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Microsoft is sure being proud of the Windows 11 start menu. I have a Windows 11 laptop at home and dislike the recommended portion on the Start menu. On the promotional photo, it took up majority of the screen.
 
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4GB of RAM is still a thing?
Honestly, 4GB needs to be done away with.

What I’m annoyed about is that there’s a 16GB model but you can only buy it from the Microsoft Business store and the price jumps quite a bit. I really like the 12” size and wish Apple would do another 11 or 12”, but the Surface Laptop Go price seems to be too high of a jump and it’s better value to buy a different Windows laptop. I might try to pick up a used first gen Laptop Go with 16GB instead.
 
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The picture in the article hints of a lighted keyboard, if true that fixes one of the larger fails of the original Go.
That was one of the main reasons I bought a Surface Go 2 instead of the Go Laptop.

And then bought an iPad Mini.

Edit: Where does it hint at a backlit keyboard? I see keys to adjust the brightness of the screen, but not the keyboard lighting.
 
It looks good, but it doesn't feel very high quality, the bottom is even plastic.
A Macbook Air feels much higher quality.
I really hope that Apple will come to their senses and offer at least a classic MBA in gray with a black keyboard and without white bezels.
I would bet that this will be the best-selling model in the line.
 
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Not at all filing a formal complaint - but it does look very Apple. The sunken keys, the hinge design... Hell, even the squared off edge of the screen looks very iPad-ish. If the MBA launched with this aesthetic, I'm pretty sure the community (here) would approve - for the most part.

Remind me: is there some scuttlebutt about a potential MBA update at WWDC or is that more wishful thinking on my part?
It looks like what the MacBook Air could have looked like if Apple just continued to make good looking, classy designs instead of surprising us with weird choices every time.
 
They are decent laptops. I was given previous version a while back in return for some work that I would not take payment for. Pleasantly surprised. I could quite easily use it as daily machine. Long time mac and unix user but Windows has certainly improved and MS hardware makes a decent solution. Still prefer my MBA but happy to have the Surface laptop as a secondary. Plus it plays Unreal Tournament and Quake III arena superbly - even on the 34” 21:9 via USB-C! My MBA or Mini cannot do that ;-)

One thing continues to surprise me is just how slick installation of OS and/or devices has become under Windows. I have a few older mini PCs (Gigabyte Brix and HP 260). Some I run Linux on and some I run Windows. When I install Windows it is very fast, hands off and every driver installed. The install has become as slick as macOS. Same for devices which are much like mac and get detected and installed. It may even offer a slightly better job of devices with third party support apps (such as Logitech MX, SteelSeries, Canon printer) are auto detected and installed.

Nice to see Apple and MS challenging each other though. A little competition on hardware and software is not a bad thing. Certainly working out well on processors with Intel being pushed by AMD and Apple.
 
Apple copied Sony's slim metal clamshell VAIO 505 laptops from late 1990s. Before that Apple laptops were thick, plastic and ugly like Compaqs (where Tim Cookie came from). So, Apple copied both Compaq then Sony.
Pretty sure that the 1991 Apple Powerbook 100 pre-dates that Compaq (Wikipedia has the Compaq Presario range starting in 1993)
Powerbook_100_pose.jpg

It was actually a collaboration with Sony - but (according to Wikipedia) designed after the 140 and 170, which set the style.

I actually had a Vaio PCG505 which did predate the Titanium Powerbook... It was kinda the proto MacBook Air but, boy, was it dongle city! Gimmick of the Powerbook Ti though was the wide-screen format (and flaky paint...).
 
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But does it have a fan? that would make it a winner
Probably. 11th Gen is:
- Not new
- Hot

We ran a Surface Laptop Go pilot and the i5/16G unit we tried not only ran hot and loud (10th gen Intel) but it got so hot running a single Chrome window with two SaaS tabs, that it was uncomfortable to even use on your lap.

The vents port the hot air into the hinge and the keyboard threatens to scorch off your fingerprints.

