It does have a keyboard with trackpad, which means it's intended to run "PC" apps or at least offer a much easier way to do that than the iPad does. Will be interesting to see how the Metro apps evolve when people, even those with tablets, will have 2 very different ways of interacting with their device.
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Microsoft Announces New 'Surface' Tablet, New Hardware and Software Based on Windows 8
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It does have a keyboard with trackpad, which means it's intended to run "PC" apps or at least offer a much easier way to do that than the iPad does. Will be interesting to see how the Metro apps evolve when people, even those with tablets, will have 2 very different ways of interacting with their device.
We essentially have the same opinion. I was wondering what the OP thought Windows 8 may bring to the table with regards to tablet gaming.
I think its good and bad. Good, might be priced lower and cause Apple to come down a bit on their pricing. I do like the idea of the keyboard in the cover. (Watch within the next 6 months I'm sure there will be one out for the iPad)
... and the bad. I'm sure it will blue screen or loose the users profile causing you to reinstall the OS or spend countless hours with off shore support running in circles trying to fix your issue from a spreadsheet! LOL!
... and the bad. I'm sure it will blue screen or loose the users profile causing you to reinstall the OS or spend countless hours with off shore support running in circles trying to fix your issue from a spreadsheet! LOL!
Apple had to provide server architecture, got a few top celebrities on board (probably at some cost. I don't think Lady Gaga gave a damn about Ping otherwise) to advertise their stuff and try to bring in users, spent time integrating it.
Microsoft on the other hand managed to sell quite a few Zune units to recoup the cost, still operates the Zune Store for their XBox line-up and desktop line-ups, having only discontinued the hardware line-up...
Nope, looks pretty on par to me. Why do you guys don't want it to be so ? I'm as anti-Microsoft as anybody can be (based on their industry practices of the 90s, early 00s, general bad behavior and anti-trust issues), but really, let's not pretend Apple is some god industry player while Microsoft is a failure.
True. But that dominance is also being challenge. Chrome recently passed IE as the most used browser. Windows has a stranglehold on business because of Microsoft office, but that also will not last forever. 20 years is a long time, sure, but IBM reigned longer than that, and fell. "Long" I guess is relative...
I'm not gonna lie, this tablet honestly looks pretty cool. Microsoft devices are very Hit-and-miss, but if they've actually put the work into making the thing themselves, designing the OS to work for it, creating a line of programs and accessories to make it the best it can be, the ONLY thing that could fail them is the performance of the thing not being up to scratch. The iPad only crashes fully, what, .7% of the time? This device needs to do the same, it needs to be fast and it needs to be useable right out of the box. Anything less and this thing won't stand a chance.
Some people just like to think you'll be running the same software you do on a normal PC on the Pro version of the Surface. The problem won't be the CPU architecture, available APIs or the operating system, it'll be the form factor. No one will really enjoy playing Diablo III on one of these...
1400+ comments not bad!!!!
usually to achieve this , Steve jobs must join apple, resign from Apple, Say no to Firewire/blueray, tell you your holding it wrong etc.......... or a competitor releases a product which get the fanboys panties in a twist....
Anyway, welcome to the game M$!!!!! flop or succeed hopefully it will give Apple a nudge to focus more on innovation, with Apple users the winners.
usually to achieve this , Steve jobs must join apple, resign from Apple, Say no to Firewire/blueray, tell you your holding it wrong etc.......... or a competitor releases a product which get the fanboys panties in a twist....
Anyway, welcome to the game M$!!!!! flop or succeed hopefully it will give Apple a nudge to focus more on innovation, with Apple users the winners.
They can't even compete with Apple with their phone.
I doubt this is going to make an impact.
Just Balmer being Balmer and trying to conquer the world with bad ideas.
It might outsell a Speak-N-Spell but it won't be outselling the iPad.
I doubt this is going to make an impact.
Just Balmer being Balmer and trying to conquer the world with bad ideas.
It might outsell a Speak-N-Spell but it won't be outselling the iPad.
Citation needed. Chrome is still in the 20s for market share percentage with IE having fallen to the high 40s recently last I heard. As a Chrome user, I'd be darned pleased if Chrome passed Internet Explorer.
At last a tablet that will deliver a more robust desktop experience
You can't deny it, but we all have felt the pains and suffered because of the gaps in mobile devices, particularly tablets when it comes to trying to do tasks that we would normally do on a laptop or desktop computer.
The iPad experience with the Bluetooth keyboard is completely awkward (having to go from tap to keys to tap to keys...).
Kudos to Microsoft for finally eliminating their design around a mouse pointer and going full-blown on touch.
The killer features:
- USB port
- Stand
- Keyboard
- Desktop-like OS features
I think of it as the Modbook from Axiotron, and have always wondered why Apple never did something like that themselves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axiotron_Modbook
You can't deny it, but we all have felt the pains and suffered because of the gaps in mobile devices, particularly tablets when it comes to trying to do tasks that we would normally do on a laptop or desktop computer.
The iPad experience with the Bluetooth keyboard is completely awkward (having to go from tap to keys to tap to keys...).
Kudos to Microsoft for finally eliminating their design around a mouse pointer and going full-blown on touch.
The killer features:
- USB port
- Stand
- Keyboard
- Desktop-like OS features
I think of it as the Modbook from Axiotron, and have always wondered why Apple never did something like that themselves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axiotron_Modbook
Bahaha! They said the same thing about the Xoom!
I use Windows, but I have Apple mobile devices. Nothing's gonna touch the iPad for a good long time.
I still believe the USB drive was left out of the iPad to preserve its form factor. And their sales doesn't seem to be suffering for it. Evidently, most people don't care about being able to readily get files onto their iPad, or at not enough to dampen their enthusiasm.
