Microsoft Reveals New Band 2, Lumia Phones, Surface Pro 4, and Surface Book

[adamjackson]

These things look great. If I wasn't so happy with Mac OS, I'd buy one. That's sort of the great thing about Apple. The iOS, Mac OS and Watch OS integrations are so awesome that I really don't see myself ever switching unless another company can outdo apple on hardware and software usability, design, reliability, beauty and integration.

Even then, apple would have to stagnate on all of those points for a few years before I switched. But to casual users, this is a good thing and it will help innovation from everyone. i can see Apple and Samsung doing what they can do out-innovate Microsoft and for that, I'm very excited.

 

[garysang]

"New Cortana integration lets users speak to the Band in order to send texts and make reminders"
Cortana integration is not new, it was in the original Band. They added EXPANDED integration.

"Each of the new phones include a new feature called Glance Screen which showcases important pieces of information when a user pulls the phone out of his or her pocket, without the need to interact with the device directly and without using battery life." This is also not new. Glance screen has been around for years.

"It then provided a brief demo of the Microsoft Display Dock, which connects a Windows Phone to a PC for the two devices to work in unison to manipulate documents and manage user data." This is ALSO wrong. Continuum turns the phone into a PC, not pair it with a PC. It lets you use desktop UI on the applications from the phone when hooked up to the dock and simultaneously still use the phone.

"the company calls the Surface Book "the fastest laptop ever made, anywhere, on any planet.""
again, no they didn't. They said that pound for pound it was the most powerful 13 inch laptop ever.



seriously.... holy crap

 

[CarpalMac]

At the end of the day, it still runs Windows and will be a failure because of that.

Yeah, just like the SP3 bombed.

Oh no, wait... And that was before the much improved 10 was released.

 

[roblin]

The WinBook Pro looks pretty decent from the front, if only the keyboard had black buttons!

 

[Unami]

MS claims Surface Book is more powerful than MacBook Pro which maybe true until next generation processors are introduced in an upgraded MacBook Pro.

AND discrete graphics - that 2x figure won't be based in the cpu alone. a meagre next generation cpu will usually only give you about 10% of speed increase.

good job by microsoft, integrating a nvidia gpu in that form factor. they even get lots of good feedback here, so they must have done something more than right.

 

[LordQ]

Pretty cool products announced today!

 

[Write-more]

Wow I am impressed. Microsoft is becoming the new Apple. Who wants the new Macbook now (considering the price point)? I welcome the competitions and I must say - I like the Surface book.

 

[840quadra]

Nice to see Microsoft come out of it's Coma. not really digging the Laptop, but the phones and new Surface look great. Curious to see a shootout with the new iPad pro, and hopefully see Apple push harder at bringing more OS X features into iOS with regards to full unlimited multitasking, as well as tapping into the full power.

I think we will see the "fastest laptop ever" claim be short lived, Looks like they got some early access to intel chips, before other OEMs, and specialty companies got their hands on it. Their form factor is likely too limiting to fully tap into (Thermally) the full potential of the CPU / GPU combo. The MBP has similar issues when compared with other high end specialty / gaming laptops.

 

[NIKKG]

But still Windows

I don't know if you've used Windows 10 or not, but I do and love it. Nothing out there comes close.

 

[hachre]

Very good stuff by Microsoft. Should put some fire under Apple's ass. Let's see what they can come up with

 

[Lukkee24]

I don't know if you've used Windows 10 or not, but I do and love it. Nothing out there comes close.

Couldn't agree more, but can't say I'm surprised to see so much hate towards it coming from this forum!

 

[Mazda 3s]

So Surface book has laptop performance only with the keyboard attached ?! no thank you, the gap and the closing mechanism still aren't perfect. If you want a laptop you will buy a macbook pro, or for gamers an alieware for that price, if you want a tablet you buy an ipad air/pro, if you want a hybrid buy the surface pro 4
So the idea of Surface book is dead from the start

You only lose the NVIDIA GPU going from notebook to tablet mode AFAIK. All the other performance is still there.

 

[Yaboze]

These look very nice, the Surface Book really surprised me. It looks like a MBP but it's magnesium. I like it. Good job MS.

The maxed out Surface Book is pricey though, $2700 for i7/512GB/nVidia GPU.

