Microsoft Debuts $999 Surface Laptop, 'Streamlined' Windows 10 S, and More at Education Event

[schappim]

Wow every day I'm wishing that Apple would copy M$'s hardware ideas.

As a guy who bleeds 6 colours (since pre OSX) it has been really sad to watch the decline of Apple's Mac hardware.

This product is designed to compete with the MBA not MBpro.

Even so my maxed out Touchbar MBP is sluggish and has dismal battery life. It regularly complains about running out of memory. Oh, and in terms of input Apple has gone from having an absolutely infallible touchpad to one that regularly has spurious input whilst typing. It's like using a crappy windows laptop again. The keyboard is also craptastic, with the iPad's Smart Cover even feeling better.

I can understand why M$ decided to forego with USB-C as connecting peripherals via USB-C is still very hit and miss. E.g clicking a mouse connected to an Apple Keyboard won't wake the Mac if it is in closed lid mode and connected to the LG 5K.

Whilst M$'s fabric keyboard feels great to use, it got worn and grotty after a few months on my Surface Pro.... but aleast with the Surface you can always buy a new keyboard for that "feels like new" feeling.

Apple's only saving grace is OS X and the awesome like up of indi apps, with everything from Alfred, Sketch, TextExpander, iMessage and iTerm crushing equivalents on Windows/Linux.

 

[iMi]

4GB of ram???? hope you don't plan on having more than 8 tabs open...

I agree that 4GB is unreasonably low in this day and age. On the other hand, faster BUS speeds and super fast SSDs will probably make low amount of RAM less and less of an issue in the future.

 

[M2M]

So it comes with a locked-down version of Windows and only has one USB-A port and a mini Displayport... port. And 4GB of RAM in the base model.

And people thought the MacBook had crap connectivity.

Funny thing is with this the windows laptop matches the crap connectivity of the MacBook Pro at a lower price point.

 

[apolloa]

Wasn't the MBP released before Kaby Lake?
And the SSD's/batteries are not "off the shelf" They're designed by Apple themselves
And I'm not excusing the soldering of those parts, just pointing out facts.

I doubt it, the non soldered ones will be supplied by a supplier and most likely designed by them, who knows with the soldered on stuff? I would argue that another Apple supplier also came up with the thin batteries. Apple doesn't make any of its own things, its suppliers do.

 

[Jack Burton]

Its all about options. Windows 10 S is for kids and control, Windows 10 Home is the cheap OEM entry Windows 10 Pro is for Power Users, Windows 10 Enterprise is for Corporates.

Windows 10 Mobile is for Phones (Great OS - Just no apps) and then you have variants for IOT Devices and AR Devices and Xbox. Then of course there is also Windows Server and Azure.

Apple too has many variants iOS for Phones / Tablets, MAC OS for "PCs" TVOS for Apple TV and WatchOS for Watch.

Apple just does not have the same scope of target devices that Microsoft Does.Apple is a Hardware company and only makes OS's to support the hardware for markets they want to play in.


Don't get hung up about it

BTW, All now are from the same dev stream with a Single kernel via One Core - Smart Move.

Windows 10 S would be perfect for some older adults I know.

 

[ksnell]

This particular product may not appeal to me, however there is absolutely no denying that Microsoft has been killing it over the last few years. Props to them!

Edit: Surprised they're going for this approach again with 10 S, considering how hard Windows RT flopped.

Agree with the first part, but the Windows 10 S is a clear shot at Apple's closed system so I think that's a good thing. Many people (not me) just want a "safe" iPhone type experience on a computer where they have approved apps in an app store, anti-virus built in, etc. I could totally see recommending this to a certain generation of people that are more hands off with computers. Less to break and less for me to fix.

No doubt they are really putting the heat on Apple as far as design goes, too. Love it.

 

[rjohnstone]

Windows RT Second coming ?

Not even remotely close to RT.
RT was locked to a proprietary CPU architecture.
This laptop can run full Windows 10 Pro if you want to.

 

[SamIchi]

Looks nice, but how gross will that fabric palm rests get?

 

[Steve121178]

That's kind of like saying another $300 Android phone just got released and Apple is caught snoozing. Apple doesn't currently exist in any of the budget markets unless you consider iPads competing with this laptop.

Who's talking budget hardware? Surface hardware is premium.

 

[ksnell]

$1,000 and only 4GB of ram

Just wait until you see the next "Premium" iPhone.

 

[H2SO4]

So it comes with a locked-down version of Windows …………..

That I believe you can upgrade to a full version. Something you can’t do with any iOS device.

 

[Dozer_Zaibatsu]

So what you're saying is that Apple needs to take an axe and chop off a big part of their design(both hardware and software) just so that you can every once in awhile flick one slide on a powerpoint deck?

No. I said that I agree with Steve Jobs' assessment of touch screens. One. Hundred. Percent.

But assuming the public won't want/use touch screens is another matter. A lot of people do. If Apple doesn't spend money on touchscreens, I'd like to see their higher cost justified with more beef in their lineup.

 

[fokmik]

So, Microsoft really compare this new laptop with a dying macbook air?
Thats nice, its like a new AMG is compared with an old 2 generation M,not professional Microsoft ,not professional at all

 

[jamesrick80]

Just wait until you see the next "Premium" iPhone.

