Microsoft Announces New 'Surface' Tablet, New Hardware and Software Based on Windows 8

[akira2501]

we'll see

hey if it works it works. But that retina display; once you go to it its done. So I hope MS has some trick up its sleeve. the good thing though is now you know cover makers for the ipad will come out with those superslim keyboards. Wonder what the profit margins on that thing are. Apple has like a 50% margin or soemthing crazy like that.

 

[faroZ06]

That's exactly why it's vaporware.

- When available?
- Hardware specs?
- Battery life?
- Cost!!!!
- Hardware partners notice of eviction?

But it is clearly more than a concept. They have just kept the details hidden so people can get excited about it and decide to buy it release-date without thinking. To be fair, Apple certainly does this too, but the difference is that they actually deliver good stuff in the end.

 

[shartypants]

Interesting its called Surface, like Microsoft is just now coming up for air after being underwater so long.

 

[Amazing Iceman]

I wouldn't say Microsoft "brought it" - no details - memory, battery life, etc.

Why pump up the chiclet keyboard if the onscreen keyboard was any good?

My big concern is the chiclet keyboard rubbing up against the screen when closed.

You could buy a similar but rollable USB keyboard for $10.00 an use it with an iPad, but the feeling of typing on such surface is not that great.

 

[Anti-Lucifer]

Oh I know stores are just struggling to keep PS Move on their shelves... Or is it they're stuggling to get them off their shelves... Your crazed fanboy is showing.

Right. I have both systems and both kinect and psmove. Guess which one gets used more?

PSMove is better than the kinect. If I had to choose, I would not choose the kinect over the PSMove. But that's a personal taste selection.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Now that is coming from experience. I actually hope this thing will sell. So that many will waste their money on it and finally put a nail in the windows mobile platform. They should just try making software for android and iOS and stay away from trying to eat that pie. There is no room for Microsoft at the dinner table

Do you mean Windows Phone or Windows 8? Because Windows Mobile... doesn't exist.

 

[2IS]

Interesting stuff. Nice touch with the keyboards. 2 different OSes with 2 different processors... no clarity on what software runs on either... and it's still a 10 inch like everybody else's tablet. Someone needs to make a 12, 13, 14, or 15 inch version and then we'll be talking. Give me a 27 inch iMac that's as thin as a desk blotter that sits flat on the desk and is all touchscreen and I'm all in!

Well the Intel powered one is using an x86 processor with a full blown Win 8 OS so it should run all your standard windows desktop apps.

 

[jca666us]

I agree about the lack of a portable keyboard (stationary docks are available though), but you'd be surprised how much you can do on an iPad. All you really need for work is iWork (or Office, soon to be available), Mail, Safari, and such.

Multitasking between two apps (example: Safari and iWork) would be something for them to consider adding, though.

We'll start seeing multitasking between apps. on the iPad when apple believes it can be done without degrading performance and when the low end devices they're selling have 1 gig. of ram.

 

[Yr Blues]

He's done worse. Much worse. This is probably one of Microsoft's best-looking products, which matters more than its actual usefulness.

As much as ZUNE failed, they should've gone the Xbox tablet route. At least they have a good user base on the Xbox.

Instead, they tried to attack Apple head-on. Bad tactics. Very bad.

Build on your strengths, MS.

 

[KevinN206]

What's really ironic is that we all try to get away from the typical laptop and migrate over to a tablet (ever since the intro of the iPad 1). Now we figure ways to attach the tablet to a damn dock and a keyboard. If people can, they would probably attach a mouse too. So what does that look like?

Let me guess, a frickin' small laptop. Stop trying to make it a laptop.

It's only a laptop when you want and need it to be. What's stopping you from actually, you know, NOT using a keyboard, a mouse, or a stylus? Any of those alternative inputs are best for the scenarios that you want it.

 

[faroZ06]

Now that is coming from experience. I actually hope this thing will sell. So that many will waste their money on it and finally put a nail in the windows mobile platform. They should just try making software for android and iOS and stay away from trying to eat that pie. There is no room for Microsoft at the dinner table

It could pressure Apple into adding a couple of things to the iPad. Personally, this would be good for me, but it might be a different story for my AAPL.

