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

[Belmont31R]

Makes me laugh,

Apple release a completely under powered , one port machine that sells for 1800 $au and people lap it up.

Microsoft release the same under powered machine, however build quality is comparable, has more ports, has touch screen, and N-trig technology, all for a similar price of an ipad and far less than the macbook. And a lot of people on here are bashing the power and specs of the machine?

Why not use the same excuses and say " Oh it's perfect for people who travel and edit word documents" Besides windows is far more adapted for under powered specs compared to OSX.

you see 8 inch super small tablets that can run full windows and the legacy apps... let me know when you can do that on a mac. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate macs. Infact when I get my tax return I'm going to be getting a macbook pro 13 inch.

But the amount of fud and lies on this thread is hilarious.

What apps can you run with 2GB? A modern browser with several tabs can easily go above 2GB. So they are using the SSD as RAM which is going to lower its life significantly being used all the time.

Just having a mail app, a couple of office apps, and a browser with several tabs plus all the background and OS instances can stretch an 8GB machine. 2 is ludicrous.

 

[Keirasplace]

This looks great a tablet to browse and a PC to get some real work done, well built and competitive, Microsoft is back in the game; Apple be a-feared.

Are you joking an underpower 2G mem slab of crap. Might as well by a $300 notebook and a better $300 tablet if your hard on for both count (you do need to buy the keyboard). You'd get a better solution on both count.

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What apps can you run with 2GB? A modern browser with several tabs can easily go above 2GB. So they are using the SSD as RAM which is going to lower its life significantly being used all the time.

Just having a mail app, a couple of office apps, and a browser with several tabs plus all the background and OS instances can stretch an 8GB machine. 2 is ludicrous.

Especially on a Windows machine. This thing is not IOS. It can't run that great on 2G. How do I know, because my Windows 8.1 desktop sometimes run like a dog on 12G even when just using Firefox and another app.

 

[AppleScruff1]

I agree, for the first time in over 8 years, i am actually paying attention to what microsoft is developing, within the context of hardware.
I am however, entirely comfortable within my ios/osx universe. I tried android [a nexus 7] and hated the UI, and quickly reverted back to my ipad. With the iphone 6 plus, i am doing far more on my iphone, therefore, my needs for a tablet are now different. My only hesitations is that the apps available from the MS store seem a little anaemic in comparison to ios app store, although the fact that the surface runs full fat windows is intriguing. Besides win NT at work, i have not used windows since win 7 [which i detested]. Never tried windows 8, and know very little of win 10.

Finally, the ipads have that gorgeous display, 2048x1536 resolution at 264 pixels. I would find the S3 a step backwards in terms of display, imho.

I thought DisplayMate gave the SP3 display a good review? And I would guess the SP4 will have an upgraded display. What didn't you like about Windows 7? Most considered that the best version of Windows and many still do.

 

[teknikal90]

Are you joking an underpower 2G mem slab of crap. Might as well by a $300 notebook and a better $300 tablet if your hard on for both count (you do need to buy the keyboard). You'd get a better solution on both count.

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Especially on a Windows machine. This thing is not IOS. It can't run that great on 2G. How do I know, because my Windows 8.1 desktop sometimes run like a dog on 12G even when just using Firefox and another app.

Somehow I don't believe you.
I have a 4GB Lenovo i3 laptop and that thing screams on 8.1

2Gb may not be sufficient. So ok. Don't buy the 2gb model.

Buy the $599 model, that gets you 128gb and 4gb RAM...
Which in ipad land gets you 64gb and 2gb ram
And in MacBook land gets you nothing


How is this so difficult for people to grasp

 

[rowspaxe]

Sure the Surface has more features and is a more modern OS, but when you look at the product at a high level, it's a desktop in tablet form.

Yes! that can run windows graphics apps with a digitizing pen! Now you've got it!

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Windows is also dramatically more bloated than it was in the past.

http://kotaku.com/5935337/lets-see-how-windows-8-performs-against-windows-7

 

[spinedoc77]

Are you joking an underpower 2G mem slab of crap. Might as well by a $300 notebook and a better $300 tablet if your hard on for both count (you do need to buy the keyboard). You'd get a better solution on both count.

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Especially on a Windows machine. This thing is not IOS. It can't run that great on 2G. How do I know, because my Windows 8.1 desktop sometimes run like a dog on 12G even when just using Firefox and another app.

It's time to get rid of that virus/spyware you have because that's the only thing I can think of for a windows PC to run badly especially on 12gb of RAM. Windows 8 runs very smoothly for me at 2gb and even 1gb and win10 will be much more streamlined.

Why do people invent this crap just to make windows look bad?

