Microsoft Announces Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2

[wrightc23]

Surface for ARM should have arrived with a non-ARM chip?

I meant Surface for ARM should have been ditched completely and replaced with a cut price x86 model. It was always a bizarre move to implement a version on an incompatible platform thus rendering a near non existent application base.

 

[Michael Goff]

I meant Surface for ARM should have been ditched completely and replaced with a cut price x86 model. It was always a bizarre move to implement a version on an incompatible platform thus rendering a near non existent application base.

As I said in the post right above yours, my experience is the exact same as it would have been with Bay Trail. Just because it can run x86 doesn't mean you should. A lot of people use Chrome on their laptops, for example.

I can only imagine how horrible of an experience that will be on Bay Trail tablets. And no, I don't mean the UI.

 

[Mavelous]

Ballmer

Microsoft......the next Blackberry

 

[bwillwall]

Alternatively, as one of my favourite quotes goes: "If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried."

That would be the smarter route Apple usually takes with these things.

 

[wrightc23]

As I said in the post right above yours, my experience is the exact same as it would have been with Bay Trail. Just because it can run x86 doesn't mean you should. A lot of people use Chrome on their laptops, for example.

I can only imagine how horrible of an experience that will be on Bay Trail tablets. And no, I don't mean the UI.

I take your point, just trying to think of a possible way out for them. They're screwed.

 

[HenryDJP]

TouchID was innovative.

64-bit processor? Not so much. It was an expected evolution.

Regardless if it was an "expected" evolution it was innovative because it was the first of it's kind in a cell phone. I didn't say it was revolutionary, I said it was innovative and it was. Had Apple just put in the common processor found in any other cell phone it wouldn't be.

 

[spinedoc77]

And on top of that Microsoft's 32GB version has the same free space as Apple's 16GB version

I really hate the cash milking for extra storage... I'd love to see Apple shift to 32/64/128 with only $50 increments for prices, but I somehow doubt they'll stop their cash cow now

Stop with the free hard drive space myth, that just annoys the heck out of me when I see it perpetuated. Take away Office and the recovery partition, and also give the 16gb ipad it's true free space which I believe is something like 14.25gb or something like that. Surface 32gb starts with 15gb free space, on my Atom tablet the recovery is about 10gb, and the Office 2013 install is about 3gb. 15gb free space + 10gb recovery partition + 3gb Office install is 28gb if you clear all that stuff out. Put Office 2013 back in and you are still at 25gb, that's pretty reasonable IMO. Plus my tablet has a microSD slot so I can add 64gb for about $50. Apple will NEVER put a memory card slot in their devices as they make too much money charging for memory upgrades.

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Yes, it runs it better than ARM.

That doesn't mean it runs it well.

But it isn't even as if lower-end, low-power tablets need to run x86 anyway.

I hope I'm misinterpreting you, but are you saying Baytrail doesn't run x86 well?

 

[cgc]

Interesting, but the Surface 2 should have been full Windows. At that price, nobody wants a dumbed down Windows OS...

The Pro looks good.

Yeah, and the Surface 2 should have had the new Atom chip in it so it could also have the full Windows 8.1. Be a tad slower than the Surface 2 Pro but I'd prefer a slow Windows over a fast Windows RT.

 

[spinedoc77]

Yeah, and the Surface 2 should have had the new Atom chip in it so it could also have the full Windows 8.1. Be a tad slower than the Surface 2 Pro but I'd prefer a slow Windows over a fast Windows RT.

Exactly. Offering a FULL windows tablet, but with the battery life, thinness, size, weight, etc of the ipad is where they could out ipad the ipad IMO. They will never outipad the ipad with software/app store, never. MS is missing the market in a huge way, oddly aiming above and below it, but continuing to completely ignore the atom tablets which IMO could be their salvation.

 

[AngryCorgi]

And I'm coming up with nothing.

So you and Microsoft have one thing in common then.

 

[Analog Kid]

I don't understand all the arguments that MS shouldn't have used ARM, and that the Pro is great because it's a full Windows 8 machine-- history keeps repeating the message that people don't want a desktop in tablet form. Yes, it's great for certain niche markets-- but it's never gone beyond that base interest level.

MS keeps acting like my old dog who would keep running into the screen door, back up and do it again, and again, and again, never understanding why she couldn't get outside. They've been at the same formula for decades and keep acting puzzled why it doesn't sell.

Beyond a certain minimum, the hardware is irrelevant-- it's a slab of glass, metal and plastic that gets warm when you turn it on. The problem is that they can't create a compelling software environment to convince people to abandon their investments in Android and iOS.

Personally, I think MS needs to give up on the flashy stuff. It's like they're going through a long, public, embarrassing, mid-life crisis. Focus on enterprise and act your age.

 

[Taz Mangus]

Regardless if it was an "expected" evolution it was innovative because it was the first of it's kind in a cell phone. I didn't say it was revolutionary, I said it was innovative and it was. Had Apple just put in the common processor found in any other cell phone it wouldn't be.

Of course we will never know if and when a 64-bit CPU was going to end up in a cell phone now. If this had been Samsung people would have been praising this right and left as innovation.

