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My best guess is no.

Windows was moved to the major update being in the beginning of the year. It wouldn't surprise me if they moved the release of all of the Surface line to that as well.

If you're MS you definitely want this product out for dads and grads sales, and ensure stock is plentiful <insert Surface 1 comments here> for back to school.
 
About what? Weight and battery life?

Those things, sure. But in general, the issues of size and whether it's really just a laptop by another name. Anything larger than the current full-sized iPad is going to raise these issues, just as surely as the Surface has.

I'm no kind of Microsoft apologist (far from it) but I think many of the criticisms I am hearing about the Surface are nitpicks at best. It seems to me that Microsoft is really upping their game, and I would not try to prejudge whether this product will click or not.

That said, the problem for Microsoft is that success for the Surface could mean they get up the noses of their OEMs. This could be a longterm issue.
 
if i have to choose I will choose Microsoft Surface Pro 3 over Mac Book air.

I have been waiting for such thing for a long time.
 
I highly doubt that this will kill laptop sales.

And I'm willing to bet my 1991 corolla on it.
 
"It runs windows" IS the fundamental problem. If you work in Enterprise, all your company will do is to run their old VB6 apps with out of date and terrible UI. Most ISVs are going to do some kind of Win8/win3.11 hybrid where 3/4 of an app is modern and 1/4 uses out of date libraries and GUI elements. It's just another version of awful.

The genius of iOS was that it has FORCED everybody to write new apps, with new APIs, and to run this apps in pretty little sandboxes. 99% of apps are NOT special flowers, they don't need custom places to store information, they don't need admin privelleges... That's 20 years of bad programming that Steve was smart enough to throw out.

Microsoft will NEVER get AWESOME... It will only ever be Good Enough unless they force developers to adapt in a big, painful way.

If it were THAT simple to just rewrite programs in enterprise, companies would. Most established companies still rely on mainframes and untangling that takes years - and in some cases (literally) a decade or longer.
 
Aspect ratio change will be a huge improvement. It will be interesting to see how the physical size of the device has changed - the old models had such huge bezels that maybe this isn't actually that much bigger despite getting (the much needed) larger screen.

The new hinge design will go a long ways towards making this more usable. Not capitulating and making a permanent stylus storage is a huge letdown.

So all in all, I don't see this changing things much. The Microsoft app store is still a wasteland. This is still really high DPI to use in desktop mode as your primary computer, and the keyboard, whose quality is of primary importance in high-end laptops, is literally still an afterthought here.

I think it's a slick device, but I'm not convinced it wouldn't just end up in a drawer after a few months the way my first Surface Pro did.
 
...I picked up a first generation Surface with the full keyboard for under $200. Not only does it make what I considered a monstrosity, Windows 8, "make sense" for the first time, but it is an incredibly versatile laptop replacement that is not much bigger than an iPad and doesn't have all of the drawbacks of netbooks.
d.

Time for some serious re-education at the genius bar. Repeat after me "i dont need a pen, and if i did, i'd want a big foam one"

Seriously, I love my surface pro and this seems like much fuller realization of the concept. I have heard no one speculate on why this product is being released now--barely more than half way thru the surface pro 2 product cycle. It might be to pre empt attention from a september ipad pro
 
If you're MS you definitely want this product out for dads and grads sales, and ensure stock is plentiful <insert Surface 1 comments here> for back to school.

Agreed, they want this out to make sure that it is in good enough supply. Also, it's looking like the release schedule for Intel might be changing. It would make sense that Microsoft would know about this an plan accordingly.

"It runs windows" IS the fundamental problem. If you work in Enterprise, all your company will do is to run their old VB6 apps with out of date and terrible UI. Most ISVs are going to do some kind of Win8/win3.11 hybrid where 3/4 of an app is modern and 1/4 uses out of date libraries and GUI elements. It's just another version of awful.

The genius of iOS was that it has FORCED everybody to write new apps, with new APIs, and to run this apps in pretty little sandboxes. 99% of apps are NOT special flowers, they don't need custom places to store information, they don't need admin privelleges... That's 20 years of bad programming that Steve was smart enough to throw out.

Microsoft will NEVER get AWESOME... It will only ever be Good Enough unless they force developers to adapt in a big, painful way.

For most people, running Windows is actually an advantage.
 
I highly doubt that this will kill laptop sales.

And I'm willing to bet my 1991 corolla on it.

I'm not sure why it would hurt laptop sales when this is effectively a laptop.. with a touch screen.. like those we've been seeing since Win 8 came out.
 
The new hinge design will go a long ways towards making this more usable. Not capitulating and making a permanent stylus storage is a huge letdown.

please. the whole pen silo thing is retarded and creates more issues than it solves. My shirt pocket is my pen silo
 
I'm going to get a lot of slack for this... probably, but here goes.

The picture all the sites are using for this news is the a MacBook Air and the new Surface Pro 3 on some scales. They say they are going to challenge the MacBook Air. Again.

Anyway, my point is, in my opinion, it's a invalid compassion, one is a laptop while the other is a tablet. Compare the Pro 3 to the iPad Air!

There, I said it, the Surface Pro is a tablet. We all have our own opinions so there is mine!

Having said all that, it does look great!
 
Oh, and this will kill so many Android Pro Tablets if there is any already ;)

the only "pro" android tablet that i can think of is from Samsung...but even that is somewhere where ipad is when it comes to productivity.
 