 

[Unami]

I don't know if you've used Windows 10 or not, but I do and love it. Nothing out there comes close.

using it. still windows. if it weren't for osx, i'd be back to homebuilt workstations post haste. (actually, i am already. viva la hackintosh)

 

[JonneyGee]

Great, so I'll buy a phone with "facial recognition" so someone can print off my Facebook profile picture and get into my phone.

And Microsoft apparently still hasn't learned that hybrids are only so-so at both the things they do. There's a reason Apple hasn't caved to the "pressure" to make one. It's because it's a terrible idea.

Time to step up your game, Micro$oft…

 

[FightTheFuture]

And with just one keynote Microsoft seems to be a decade ahead of apple... seriously, I am stunned at what they showed off today!

A notebook with a touchscreen is a decade ahead?

 

[venom600]

Their form factor is likely too limiting to fully tap into (Thermally) the full potential of the CPU / GPU combo. The MBP has similar issues when compared with other high end specialty / gaming laptops.

I don't think it will be an issue here. The main processing and computing tech is behind the screen on the SurfaceBook. If they offload the GPU to the keyboard deck it would have plenty of cooling not having to deal with the heat of the processor in a tight space.

The Macbook Pro isn't really thermally limited... it's power limited. The GPU/CPU combos Apple has used the last two generations want more than the 85 watt power supply can deliver under full load, so they throttle back.

 

[Narcaz]

"New Cortana integration lets users speak to the Band in order to send texts and make reminders"
Cortana integration is not new, it was in the original Band. They added EXPANDED integration.

"Each of the new phones include a new feature called Glance Screen which showcases important pieces of information when a user pulls the phone out of his or her pocket, without the need to interact with the device directly and without using battery life." This is also not new. Glance screen has been around for years.

"It then provided a brief demo of the Microsoft Display Dock, which connects a Windows Phone to a PC for the two devices to work in unison to manipulate documents and manage user data." This is ALSO wrong. Continuum turns the phone into a PC, not pair it with a PC. It lets you use desktop UI on the applications from the phone when hooked up to the dock and simultaneously still use the phone.

"the company calls the Surface Book "the fastest laptop ever made, anywhere, on any planet.""
again, no they didn't. They said that pound for pound it was the most powerful 13 inch laptop ever.



seriously.... holy crap

I wonder, who is holding back these features in Cupertino. The 6S should have enough power to present at least two apps in splitscreen mode on a 1080p screen. Create a better lightning hdmi dock, add a Bluetooth Keyboard and give it finally Trackpad support. The same goes for "missing" innovations like Siri on Mac, eGPU covers/docks and other cool stuff from this Keynote. I'm really impressed by Microsoft.

 

[Dydegu]

Those videos were incredibly well made. The guts of the Microsoft Surface Book look really sharp.

 

[FightTheFuture]

With all the flaws after iOS 9 and El Capitan, I can't really see that is a bad thing. Nothing works probaly after the last updates. And I have brand new Mac Hardware

Have you considered the flaws with windows?

 

[BigRAM]

I hope this motivates Apple with the launch of the skylake Macbook pro many folks are waiting!

 

[ThunderSkunk]

I wish I was watching an Apple launch of a full features tablet with OS X on it & an augmented reality interface system etc.

...man there is some genuine weirdness in this keynote presentation.

 

[Benjamins]

lol at first glance I thought that guy is jumping off the cliff wearing the hololens

 

[StevieD100]

Yeah, just like the SP3 bombed.

Oh no, wait... And that was before the much improved 10 was released.

The ONLY Improvement in W10 is in the amount of your data it slurps back to the MS Mothership.
IMHO they are trying to become another Google.
If you want literally everything you do to be known to Microsoft (and by implication the various TLA's) then go ahead and get one.

 

[bobborries]

Interesting things. Good to see MS waking up after the Balmer years of floundering. For some reason the detachable screen for laptops does not excite me at all. I guess I'm just too accustomed to using a laptop for real work and a tablet for play.

Don't worry Apple will copy the detachable screen, how do I know this? Look at the Apple Pencil for iPad, something Jobs said would never happen. Tim Cook calibrating with Microsoft and see where that got him, a FridgeToaster tweet.