And before someone goes and says it, yes I know that ARM had announced the 64-bit A50 ARM CPU a while ago which was targeted for desktop and server applications:

The big news is the arrival of 64-bit support in ARM's designs which is necessary to provide it with an opportunity to break into new markets of desktop computing as well as server computing. While the company is not aiming to challenge Intel's high-performing x86 Xeon processors, ARM vendors believe they have an opportunity to use lower power processors to offer an efficient alternative for all those tasks where a Xeon processor's processing capability is not granular enough and effectively wasted.

What I find remarkable is the benchmarks out of the A7 even though it is clocked pretty low and only a dual core CPU.

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So you and Microsoft have one thing in common then.

Best post of the thread. And funny too.

 

[wikiverse]

Microsoft......the next Blackberry

Comments like these are retarded. There are more computers in the world running windows right now than all of the Apple devices ever made.

Blackberry didn't have it's operating system on 95% of computers worldwide.

That's 95% of almost 1.5 billion computers.

Microsoft aren't going anywhere. If anything there is room for rapid expansion into the hardware market and associated App Stores.

I'll be holding onto my Microsoft shares for at least the next 10 years.

 

[Analog Kid]

Offering a FULL windows tablet, but with the battery life, thinness, size, weight, etc of the ipad is where they could out ipad the ipad IMO.

[sig:]What would the world be like if laptops were released with iOS?

I find it interesting that you want a tablet running full Windows and a laptop running iOS...

 

[Zellio]

That would be the smarter route Apple usually takes with these things.

You shouldn't give up if the fail, the problem is Microsoft is countering their failure by doing the EXACT SAME THING......

 

[JAT]

And it takes a while to move something as large as Office. Or do you think that just because Apple was able to provide a neutered version of a neutered Office Suite quickly that Microsoft can as well?

That's the dumbest excuse ever for M$ not wanting to put it on the iPad. Gimme a break, do you actually believe that?

 

[Arfdog]

I feel bad for Microsoft. I don't know how they get things back on track. I think there is going to be more decline before recovery, but I do think there will be a recovery. I don't think the new Surface tablets will sell well even if the Pro is a decent replacement for a Windows 8 Ultrabook. Until Microsoft fully embraces touch interface on tablets and optimizes all their apps, they are going to struggle.

You feel bad for a company of a couple billionaires, many millionaires, and mostly 6-figure salaries?

 

[Doomtomb]

I thought you were supposed to make sequels to successes. Not failures.

 

[Eidorian]

Never actually seen one out in the wild.

Better late than never but I saw one in IAH today before boarding my flight. I did a double take to make sure it was the type cover.

 

[bobenhaus]

That's not a fair statement, Windows XP and 7 are fantastic.

Office is STILL the standard in real productivity software.

I am not a fan of Microsoft but to say their software is not worth anything is simply being a blind fanboy

Alot of companies are starting to look seriously at the Windows 8 tablet because the issue with ipads not having a file system.

 

[fourthtunz]

You just nailed it right on the head. The iPad is a fun device you can do a little work on (for now). The Surface Pro is a tablet you do work on.

It'll never sell as much as the iPad, no. But it's not competing in the same field, either. The RT is, and hey, guess what? The RT sucks. But saying no one wants a Pro because people use iPads a certain way is being very short sighted.

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What is that? Like...a point? It's something people do that can't be done on an ipad. You asked, I told you.

What's with all this working!!?
You can do work on an iPad you need the camera kit but I can do
Everything I need with an iPad and some things u can't do with the surface
Or android rigs like pop it into a mackie mixer etc music type work.

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Comments like these are retarded. There are more computers in the world running windows right now than all of the Apple devices ever made.

Blackberry didn't have it's operating system on 95% of computers worldwide.

That's 95% of almost 1.5 billion computers.

Microsoft aren't going anywhere. If anything there is room for rapid expansion into the hardware market and associated App Stores.

I'll be holding onto my Microsoft shares for at least the next 10 years.

I question the intelligence of anyone using "retarded" in this way.

 

[fenderbass146]

But the only people who use Windows at my school are math/science/computer people (note: inverse not true).

I think the people this would appeal to are business majors, english etc. Basically for spreadsheets notes research etc. Wont be good for CAD lol

 

[imageWIS]

And then all the Windows users will attack Apple for the iPhone and Mac OS, in the meantime they are using Android phones which AREN'T made by MS and iPods as music players which also AREN'T made by MS.

 

[Karma*Police]

nice but pricing increment over storage space is scam by both Apple & Microsoft

Not at all, it's good marketing. The pricing has little to do with the amount of memory or the cost to the manufacturers, and more to do with the average selling price and margins. They just use the pricing scheme and memory increments because it's super easy for consumers.

Amazon and Google don't charge as much for memory upgrades, but their strategy is very different; they sell tablets at near cost and try to increase margins by pushing ads to their user base.

 

[imageWIS]

I think the people this would appeal to are business majors, english etc. Basically for spreadsheets notes research etc. Wont be good for CAD lol

You know what's really bad for AutoCAD? AutoDESK. They suck, massively. Ever try to use AutoCAD for Mac (any version), it constantly crashes, doesn't render well and f-up's Mac OS' connection with the graphics card.