 

[saintforlife]

My perfect all-in-one device that makes all other computing devices expendable:

11" MacBook Air with touchscreen running OSX + full screen iOS like apps

(or)

11" MacBook Air with touchscreen running iOS

That way I don't have to deal with smart covers, touch cover, type cover, case or any other accessories. Just imagine such a device.

 

[jca666us]

You could buy a similar but rollable USB keyboard for $10.00 an use it with an iPad, but the feeling of typing on such surface is not that great.

No it's not, so why would ms tout that as a feature?

Unless windoze 8's onscreen keyboard is lacking, or wasn't finished in time for the demo.

 

[nim81]

That keyboard idea is genius.

I don't think so... you need to use the keyboard with the kickstand to keep the screen held up. What Microsoft seem to have done is invented a laptop that you can't use on your lap

Also no chance of adjusting the viewing angle. Nice idea in theory but in the end it's completely impractical. And no more innovative than a third-party add-on keyboard case that you can get for iPad.

Plus, what is it with Microsoft's branding team - first calling the ARM version "WindowsRT" (??) and now releasing a laptop called "Surface", a name which is already used in another of their unrelated products

 

[faroZ06]

We'll start seeing multitasking between apps. on the iPad when apple believes it can be done without degrading performance and when the low end devices they're selling have 1 gig. of ram.

My iMac G3 can do multitasking. It's not a question of computer resources. Safari and iWork at the same time is exactly back-breaking for the iPad, which has better hardware in it than my brother's PC.

 

[Renzatic]

For one, you could have a clamshell-style keyboard on it. It may seem hard to make anything that doesn't look like an iPad, but that's because all we've been used to is the iPad. Apple has always found a way to make their designs unique, even their monitors (which are also mostly screens that sit on your desk).

Clamshell style? You mean like the convertible Android tablets? Wouldn't they copying them then?

MS wanted to go with a more comfortable design. Why should they have to forego their current design simply because Apple offers a similar product. Isn't combining the smartscreen with the keyboard an innovation in and of itself? It's easily portable, functional (well...I hope), and doesn't add much bulk to the unit itself. It's more than what Apple currently offers. Shouldn't that be enough of a differing factor for them to get away from that long since beaten dead horse "olol they copied cuz Apple did X before MS did Y" argument?

And the iPad unique? From the profile, yeah. Dead on from the front? I've seen tons of black bezel screens with rounded corners long before the iPad came on the scene. It's a fairly standard monitor design.

 

[Anti-Lucifer]

What the hell are you talking about? You have made a lot of wrong assumptions. I am most interested in the tablet that runs Windows RT. I don't care for x86 compatibility. All of the accessories are optional as much as they are on an iPad. Microsoft actually went and designed the accessories that's best for their tablets. And who said the accessories come with the tablet? If anything, they are all separate from the tablet so that you can buy them. Isn't that the idea? Is that the idea of any company? Why do you think Microsoft released the Xbox at a loss?

And if can get a device as thin as the iPad that has standby for 60 days and can run for 2 days straight, then dam yes I want it. And yes, anything that's not made by Apple is junk.

let me get this straight. You don't like any of the tablet options on the market because you've used them extensively enough to judge. Then you want to dump your money into a vaporware product that has no specs on what it can do, what apps it can run, where you can go buy the apps, and not even a release date or price?

don't we all want that 60 day standby time - but reality is, apple delivered. Microsoft delivered nothing. This was just a show today. Pathetic at best. Microsoft doing what it does best - announce something that doesn't exist in market.

And you want to start all over with a platform that can't even prove itself? Seriously? There are a ton of great apps for iOS and even android. This thing is basically windows 7 with square blocks on the screen.

 

[faroZ06]

My perfect all-in-one device that makes all other computing devices expendable:

11" MacBook Air with touchscreen running OSX + full screen iOS like apps

(or)

11" MacBook Air with touchscreen running iOS

That way I don't have to deal with smart covers, touch cover, type cover, case or any other accessories. Just imagine such a device.

A touchscreen is annoying to use when the device is standing up like that. Now, a MacBook Air with 4G and a Nintendo DS-style screen arrangement...

