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Microsoft this week shared a new ad on its Microsoft Surface YouTube channel, this one aimed at promoting the Surface Go. As the ad begins, a little girl stares into the window of a Microsoft Store and begins singing about her preference for the Surface Go over Apple's iPad, to the tune of the song "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer."

She sings, "Grandma don't run out and buy an iPad, it was fine when I was six but now I'm 10. My dreams are big so I need a real computer, to do all the amazing things I know I can." Microsoft's ad is aimed at Apple's own "What's a Computer?" ad campaign, which began in 2016 and showed off a few of the things that the iPad Pro can do as a replacement to a traditional laptop computer.


Microsoft's description of the video includes a reference to needing a "real computer": "Big dreams need a real computer, like the Surface Go, to help make them come true. This holiday season, discover all the possibilities with the Surface Go. Portable, powerful and starts at $399."

The Surface Go launched over the summer at a price point of $399, making it a direct competitor to Apple's cheaper iPads. The Go is basically a smaller version of the $799 Surface Pro, including the integrated kickstand and a front-facing camera above the 1800 x 1200 resolution IPS touchscreen display.

Article Link: Microsoft Shares Holiday Ad Promoting Surface Go Over Apple's iPad: 'Big Dreams Need a Real Computer'
 
Yes, there are real computers and if I need one I would buy a real computer. If I need a tablet I would buy a real tablet. What I wouldn't want to buy is something that pretends to be both and is neither.

Spot on distillation and assessment.

Sometime I prefer using my MBP; sometimes my iPad. They both work incredibly well, each being a better choice than the other depending on what I'm doing.

I've tried using a Surface...no thanks. It would frustrate me no end if that's all I had available.
 
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I love the song! Very nice. Why not buy both? Seems like they're loaded. iPad for Procreate, Surface for everything else.
 
Really cute mersh MS did, clever.
Not sure why so many complain about Win10, Win10 even made my old computers run fast and feel new. Not as good as on our SP5, but really good none the less. Tbh, I haven't touched the MBP (2015) in ages.
Appleheads triggered
 
It's interesting when I see things like this, because I basically use an iPad (the first gen Pro 12.9) as my main computer and I have no issues for the most part. The lack of a file system has been the only drawback for me, but it doesn't happen often at all. I understand when people say they need a "real computer", but I think that overall the iPad is more capable than people give it credit for.

Having said that, I understand that Apple really needs to give the iPad more "computer-like" functionality, and I really hope they do so with iOS 13.
 
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To anyone saying the iPad isnt a real computer and you cant do all the stuff that you can do on a PC. have you TRIED using a Surface Pro? It is so underpowered, I'd rather use an iPad.

And you can code on an iPad. In fact, I'd say for children it is a prett awesome environment (Swift but also Pythonista)

The current Surface Pros with 4-core 8th gen Core-i processors are certainly not "underpowered". In fact, the Surface Pro line has always had decent ultrabook level specs. They're only underpowered if you're trying to use them as gaming PCs or other graphically intensive task, in which case, an iPad won't be any better.
 
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Too bad that is completely untrue. If your W10 computer is an unreliable disaster, it's all on you. You either bought a piece of crap computer to begin with, or you downloading too many "free" things from the internet.

The truth is, W10 is one of the best, most reliable versions of Windows 10. But, feel free to post links to mainstream IT sites who say W10 is a disaster. I'd be interested in what I must be doing right for my clients who have completely a trouble-free W10 experience. As a matter of fact, one client that is mixed Mac and Windows, the Mac users have far more issues than the Windows users. Far more.

Hey that’s cool that W10 is the best version of Windows 10 yet! Good for them right? It still isn’t good though. Windows simply lacks the polish that 40 years of software development should bring. That being said I’ve never owned a mac, I just hate windows

I’m glad you have a good experience with windows, but don’t think for a second bad experiences are uncommon. Windows just doesnt make sense sometimes and it’s unusually unrelated to hardware
 
If Apple is considered a 'cool brand', I'm absolutely down with that, but I buy Apple products for my mobile and computing needs because I know I'm getting quality and the OS I want.

People have purchased and still buy iPads / iPhones purely for the same reason as you point out - because it's a 'cool' brand. Not sure what point you're trying to make here. Apple is very much fashion brand.

A lot of people who buy iPads for tasks such as web browsing and email could also just buy Chromebooks instead and be very happy with them.

Back to the subject.

The trouble Apple have is that the iPad was never intended to replace a desktop or laptop, and they have started to imply that it can without making substantial enough changes to the software for that to be possible for many people.

If it can't be a replacement for Mac users, it is certainly never going to be a replacement for those that run Windows, and the comparisons as such need to stop for that reason alone.
 
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I recently bought an iPad Pro and returned it. Great to hold, awesome screen, Face ID works well... but it was way too much overkill. For the price and the specs, as others have pointed out, iOS is its biggest flaw. It's a great OS for media consumption, using light productivity apps (like iWork) and is great for reading internet articles and such. But there is still so much that you can't do. I don't think Apple will allow you to switch from Mac OS to iOS on the same device; they'll go for a unified OS before they do that. But there definitely needs to be some pro-version of iOS with richer features.
 
