon enough.
Acer and Samsung have refused to build this type of hybrid RT version.
 
For that price, I'll just get an 11" MBA that I don't have to buy attatchments to retrofit it into a laptop. It's a tablet, not a laptop, but yet, all they have done is make a small laptop with a crummy battery life.

Sorry, I don't see the point of retrofitting a tablet into a laptop to do work, when I can get a full-featured laptop around the same weight and size, with a proper keyboard, trackpad, and OS, and longer batterylife for the same price or cheaper.
 
Of course.

Of course, nor do we care!

To me there are two markets:

1) Consuming content, maybe some easy work tasks= tablets

2) Working with full fledged OSs = ultra books, MBA etc.

Whatever hybrid gets shoved in the middle will have to compromise for now and have drawbacks in some areas.

Microsoft is very klutzy in what they do. I'll even give them that they may mean well, but executing design etc. is really not their forte. The competition has been out for so long that one wonders who does their products.

There are many thinner and better looking devices out there, just how difficult is it to copy them well after all this time.

I really think they should hype the kick stand much much more. It's a magical kick stand , revolutionary and a kick stand revolution. Makes other kick stands a thing of the past, the mother of all kick stands, kick stands for us all..........etc.etc.

It may change many consumer's buying decisions....................wait...............
 
Microsoft is very klutzy in what they do. I'll even give them that they may mean well, but executing design etc. is really not their forte.

Eh, I wouldn't say that. They might not be as good as Apple when it comes to UI and design, but they're hardly terrible.

The biggest problem with MS is it always takes them two tries to get something right. Then, even after the perfected second version is out and getting rave reviews, people who were burned by the first rev are still out there griping that it's a crap product. Just look at Vista vs. 7 for example. Win7 is about one of the best OSes released by anyone, yet I know tons of people who decided to forego it entirely because Vista left such a bad taste in their mouth.

It's all about first impressions. Windows 9 and the Surface 2 are likely to be brilliant products, but with all the bad press the brand name has gotten over Win8 and the current Surface line (some of it undeserved), will people still be willing to try it when it comes out?
 
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.
Whether you like it or not, your opinion is not a fact. This thing won't replace my iPad and/or Air.
 
Whether you like it or not, your opinion is not a fact. This thing won't replace my iPad and/or Air.

Of course it won't. You'd never buy it even if it could

"27" iMac i7 | 13" MBA 3rd Gen 128 SSD | iPad 3 64Gb | iPhone 4 32Gb | iPhone 4s 32Gb | AppleTV 2nd Gen | AppleTV 3rd Gen | iPod Classic 120Gb | iPod Nano 8Gb"
 
You mean for web browser usage, reading manuals or running remedial apps?
I guess they have a basic purpose for some business use but very limited.
Point of sale, restaurants taking orders, keeping inventory, card swipes at Aeropostale, eliminating the need to go to the counter to pay there are many more examples.
 
Eh, I wouldn't say that. They might not be as good as Apple when it comes to UI and design, but they're hardly terrible.

The biggest problem with MS is it always takes them two tries to get something right. Then, even after the perfected second version is out and getting rave reviews, people who were burned by the first rev are still out there griping that it's a crap product. Just look at Vista vs. 7 for example. Win7 is about one of the best OSes released by anyone, yet I know tons of people who decided to forego it entirely because Vista left such a bad taste in their mouth.

It's all about first impressions. Windows 9 and the Surface 2 are likely to be brilliant products, but with all the bad press the brand name has gotten over Win8 and the current Surface line (some of it undeserved), will people still be willing to try it when it comes out?

So, if you wouldn't call 2 tries to get it (somewhat) right klutzy, what is it then?

Apple f#$s up plenty, but they somehow spin things better marketing and PR wise or at least without larger continuing impact.

Once you become a knowledgeable Apple user, you just know what not to buy, when to wait or which upgrade path not to follow.

Maybe Microsoft users jump to other companies and aren't as forgiving about crap as Apple users.
 
For that price, I'll just get an 11" MBA that I don't have to buy attatchments to retrofit it into a laptop. It's a tablet, not a laptop, but yet, all they have done is make a small laptop with a crummy battery life.

