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I actually welcome the direction MS is going with the Surface 3. You can only hope that it drives Apple to greater innovation with its existing line of products, much like how the powerful yet hard to manage Windows Mobile 6.0 drove Apple to create something better - iOS, or iPhone OS at the time.
 
The Surface is versatile and all that relative to a laptop. Right up until you want to type with the Surface on your lap....at which point the Surface and its kickstand become an epic fail.


"Prior superiority"? You say that as if you believe Apple is currently inferior to Microsoft.

Agreed on point number 1.

On point 2, no...badly phrased perhaps but that's not my thinking. Just saying that other manufacturers...whether they've struck gold or not yet is another issue....aren't afraid to be creative. The saying that other manufacturers throw ideas at a wall and see what sticks is true....but sooner or later they'll get one to stick.
 
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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.

Yep, MS is missing a the point with these ads, the surface can neither better an iPad or better a mac book air. I now only boot into windows on my mac for one program that must run natively and only because my college uses it and we work on projects together otherwise there are no apps left in windows that i need or like.

Having something run on windows is becoming moot, there is no fanfare for most as the software they use is candy crush and maybe pages at a push. Word etc are no longer a pull for people and MS killed most long time users with UI changes in win8.

I really think win10 will be a success i only wish MS would do the same with their hardware and make a laptop and a tablet that is not a convertible piece of lame. I'm hoping because MS isn't the evil corp it used to be and I feel bad for them. They really could benefit from being a bit humble and not bash apple.
 
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.

Since the iPad is slightly popular :D companies are continuing to get this tech better. Of course Apple adding wacom would be amazing on something like a pro iPad.
 
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.

I get the feeling stylus APIs will be heading to iOS in the next version so support over entire OS.

Apple doesn't need to include one as standard because the os works without one. Last time i checked styluses work throughout the os anyway, it's only the extras that don't but you also don't need them outside of apps that probably already support them?

Windows 8 needs a pointer otherwise it's a hot mess. Windows 8 is the wrong way to do it you shouldn't have to include one just so people can use it!
You have to admit that windows f'd up the tablet by leaving in so many critical areas that can't be easily accessed without a mouse or pen!!!
 
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I get the feeling stylus APIs will be heading to iOS in the next version so support over entire OS.

Apple doesn't need to include one as standard because the os works without one.

Windows 8 needs a pointer otherwise it's a hot mess. Windows 8 is the wrong way to do it you shouldn't have to include one just so people can use it!
You have to admit that windows f'd up the tablet by leaving in so many critical areas that can't be easily accessed with a mouse or pen!!!

Artistic reasons is a huge reason for a dizitizer, stylus.

However I do have a Windows tablet and I kind of need to use it a lot more then just on the programs I want. Things are a bit small at times which I doubt is the only issue as my iPhone or other phone did great in knowing what I was pressing.
 

Just because you can write half decent non-cursive jumbo text doesn't mean it's not an inferior experience. There's the issue of offset, input lag, unreliable bluetooth pairing, not always working palm rejection, one day battery life, writing small detail, drawing circles that look like circles, taking longer to write/draw than with precision digitizer pen, etc. Amazon review is 3 out of 5 stars so it's passable as a gimmick but not a proper tool. You can't pay me to suffer with that.
 
I get the feeling stylus APIs will be heading to iOS in the next version so support over entire OS.

Apple doesn't need to include one as standard because the os works without one. Last time i checked styluses work throughout the os anyway, it's only the extras that don't but you also don't need them outside of apps that probably already support them?
Those are wide-point capacitive stylus not the active digitizer/pressure sensitive/small point stylus of the Surface Pro 3.


Windows 8 needs a pointer otherwise it's a hot mess. Windows 8 is the wrong way to do it you shouldn't have to include one just so people can use it!
You have to admit that windows f'd up the tablet by leaving in so many critical areas that can't be easily accessed without a mouse or pen!!!
Based on this comment I'm wondering how much time you've spent with Windows 8 on a tablet.
 
Your line discipline deserves respect, sir!

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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.

Of course a native Wacom digitizer is more precise. However, I was quite surprised how precise and responsive new apps are. I created the image below without zooming in, on a quite small iPad mini 2! I sincerely hope that the rumored iPad pro will have some sort of native digitizer layer embedded (utilizing Wacom technology :rolleyes:)—like the infamous Galaxy Note 3.

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IMOHO, Microsoft is missing a point with these ads. They try to out-tablet the iPad, and that's probably the wrong way to position it. As a tablet, the iPad is tough to assail.

The Strength of the Surface Pro becomes truly apparent, when you plug in two external displays and a regular KB & mouse. That's what they should be showing... tablet transforming into a somewhat powerful desktop.

For me, the stylus is a gimmick. But for me, the desktop capabilities are a game changer. And recent builds of Win 10 are making it better....
 
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.

