Microsoft Launches Site to Lure MacBook Switchers to Surface Pro 3

[Renzatic]

Thanks for asking. Follow the linked post … and the next link … through to the (February 2014) head of the conversation on App.net

Done. It seems the only problem you have with Linux is the massive variety of distros, since everything you mentioned interest in isn't exclusive to BSD.

Albeit, you'll have to jump through some hoops to get ZFS running on a Linux distro.

Honestly, besides BSD, I'd say the best distro for you would be Arch. You seem to have pretty exacting standards (far beyond my needs and knowledge, honestly), and Arch allows you to do pretty exacting things.

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Definitely the type cover marketing seems weird. Maybe they found that a lot of people already have wireless keyboards and they can get at least get started without spending that extra money.

Maybe. But considering how much focus they're putting on it and the SP3 being part of one unified whole, even that explanation doesn't make total sense.

I think MS should bite the bullet, slap an extra $100 on the base price of the SP, and package them together. By this point, everyone and their grandma assumes they do, so they might as well.

 

[grahamperrin]

Surface, hands-on; and switching without rushing

Lots of ppl in here have never even held a SP3 based on many of these responses. …

I had someone's Surface in my hands for a short while a few weeks ago. Maybe a few months, I can't recall; I don't know what type of Surface it was.

Whilst I wasn't curious enough to discover exactly what hardware I had in my hands (no intention of switching to Microsoft Windows), I was very impressed with how the Microsoft hardware felt, and so on.

… Honestly, besides BSD, I'd say the best distro for you would be Arch. …

Thanks. I have maybe five or six years to make a decision …

 

[rowspaxe]

Lots of ppl in here have never even held a SP3 based on many of these responses. Hate MS all you want the SP3 is a really good device. Tad bit overpriced but so is every Apple product.

The world according to MR: "The pen is laggy, you have to press so hard you distort the glass, instantly slows down due to registry bloat, and immediately crashes due to malware. Only the i7 model can run photoshop, and it looks like a toy. And why isnt the keyboard free?"

I think your last point is right on: it sells at a slight premuim, maybe $50-$200, depending on the model. Posters here never offer what they think the price point should be, and what the comp hardware at that price is.

 

[JackieInCo]

The world according to MR: "The pen is laggy, you have to press so hard you distort the glass, instantly slows down due to registry bloat, and immediately crashes due to malware. Oh, and it looks like a toy. And why isnt the keyboard free?"

I think your last point is right on: it sells at a slight premuim, maybe $50-$200, depending on the model. Take it or leave it.

Whoever said the pen was laggy and that you had to press so hard obviously never used one.

 

[rowspaxe]

Definitely the type cover marketing seems weird. Maybe they found that a lot of people already have wireless keyboards and they can get at least get started without spending that extra money.

I somehow assessed the price of the keycover tablet combo without any confusion. I dont see the issue but many here and elsewhere seem upset about it

 

[Renzatic]

I somehow assessed the price of the keycover tablet combo without any confusion. I dont see the issue but many here and elsewhere seem upset about it

Eh. I wouldn't say I'm upset about it at all. It's just weird to me that MS puts so much emphasis on it, but then turns around and treats it as an optional accessory on store shelves.

Think about it. Have you seen a commercial or advertisement for the Surface Pro that didn't have the Type Cover in there somewhere? Google up the Surface Pro 3 and browse through the images. Out of the first hundred pictures or so you come across, only two or three show the tablet itself without the keyboard attached to it.

If they're gonna push it that much, I think they should include it in the box.

 

[JackieInCo]

Eh. I wouldn't say I'm upset about it at all. It's just weird to me that MS puts so much emphasis on it, but then turns around and treats it as an optional accessory on store shelves.

Think about it. Have you seen a commercial or advertisement for the Surface Pro that didn't have the Type Cover in there somewhere? Google up the Surface Pro 3 and browse through the images. Out of the first hundred pictures or so you come across, only two or three show the tablet itself without the keyboard attached to it.

If they're gonna push it that much, I think they should include it in the box.

Agree. They include the pen which not everyone will have a use for but not the keyboard,

 

[radus]

students buy the surface pro 3 because of the pen

people who have to write or to draw buy the surface pro 3 because of the pen -- so students and artists are nobody ?

