How much is that N-Trig digitizer worth?
Meanwhile people are paying $500 for an iPad with 16GB storage that runs off a $20 ARM CPU
Or $1100 for an iMac retrofitted with a ULV chip made for notebooks
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Microsoft Announces Intel Atom-Based Surface 3 With Windows 8.1 for $499
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How much is that N-Trig digitizer worth?
Meanwhile people are paying $500 for an iPad with 16GB storage that runs off a $20 ARM CPU
Or $1100 for an iMac retrofitted with a ULV chip made for notebooks
There is no reason to think this computer will run slow after two years. MS has been decreasing the system requirements with every OS since Vista. First Windows 10 will now run on 256MB of RAM. This machine has 8 times that. Second, the new atom processor is equivalent to the Core M Apple is using in the new Macbook (see my previous post for link) in mulit-threaded tasks and about half as fast in single threads. Considering Windows 10 runs pretty fast on machines with atom processors 2 generations older, this will run fine for a long time to come.
And if arguents are going to resort to "Windows slows down with time" it takes 5 or 10 minutes to do a refresh (no disks required) and the OS has it's new car smell back. Not that it's required. I've not had a machine slow down since Win 8.
This isn't the OSX echo system which barely works on 2GB of RAM.
Windows 8.x is surprisingly lightweight. 2GB DRAM will be plenty for consumption and light productivity at a price point that competes with the iPad while displacing the overpriced touchless and penless Macbook Air and new retina Macbook in an educational and home environment. They also have a version with double the memory and storage, 4GB DRAM and 128GB SSD, for $599 which is amazingly still less than iPad Air 2 128GB.
Nadella run Microsoft is executing the strategy I hope they would by leveraging the full x86-64 Windows that has access to the largest selection of professional software. Now if they would build a phone running Windows x86-64 that I can dock and run the same professional software.
Nadella run Microsoft is executing the strategy I hope they would by leveraging the full x86-64 Windows that has access to the largest selection of professional software. Now if they would build a phone running Windows x86-64 that I can dock and run the same professional software.
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To make this a laptop replacement, I would need to add the type cover for $130, which brings the base model up to $629. For not that much more I can get a MacBook Air, which includes a lot of free software and OS X and other software updates for the life of the machine. The base MacBook Air also has 4 GB memory (should be more, I agree), 128 GB SSD, and an Intel Core i5 processor.
I suppose if you are a Windows user and your hardware requirements are fairly low for the software you want to run, the new Surface 3 might be the ticket, though.
I suppose if you are a Windows user and your hardware requirements are fairly low for the software you want to run, the new Surface 3 might be the ticket, though.
Well that is where the Surface Mini went. I expected Atom and at this price point it should win a few people over. RT is dead and frankly I'm glad. Hopefully work will replace our original Tegra 3 Surfaces with these if there is a place in the budget.
I really think people should watch the intro commercial.
I really think people should watch the intro commercial.
thats a fair point. if its too heavy, it fails as a real tabet.
I think Apple picked a better path with the new MacBook.
I think Force Touch on the Watch and new Mac trackpads gives us an indication where Apple is going. This technology will make its way into iOS devices at some point.
I get why the Surface would be attractive to some people. But for me personally I want a tablet that is very light and easy to hold and a laptop that has a nice full size keyboard and trackpad. This product doesn't do it for me.
I get why the Surface would be attractive to some people. But for me personally I want a tablet that is very light and easy to hold and a laptop that has a nice full size keyboard and trackpad. This product doesn't do it for me.
Windows 10 will run slow on this config...so
I think the main selling point will be the 599$ with 128 SSD and 4 Gb RAM
with 100$ you double the storage and ram
Anyone knows after windows 8.1 or windows 10 is install on the 64 Gb storage version, you are left with how much free space?
I think the main selling point will be the 599$ with 128 SSD and 4 Gb RAM
with 100$ you double the storage and ram
Anyone knows after windows 8.1 or windows 10 is install on the 64 Gb storage version, you are left with how much free space?
I'm going to give your wife a little more credit. I doubt she would be confused. If all she wanted to do is consumption, why would she hate the Surface? Doesn't it do all those things?
If she didn't need the cover she wouldn't have to buy it; same with the pen. If she did want to do something other than consumption, she would have that ability as well.The iPad has more apps but according to your description of her habits, that's not exactly an advantage for her. So what exactly would she not like?