In addition, I find I am increasingly eschewing thumb drives in favor of cloud-based services as it just seems more convenient. I don't believe the mere inclusion of a single port can have such a huge impact on sales and demand. Ultimately, it is a package deal.
It could be argued, of course. But isn't it more likely that an article on Microsoft for Macrumors would be an appropriate place for apple fans to talk about its shortcomings and flaws?
Its like men getting together to complain about their wives, or vice versa. It's a haven, a magnet school. A Canadian bar in new York. You don't walk in singing "blame Canada" without the expectation that you're going to meet some...disapproval
This is totally opposite of that. This is Microsoft tell us the consumers, "touch is great but we know you love your keyboard so we made this new tablet that's all about the keyboard with a touchpad".
They've done a good job at making the keyboard look sleek but this is about the furthest thing from "going full-blown" and all about trying to hedging their bets both ways.
The pro model isn't. 13.5 mm & 903 grams is noticeably heavier than an iPad, but even so that means it still is much lighter than an ultra-book.
If you check the specs on a macbook air 11inch. The Windows 8 version isn't really any smaller or lighter. And on the Air you have a REAL keyboard!
That's not the case guys. Metro apps are cross-compatible and will run on all Windows 8 devices, regardless of the processor driving them.
I think the fact that this thread has reached ~57 pages, and roughly 1400 posts on an Apple forum shows that Microsoft has done something right. Not just ok, but done very well. The one-eyed Apple fanboys are going absolutely bananas in their quest to sledge the Surface (although other Apple fans have been very open-minded and appreciative of what it brings to the table, which is great to see)- the iPad is facing a real threat. Finally. Whether you would ever buy a Surface or not, its presence in the market is a great thing- at the very least it'll force Apple to give a 128GB version of the iPad soon. Either way, it'll be great for Apple fans, as Apple will now step it up, and it will be great for people who were looking for something different in a tablet (and maybe tablet prices will fall- we can only hope).
There's a few things about the Surface that make me wonder why they weren't a part of the iPad in the first place. The first being the keyboard touch cover- that's just genius. Every time I've borrowed my brother's iPad, I prop it up with the Smart Cover when I want to read and write, however, typing on the screen with the iPad propped up like that is incredibly awkward. It just doesn't feel right. And then if you lay the iPad flat and type while looking down, it doesn't take very long at all for me to get a sore neck, and to get incredibly cranky about not being able to find a sweet spot in between the two positions (I'm 6'5" and get a lot of back and neck pain from sports- I can't handle anything that aggravates it when I'm working or relaxing). The Surface eliminates that problem- want a comfortable typing experience? Prop it up, attach the cover- done.
The second is the availability of a true, industry grade stylus. Yeah, yeah, Steve hated styli and all that, but they have their uses- especially for artists. Who, if they were an artist, would want an iPad, if all they have to use is their fingers or a stylus for a device that was never intended to have one? The Surface Pro will feature a 600dpi stylus, the iPad has been effectively done-and-dusted for certain use cases, especially in art.
Watching the video it strikes me incredible how bad someone can present a product. I compare to Apple because, well it's rather obvious who MS is trying to imitate. Looking at how a device with HDMI out and they don't bother hooking it up to a projector, why? Oh yes, because if you watch the video at 14m 30s for about 20 seconds you will see a product that locks up and the presenter has to get another one just to continue. Seriously? WTH are you thinking SB?? How in the hell do you even bother with a product that locks up and freezes at it's coming out party. Sad.
This ends up Zune's big brother that will cost a grand+ for the Pro version, not to mention my guess for the battery will be 4 to 5 hours at best. (wifi browsing) Load up anything that consumes power for a game to a video and your under 4 pretty quickly. This is looking at a 1980's tablet/convertible PC notebook in it's current thin form. If the base model pro has less than 2gigs of ram, and that may not be enough it's going to be a waste of money compared to any number of laptops or ultrabooks on the market. You can be a tablet with a specific OS with less, because the programs are optimized. You cannot however release the latest version of the mid 90's convertible/tablet style PC's and get away with no ram. Full blown programs don't care if your on a hybrid tablet/PC, they demand resources.
They failed to announce any firm release date other than stating the pro version will be 3 months after the RT.
They failed to announce any pricing.
They failed to deliver, today, when all of the marketing and excitement efforts peaked. New impulse buy for people and they missed that window, big time.
Watching the video was liking watching a crowd at a book reading, not all that excited, finally acted like they were awake at the end with SB took the stage, but wow! How sad is your presentation when you have to go 45 mins before the crowd actually shows any excitement.
Flame me if you like, but watch the video before doing so, it is what it is. Sad.
This ends up Zune's big brother that will cost a grand+ for the Pro version, not to mention my guess for the battery will be 4 to 5 hours at best. (wifi browsing) Load up anything that consumes power for a game to a video and your under 4 pretty quickly. This is looking at a 1980's tablet/convertible PC notebook in it's current thin form. If the base model pro has less than 2gigs of ram, and that may not be enough it's going to be a waste of money compared to any number of laptops or ultrabooks on the market. You can be a tablet with a specific OS with less, because the programs are optimized. You cannot however release the latest version of the mid 90's convertible/tablet style PC's and get away with no ram. Full blown programs don't care if your on a hybrid tablet/PC, they demand resources.
They failed to announce any firm release date other than stating the pro version will be 3 months after the RT.
They failed to announce any pricing.
They failed to deliver, today, when all of the marketing and excitement efforts peaked. New impulse buy for people and they missed that window, big time.
Watching the video was liking watching a crowd at a book reading, not all that excited, finally acted like they were awake at the end with SB took the stage, but wow! How sad is your presentation when you have to go 45 mins before the crowd actually shows any excitement.
Flame me if you like, but watch the video before doing so, it is what it is. Sad.