I'm guessing that a lot of people make their comments based upon playing with a display unit for a couple of minutes. Just like a lot of the Windows comments, people who spent 5 minutes with Windows 8 claiming how difficult it is to use, yet supposedly switched to OSX which they have never used and had no learning curve. Right.
 
Of course a native Wacom digitizer is more precise. However, I was quite surprised how precise and responsive new apps are. I created the image below without zooming in, on a quite small iPad mini 2! I sincerely hope that the rumored iPad pro will have some sort of native digitizer layer embedded (utilizing Wacom technology :rolleyes:)—like the infamous Galaxy Note 3.

Image

Slightly better than a stylus but still a toy. Try writing 2mm text on a 5.5". That's probably the size of the tip of Bamboo so you can't. :D
 
I'm guessing that a lot of people make their comments based upon playing with a display unit for a couple of minutes. Just like a lot of the Windows comments, people who spent 5 minutes with Windows 8 claiming how difficult it is to use, yet supposedly switched to OSX which they have never used and had no learning curve. Right.
I am making a pretty penny in training users to use OS X when they could have just stayed on Windows.
 
Icke

Slightly better than a stylus but still a toy. Try writing 2mm text on a 5.5". That's probably the size of the tip of Bamboo so you can't. :D

I won't argue that any stylus or digitizer is more precise than pen and paper. :p Yes it's a toy. And like with any toy you just start playing... But then again, I can't imagine a workflow where I'd need that kind of precission in digital sketching/inking. You always zoom in within PS or Illustrator. The only feature I really miss is pen tilt, for airbrushing.

I was considering buying a surface for digital drawing, but the bamboo stylus works good enough for me and was cheaper than a surface pro or a Wacom cintiq. At first I was very skeptical but I managed to adapt quicker than I thought.
 
I know the OS is the key differentiator here, but it's hard to ignore the versatility of the Surface.

Prior superiority won't be enough to keep Apple on top forever. We need some new ideas.

Apple started the mud sling with their "I'm a mac, and I'm a pc" ads, but unfortunately Microsofts marketing points out all the major flaws of Macs of today (that only fanboys will deny).

Where Microsoft is is where I saw Apple being far ahead of them... and for spite, they won't go there until they have too.

If Apple would apply this concept to a tablet and make an iPad that wasn't a blow up iPod touch... it would be great. If any company could marry the laptop and tablet in a far better way that microsuck it's apple...

Unfortunately, the iPad is really starting to suck. Yeah, I said it. Burn me now... but it's the truth. I'd kill to have my Macbook display detach and work like a tablet for 100 reasons.... and many of them are the limitations of the iPad that are growing daily in comparison to everyone else out there who is moving forward leaps and bounds over the iPad.
 
This ad sucks on so many levels.

Only Microsoft can do that.

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Apple started the mud sling with their "I'm a mac, and I'm a pc" ads, but unfortunately Microsofts marketing points out all the major flaws of Macs of today (that only fanboys will deny).

No one can deny a possible try. But Microsoft can barely touch the Macbook Air let alone any other Mac in their ads.

The Surface is in a league of its own. To compare it to a slim notebook factor is a major fail by Microsoft. It could do so much more by standing on its own merits. Microsoft, at least copy from the Apple now, not half a decade old.

The Apple ads were far more convincing & informative though. With better voice acting & a fortunate lack of violently jerking people.

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If Apple would apply this concept to a tablet and make an iPad that wasn't a blow up iPod touch... it would be great. If any company could marry the laptop and tablet in a far better way that microsuck it's apple...

Unfortunately, the iPad is really starting to suck. Yeah, I said it. Burn me now... but it's the truth. I'd kill to have my Macbook display detach and work like a tablet for 100 reasons.... and many of them are the limitations of the iPad that are growing daily in comparison to everyone else out there who is moving forward leaps and bounds over the iPad.

We might have an interesting discussion going if you may help outline some of the perceived defects & possible resolutions in the iPad.
 
Did the same ad agency develop this and the other ads? The previous ads were great. This one is kind of lame. A kickstand, and I can break it apart? The MacBook Air holds its own pretty well just by sitting there!
 
„Hi, I'm a Mac. And I'm a PC.“

See? The Mac introduces himself first. Instantly establishing an order between the two.

„My Mac is great, it's so delightful. So is my Surface, it's just as powerful.“

Again the Mac is introduced first and the Surface is presented as an also-ran with matching capabilities.
Are we sure this advertisement is pro Microsoft? Because it doesn't look like.​
 
Time for an entire new series of "I'm a Mac. I'm a PC." series of commercials to counter this.

Disappointing that the "I'm iOS. I'm Android." commercials never came about. Supposedly, iOS was portrayed as a Popular / Athletic teenage girl while Android was portrayed as a Gothic / Scene girl with all the stereotypical conflicts resulting. I'm sure the cat-fights would have been epic.
 
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