 

[LordVic]

Yes! that can run windows graphics apps with a digitizing pen! Now you've got it!

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http://kotaku.com/5935337/lets-see-how-windows-8-performs-against-windows-7

Lets not let facts get in the way with good old fashioned biases.

 

[spinedoc77]

If by saying you don't know how to use Windows, constitutes a personal attack, then I suppose I did.

I mean, you clearly don't know how to avoid the tiles in Windows 8, which is quite easy to do, and you manage to get yourself lost in the registry to uninstall a program, which is completely unnecessary... These came from you, not from me.

Your problem is you dislike windows so much that you start making outlandish claims about it, and when you get called out on those claims you cry that you're being attacked personally. No one to blame for that but yourself. Tim Cook, Apple Inc, may appreciate you sacrificing your dignity to defend their products and berate others, but they aren't going to jump in the fire with you or write you a check for your troubles. Try being a little more objective and honest with your posts and I assure you the type of replies you get will also be more to your liking.

Lol, I think he is doing just fine punching his way out of that wet paper bag.

 

[mi7chy]

Booting into Windows 8.1 uses a little over 1GB DRAM so 2GB will be usable for the budget conscious student and general home user. 4GB is obviously the better future proof option and at $599 for 4GB/128GB it displaces the $1598 ($699 + $899) iPad Air 2 128GB plus Macbook Air 11" combo.

 

[Mattsasa]

Only got through page 4 of comments, then ran out of time

I can't wait for the Atom based MacBook Air


Patience is the virtue that allows the user to immerse in the experience. We decided to outfit the entry level Macs with Atoms so to elicit patience as a merit to those who refuse to fork the cash for our state-the-art tier.

Why?? why would you want that? also it will never happen

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

Either Core M, or just Broadwell-U (intel hd 5500/6000)

2gb of RAM running a full desktop OS. No thanks.

comes with 4GB I thought

That thing is huge. How much does it weigh?

Its in the article

Is the bootloader locked I wonder?

I really hope not!

$499 is a good price.
Is there a flavour of Linux I could pave this with that would support the touch screen?

That would be sweet!

Intel Atom is better than M cpu?
so this will be more performant than the new macbook?

Wrong, Core M is far superior, and especially far superior in graphics.

Intel atom is slower than many smartphones, like iPhone 6, or other mainstream android phones in terms of graphics.




Overall this looks like an awesome tablet, good work on Microsoft's part for making it. This would be an ideal device to play civ V on, assuming intel atom can handle it.
Can't wait to get my hands on one of these to try it out,

iPad is smaller thinner, more powerful, higher resolution, and more.

Surface has more storage, more capabilities, pen, desktop OS, and more

 

[LordVic]

It's time to get rid of that virus/spyware you have because that's the only thing I can think of for a windows PC to run badly especially on 12gb of RAM. Windows 8 runs very smoothly for me at 2gb and even 1gb and win10 will be much more streamlined.

Why do people invent this crap just to make windows look bad?

I am currently on my windows desktop.

I have World of Warcraft going. Chrome with 15 tabs (Damn I have repeats), Google music going, recording my game, oh yeah, and ventrillo

My current RAM usage is 5.1GB / 8

everything smooth and buttery. If these userse are having issues with their performance with decent enough specs, they have something wrong with their set-up. and it is probably easily remedied.

 

[Renzatic]

...Since the possibility is there, then there's less incentive for developers to create applications that are great on a tablet. I think a tablet should make use of it's own native interface and own it.

Developers do tend towards the lowest common denominator, since building applications tends to be an expensive endeavor. But so long as there's demand, and catering to it can provide a leg up on the competition, you will see more traditionally desktop based apps being built around a touch based interface.

Adobe's already gotten into it, and built a surprisingly slick touch UI for Photoshop and Illustrator. And hell, they're about the most take it or leave it bunch of people around. With Windows 10 around the corner, carrying universal apps along with it, I think we're going to see the Surface line end up getting the more touch-centric UI it needs.

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Intel atom is slower than many smartphones, like iPhone 6, or other mainstream android phones in terms of graphics.

Back in A7 days, the Atom benchmarked almost neck and neck with Apple's offerings.

Thing is, I can't find any benchmarks for the Atom x7, so all we can do is guess at its capabilities in comparison to the A8.

 

[spinedoc77]

Developers do tend towards the lowest common denominator, since building applications tends to be an expensive endeavor. But so long as there's demand, and catering to it can provide a leg up on the competition, you will see more traditionally desktop based apps being built around a touch based interface.