Correct, it may still have 3 gb ram and 1080p display...and the fanboys will pay more than 1000 dollars for the 256 gb version when they are secretly truly wanting a Galaxy S8.

 

[Scarpad]

don't think ChromeBooks have anything to worry about even at their most expensive they are $500 cheaper than these, i can understand that its a window chromebook equivelent for security and ease of use with none of those windows issues to get in the way, but the price does'nt equate, why would schools want to use these over less expensive chromebooks ?

 

[H2SO4]

Wait, it doesn't even have full Windows 10? If I'm already spending $1000 why not spend $100 more and then get a refurbished 12 inch 2016 MacBook? You get twice the RAM and twice the storage, plus a full OS (that id prefer to windows) that also can run full windows if you so desire. Far superior display, too.

The irony is that I’d have to answer this to tell you it’s not worth answering. Yeah, why not compare a brand new device with a second hand one, (a refurb IS secondhand BTW)?

 

[44267547]

I hope more than anything that this pushes Google to release a new high-end premium Chromebook for around the same price range.

Didn't Google already make a $1000 Chromebook? I believe they already discontinued it. From my understanding, it was underpowered/ over priced when compared to to other competitors. They realized the lower end Chromebooks were selling stronger for what they offered in terms of hardware.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/20/technology/chromebook-pixel-2-review/

http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/bye-bye-blackbird/amp/

 

[Scarpad]

Looks nice, but how gross will that fabric palm rests get?

after a bag of cheese doodles from the lunchroom?

 

[MrX8503]

4GB of ram, 1 USB port, and Windows 10 S. Where are the pitchforks? Oh because it's not Apple, people are fine with it.

 

[Scarpad]

So, Microsoft really compare this new laptop with a dying macbook air?
Thats nice, its like a new AMG is compared with an old 2 generation M,not professional Microsoft ,not professional at all

except an air can run more than just mac store apps

 

[Rigby]

This thing is dead in the water.

Who is stupid enough to spend $1K for an educational computer running a cut down OS?

Actually the educational market is today dominated by ... Chromebooks, which use a similar model. I'm pretty sure this is the reason why Microsoft came up with this product, and where Apple is hoping to regain some ground with the iPad Pro:

https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/27/a...ar-in-schools-apple-and-microsoft-fight-back/

"Recent numbers from consulting firm Futuresource paint a similar picture, with Google commanding 58 percent of U.S. K-12 schools. Windows is in second with around 22 percent and the combined impact of MacOS and iOS are close behind at 19 percent. It’s a rapidly shifting landscape. Three years earlier, Apple’s products represented nearly half of devices being shipped to U.S. classrooms."

 

[Iconoclysm]

Wait, it doesn't even have full Windows 10? If I'm already spending $1000 why not spend $100 more and then get a refurbished 12 inch 2016 MacBook? You get twice the RAM and twice the storage, plus a full OS (that id prefer to windows) that also can run full windows if you so desire. Far superior display, too.

If you max this thing out at 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage, with Windows 10, you're looking at about $2250. While I would definitely go for this to replace my current Surface tablet for work, I'd probably spend the extra $150 for a maxed out 13" MBP with touchbar for home.

 

[MrX8503]

Actually the educational market is today dominated by ... Chromebooks, which use a similar model. I'm pretty sure this is the reason why Microsoft came up with this product, and where Apple is hoping to regain some ground with the iPad Pro:

https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/27/a...ar-in-schools-apple-and-microsoft-fight-back/

"Recent numbers from consulting firm Futuresource paint a similar picture, with Google commanding 58 percent of U.S. K-12 schools. Windows is in second with around 22 percent and the combined impact of MacOS and iOS are close behind at 19 percent. It’s a rapidly shifting landscape. Three years earlier, Apple’s products represented nearly half of devices being shipped to U.S. classrooms."

$1k is still to expensive though

 

[Dave245]

I'm going to give credit where it's due here the Surface laptop has a nice design from what I've seen in the video. There is a part that that made me cringe tho, the guy that was introducing the laptop wrote on the screen with the Surface pen and he had to support the back of the Surface laptop with his hand, at that point that's where it failed!

People have complained about Apple with 8GB Ram and Microsoft are putting 4GB in this laptop, c'mon people if that was Apple they would be getting crucified for it.

 

[bollman]

Windows 10S - managed via SCCM, which most edu/companies already use
iOS - MDM and VPP. Oh the mess.

I could easily see schools buying these. They already have the infrastructure to manage them. Schools bought into the Apple-fad and spent lots of money on one-to-one deployments of MacBooks and then needed something like JAMF Pro to manage it, and get new sysadms, and a new infrastructure and...

Bet you they're quick to jump the MS EDU-train the next time.

I work for a big uni and we are looking into using SCCM to manage mac and maybe ditch JAMF Pro. Manage macs via SCCM using PC tools, skip iOS.

Seems to me a lot of people here haven't really used win10. Since they released Bash on Ubuntu on Windows there's really not that many reasons for me to still use macOS as my work computer. The main reasons are no AFP connectivity, but that is going away, and the ability to package software for mac. I'm looking into doing that on virtual machines instead and then I can get myself a nice looking MS laptop after 20 years of Apple computers @ my desk.