All this hullabaloo over a device that will sell in the 100-200K range per quarter.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Microsoft Introduces Thinner Surface Pro 3 with 12" Display Starting at $799
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
All this hullabaloo over a device that will sell in the 100-200K range per quarter.
If it got this much attention and passion on the street, Microsoft would be ecstatic.
Which speaks volumes about the sad state of MS these days if < 1 million sales per year would make them ecstatic.
A million Surface pro's a year would be a decent start. What are the sales numbers of the MacBook Air? That's what the Pro price range would be, not the iPad.
9 hours isn't going to happen. I've owned a Surface Pro 2 and it gets 7 hours at most. And that's really pushing it. Internet browsing non-stop is more like 5-6 hours. AnAndTech already saw the Surface Pro 3 and it has the same battery as the Surface Pro 2 in terms of capacity. Put in the high resolution display, the rest should be logical.
Apple is probably the only company whose battery estimates are actually accurate compared to real life performance. The Surface Pro 2 isn't in any way even comparable to the MacBook Airs, let alone the iPad when it comes to battery performance. The Surface Pro 3 isn't going to either.
Wait for Surface Pro 4 with Broadwell.
Except that you are quite ignoring my point. Constantly repeating that the first two generations weren't very successful does not respond to anything I have actually said.
What's wrong with reiterating that Surface is a complete failure to date? Why double-down on a failed product? MS should get out of hardware completely and focus on cloud.
MSFT is in the hardware business, and has been on some level for years.
Little thing called Xbox. Been around for 13 years, first generation failed, 2nd was beast mode, third generation is doing well.
MSFT has money, and Bill Gates was a mad man evangelist for the tablet PC long before the iPad was twinkle in Apple's eye. This is what he's been dreaming about for over a decade.
Surface is going to be with us awhile so get used to it.
And it helps that version 3 is pretty slick. Was in the MSFT store today to see if they had a demo and witnessed a few pre-orders taking place. I think this version will do better than any previous models.
Lots of positive vibes coming from The Verge thus far.
Quick comparison to the MBA...gotta admit the Surface looks slicker, cooler and more eye catching, while the MBA is showing its age.
http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/21/5737664/surface-pro-3-vs-macbook-air-crown
Quick comparison to the MBA...gotta admit the Surface looks slicker, cooler and more eye catching, while the MBA is showing its age.
http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/21/5737664/surface-pro-3-vs-macbook-air-crown
BTW, low sales isn't equal to bad product. Back in the day, high(er)-end Tablet PC's weren't bad at all either. For example, the HP TC1100, released in 2003, was very compact and packed in some excellent tech (Wacom, 10" XGA screen, 2+ hours of battery life and only weighing in some 1.3kg) by that day's standards.
It's just that it wasn't popular by Average Joes.
Early hands on reviews state the opposite in that it seems to be achieving its stated rating
Link:My initial thoughts on the Surface Pro 3
Well, it's no wonder. Microsoft has just released the Surface Pro 3. Apple's MacBook Air is almost four years old. It is surely showing its age, as Apple is taking a long time to refresh it.
4 years old??? They updated the MBA to Haswell in 2013 and gave it a minor spec bump this year. They've been refreshing the MBA every year.
Yup, but some of the main components (for example, the screen) is still pre-Retina. And this is prolly the biggest problem with the MBA (in addition to features like lacking Wacom / N-trig or touch support, obviously.)
Originally Posted by smoledman View Post
I wonder if iOS 8 brings a mouse cursor to enable an iPad Pro.
I'd like some other restrictions also removed from the iPad. There won't be an OSX on an iPad,but certainly an ability to bring it closer to enhance productivity.
No hardware acceleration on non Apple supported formats.
My rMBP sees my WDTV drive out of the box, my iPad Air needs a third party app. Make networking like any PC or Mac, see and access all devices on the network.
