Microsoft Announces Intel Atom-Based Surface 3 With Windows 8.1 for $499

[RedCroissant]

I've got a nearly 8 year old AMD Opteron DDR1 machine (that's soon to be retired) running Win8 without any problem whatsoever. I can run Office, Modo, Photoshop, and a browser with multiple tabs open on it without any lag or hiccups whatsoever. It shows its age sometimes in weird ways, but it's hardly a chunkity, slow experience. By this point, that little Atom is probably faster than my once high end, cutting edge PC.

Some people greatly overestimate the requirements needed for a smooth experience.

That's a pretty cool machine that you have there that was once high-end, like you say. It's probably either a dual core or dual CPU that was one of the early CPUs with a 64-bit instruction set. How much RAM do you have in it and do you have a good GPU/video card?

As an example of this, I have a PowerMac G5 Quad that is 10 years old and I can still run CS3 apps, Office, iWork'09, as well as other modern applications and it handles them very well. The only downside is that Flash is not supported on my PPC Mac and because of that my web browsing is where the age of my machine and its limitations are revealed. I also have a 2004 iBook G4 (single CPU at 1.2Ghz and 1.25 GB RAM) that still holds its own and is more than capable of serving as my media hub and streaming my iTunes library, as well as my primary laptop. My point was not that an old computer couldn't handle Windows 8, it was that Windows 8.1 can bog down machines that have underpowered processors that don't have enough RAM to compensate for the demand on those CPUs. In my opinion and from my experience with Windows tablets, 2 GB RAM and an Atom CPU (regardless of the fact that it's a quad core) will not lend itself to a good and sustained Windows experience.

I think the real benefit to this version of the Surface is that Windows 10 will be released soon and this was most likely designed for that version of Windows.

 

[Billy95Tech]

Microsoft brings back the netbook. Cant wait to Beast it.

It is not a netbook! It is a tablet!

 

[spinedoc77]

Absolutely convinced now that the iPad Pro will run full OS X. You heard it here first.

This thing is a total iPad killer.

I highly doubt it. Apple has made a killing convincing consumers they need 2 devices, a tablet and an ipad. I really doubt they would hamstring so much income just for consumers convenience.

 

[LordVic]

I highly doubt it. Apple has made a killing convincing consumers they need 2 devices, a tablet and an ipad. I really doubt they would hamstring so much income just for consumers convenience.

I thought a iPad was a Tablet

Just playing, i know what you mean.

the current Apple ethos is two devices (or 3 if you include phone) for your life.

Microsoft is attempting to change that to be one device to rule them all.


I do not pass judgement that either is better than the other. We could probably do a complete chart of pros and cons to either setup and walk away still undecided. For some peoples usages, one will be better, for others, the other will be better.

it comes down to what you are trying to do and how your process flow is to accomplish it.

 

[cycomiko]

My thoughts exactly. There's plenty of dirt cheap Windows laptops out there, but you probably wouldn't give them the light of day.. just because it's a 1.6 GHz Atom with 2 GB RAM. It's practicly useless! And I wouldn't want one if they gave me one. Heck, they couldn't pay me to use this!

OSX with 2gb is an awful mix (at least 10.7 was) where as windows 7 and 8 on 2gb are useable. Probably wouldnt want to run photoshop with enormous photos on it, but the market doing that wouldnt be on the hunt for a small atom powered tablet.

 

[Cole Slaw]

Isn't it time for Timmy to wake up and realize that in 2015 16 gig of storage in a $500 tablet is just a pathetic joke that embarrasses the whole company?

Or is he still too busy with his second career as a political pundit for his personal causes to actually do anything at Apple?

He's too busy counting beans.

 

[HenryDJP]

Windows 8 has two modes.

And the average person is not going to even know how to get out of the tiles when they buy a new laptop.

The start screen mode (aka tiile mode) is excellent for touch interfaces, while the desktop mode works almost identically to Windows 7 if you use a free 3rd part start menu program.

The average consumer is not going to know to download any 3rd party product to mimic Windows 7.

Windows 10 takes care of that last caveat in that it has a native start menu in desktop mode.

Exactly, wait until NEXT version of Windows......while using workarounds to avoid the existing crappy UI......where have I heard that before?

All in all, it sounds like you're either nit picking because it isn't apple, or don't know what you're doing if you find using Windows as difficult as your post makes it seem. I know grand mothers that use windows machines with less issues that you seem to have with them.

It's so funny. People come here daily and crap over Apple's products or their practices but if someone (me) wants to express their displeasure of an OS (that's not even celebrated on this forum) they get called "Nickpicky because it isn't Apple" or be told that they don't know what they are doing. Sounds like it hurts non-Apple people around here to hear criticism of Windows.

 

[LordVic]

OSX with 2gb is an awful mix (at least 10.7 was) where as windows 7 and 8 on 2gb are useable. Probably wouldnt want to run photoshop with enormous photos on it, but the market doing that wouldnt be on the hunt for a small atom powered tablet.