Adobe's already gotten into it, and built a surprisingly slick touch UI for Photoshop and Illustrator. And hell, they're about the most take it or leave it bunch of people around. With Windows 10 around the corner, carrying universal apps along with it, I think we're going to see the Surface line end up getting the more touch-centric UI it needs.

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Back in A7 days, the Atom benchmarked almost neck and neck with Apple's offerings.

Thing is, I can't find any benchmarks for the Atom x7, so all we can do is guess at its capabilities in comparison to the A8.

See, this is where we should be headed, existing programs being functionally equipped to work on tablets. Adobe did a great job with PhotoShop. Microsoft did a great job with OneNote and soon the Office suite. IMO "apps" were a huge step backwards not forwards and just made us that much dumber. There will always be a need for a "desktop" as long as people have to hunker down and do a lot of computing. But having the portability of a tablet has also become somewhat of a necessity. Instead of forcing us to choose iPad or MacBook, ios or osx, etc why shouldn't we just have both?

 

[Robstevo]

Are you joking an underpower 2G mem slab of crap. Might as well by a $300 notebook and a better $300 tablet if your hard on for both count (you do need to buy the keyboard). You'd get a better solution on both count.

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Especially on a Windows machine. This thing is not IOS. It can't run that great on 2G. How do I know, because my Windows 8.1 desktop sometimes run like a dog on 12G even when just using Firefox and another app.

Weird, My surface pro 3 has just 4gb of ram and it runs butter smooth. I'm going to go with same excuse as people used with past macs and say you don't need huge amounts of ram for it to work.

Sure if your going to be running huge software programs that needs lot of ramp, obliviously this device won't even be contemplated.

for running every day tasks, internet and office etc this is more than enough ram, not even that but I'm sure since Microsoft is touting Windows 10 to be the operating system for all devices, it will be even more less ramp hungry.

I have also seen first hand devices that run smoothly on 2GB of ram.

And if that isn't enough ram, simply up it to 4GB.

 

[apolloa]

You'r right, that is pretty neat. The lower end chips seem to have some decent power. That video made me want vodka and coffee liqueur.

haha yeap. All that Russian If you look on You Tube their are a fair few videos of various Atom powered Windows 8 tablets running games, if they are anything like the Core Intel CPU powered Surface Pro machines though, then their is a trick to make them run games better, you have to install an Intel app that lets you open up the GPU's more, enable the fancy graphics options.

Their is a lot of naivety towards the Atom CPU but that is due to the dire performance they gave in the early netbook day's, now they are VERY capable performers.

 

[subsonix]

Developers do tend towards the lowest common denominator, since building applications tends to be an expensive endeavor. But so long as there's demand, and catering to it can provide a leg up on the competition, you will see more traditionally desktop based apps being built around a touch based interface.

Traditional desktop applications being written for touch based devices is what I'm arguing for, not the ability to reach the desktop and legacy applications. How big the incentive is for developers to port existing applications to Windows mobile depends on how large that market is for their specific audience. Given that a lot of Windows "pro" users refer to enterprise type applications, perhaps even written in Java I don't foresee a rush in doing that, especially if these applications automagically work when you switch to the desktop.

With Windows 10 around the corner, carrying universal apps along with it, I think we're going to see the Surface line end up getting the more touch-centric UI it needs.

It remains to be seen how well the universal UI works in practice, I don't see how a traditional point and click interface with tons of menus will automagically translate into a great touch interface.

 

[Virinprew]

This will be perfect for annotating pdf on-the-go.
My $650 is ready (128GB drive, 4GB RAM wifi + pen).

p.s. Sorry iPad. You have been sitting still for too long. And that 16GB version is disgusting.

 

[RockSpider]

Not sure how 2GB of RAM is even possible with Windows. Even Windows 10 isn't that efficient, with nothing running W10 is sitting at 2.5GB of RAM running on my desktop.

Why comment if you don't know what's possible, on the other hand, I do know what's possible because I have tried all Windows including 10 and I know for a fact that Windows can run on 2gb because it can run on 1gb.
I also have Windows 10 running on a single core old Atom CPU with 2gb ram and while not real fast, it runs a lot better than W8.
These new tablets with the new Atom CPUs are an entirely different kettle of fish, I am amazed at how well they run.

 

[danielsutton]

What!? When did this happen? Every version since Vista has been less bloated than the previous one.

Vista was a disaster, of course. Each version of Windows, in trying to be backwards compatible with previous versions, carries a lot of legacy crap with it. This is leading to Windows becoming more and more of a mess. Of course, most of it is enterprises not wanting to let go of their investments in yesteryear's technology, making Microsoft support very old systems, such as Windows XP, which is still in wide use 14 years later!! Each version of Windows has to run programs that were designed for versions much older.