Sorry, I don't see the point of retrofitting a tablet into a laptop to do work, when I can get a full-featured laptop around the same weight and size, with a proper keyboard, trackpad, and OS, and longer batterylife for the same price or cheaper.

That makes no sense? This spec-for-spec outperforms the MBA and for less $. So is the MBA battery life "crummy" since it's only ~5hrs on OSX, and ~3hrs on W8? :rolleyes:
 
Eh, I wouldn't say that. They might not be as good as Apple when it comes to UI and design, but they're hardly terrible.

....

Seriously, Windows 8 start screen is very very ugly, Metro UI for desktop PC is a bad idea. I guess Microsoft UI designer must be inspired by Bauhaus art.
 
Why are so many business using iPads as a POS.?

Because it is a POS? :D

I kid. I kid...

Acer and Samsung have refused to build this type of hybrid RT version.

Ya RT is a hopeless product. But that isn't what the thread is about. it's about the Pro which is an enterprise grade tablet with enterprise grade OS and enterprise grade applications, and all the bells and whistles.

The Pro makes the RT obsolete. And it also is going to bite into future iPad sales.

----------

That makes no sense? This spec-for-spec outperforms the MBA and for less $. So is the MBA battery life "crummy" since it's only ~5hrs on OSX, and ~3hrs on W8? :rolleyes:

Battery trades off with power. The only computer to date that's been able to "have it all" is the rMBP 15".

So yes, specs is a cheap shot. And if this was an iphone thread mac fans would be going bananas.

The other irony is the arguments here suggest the 13" Macbook is a failure, cause it isn't as good as a 15" and heavier than a 13" MBA. I mean what is it? the experience sucks etc.....

Or the MBA should never exist, you can;t game on it like a MBP. And it's not as portable as a iPad... I mean what is it? the experience sucks etc...
 
Seriously, Windows 8 start screen is very very ugly, Metro UI for desktop PC is a bad idea. I guess Microsoft UI designer must be inspired by Bauhaus art.

The Start screen is kinda...well, I wouldn't say ugly, just kinda plain and there. It gets the job done, but it won't blow your mind or anything. On the other hand, there are a lot Metro applications that are really nice looking, though. Some of them incredibly so.

To me, Metro is kinda like techno or hip hop. You listen to it and think any idiot could throw a song like that together. In a way anyone can. It's all pretty simple at it's base. But you get someone with a good bit of talent and know how, and you'll end up with something that truly shines.

...course you could say that about just about anything. But you know what I mean. :p
 
Surface MSIE

Finally got a working Surface RT. Was just testing MSIE. Funny how Safari seem snappier.












sorry.
 
Because it is a POS? :D

I kid. I kid...



Ya RT is a hopeless product. But that isn't what the thread is about. it's about the Pro which is an enterprise grade tablet with enterprise grade OS and enterprise grade applications, and all the bells and whistles.

The Pro makes the RT obsolete. And it also is going to bite into future iPad sales.
IOS and Android devices have been proven to be enterprise and educational grade. Not sure how much of a difference a full windows tablet will make.
 
The nature of converged devices is they initially suck in comparison to dedicated devices they're trying to disrupt. The first smartphones were crappy PDA's, crappy phones, and crappy cameras with crappy battery life.

Very good point...People tend to forget how bad the original iPhone was when it came out (yes, I know it was revolutionary in some respects but it had horrible call quality that wasn't related to the carrier and sub-par battery life in comparison to Treos and BB's). So either folks are practicing selective memory recall or this forum is populated with fanboys who are too young to have actually purchased the original iPhone when it came out.

Far as being reactive, I think reactive is suddenly dumping a storage option on consumers in anticipation of a competitor's product release like Apple just did. Considering the Pro is geared toward productivity and enterprise, that whole 128GB press memo emphasizing productivity and enterprise is pretty reactive too.

Another good point, but hey... let's all keep our blinders on and just accuse anyone/any company that isn't named Apple of being crap. It's much easier that way, OK? :rolleyes:
 
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