Yosemite is better than Mavericks on 2gb.

but it does quickly run out of RAM when doing anything other than 2-3 tab web browsing

(where mavericks booted fresh with swap in use)

 

[maflynn]

And the average person is not going to even know how to get out of the tiles when they buy a new laptop.

I think you're wrong on that. My wife who never used Win8 before was able to figure things out on her new PC in a matter of minutes. While many people don't like the tiles, its not rocket science. Add in the fact that as I mentioned you can hide them so easily, its really a non-issue.

 

[/dev/toaster]

Now I'm curious what is in store for the Surface Pro 4.

Give it a few weeks and it will be released

 

[venom600]

For those complaining about the 2GB of RAM, you do realize that Apple until a couple of years ago sold Macbook Airs with that much RAM, and they are still fully supported today.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

You know, the Surface Pro 3 is a great machine, unfortunately the hardware means abosultely jack, if the experience isn't superb, bottlem line....


......Software is far more important than hardware, and Apple is miles ahead in this department.

Yes, Apple's Office Suite is THE industry standard, isn't it? Too bad no one uses any of the Microsoft Office apps.

 

[Renzatic]

That's a pretty cool machine that you have there that was once high-end, like you say. It's probably either a dual core or dual CPU that was one of the early CPUs with a 64-bit instruction set. How much RAM do you have in it and do you have a good GPU/video card?

I got it just before Vista came out. It's a dual core Opteron185 2.6Ghz with 4GB ram, and a Geforce 8800GTS 512 GPU. It's far from being cutting edge today, but when I got it, it screamed. The fact it can still hold its own 8 years later is testament to that.

...gonna be a sad day when I finally put down 'ole Bessie, but her day's a'comin.

 

[HenryDJP]

I think you're wrong on that. My wife who never used Win8 before was able to figure things out on her new PC in a matter of minutes. While many people don't like the tiles, its not rocket science. Add in the fact that as I mentioned you can hide them so easily, its really a non-issue.

It's a non-issue for "some". There are many people that still don't know how to even download an application or setup their email.

 

[maflynn]

It's a non-issue for "some". There are many people that still don't know how to even download an application or setup their email.

Correct and there's many people who cannot properly setup their email accounts on an iPad/iPhone. Since you yourself stated you don't use windows and you avoid it, you have no idea how easy things are with the environment and how extensible it is.

 

[LordVic]

I got it just before Vista came out. It's a dual core Opteron185 2.6Ghz with 4GB ram, and a Geforce 8800GTS 512 GPU. It's far from being cutting edge today, but when I got it, it screamed. The fact it can still hold its own 8 years later is testament to that.

...gonna be a sad day when I finally put down 'ole Bessie, but her day's a'comin.

I just retired my Athlon x4 from that same generation, with 4gb ram, GeForce 8800GTS as well. Had to, found an i5 4460s with 16gb ram, 2tb drives on a sale for 499 that was too good to pass up

I can't believe nearly 6 years later, this piece of hardware was still operating and perfectly capable of handling day to day tasks.

I had been using it as a Plex media server and 2ndary desktop (when i game, i used it for web browsing and chat, why, because it was there)

Windows 7, Windows 8, and Linux variants, ubuntu and mint all ran perfectly fine with decent performance even for a main drive only being a near 7 year old 7200rpm hard drive. Unfortunately, do to being AMD, never could test OSx on it.

 

[jmoore5196]

Original iPhone, original iPad, original iPod, original MBA. First version of every model of retina mac product or iOS product. First versions of Intel Macs. All of those were versions that were best avoided.

So you really feel better about buying apple version 1.0 than MC version 1.0?

This is a valid point. My personal maxim: Thou shalt not buy Revision 1.0 hardware or software.

To my mind, however, there's a significant difference between "known" issues and ones that appear as a product cycles through the user community. When MS shipped Windows 2000 with 63,000 known bugs, MS lost whatever credibility it might have had.

In contrast, the first iPad was functional and relatively free from glitches or problems, although I will admit I waited to buy mine until the 3G version rolled out.

To answer your specific question, I trust Apple's first release far more than I'd trust any MS product's initial foray into the marketplace. And yet, I've watched people stand in line to buy the new versions of Windows. Some contradictions in human nature may never be reconciled.

 

[spinedoc77]

I thought a iPad was a Tablet

Just playing, i know what you mean.

the current Apple ethos is two devices (or 3 if you include phone) for your life.

Microsoft is attempting to change that to be one device to rule them all.


I do not pass judgement that either is better than the other. We could probably do a complete chart of pros and cons to either setup and walk away still undecided. For some peoples usages, one will be better, for others, the other will be better.

it comes down to what you are trying to do and how your process flow is to accomplish it.

