Microsoft Launches New Holiday Ad Comparing Surface Pro 3 to MacBook Air

[Michael Goff]

Microsoft does fail to mention that the keyboard and the pen are both add on, to bring it up to comparable specs to the 11 inch MacBook air is $1178 while the MacBook air starts at $899 So, I could get a MacBook air and a new iPad mini for the price of the advertised Surface Pro.

You get a pen free. :| Also, why compare it to the 11" when it shows more content than a 13" MacBook Air?

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You'll get a much higher level of fanboyism on a Windows-lovers site if an ad was pushed in their face in favor of Apple against a Windows competitor. And you're doing a nice share yourself of Surface Pro 3 promotion so I would recommend being careful what you write...your post borderlines irony.

Go to Windows Central. The level of fan boy is so low most people actually hate this ad.

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The SP3 has one major flaw:

It runs Windows.

There's a reason why some of us prefer something else.

-Brian


-edit: typo

If it ran any other desktop OS, it would suck for touch.

 

[Yoshi Yogurt]

lol wut? The 360 was a massive success

success for MS, not the consumer

Lack of exclusives and a 54% failure rate

 

[macduke]

I can't wait until my Mac gets a USB port like the Surface Pro 3. Then I will be so productive while wishing I could somehow find a way to circle things.

 

[sracer]

I use the Bamboo Stylus fineline with my iPad mini and it works perfectly with creative apps. I can draw, paint, write... just be creative. And, more apps are going to support the Bamboo stylus; I'm desperately waiting for full Procreate support. So why would I need a Surface?

All current alternative styli on iPads are inferior compromises. Individual iOS apps need to be modified to support those styli... they're not supported by the OS itself. That's a problem.

 

[MozMan68]

You'll get a much higher level of fanboyism on a Windows-lovers site if an ad was pushed in their face in favor of Apple against a Windows competitor. And you're doing a nice share yourself of Surface Pro 3 promotion so I would recommend being careful what you write...your post borderlines irony.

Correcting inaccuracies is fanboy?? Nice try...

...and I'm on the Windows forums as well, believe me, way more open minded as most of us actually use Apple devices as well.

 

[sam67uk]

Surface Pro3 Fan Heater

Microsoft should sort out their quality control. My firm bought me a new Surface Pro 3. It's now going back to be replaced under warranty. The thing heats up like a furnace and is hot to touch and the fans are going crazy. It's the noisest device in my office.

A quick Google and I found I'm not the only one!

Long live my MacBook Air

 

[Michael Goff]

Microsoft should sort out their quality control. My firm bought me a new Surface Pro 3. It's now going back to be replaced under warranty. The thing heats up like a furnace and is hot to touch and the fans are going crazy. It's the noisest device in my office.

A quick Google and I found I'm not the only one!

Long live my MacBook Air

The Pro 3 is louder than the Air? That wasn't my experience.

 

[Sy7ygy]

Why does MacRumors always feel the need to give free advertising to Apple competitors?

Because Arn is taking backhanders.

 

[casperes1996]

Why does MacRumors always feel the need to give free advertising to Apple competitors?

I always figured the point was pointing out how silly Microsoft are for giving Apple free advertisements.
i don't feel inclined to buy a surface because of this... I just thought of how nice the Air is... Although kinda ****** of them to turn off translucency on OS X for tha ad.
Come the retina Air, it'll be interesting to see their ad strategy.
Think about it though. Every single company out there focusing on comparing themselves to Apple in their adverts only puts us in a great light, doesn't it?
If MS says they're better than us. Samsung says they're better than us, and who knows who says they're better than us, people will start asking the obvious question. If you're all so much better, why don't you compare to one another, and not Apple? They're clearly comparing themselves to the better player.

This is as much a win for us as anything in the end. On its own, each of these adverts are fighting us, but when there are so many of them, they're only helping our case.

 

[Vegasman]

I think the guy just went down a list of generic Windows complaints people have had over the years, and posted it all here.

Like the registry? I've been using Windows for years, and I've never had a registry issue. I've heard of it happening, but I've never experienced it myself. Normally, it's not something you mess with or even think about unless you want to change some little goofy thing, like making the border padding thinner on windows (I'm so glad they're removing them in Win10).

Same with .dll files. .dll hell used to be a problem back on Windows 95, but...yeah, that was 20 years ago. Now, they're just files. You never have to mess with them whatsoever unless, once again, you're wanting to change some deep level thing in how Windows looks or functions.

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I'm so used to windows nothing is really an issue on a personal level as I can fix it. I mess with the registry at times (I know what I am doing) and have run into a missing dll yet it's not too common. Of course we all have our reasons for why we use what we use. I will end up using both because they can do their own tasks.

And what specifically are you doing when you mess with the registry? What are you fixing exactly?

[Can't wait to hear this...]

 

[mi7chy]

Only thing that would make the Surface Pro 4 even better is OLED display. SP3 display is great except with a black background that shows the backlight bleed which is a detect with all LCDs.