Those things, sure. But in general, the issues of size and whether it's really just a laptop by another name. Anything larger than the current full-sized iPad is going to raise these issues, just as surely as the Surface has.

I'm no kind of Microsoft apologist (far from it) but I think many of the criticisms I am hearing about the Surface are nitpicks at best. It seems to me that Microsoft is really upping their game, and I would not try to prejudge whether this product will click or not.

That said, the problem for Microsoft is that success for the Surface could mean they get up the noses of their OEMs. This could be a longterm issue.

The first two generations haven't. I don't see anything in the 3rd that is a game changer. I'm not knocking it as a laptop. And indeed it may take sales away from their OEM partners. But I'm still not sold that you can have one device that is the best tablet experience and best laptop experience. Apple often features the iPad in portrait orientation. I never see Microsoft showing the Surface without the kickstand or keyboard or in portrait mode. If I was a Microsoft OEM I might be worried, but I'm not sure Apple or Google are.
 
Time for some serious re-education at the genius bar. Repeat after me "i dont need a pen, and if i did, i'd want a big foam one"

Seriously, I love my surface pro and this seems like much fuller realization of the concept. I have heard no one speculate on why this product is being released now--barely more than half way thru the surface pro 2 product cycle. It might be to pre empt attention from a september ipad pro

Here is some speculation. This is McSft dropping some serious cash in upping its product cycles. The Surface Pro 2 is probably such a dud in sales that killing it won't even be noticed. They improved the hardware and cut the cost. Impressive. But possibly reduced margins significantly. Actually, like the other Surface devices, I'm suspecting this is another loss leader. But McSft knows that we are going to the post-PC world. They need something in that world. They are correct that Apple is not completing in the hybrid space, so they've decided to do their best. Their best, with the cash they have to throw at this stuff, does not wait around for product cycles to get most value out of Surface Pro 2.
 
I'm going to get a lot of slack for this... probably, but here goes.

The picture all the sites are using for this news is the a MacBook Air and the new Surface Pro 3 on some scales. They say they are going to challenge the MacBook Air. Again.

Anyway, my point is, in my opinion, it's a invalid compassion, one is a laptop while the other is a tablet. Compare the Pro 3 to the iPad Air!

There, I said it, the Surface Pro is a tablet. We all have our own opinions so there is mine!

Having said all that, it does look great!

Just curious why you would consider it a tablet over a laptop?
 
Think the Surface Pro's are fantastic tablets. I own the first generation. Fantastic for artists and productivity and some light gaming too.

The 3 looks absolutely fantastic especially for what I need to be able to do on a machine. (3D modelling, sculpting and photoshop work)

Its a shame that most people hate on them just because its made by Microsoft. Some people need to mature a bit I guess.

Out of all the companies at the moment I see Microsoft really pushing for alternative ways to do things.

I also own an iMac, iPhone, iPad, Macbook Air, Macbook Pro and I think their great devices too and OSX is second to none however for what I need out of a machine and some of the programs I use only running in windows (3DS Max) the Surface Pro is perfect.

(Yes I know about bootcamp, I use it) but carrying a small lightweight tablet thats basically a powerful PC to do things like sculpt in 3D on the go is amazing to me.

Are you talking about the high-end model with 512GB of storage? I can't imagine doing such work with only ~32GB (64GB minus Windows overhead) free, or even on the 256GB model. And only 4GB of RAM with Windows seems like it is way too anemic to also be doing heavy image work.
 
Before people say the iPad Air starts at $499, the S3 is not meant to compete with it. The S3 is basically a full fledged laptop in tablet form. It targets more of the MacBook Air. So, that's why its $799 and not a lot cheaper.

I don't know if both are still really comparable. Yes, it has desktop processor and full windows operating system, but it still comes in tablet form & functions just like one. I could put a keyboard on an iPad and call it a laptop, but it does not work the same.

To me it would probably best described in a special category.
 
$1949 + $130 type cover = me opting for a retina MacBook Pro instead.

The Surfaces is for those who want a pen. You can safely rest your palm on the screen, without wearing insulating gloves. It's a big advantage if you need it for scribbling, sketching, charting, equations, diagrams. In other words, engineering students, engineers.
 
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No one is making Windows tablets, so Microsoft has to make their own. How things have changed since they parted with IBM.
 
Very intriguing as an IT Pro in a Windows shop. Staff have realized that iPad isn't good enough for trips where you need to edit documents and such. So they still lug their Windows laptop with them. This could be the "one" device they are looking for, even if it means having to use Windows and Metro apps.

No interest in this for home use. iPad is all the masses need for what most of them do.
 
I'm going to get a lot of slack for this... probably, but here goes.

The picture all the sites are using for this news is the a MacBook Air and the new Surface Pro 3 on some scales. They say they are going to challenge the MacBook Air. Again.

Anyway, my point is, in my opinion, it's a invalid compassion, one is a laptop while the other is a tablet. Compare the Pro 3 to the iPad Air!

There, I said it, the Surface Pro is a tablet. We all have our own opinions so there is mine!

Having said all that, it does look great!

iPad Air: Lighter, significantly less powerful, smaller screen
Surface 3:Heavier, but can actually replace a laptop, as it has the same internals of a laptop, bigger screen

But, really, you're wrong AND right. This is a tablet in form factor but a laptop in internals. It's supposed to be able to replace both.
 
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