And you can code on an iPad. In fact, I'd say for children it is a prett awesome environment (Swift but also Pythonista)

There's a vast difference between your description of coding ( which is extreme casual ) , and coding in a 'professional' environment ; It's just not possible on an iPad. I could not replace my Apple laptop for an iPad for coding either at work or home. iPad just doesn't have the tools or the hardware.

Apple made the swift playground for a learning experience, which is pretty cool - get kids into learning a language.
 
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And this is why there are rumors that Microsoft is making a lite version of Windows that might not even be called Windows. Where is their ad going after Chromebooks? Isn’t that their bigger competition?
That's what Windows RT, and then Windows 10S, were for, but MS due to their ineptness in marketing, screwed both of those up by calling them Windows, and then people expect the OS to run standard Windows programs.

It is going to be difficult going against Chromebooks since OEMs who make Chromebooks are the same OEMs making Windows laptops, and MS has to maintain that relationship. The easiest target is Apple is Apple is exclusive (macOS and iOS). It's off the mark, but at least the marketing team showed they are working.
 
I mean, yeah, for some workloads they're not wrong. That said, grandma, don't buy her a Surface Go. That's just... cruel. Get her a $400 HP laptop from Sam's Club that actually has an i-series processor, she'll be happier.
 
Similar to Samsung's approach, it won't help. The Surface won't sell because it's an okay laptop and a crappy tablet. I don't really see any comparison between the two, so this feels pretty desperate. In the end, use what works best for task at hand.
You can't see any comparison? One is crappy laptop and a okay tablet. The crappy tablet can run pretty much anything you want and is more efficient at doing actual work.

Apple says the iPad is a computer replacement and Microsoft says that is stupid.

Work tried to switch us to tablets and no field engineer/mechanical engineer with half a brain would use them. Took 3x as long just to order a part. A tablet as a replacement for a computer is a joke unless you just want a tablet.

I would rather take notes on paper instead of using a tablet and doing the work later on a computer In most cases you would save time by waiting and using a real computer.

Not comparable? But this is a ad comparing them and lots of comments on comparing them. And Apple pushing the tablet as a replacement for a computer.

ChromeOs is more of a replacement of a typical computer that is often cheaper and able to get the same results for more people compared to a tablet.
 
Awesome - that ad made me smile!

Reminds me of the experiences my mom had when she tried to replace her MacBook with an iPad. So many things that should be easy, like sharing a directory of files with my dad, who still uses a MacBook, turned out to be either super complicated or were plain impossible. What a waste of time. She's back to a MacBook again. Yeah sometimes you need a real computer.
 
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Spyware is what it is (even in the Enterprise edition) - and that is what makes it unacceptable to use.

Would you elaborate? I'm not disagreeing, just seeking to learn more.

In Enterprise you can turn off telemetry and the "consumer experience" (aka ads). In other editions you can't disable the consumer experience/ads but you can manually disable telemetry by setting the service to Disabled. That, along with changing the other privacy settings to be more restrictive should be enough, no?
 
The "desktop" computer is gradually being moved aside (by the general public) and replaced by their phones, it looks like a long slow downhill ride for Microsoft and PC's in general, but they've got to keep trying. Just saw Microsoft is going to abandon their own browser foundation in Edge and use Chromium (Blink) as a base.
Yes. It's a slow downhill ride for Microsoft to become the most valuable company. Also, Microsoft is a software company first. They got into cloud late, but look where they stand. They beat Google and became the second largest cloud infrastructure provider. Microsoft knows that desktop is dead. So they are moving windows to tablet and with a strong backing of their own cloud infrastructure, I think they are gonna become the leader again. Why do I feel like the history of apple vs Microsoft is repeating itself again! It was Bill Gates who had the last laugh then and now it will be Satya Nadella who will have the last laugh?
 
This is the reason i have never been able to justify the purchase of an Ipad, it's just another gigantic ipod touch. It might be useful for some people not for me. Most of the people I see around me just hand over their ipads to their kids to play with or run some educational software etc. It's use for a professional purpose is very limited. Would purchase surface anytime over an ipad.
 
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Too bad W10 is still an unreliable disaster.
And the Surface Go has third rate hardware. It shouldn’t be running a full-blown desktop OS.
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Too bad that is completely untrue. If your W10 computer is an unreliable disaster, it's all on you. You either bought a piece of crap computer to begin with, or you downloading too many "free" things from the internet.

The truth is, W10 is one of the best, most reliable versions of Windows 10. But, feel free to post links to mainstream IT sites who say W10 is a disaster. I'd be interested in what I must be doing right for my clients who have completely a trouble-free W10 experience. As a matter of fact, one client that is mixed Mac and Windows, the Mac users have far more issues than the Windows users. Far more.
IBM says it saves $500 per user when they switch to Macs.
 
Too bad that is completely untrue. If your W10 computer is an unreliable disaster, it's all on you. You either bought a piece of crap computer to begin with, or you downloading too many "free" things from the internet.

The truth is, W10 is one of the best, most reliable versions of Windows 10. But, feel free to post links to mainstream IT sites who say W10 is a disaster. I'd be interested in what I must be doing right for my clients who have completely a trouble-free W10 experience. As a matter of fact, one client that is mixed Mac and Windows, the Mac users have far more issues than the Windows users. Far more.

By W10 , he actually means Win 98. You have to understand some people love to Lie lol
 
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