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

Jasoco said:
They haven't even announced the price. If priced right, it could give the iPad a run for its money. If priced wrong, it'll be the Zune of tablets.

If it is priced well, I hope Apple has something really special up their sleeve for the iPad 4. Problem is this is full Windows. What we need is a full Photoshop for iOS. Not just another "touch" version. Real full PhotoShop.
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The reason the iPad and iOS have succeeded so well is because they don't have "full desktop apps". It's precisely because of the touch optimised and completely rethought applications that iOS has been a resounding success.

You can't just keep forcing the same old tired UI into different form factors and interaction/input methods. That's why Microsoft is making Windows 8 and doing the whole Metro thing.

They're starting to "get it". They just need the vast majority of their user base to understand now. Sadly, that's going to be the hardest sell.
 
twilson said:
The reason the iPad and iOS have succeeded so well is because they don't have "full desktop apps". It's precisely because of the touch optimised and completely rethought applications that iOS has been a resounding success.

You can't just keep forcing the same old tired UI into different form factors and interaction/input methods. That's why Microsoft is making Windows 8 and doing the whole Metro thing.

They're starting to "get it". They just need the vast majority of their user base to understand now. Sadly, that's going to be the hardest sell.
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We need this on the iPad:
1. Side-by-side 2-app multitasking. It has the space for it.
2. Gaming controller support.
3. An attachable, portable keyboard.
4. Super Smash Bros Melee Online. :D

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Pigumon said:
Actually it's Mac OS X, the X being a roman numeral 10.

Mac OH ES TEN

Sounds great to me.
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OSX is the current official name. That's just saying "OS ten". The tenth OS? How descriptive. Also, people (including those fake Latinos who can't even speak Latin) think it's just the letter 'X'.

"Mac OS" sounds good, too, and it makes more sense. It's the Macintosh operating system.
 
This is what Google has missed out !!

Microsoft you have done a great job, on producing something that doesn't look like a copy of the Ipad.

I would Buy one,but the question that everyone is asking....

Price ?
Battery Life ?


But again, well done Microsoft.
 
AppleScruff1 said:
Ok, tell me the great deal we know about it. There's about two paragraphs of info available.
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Yes the full specs off the tablets are nothing , people speculate for months on the tiny sliver of info on tablets up ,to days before the actual release but the full specs several months before are nothing.
 
k995 said:
Yes because a slit in the shelle somehow consumes power?
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Not quite. But a slit implies a lot of heat being generated. Heat generation implies power consumption. Rather simple really.

Tegra 3 is power inefficient ?
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Not sure about power efficient. However it kicks out a lot less performace than the OLDER iPad 3 CPU/GPU combination.

Tegra platform is over-rated and under-performing against the comparative but slightler OLDER iOS chipsets our there. Having said that, its the best non-iOS chipset out there.
 
NStocks said:
What?

I said apple DO let people play with their newly announced products... Like after WWDC or something. Here, microsoft just had a similar conference and they are restricting the distance from their newly announced product and the media or whoever.
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Apples and oranges this is not a release, apple never announces its tablets before they are released nobody but apple people get to touch them up untill release .

As for wwdc to get osx 10.8 you need to be a registered mac developers, windows 8 anyone can download .

Nope your statement was BS, probably just your irrational dislike of MS .
 
k995 said:
Yes the full specs off the tablets are nothing , people speculate for months on the tiny sliver of info on tablets up ,to days before the actual release but the full specs several months before are nothing.
Click to expand...

Tell me the processor models and speeds, how much RAM each model has, graphics chips, battery life, price, apps available at launch, etc etc. Or maybe you consider weight, thickness and a kickstand full specs? There is next to nothing in tech specs.
 
Don't forget these are two different devices. The ARM should be nice competition to the iPad. The Intel one is a whoooooole different ballpark and should compete with the 11 inch MBA.
 
twilson said:
Not sure about power efficient. However it kicks out a lot less performace than the OLDER iPad 3 CPU/GPU combination.

Tegra platform is over-rated and under-performing against the comparative but slightler OLDER iOS chipsets our there. Having said that, its the best non-iOS chipset out there.
Click to expand...

When did iOS become a chipset. You mean the Samsung chipsets Apple uses? I don't really know how they compare, but I think Tegra's better (I'd have to look and see).

If you're comparing finished products, you just can't. iOS runs everything as native code. Android is mostly interpreted Dalvik (basically Java, Google re-wrote Java - that's what the Oracle lawsuit is about) code, with little in the way of ARM native code happening. Of course it's going to be slower and especially more RAM-hungry (the JIT complied code needs stored in RAM) on equivalent hardware!

It's worth noting Windows 8 and Windows RT also use interpreted (.NET in this case) code for their Metro applications (Metro being the only choice on Windows RT). Performance WILL be slower than native code (like iPads use), but I expect it to be much faster than Android... here's an interesting article on .NET, and one company trying to migrate their fork of Android to it - http://arstechnica.com/information-...s-xobotos-the-net-powered-version-of-android/
 
twilson said:
Not quite. But a slit implies a lot of heat being generated. Heat generation implies power consumption. Rather simple really.



Not sure about power efficient. However it kicks out a lot less performace than the OLDER iPad 3 CPU/GPU combination.

Tegra platform is over-rated and under-performing against the comparative but slightler OLDER iOS chipsets our there. Having said that, its the best non-iOS chipset out there.
Click to expand...
That is very true, and a bit of a shame. It is also slower than the dual core and quad core Exynos cpus in the newer Galaxy Tab Note, and certain GS3II variants will get. Tegra 3 is also slower than the dual core qualcomm S4, except for those apps that could take advantage of the extra cores(though I don't think many exist). That said, Tegra 3 does have a dedicate low power core to try to make it efficient.
 