The only redeeming design feature, imo, is the ventless bottom, but the heat and silly proprietary power adapter make that a total wash if anything.
 
I was going to write a list of things I dislike about this but have shortened to to everything. It's e-waste.

By the time you price it up to something usable, then it's £719 here and they don't have any stock so you can't actually buy them. Also there are literally no support options available other than ship off to MS's terrible third party repair services. On the last round of surface purchases they got chucked in a pile in the corner until the batteries went spicy pillow because it was cheaper than actually having to get them sorted.

You can bag new macbook air for £130 more and chuck applecare on top and you have 3 years of pain free computing. Better screen, battery life, faster, cooler, better service options available. That'd have a much lower TCO over 3 years.

From a corp perspective if I had to ship windows, I'd probably buy thinkpad E14 gen 2's at the moment. Dirt cheap and decent on site support.
 
There's still a lot about my 3+ year old Surface Laptop 2 that I like better than my M1 MacBook Air - hinge, aspect ratio, keyboard, palm comfort, Windows Hello login, etc. I mostly work in clamshell mode, so the Mac wins the day... but the Surface Laptop line is great hardware.
 
There's still a lot about my 3+ year old Surface Laptop 2 that I like better than my M1 MacBook Air - hinge, aspect ratio, keyboard, palm comfort, Windows Hello login, etc. I mostly work in clamshell mode, so the Mac wins the day... but the Surface Laptop line is great hardware.

Windows Hello is TERRIBLE. It doesn't recognise me unless I shaved between exactly 2 and 4 days ago on my Dell.
 
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Honestly, 4GB needs to be done away with.

What I’m annoyed about is that there’s a 16GB model but you can only buy it from the Microsoft Business store and the price jumps quite a bit. I really like the 12” size and wish Apple would do another 11 or 12”, but the Surface Laptop Go price seems to be too high of a jump and it’s better value to buy a different Windows laptop. I might try to pick up a used first gen Laptop Go with 16GB instead.
id recommend ebay and a laptop 3 or 4. You can pick them up brand new for around the same price :)
 
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Not at all filing a formal complaint - but it does look very Apple. The sunken keys, the hinge design... Hell, even the squared off edge of the screen looks very iPad-ish. If the MBA launched with this aesthetic, I'm pretty sure the community (here) would approve - for the most part.

Remind me: is there some scuttlebutt about a potential MBA update at WWDC or is that more wishful thinking on my part?
Do we need to reminisce how Apple notebooks went from having best in class keyboards to some of the worst ones in the pro/premium realm because they favoured form over function? Looking nice doesn't cut it.

Fortunately they have been improving, but we did go a good 6-7 years with the failed thin/butterfly thingie with bad ergonomics.
 
Microsoft is sure being proud of the Windows 11 start menu. I have a Windows 11 laptop at home and dislike the recommended portion on the Start menu. On the promotional photo, it took up majority of the screen.
I downgraded back to Windows 10 as I couldn’t get on with it and whilst change is often necessary the new Start Menu did my nut in.

Live Tiles might be classed as a relic but I much prefer them over to the new Widgets feature…


Windows Hello is TERRIBLE. It doesn't recognise me unless I shaved between exactly 2 and 4 days ago on my Dell.

My Dell mouse w/fingerprint reader works like a dream when using it to login to sites using Edge but when unlocking the screen 99.9% of the time I revert back to the PIN because it doesn’t recognise me.
 
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Pretty sure that the 1991 Apple Powerbook 100 pre-dates that Compaq (Wikipedia has the Compaq Presario range starting in 1993)
Powerbook_100_pose.jpg

It was actually a collaboration with Sony - but (according to Wikipedia) designed after the 140 and 170, which set the style.

I actually had a Vaio PCG505 which did predate the Titanium Powerbook... It was kinda the proto MacBook Air but, boy, was it dongle city! Gimmick of the Powerbook Ti though was the wide-screen format (and flaky paint...).
Aside from the flaky paint, the TiBook was a beautiful notebook. It made the PowerBook G3 that it replaced look like a dinosaur.
 
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