 

[RockSpider]

Traditional desktop applications being written for touch based devices is what I'm arguing for, not the ability to reach the desktop and legacy applications. How big the incentive is for developers to port existing applications to Windows mobile depends on how large that market is for their specific audience. Given that a lot of Windows "pro" users refer to enterprise type applications, perhaps even written in Java I don't foresee a rush in doing that, especially if these applications automagically work when you switch to the desktop.



It remains to be seen how well the universal UI works in practice, I don't see how a traditional point and click interface with tons of menus will automagically translate into a great touch interface.

Windows 10 is completely different to the old point and click interface, and different to Windows 8 and 8.1, it's a marriage between the two and a lot of people are starting to like that marriage.

 

[subsonix]

Windows 10 is completely different to the old point and click interface, and different to Windows 8 and 8.1, it's a marriage between the two and a lot of people are starting to like that marriage.

By point and click I refer to using a mouse, which moves a cursor on the screen, you aim this cursor at buttons or menu options to invoke an action. Is this not how you use desktop applications in windows 10.

 

[Renzatic]

See, this is where we should be headed, existing programs being functionally equipped to work on tablets. Adobe did a great job with PhotoShop. Microsoft did a great job with OneNote and soon the Office suite. IMO "apps" were a huge step backwards not forwards and just made us that much dumber. There will always be a need for a "desktop" as long as people have to hunker down and do a lot of computing. But having the portability of a tablet has also become somewhat of a necessity. Instead of forcing us to choose iPad or MacBook, ios or osx, etc why shouldn't we just have both?

I'd say the opposite. Apps have done far more good than harm. They've forced developers to both streamline their work, and to pay more attention to their UIs. Now it's true that some devs out there will cut out or ignore useful features just to make the claim that they're now "simplified", but that isn't always the case 100% of the time.

Just look at what Adobe's done with Illustrator, and how they've compensated for the lack of keyboard shortcuts by relying on gestures and neat UI tricks. It looks simpler at first glance, but the touch UI is easily just as powerful as the desktop app, and the desktop app will, in turn, benefit from this push towards more elegant solutions.

 

[danielsutton]

You don't have any idea what you're talking about, go and play around with some of these Windows tablets.
I'd say you're probably running Windows Vista on a 10 year old computer.

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You obviously haven't seen Windows 10.

And if Windows 10 fails...WINDOWS 11, HALLELUJAH! When will people be able to pull their heads out of their bottoms and see that UNIX-based operating systems are the way of computing for today and tomorrow. OS X does need a little bit of a performance tuneup, which we may see in 10.11, which will be previewed this summer at WWDC and released to the public in the Fall. OS X, iOS, Android, and Tizen are the operating systems that are the most well-positioned for the future.

 

[spinedoc77]

I'd say the opposite. Apps have done far more good than harm. They've forced developers to both streamline their work, and to pay more attention to their UIs. Now it's true that some devs out there will cut out or ignore useful features just to make the claim that they're now "simplified", but that isn't always the case 100% of the time.

Just look at what Adobe's done with Illustrator, and how they've compensated for the lack of keyboard shortcuts by relying on gestures and neat UI tricks. It looks simpler at first glance, but the touch UI is easily just as powerful as the desktop app, and the desktop app will, in turn, benefit from this push towards more elegant solutions.

This direction was already in motion way before the iPad and "apps". Look at Microsoft ribbon, this naturally lent itself nicely for a touch interface, even though it probably wasn't initially meant for that. It works so well that the desktop version of Office is actually quite usable on a touch tablet.

I hear ya, many designs from apps have improved how we think about desktop programs and how to integrate them into a touch world. I still think that overall apps were a step backwards. Although they were a necessary stepping stone when it didn't make sense to run a full OS on a tablet due to size, weight, battery life, etc. That stepping stone is now gone. The main difference I see with Microsoft and apple is that MS at least is trying to combine the best of both worlds, where Apple is trying very hard to keep them segregated.

 

[subsonix]

I'd say the opposite. Apps have done far more good than harm. They've forced developers to both streamline their work, and to pay more attention to their UIs. Now it's true that some devs out there will cut out or ignore useful features just to make the claim that they're now "simplified", but that isn't always the case 100% of the time.

Just look at what Adobe's done with Illustrator, and how they've compensated for the lack of keyboard shortcuts by relying on gestures and neat UI tricks. It looks simpler at first glance, but the touch UI is easily just as powerful as the desktop app, and the desktop app will, in turn, benefit from this push towards more elegant solutions.

I'm not sure what you point is, I have never said or implied that mobile applications have done any harm.