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

[mi7chy]

If you need to run professional software Mac OS X is not an option since the majority of them run on Windows. It's said that if Apple had run Windows they could've foreseen and prevented the iPhone 6+ bend defect.

http://youtu.be/h6Q8TCv1ARI

http://www.ansys.com/Products/Simulation+Technology/Structural+Analysis

 

[bkkcanuck]

If you need to run professional software Mac OS X is not an option since the majority of them run on Windows. It's said that if Apple had run Windows they could've foreseen and prevented the iPhone 6+ bend defect.

http://youtu.be/h6Q8TCv1ARI

http://www.ansys.com/Products/Simulation+Technology/Structural+Analysis

The "bendgate" of the large phones became an issue when Apple released large phones.... yet was never an issue when Samsung released large phones (and they both bend with the same amount of force).

So the question has to be why was it not an issue up until Apple produced the same size phone.

I switched to "OS X" in 2007/2008 and I found equal to or greater to solutions for everything I needed in short order. Not to say it is the same in all cases, but then it existed long before now. I remember having the same issue with Windows.... I had a professional package that I could not get on Windows way back 15 years ago.... The package only ran on Sparc based computers.

 

[mi7chy]

The "bendgate" of the large phones became an issue when Apple released large phones.... yet was never an issue when Samsung released large phones (and they both bend with the same amount of force).

 

[babyj]

Though speaking of the WinSxS folder, that's probably where Windows hoarder tendencies manifest the worst. It's not only where all your important system files are kept, it's also where Windows stuffs the updates before installing them. This wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for Windows wanting to keep all those files around indefinitely until you tell it specifically to delete them. On top of that, it won't delete anything in there unless it's over 30 days old.

Windows 8.1 has a scheduled task to tidy up the WinSXS folder, removing previous versions of files after 30 days. So no need for manual intervention unless you want to reduce the footprint to the absolute minimum, in which case there is some extra stuff you can do.

 

[spinedoc77]

Image

Plus the Samsung phones like the Note 3 bend back to original shape because of the plastic build.

 

[Xiroteus]

If Apple loses in the enterprise, it will be back to being a cute novelty for artistic home users and a few media pros.

Can't even do that completely because they will not add proper pressure sensitivity to the iPad.

And the upgrades make more sense, a hundred more for space and ram, worth it.

 

[2IS]

The "bendgate" of the large phones became an issue when Apple released large phones.... yet was never an issue when Samsung released large phones (and they both bend with the same amount of force).

I don't know if you just made that up, hoping no one would counter that argument, or if you read it somewhere where someone else made it up, but...

1) They do not bend with the same amount of force
2) When they do start to bend, they typically bend back, vs typically staying bent

It became and issue when Apple released a large phone because well... That's when it became an issue. Sure, phones bent before as well, but not nearly as easily or as often.

 

[TankTop]

What's the difficulty adding ram to this new Surface?

 

[bkkcanuck]

What's the difficulty adding ram to this new Surface?

You would likely have to do it at order time - soldered in.

 

[rowspaxe]

My main point being is that when Apple introduces a similar product to the Surface Pro 3, and it will happen soon, Apple will blow the competition out of the water.

I will be interested to see if apple can/will create a competent digitizer pen.
I mean--they have the tech skill--but the field is littered with patents

 

[lowendlinux]

It depends on what you mean by bloated. Vista/7/8/10 are still overly large when you look at their install footprint. I can fit a full featured Linux install into 6GB, and OSX is, what, 8GB, give or take? Windows tends to take up at least 12GB.

...yeah, there's WIMboot, but I'm still not exactly sure what that does, or if there are any disadvantages to it yet.