Good Bye Android Tablets
its About time Somebody Competes with the ipad
Whats the feature the windows tablet got - the Microsoft office is a killer!!

Now let the games begin!:rolleyes:
 
twilson said:
Not quite. But a slit implies a lot of heat being generated. Heat generation implies power consumption. Rather simple really.
Click to expand...
And all pure speculation, MS perhaps simply wanted to prevent ipad 3 "hotness" in its design.

I seriously doubt the whol getting quite hot and then cooling the ipad 3 had is actually doing the tablet any good .


Not sure about power efficient. However it kicks out a lot less performace than the OLDER iPad 3 CPU/GPU combination.
Click to expand...
A tegra III?

GPU wise the A5x wins, but cpu and power effecient Tegra wins. Why do you think they put a huge battery in the new ipad ?



Tegra platform is over-rated and under-performing against the comparative but slightler OLDER iOS chipsets our there. Having said that, its the best non-iOS chipset out there.
Click to expand...
Actually it isnt as others have already beaten it, but do tell where its under performing in anything but GPU?

And sorry for most people bleeding edge GPU performance isnt on the top of the list for a tablet purchase .
 
This will not work, microsoft still don't get that the hardware is almost immaterial to ecosystem, no one needs a keyboard on a tablet, no one needs a trackpad especially on a tablet no one needs usb ports or any of that stuff they seem to have tacked on.

I bet it'll ship with no proper media store or a very poorly stocked one, no books, no podcasts, no proper video store or rentals and poor to non existent syncing and almost certainly poor cloud integration, I bet it won't even work properly with their windows 8 phones. You can guarantee there is no real master at the helm of this bumbling project. Metro is ugly out of date and just plain pants.

I'm not saying that they can't do it right but microsoft isn't structured the right way as a company to function at a level apple does.

They've already made massive mistakes IMHO with design and hardware features before i've even seen the screen.
 
Looks like this will have full Xbox integration if the recently announced SmartGlass is anything to go by. It'd be great to play on this screen, or at least use it as a secondrary device such is the case with the Wii U.

Take me money.
 
alexgowers said:
This will not work, microsoft still don't get that the hardware is almost immaterial to ecosystem, no one needs a keyboard on a tablet, no one needs a trackpad especially on a tablet no one needs usb ports or any of that stuff they seem to have tacked on.
Click to expand...
What wrong with having a proper USB port on a tablet? How else will your share large documents and files, specially when the internet is down, or when you are a friends house?
 
AppleScruff1 said:
Tell me the processor models and speeds, how much RAM each model has, graphics chips, battery life, price, apps available at launch, etc etc. Or maybe you consider weight, thickness and a kickstand full specs? There is next to nothing in tech specs.
Click to expand...

Surface for Windows RT tablet
•Processor: 1,4GHz- NVIDIA Tegra III-based ARM chip
•Weight: 676 grams
•Thickness: 9.3 millimeters
•Display: 720p 10.6-inch ClearType HD capactive touchpanel
•Battery: 31.5Wh
•I/O: microSD, USB 2.0, Micro HD Video, 2x2 MIMO antennae
•Software: Windows RT + Office Home & Student 2013 RT
•Accessories: Touch Cover, Type Cover, VaporMg Case & Stand
•Capacity: 32GB / 64GB
•Availability: "Around" the Windows 8 launch (fall 2012)
•Pricing: To be determined


Surface for Windows 8 Pro tablet
•Processor: Intel Core i5 (Ivy Bridge)
•Weight: 903 grams
•Thickness: 13.5 millimeters
•Display: 1080p 10.6-inch ClearType Full HD (1080p) capactive touchpanel
•Battery: 42Wh
•I/O: microSDXC, USB 3.0, Mini DisplayPort, 2x2 MIMO antennae
•Software: Windows 8 Pro
•Accessories: Touch Cover, Type Cover, VaporMg Case & Stand, Pen with Palm Block
•Capacity: 64GB / 128GB
•Availability: "Three months after" the Windows 8 launch this fall
•Pricing: To be determined


Yes we know nothing :lol:
 
alexgowers said:
This will not work, microsoft still don't get that the hardware is almost immaterial to ecosystem, no one needs a keyboard on a tablet, no one needs a trackpad especially on a tablet no one needs usb ports or any of that stuff they seem to have tacked on.

I bet it'll ship with no proper media store or a very poorly stocked one, no books, no podcasts, no proper video store or rentals and poor to non existent syncing and almost certainly poor cloud integration, I bet it won't even work properly with their windows 8 phones. You can guarantee there is no real master at the helm of this bumbling project. Metro is ugly out of date and just plain pants.

I'm not saying that they can't do it right but microsoft isn't structured the right way as a company to function at a level apple does.

They've already made massive mistakes IMHO with design and hardware features before i've even seen the screen.
Click to expand...
Well ain't you an awardwinning optimist?!
 
Pigumon said:
Still, can't beat the 3rd gen iPad. I use it in portrait mode probably 90% of the time, which Windows 8 fails in.
Click to expand...
I'm actually the opposite. I prefer my smartphone in portrait and my tablet in landscape. Tabs is like looking at your TV or computer screen. That is why the iPad never appealed to me and I became hesistant at the Galaxy Note built on a portrait viewed OS. First is the redundancy of iOS if you already own an iPhone. And two is iOS is built to be viewed in portrait mode when you open apps.

Windows 8 is really built for landscape viewing which I prefer on a tablet. I want the laptop experience. Only time I want to use it in portrait is if I read books or magazines which is rarely. There is a Kindle Fire for stuff like that.

I think the only criticisms is Microsoft NOT giving us the price or date. I am a big of Windows Phone and the Metro UI, so I look forward to this. Once Windows 8 is really released to the public, expect sales to be huge like Windows 7 was.
 
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