 

[kevink2]

I recently was thinking of getting a windows compatible tablet type pc for secondary usage. Such as at lunch at work.

Looked around a little bit. Including the Surface. For MY requirements, I ended up deciding that the Surface was a little pricey. I have this tendency to start adding features, and spending more than I planned.

I ended up buying an inexpensive Dell 2-in-1 locally. $360 after tax. A 4 core Pentium, 4GB RAM, and a traditional hard drive. But $900 cheaper than the Surface would have been.

I still have my iPad. And that is my primary carrying computer. For home use, I still have my MBP.

 

[Vegasman]

Microsoft should sort out their quality control. My firm bought me a new Surface Pro 3. It's now going back to be replaced under warranty. The thing heats up like a furnace and is hot to touch and the fans are going crazy. It's the noisest device in my office.

A quick Google and I found I'm not the only one!

Long live my MacBook Air

I know what you mean. Reminds me of Apple. I couldn't believe the people at the genius bar. I couldn't even schedule an appointment.

 

[Renzatic]

And what specifically are you doing when you mess with the registry? What are you fixing exactly?

[Can't wait to hear this...]

Wrong post, but I remembered one thing I had to do with the registry that wasn't just goofing around. And it was more a problem of Adobe being stupid and sloppy, than it was the registry itself.

It's not a problem now, but Adobe had about the worst installer for Photoshop back when. What it'd do is install all its security checks first thing, and if you cancelled the install, it wouldn't erase them, so when you went to install it again, it'd say NO CAN'T ALREADY HERE OLOL QUIT BEING A PIRATE. You'd have to go in and delete those registry entries before you could install the program again.

That's literally the only time in the last 10 years at least that I've HAD to go into the registry to fix something.

 

[slu]

I've got to admit, the Surface Pro is one of the most intriguing devices I've seen in a while. I'll be curious to see the concept develop.

I agree. These ads are working on me. I am seriously considering a Surface Pro when I need or want my next computer. 3 years ago I never even would not have even considered a non Apple machine.

 

[Eidorian]

How long did you try it? Five minutes or a week or two to get used to it?

Some of us use them at work instead of spending their time deriding a product they have never used to look good in front of others.

 

[ParanoidDroid]

All current alternative styli on iPads are inferior compromises. Individual iOS apps need to be modified to support those styli... they're not supported by the OS itself. That's a problem.

 

[Padaung]

I agree. These ads are working on me. I am seriously considering a Surface Pro when I need or want my next computer. 3 years ago I never even would not have even considered a non Apple machine.

Me too, I'm very excited by the thought of the SP4 (or 5, depending update schedules!) running Windows 10 and with a Broadwell chip inside. It could be seriously impressive by then. I like the idea of a unified OS which udentifies if it is desktop or tablet mode and adapts accordingly. Then there will be no need to carry a laptop and a tablet!

 

[allanfries]

Oh the humiliation! LOL, The reason I use a Mac is mainly the OS (OS X to be precise), and secondly the hardware with its build quality.

 

[Xiroteus]

And what specifically are you doing when you mess with the registry? What are you fixing exactly?

[Can't wait to hear this...]

Oh, just tweaking something. Everything was in working order I was seeing if something could be done.

Image

Now how about those high levels of pressure sensitivity.

 

[Renzatic]

snip

Your line discipline deserves respect, sir!

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Now how about those high levels of pressure sensitivity.

I think the Fineline has 1024 levels of sensitivity. The biggest downsides to the Wacom iPad pens is (I believe) lack of palm rejection, and the pen lag compared to a built in digitizer.

 

[Xiroteus]

Your line discipline deserves respect, sir!

Image

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I think the Fineline has 1024 levels of sensitivity. The biggest downsides to the Wacom iPad pens is (I believe) lack of palm rejection, and the pen lag compared to a built in digitizer.

Does it work well?

So far I've heard they are getting closer yet nothing beats full windows (or other) programs with pressure sensitivity.

I'll have to check you tube again.

 

[HenryDJP]

Correcting inaccuracies is fanboy?? Nice try...

...and I'm on the Windows forums as well, believe me, way more open minded as most of us actually use Apple devices as well.

Yeah, exactly. I visit Windows forums as well and you couldn't be more wrong. But think you want to think.

 

[aWaldo]

I love how all of these Apple-bashing ads only ever talk about features. If it came to user experience, the Mac would win hands down.

Anyone else notice that the Macbook's running a Yosemite dock with the Mavericks wallpaper?

 

[Renzatic]

Does it work well?

So far I've heard they are getting closer yet nothing beats full windows (or other) programs with pressure sensitivity.

I'll have to check you tube again.

I've only got to play with the pressure sensitive iPad pens for just a little bit, but it seemed pretty decent to me.

All things considered, I'd pick an onscreen digitizer. But if you really like your iPad, and really want to draw on it, they're not a bad second option.