If you look at it from a resource perspective, then you could say that things have gotten quite a bit more trim over the years. When Vista came out, it required a pretty high end machine for its day to run. 2GB minimum, 4GB preferred, a bunch of drive space, and a better than bare basics GPU. It was ridiculous, and everyone railed against it. The thing is, the system requirements for Windows haven't changed a bit since Vista. What was a midlevel machine 8 years ago is now more than matched by $150 entry level PCs and tablets these days. On top of that, MS has spent a lot of time tweaking the innards of the OS, making each version that much more efficient and streamlined.

So while you can say that Windows leaves a way too fat footprint on your hard drive, you can't say the OS itself is overly bloated and bogged down.

I can't see how unless you're talking KDE and all SW installed. I get grouchy if an install is over 2GB and most of my installs OS only are 1700MB heck KDE4 is only ~1800 with all the stuff that comes with it.

 

[maflynn]

What's the difficulty adding ram to this new Surface?

I don't believe its upgradeable after purchase, as is the case with most (all?) tablets.

 

[bobob]

Shame we'll never get to see the same test done on the Galaxy S6 (or any other phone ever).

 

[randymac09]

If you look at MS's financial report, the Surface line is a "billion dollar industry" for Microsoft, meaning it pulls in $1,000,000,000 a year. There's a chance you might want to reevaluate your position .

Yes, if we ignore all but the last 2 quarters. 2.5 years of failure followed by .5 years of moderate success is not something that would make me reevaluate my position....yet.

http://www.computerworld.com/articl...up-posts-2nd-straight-profitable-quarter.html

 

[Renzatic]

I can't see how unless you're talking KDE and all SW installed. I get grouchy if an install is over 2GB and most of my installs OS only are 1700MB heck KDE4 is only ~1800 with all the stuff that comes with it.

The initial install size for a distro is almost always tiny, but once you get all the proprietary stuff, do your updates, and get it up to par with the the other two in features, I find it usually balloons up to around 6GB.

 

[lowendlinux]

The initial install size for a distro is almost always tiny, but once you get all the proprietary stuff, do your updates, and get it up to par with the the other two in features, I find it usually balloons up to around 6GB.

I’m not going to argue to much simply because I don’t know what distros you use but an Arch base w/Nvidia and Mate is ~1300MB. *shrug*

 

[onepoint]

Proof will be in the pudding -- whether that Atom CPU can run Windows sufficiently.

I've been waiting for exactly "this" tablet - something in the 10" range, with solid pen input (handwritten notes + OneNote), at higher resolution than has been typical of low-end Windows tablets lately. The long-shot wishlist included LTE, and I hadn't even thought of how convenient a micro-USB charging port would be.

I'll likely be giving this a shot regardless, hoping it holds up to typical business use including VPN usage.

 

[Renzatic]

I’m not going to argue to much simply because I don’t know what distros you use but an Arch base w/Nvidia and Mate is ~1300MB. *shrug*

Keep in mind I'm far from being a Linux expert, and what I'm talking about are things I've glanced at in passing while poking and prodding around with a few distros. My experiences mostly comes from Ubuntu Gnome, a little bit less Elementary OS, and a tiny bit of Fedora 21 thrown in for good measure (which looks to be the best of the bunch from what little I've seen).

I noticed that once I was done installing what I considered the necessities, my OS partition sat around 6GB used.

 

[lowendlinux]

Keep in mind I'm far from being a Linux expert, and what I'm talking about are things I've glanced at in passing while poking and prodding around with a few distros. My experiences mostly comes from Ubuntu Gnome, a little bit less Elementary OS, and a tiny bit of Fedora 21 thrown in for good measure (which looks to be the best of the bunch from what little I've seen).

I noticed that once I was done installing what I considered the necessities, my OS partition sat around 6GB used.

I believe you. I haven’t used a Ubuntu/Fedora/Mint in a very long time so i’m out of touch.

 

[LordVic]

Keep in mind I'm far from being a Linux expert, and what I'm talking about are things I've glanced at in passing while poking and prodding around with a few distros. My experiences mostly comes from Ubuntu Gnome, a little bit less Elementary OS, and a tiny bit of Fedora 21 thrown in for good measure (which looks to be the best of the bunch from what little I've seen).