All future Windows, including Window 10, are free and include rolling updates to the latest OS for the life of the machine.
"Free" as in free for people running any version of Windows 7+, including pirated versions.
I find myself swapping over to a Chromebook if I need to handle some heavy duty typing on the move. If you're not lugging the machine around and trying to type, the Type Cover is solid. You never know how fast you can type on one until you finally get it. It's not really made for your cradling on your arm or lap from my experience.
Do you mean "because it is a laptop where the keyboard can be removed"? Tablets normally don't have keyboards in the first place.
The Atoms of today are quite a bit more powerful than the ones from the Netbook era. A $100 Winbook Atom tablet with 2GB RAM can run Crysis (at a playable framerate). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryaNlslwOD0
Even with 2GB of RAM you can open multiple tabs in a browser without them reloading unlike certain other OSes. ;-)
I'm still rocking my iPad 2 only because of the AT&T unlimited data plan, but i'm certainly done with buying another iPad unless Apple makes major productivity improvements in iOS 9.
The next generation Surface Pro 4 will be my next tablet device, unless i'm forced to get the Surface Pro 3 if my iPad 2 were somehow lost, stolen, or run over by a car in the near future. Hmmmmm....
-ITG
The next generation Surface Pro 4 will be my next tablet device, unless i'm forced to get the Surface Pro 3 if my iPad 2 were somehow lost, stolen, or run over by a car in the near future. Hmmmmm....
-ITG
That's great... if all you want to run is Windows. What about other software? Have all software vendors also made the same commitment to run their software on slower hardware?
The LTE version is very tempting.. I might wait and see if they offer the Pro 4 with LTE before I buy tho.
Its in ~200+ppi pixel density range, which is where a lot of the "retina" displays are at anyway
227 PPI: 13-inch MacBook Pro (3rd generation)
226 PPI: 12-inch MacBook (2015)
220 PPI: 15-inch MacBook Pro (3rd generation)
218 PPI: 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K Display
Granted, I would much rather have something in the 300ppi range but this isn't bad.
Its in ~200+ppi pixel density range, which is where a lot of the "retina" displays are at anyway
227 PPI: 13-inch MacBook Pro (3rd generation)
226 PPI: 12-inch MacBook (2015)
220 PPI: 15-inch MacBook Pro (3rd generation)
218 PPI: 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K Display
Granted, I would much rather have something in the 300ppi range but this isn't bad.
For burst benchmarks maybe the iPad 2 looks like a PC, but there is no thermal overhead for any extended tasks. I would like to see how long it takes the iPad 2 to calculate Pi to a few million digits in comparison to a "slower" PC.
One note, the final geekbench score is HEAVLILY weighted towards graphics where most of the iPad power is concentrated. I did compare the Core M to the Atom Z8700, but they are similar processors.
About as much as a 20 oz bottle of water. Or, 1/3 less than the often carried soft drink size at a fast food restaurant.
It would be a fair point if it didn't weigh less than the new MacBook. Apparently neither of you watched the video. The weight was listed.
It's very impressive for the price. The Atom processors are not slow and underpowered, quite the opposite. Baytrail, which is the previous generation processor, runs photoshop, MS Office, etc quite nicely. Heck it even runs some modern PC games in low settings. Cherrytrail is a significant improvement.
Chromebook...LOL. Yeah right. We're talking about a FULL windows PC here versus chrome. I didn't realize 1920x1080 was low resolution?!! Doh? Not to mention the screen doesn't detach into a tablet, there is no digitizer/stylus, it's much heavier and thicker, etc. This one is a no brainer.
Finally don't forget the incredible quality of the surface line. The magnesium housing, the full USB 3.0 port, the incredible kickstand which NO one has replicated yet, the keyboard which is pretty awesome for how small, thin and light it is, etc etc. Quality counts for something, otherwise we wouldn't see so many paying for ipads and Apple products.
Where with multi-tasking you mean multiple apps on one screen (which can include overlapping apps err windows that allow for ver quick switching between different windows/apps)?
It only took about 5 years but Atom today is a different story entirely. Not to mention most venders dropping 1.8/2.5" hard drives a like a rock and moving to eMMC if not going full blown mSATA SSD.
After getting your first SSD you realize it was the HARD DRIVE all along.