 

[Anti-Lucifer]

Do you mean Windows Phone or Windows 8? Because Windows Mobile... doesn't exist.

mobile as in their windows phone 7 platform. Mobile as in this vaporware junk.

 

[Renzatic]

I'd keep the sarcastic jabs at Apple pricing toned down a bit until we see what the NEO MS/HP TC1100 / Surface runs a peep whenever it's actually available of course...

Yeah...well. Okay. You've got a point.

Though on a guess, I'd say the Windows RT Arm tablets will start at $399, and the Win8 Pros starting at $799-$899. To me, that'd be a nicely competitive, but still realistic pricing scheme.

mobile as in their windows phone 7 platform. Mobile as in this vaporware junk.

Yeah. Vaporware. I love this argument. Seems to come up a ton here recently. So tell me. What vaporware product has MS been involved with in the past?

Wait. Don't say it. I know what's coming next. THE COURIER, RIGHT?

...WHICH WAS A NEVER OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED BEHIND THE SCENES PRODUCT MS NEVER BOTHERED TO SHOW TO ANYONE BUT A FEW INTERNAL HIGHER UPS AND A COUPLE OF TECH SITES WHO JUST HAPPENED TO CATCH WIND OF IT!

Derp.

 

[KevinN206]

You're trying too hard. If you think millions of iPad owners give a hoot about this, you just made yourself look ignorant. Features like this is cool for about 3 seconds. Then it's a forgotten and unused thing of the past.

What apple and android have right now is fine.

Yeah, I would rather have one app running 100% right than two running half-assed simultaneously.

Wasn't it Jobs that said, "It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them."? There's has never been a viable competitor to the iPad. IMO, the Windows RT tablet comes close. I am not arrogant enough to suggest that it'll beat the iPad, but it'll be a viable alternative, at least for me.

I got it. If it's not a feature on the iPad, then it's junk. Much like the pull-down notification, right?

 

[faroZ06]

Clamshell style? You mean like the convertible Android tablets? Wouldn't they copying them then?

The clamshell itself is not a design element. This clamshell could have many different designs.

Apple could make an iPad that doesn't look like the iPad and is still a good product if they wanted to. It may seem like inventing a 4th primary color to us because we are so used to the iPad, but they could do it. There is no way Apple made the "perfect" tablet design.

 

[Anti-Lucifer]

Wasn't it Jobs that said, "It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them."? There's has never been a viable competitor to the iPad. IMO, the Windows RT tablet comes close. I am not arrogant enough to suggest that it'll beat the iPad, but it'll be a viable alternative, at least for me.

I got it. If it's not a feature on the iPad, then it's junk. Much like the pull-down notification, right?

Dude, it's junk because it's from Microsoft. That's RIGHT. It has nothing to do with pull down notification features, 3D maps, etc.

Microsoft does not deliver. How is this hard to fathom?

 

[Yr Blues]

It's basically a crippled iPad that thinks its a netbook. Not even 3G worthy.

 

[barjam]

camping out for something isn't called crazy - it's called smart thing to do when it's gonna be sold out.

If you stood in line for anything Microsoft, you are one of the dumbest people on the planet. It has nothing to do with fanboism. Fanboism is when you have a huge tattoo of a product on your body.

There is a huge stigma with the brand, Microsoft. You don't get that overnight. It culminates from years of frustrations and just plain garbage. bottom line is people will pay hundreds more for a device that perfectly suits their needs at the moment. They don't' rush out and buy a microsoft product that tailors to everyone and does nothing good at all. That's how Microsoft as a company is. They don't innovate - they duplicate and then they do it with such low self-esteem, it's pathetic.

If you don't see the brilliance in an iPad, you will never understand. So I suggest just sticking with PC junk. I'm waiting for the model that has a fan in it because all that heat is gonna burn my hand.

I was just making a comment on your Microsoft fans stereotype. I say while there are people like that on the microsoft side the apple side fits that particular stereotype better or at least as well as.

And you sound like the fan boy stereo type we are talking about.

I personally have a mix of technology and really don't care about brands. I have iPad/iPhone/linux/windows etc.