I noticed that once I was done installing what I considered the necessities, my OS partition sat around 6GB used.

Ubuntu is your confusion

you are forgiven. Ubuntu in operation feels akin to Windows Vista. its the easiest from a purely consumer standpoint but it's really not what most linux users would call a highly efficient Linux distribution.


not the freshest install of CentOS7 as I've now updated it and installed a few smaller packages

Not including /var (which has logs and plex media cache)

the rest of the OS is taking: <4gb (23gb used in / and 19gb of that in /var)

this includes gnome3.0 desktop that is installed by default with CentOS7

 

[Renzatic]

I believe you. I haven’t used a Ubuntu/Fedora/Mint in a very long time so i’m out of touch.

I thought about using Arch, but...yeah. That's a little too hardcore for me yet. I hear it's probably the best when it comes to community/dev support and stability, but damn if they don't make you earn the privilege of using it.

Ubuntu is your confusion

you are forgiven. Ubuntu in operation feels akin to Windows Vista. its the easiest from a purely consumer standpoint but it's really not what most linux users would call a highly efficient Linux distribution.

I've come to discover how true that is. When I first ran Fedora off a flash drive, I was amazed that it ran so quickly even there. It was almost like I had it up, running, and installed. And the actual install? Everything was buttery smooth right out of the box. It was as simple, smooth, and easy to use as I could ask for (besides having to go out of my way to get those dirty, dirty proprietary codecs and drivers, but, you know...Linux). It moreso than anything else I've used is what made me start deeply considering making a permanent hop over from Windows.

I'm still not quite ready to do it yet. There are still a few programs I like that have yet to make a port. But I could see it happening in the near future if things keep up the way they have been.

 

[lowendlinux]

I thought about using Arch, but...yeah. That's a little too hardcore for me yet. I hear it's probably the best when it comes to community/dev support and stability, but damn if they don't make you earn the privilege of using it.



I've come to discover how true that is. When I first ran Fedora off a flash drive, I was amazed that it ran so quickly even there. It was almost like I had it up, running, and installed. And the actual install? Everything was buttery smooth right out of the box. It was as simple, smooth, and easy to use as I could ask for (besides having to go out of my way to get those dirty, dirty proprietary codecs and drivers, but, you know...Linux). It moreso than anything else I've used is what made me start deeply considering making a permanent hop over from Windows.

I'm still not quite ready to do it yet. There are still a few programs I like that have yet to make a port. But I could see it happening in the near future if things keep up the way they have been.

It’s not that hard, judging from your posts you and I are about the same age and if you can do DOS you can do Arch. I’m a Gentoo refugee and that I wouldn’t ever recommend but Arch is all bark an no bite.

 

[Renzatic]

It’s not that hard, judging from your posts you and I are about the same age and if you can do DOS you can do Arch. I’m a Gentoo refugee and that I wouldn’t ever recommend but Arch is all bark an no bite.

The computer I'm building now has two SSDs in it, one for Windows, and the other for Linux. I'll keep an eye on it, since practically everyone uses it, and showers it with praise every time it's brought up, but I'm probably going to run with Fedora first off.

I've used the terminal enough to kinda know what I'm doing. But still, that install process is kinda daunting.

 

[lowendlinux]

The computer I'm building now has two SSDs in it, one for Windows, and the other for Linux. I'll keep an eye on it, since practically everyone uses it, and showers it with praise every time it's brought up, but I'm probably going to run with Fedora first off.

I've used the terminal enough to kinda know what I'm doing. But still, that install process is kinda daunting.

When your ready I’ll help you get it installed.

 

[Renzatic]

When your ready I’ll help you get it installed.

Cool, thanks.

...I'll be a couple weeks at least, but when the time comes, I'll hit you up.