 

[uwdude]

The biggest thing that REALLY annoys me on Windows at work while I'm using it is having to click on every window to tell Windows where you are so you can scroll. I'm just constantly having to click to scroll. And of course sometimes the click doesn't take or ends up highlighting instead or something if I'm in a hurry. And then sometimes you have to click just to get on your window, and then click again just to get the cursor to show in the defaulted text entry box. And from the IT people I've talked to, they say blame Microsoft for this.

Now granted our work computers have Windows 7, so I don't know if it's still the same in 8 or 8.1, but this issue alone irritates me enough that I would hesitate to buy a Windows computer at home.

 

[Renzatic]

Now granted our work computers have Windows 7, so I don't know if it's still the same in 8 or 8.1, but this issue alone irritates me enough that I would hesitate to buy a Windows computer at home.

It is, and yeah, that pisses me off too. There are programs you can grab that fix it, like AlwaysMouseWheel, but this is something that should be in Windows by default.

Hopefully MS will add it in for 10. They're pretty much fixing a lot of the problems with Windows and adding in the features I've always wanted with it, so...fingers crossed.

 

[tech4all]

It's funny to see M$ begging Apple users to try their junk.

hehe, you wrote "M$"... you're so cool man!

Anywho...

Apple's guide to switching from Android to iPhone

 

[Xiroteus]

I have never seen that kind of discussion in the last 12 years - it is the first time Apple lost ground compared to MS in both hardware and software.
Nothing Apple can sell is near the Surface Pro 3.

It would be cool if Apple had something like this, could run OSX and Window on it. FULL OS. I know the Surface 3 uses N-Trig, wacom with pressure sensitivity.

However the odds of seeing something that cool appear unlikely. At the moment it feels too much of the same or continuing to dumb down everything to insane levels. The devices are still cool and all however iPod, iPhone and iPad are basically the same thing in different sizes. Not enough variety. It is all marketed to be as mainstream s possible which can make thing a bit boring and common.

 

[h4lp m3]

Before the commercials, I never heard of Surface 3.

 

[aquajet]

give credit where it's due

Although Windows 8 had a rocky start, I think that risk Microsoft took is beginning to pay off as there have been a number of interesting and innovative products built around Windows 8 over the last year or two, the Surface Pro 3 being one of them. I think SP3 is the best tablet device out there, far ahead of the iPad and although it's a tablet first device, I'd prefer it over a MacBook of any type. Honestly I think Apple needs to figure things out, particularly in refining their cloud offerings and bridging the gap between OS X and iOS otherwise they are at a real risk of losing ground here.

 

[maflynn]

Although Windows 8 had a rocky start, I think that risk Microsoft took is beginning to pay off as there have been a number of interesting and innovative products built around Windows 8 over the last year or two,

Windows 8.1 really fixed a lot of the major complaints. That along with judicial uses of some utilities, and I have a very nicely working windows 8 installation.

 

[S.B.G]

Windows 8.1 really fixed a lot of the major complaints. That along with judicial uses of some utilities, and I have a very nicely working windows 8 installation.

I agree. I've finally gotten around to using 8.1 a lot more recently, including upgrading my Windows 7 office PC to it a couple of weeks ago. Plus I keep an 8.1 VM up and running on my iMac and MacBook Pro.

The only thing I customized was adding the Stardock Start Button to it. That made all the difference in the world for me using it.

 

[mi7chy]

Currently Android is the most polished mobile experience but the attraction of the Surface Pro 3 is having access to the largest selection of professional software like OrCAD, Solidworks, Inventor, Pro/Engineer, etc., precision pen and touch input with a large high resolution 12" that weighs about the same as an iPad2 and the UI is constantly improved with 8.1 and soon to be 10. One of the best purchases I ever made since the Apple IIe.

 

[rowspaxe]

What people seems to be overlooking is they are comparing a touchscreen tablet with examples of touchscreen capability to a freaking laptop. They should compare a touchscreen tablet to a touchscreen tablet if they want to compare something to a laptop it should be another laptop.

But thats the premise --right or wrong--its a tablet that replaces a laptop. Besides, haven't touchscreen laptops been commonplace for over 2 years?