A tablet OS that is prime for consumption, can be more creative if it gets closer to full features
Doubt there will be a USB slot, but at least allow standard networking so we can use wifi to a portable HDD, or a lightning to USB adapter
I wonder if iOS 8 brings a mouse cursor to enable an iPad Pro.
I'd like some other restrictions also removed from the iPad. There won't be an OSX on an iPad,but certainly an ability to bring it closer to enhance productivity.
No hardware acceleration on non Apple supported formats.
My rMBP sees my WDTV drive out of the box, my iPad Air needs a third party app. Make networking like any PC or Mac, see and access all devices on the network.
A tablet OS that is prime for consumption, can be more creative if it gets closer to full features
Doubt there will be a USB slot, but at least allow standard networking so we can use wifi to a portable HDD, or a lightning to USB adapter
On My iPad Air, probably not, but on the iPad 3 HD did not play well. It should not be that way, and if I got large file size BR rips, I should not have to test them, they should play with hardware acceleration by default. It may help[ battery life, unsure.
1. It helps in every respect.
2. MKV's with h.264 video around 10 Mbps (that is, slowed-down ones) are played in HW by players like nPlayer or AVPlayer. Original BD MKV's (with bitrates sometimes well over 30 Mpbs) aren't. That is, don't try to play back direct BD rips done with MakeMKV on iDevices - they can't be played in hardware.
1. Very true - but on the other hand, you have been able to upgrade every iWork file to the next upgrade, so as long as you keep your files up-to-date with conversions with every major release, you are OK. Agree that this is not ideal.
2. Internal sharing of documents is not affected by this if you are using OSX as your front end from a top down corporate level perspective. External sharing I don't want that information presented or editable to 3rd parties in any case. Export what you want to show as a PDF, keep the data tables internal.
3. True, but if you can do Excel, you can do Numbers, and learn it well. I am not saying Excel isn't the standard, I am saying that there is no longer a compelling reason why this should be so, other than the main effort involved of actually making the switch if you are stuck and entrenched in a Windows box world.
I use Numbers seriously in the business world every day. I agree with you that major companies in well established industries with a long history cannot simply migrate, we've already been over that. I've had the advantage to be in a position to influence our corporate front end platform from a very early stage, so our switch was almost completely effortless. When I hire new people to my finance department, they have to be willing to drop Excel for Numbers. At my company, Numbers is the standard, not Excel.
Well, I googled nplayer to have a read. Came across a MR thread. The poster also mentioned AVPLayer, then I noticed it was you! Had a long read, very interesting. I always though that non iOS supported formats were SW only, and that third party apps just allowed them to be played (in SW)
I will try nPlayer and AVPlayerHD. When I use Filebrowser (Only way I found to access and play out of the box from my WDTV attached HDD), it plays using VLC on my iPad. How do I tell it to use another player as default? (iPad is not handy right now to check) I have a number of videos in various containers and formats. I used GSpot in Windows to check the format. Does nPlayer and AVPlayerHD support a wide range of video formats?
Thanks very much!
Me too. However, I am coming to the conclusion that the iPad will never fulfill my needs if Apple insists to keep it so simple. It may work for a lot of people, but I see little use for it myself.
It's not a 'replacement for a laptop', it IS a laptop. You 'need' a keyboard and you 'need' a mouse. My iPad needs neither...
I smell a Zune Moment coming... The desperation is getting hard to miss...
I smell a Zune Moment coming... The desperation is getting hard to miss...
Yes, it is four years old. Apple released the current form of the MacBook Air in late 2010. Of course, Apple improved the specs over the years. The models got better processors, more and faster RAM, more and faster storage, better ports, better wi-fi and so on. However, the chassis remained exactly the same. The form factor did not improve. The screen is exactly the same.
If you read my post, it is clearly what I was mentioning. Something funny about these large threads is that someone will always contest what you say, even if your statement is taken out of context. Perhaps it is just a way to keep it flowing.