Lol, oops. yeah tablet and laptop. I never understood why consumers don't mind getting duped like that. Well I understand when the ipad was the only sheriff in town, I owned an ipad for a long time and loved it. But the world has changed and we now can have a full PC inside an ipad like shell and it still baffles me why people don't want one. A $499 tablet built as well or better than the ipad with full windows, usb port, digitizer/stylus etc I think is going to turn the tide quite a bit though.

 

[HenryDJP]

Correct and there's many people who cannot properly setup their email accounts on an iPad/iPhone. Since you yourself stated you don't use windows and you avoid it, you have no idea how easy things are with the environment and how extensible it is.

Well, wait a minute. I don't use Windows on my business computer, true. But I keep in the know of all OS's including Linux. I have every single OS installed on at least one of my computers for testing, but OS X is only on my business computer.

 

[LordVic]

Lol, oops. yeah tablet and laptop. I never understood why consumers don't mind getting duped like that. Well I understand when the ipad was the only sheriff in town, I owned an ipad for a long time and loved it. But the world has changed and we now can have a full PC inside an ipad like shell and it still baffles me why people don't want one. A $499 tablet built as well or better than the ipad with full windows, usb port, digitizer/stylus etc I think is going to turn the tide quite a bit though.

nah, i don't think of it as duping. There is something to be said for the iPad air. its a great device, While it's very limited in it's pure capabilities, it is by far one of the best tablet devices on the market.

if it covers all the basic needs you may want, there's nothing wrong with purchasing one. there's no "duping" really going on.

There is something to be said when my 3 year old niece can pick up a locked ipad, unlock it, launch a game and play, then go watch youtube. there is a market for these simplistic single (limited) purpose style devices.

I cannot discredit Apple for some things that are very well done.

And i will give lots of credit to App developers who were able to take an extremely limited OS platform and actually make it into something more usable than just the simplistic media consumption it was intended for.

 

[spinedoc77]

It's a non-issue for "some". There are many people that still don't know how to even download an application or setup their email.

Oh boy, here comes the "people are too stupid to do anything other than iOS" argument. Windows 8 is not that hard, really it's not. You can go into tablet mode and use it like that for years and not even know the desktop was there.

 

[manu chao]

A Surface Pro type cover weighs 0.58lbs. A 10.8" display has 0.8x the area of a 12.1" assuming the bezel's scale. Thus the most likely weight of the Surface Type cover will be 0.44lbs.

Total weight:
Surface 3 + Cover = 1.81 lbs, or about 10% lighter than the Macbook.

Googling leads us to this product description by Microsoft which puts it at <0.58 pounds. Verifying that that this < probably just means at tiny tad below 0.58 pounds we can look at what is the reported weight for its predecessor, the Surface 2 type cover: 0.58 lbs.

Therefore the combined weight would be 1.95 lbs (compared to 2.03 lbs for the 12" MacBook, ie, only 4% lighter) and that is with a screen that 19% smaller in area. Both devices are rated at up to 10-hour battery life.

Both are very light computers, the MacBook might excel in weight per screen size and processor speed (and trackpad quality) but in absolute weight the Surface 3 is slightly ahead.

----------

For those complaining about the 2GB of RAM, you do realize that Apple until a couple of years ago sold Macbook Airs with that much RAM, and they are still fully supported today.

Yes, for the model years 2008 through 2010.

 

[lowendlinux]

tell me one app or professional app that can run smooth on the dual D700 !
out dated for me these days means that your or any app/work cannot be done in perfect conditions with that specs

What does that question have to do with future proof. You said 5 years after the edit of the post I quoted so that's 2020. Do you believe in 2020 any company will be supporting 2011 or 9 year old GPU's? Do you think a professional to whom time is money will still be using their 13 MP? The nMP has already been surpassed by the oMP in professional apps, render times, and screen resolution and it's a year old. A non-upgradable box is never future proof no matter who makes it.

 

[powers74]

...Vista :/

I despise the shoddy quality of Microsoft 1.0 releases. I don't own anything the company produces, generally because I long ago decided that their initial releases were deadline-driven and thus prone to having hundreds of thousands of bugs.

And the horrid, clunky, disjointed interface which requires numerous workarounds just to make it usable. Forget the frustrating graphical quirks like the toolbar/dock thing occasionally freezing and/or not popping up in front of windows and the early 90's style window jatter. Just so terrible it's hilarious!

Yes, Apple's Office Suite is THE industry standard, isn't it? Too bad no one uses any of the Microsoft Office apps.

Office has a what, 30 year lead on iWork? I'd say iWork is catching up at an admirable pace. I get it, it's not powerful enough for everyone (especially in the Excel department), but pages is close, and Keynote BLOWS ppt out of the water.

 

[LordVic]

[/COLOR]
Yes, for the model years 2008 through 2010.

2011 model year Macbook air shipped with a 2gb version.

I know

I have one

still works well enough. But i'm just splitting hairs