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I agree. I've finally gotten around to using 8.1 a lot more recently, including upgrading my Windows 7 office PC to it a couple of weeks ago. Plus I keep an 8.1 VM up and running on my iMac and MacBook Pro.

Apropos of nothing--I just dont understand how 8.1 is different much less a huge improvement on windows 8. And 10 is really just 8.1 with some minor modifications (start button that is frustratingly unlike the start button, useless metro apps not opening on the desktop). Like most windows users, i was content to ignore the whole Metro mess and focus on the desktop. And now it appears the "legacy" desktop has now survived its "Metro space"-- full screen apps-- replacement

So after 2 years of customer upset, nothing has really changed. Maybe all the tech press covering windows is using a mac: its not that far fetched!

 

[oplix]

Microsoft Surface: The Macbook for idiots.

 

[S.B.G]

Microsoft Surface: The Macbook for idiots.

Why does the choice one makes for a Surface, a device, a thing, a tool, make them an idiot? I fail to see how someone exercising their desire for any certain product should cause them to be ridiculed for it.

 

[JackieInCo]

Microsoft Surface: The Macbook for idiots.

That's intelligent.

 

[S.B.G]

Apropos of nothing--I just dont understand how 8.1 is different much less a huge improvement on windows 8. And 10 is really just 8.1 with some minor modifications (start button that is frustratingly unlike the start button, useless metro apps not opening on the desktop). Like most windows users, i was content to ignore the whole Metro mess and focus on the desktop. And now it appears the "legacy" desktop has now survived its "Metro space"-- full screen apps-- replacement

So after 2 years of customer upset, nothing has really changed. Maybe all the tech press covering windows is using a mac: its not that far fetched!

I hadn't said it was a huge improvement over 8. I'm finding 8.1 to be reliable and easy to use thus far. I avoided it for a long time because of the Metro interface. Using that on a desktop was most annoying to me. Now that I virtually eliminated that, I have no issues with it. Windows 10, which I have in a VM is also quite nice and I'm glad they brought back the Start button and reduced the Metro interface to a more manageable size.

 

[nospleen]

Does anyone know how to sync your iCloud info with the metro apps? I do not have a surface, but read on the forums it only syncs with outlook? I am interested in one, but prefer my contacts and calendar to sync with the default metro apps.

 

[Keirasplace]

I hadn't said it was a huge improvement over 8. I'm finding 8.1 to be reliable and easy to use thus far. I avoided it for a long time because of the Metro interface. Using that on a desktop was most annoying to me. Now that I virtually eliminated that, I have no issues with it. Windows 10, which I have in a VM is also quite nice and I'm glad they brought back the Start button and reduced the Metro interface to a more manageable size.

I don't see much difference at all. Probably because I didn't find 8 so bad at all. Its good, not great and it still has a LOT of security holes (I can't believe the number of security patches per year,... Insane).

Also, I've got a network bug for 6 months, not even connected wirelessly, use Ethernet and they don't seem able to fix it even though I've filed lots of info on it. I'd have to accept a load of security holes (revert everything) to not have the bug!

Every 3-10 days, my computer network goes wonky, seemingly some memory leak in the network stack!! Not sure why I'm one of the rare one with that bug (they told me it is a known issue... But 6 months!!).

 

[S.B.G]

I don't see much difference at all. Probably because I didn't find 8 so bad at all. Its good, not great and it still has a LOT of security holes (I can't believe the number of security patches per year,... Insane).

Also, I've got a network bug for 6 months, not even connected wirelessly, use Ethernet and they don't seem able to fix it even though I've filed lots of info on it. I'd have to accept a load of security holes (revert everything) to not have the bug!

Every 3-10 days, my computer network goes wonky, seemingly some memory leak in the network stack!! Not sure why I'm one of the rare one with that bug (they told me it is a known issue... But 6 months!!).

Yeah, I am always amazed at the amount of patches on Windows. OS's are so complex that people are always finding holes.

6 months waiting on a fix for a known problem is not good, but not without precedent. Apple, at times, takes a long time to fill holes as well.

I always wonder how these companies classify and prioritize their bug fix lists.