Microsoft's Surface Book Ads Borrow Music From Apple to Focus on Things a Mac 'Just Can’t Do'

[69Mustang]

Totally agree. I can't stand even seeing dust and other smudges that somehow find their way onto my rMBP screen. Frankly, I dislike having to clean my iPad Air screen after my kids get their not-quite-clean hands on it.

And I'll state what I have over and again, that touch input on a vertical screen when your hands are naturally doing input on a keyboard in the horizontal plane, makes ZERO sense and is just not comfortable or manageable for anything other than quick pointing or cursor moving - things that you can do faster and more ergonomically by using a trackpad. I get that trackpads and Windows hardware have been anything but smooth or useful, which is likely part of the reason why MS moved on to screen input, and because they needed something to show they were following the trend of touchscreen devices.

Honestly, your argument might hold more water if touch input was the only way to interact with the SB. You never have to touch the screen; with a finger or the pen. It's about having a choice. Trackpad, keyboard, and mouse input are readily available on the SB. For those who want it, touch input is available as well.

 

[nt5672]

. . . . They don't seem to understand what makes people buy Macs though.

I think you really meant, ". . .what used to make people buy Macs. . ." since Apple no longer makes top end laptops.

 

[Gudi]

Does it seem like Apple and Microsoft think that the only real work out there is that of the creative/media type?

No.

How will these ads draw in people who don't...uh draw for a living.

I wouldn't exactly call video editing drawing, but tell us how would you show off the benefit of a Retina display notebook? Maybe a nice spreadsheet or a terminal session ...

 

[A MacBook lover]

Now, Apple, please borrow some inspiration from the surface book. Say what you want about MS or Apple, but the Surface Book is the first thing in years that have made me consider "switching".

Agreed, but it still runs windows :/

 

[Jimmy James]

He can't do that on his Mac? So he has a Mac, presumably for personal use, and only uses Windows for work because he has to? That's a terrible message from MS.

 

[pat500000]

Hey micro-bluff, rather than worrying about what Mac can't do..how about you (Microsoft) explain what you can actually do and not borrow apple's music.

 

[Studioman]

Sorry but the whole fingerprints and dirty screen argument is BS. I have not heard anyone complain about fingerprints on a touch device like the iPad or iPhone. How could that ever be a bigger problem for a MacBook?

I can wipe them on my shirt easily. Not so with a laptop.

 

[Mascots]

Honestly, your argument might hold more water if touch input was the only way to interact with the SB. You never have to touch the screen; with a finger or the pen. It's about having a choice. Trackpad, keyboard, and mouse input are readily available on the SB. For those who want it, touch input is available as well.

On one end, I agree.
On the other end, though, I'm happy for Apple's resistance in bringing touch screens to their laptops because they instead poured so much into producing some of the best trackpads ever. That was the primary thing that made me switch back in the day and personally, I can do more with the Mac / OS X trackpad than the benefits that would come with direct manipulation on the display.

To each their own, though.

 

[scoobydoo99]

He ends the video stating, "I can't do that on my Mac."

If that quote is accurate, the marketing team should be fired. He's admitting that the HAS a Mac. I can't fathom how a professional ad agency could make such a huge mistake.

 

[cmwade77]

Umm, funny how Microsoft never mentions how expensive their Surface Pros are compared to a Mac. Nor do they mention that they can be infested with spyware, adware, are slow to run and just generally don't work well.

 

[Gudi]

It’s I’m a Mac, I’m a PC done all over again. Just as well too.

Where is Justin Long? Where is John Hodgman? Where is the humor?

 

[Mascots]

If that quote is accurate, the marketing team should be fired. He's admitting that the HAS a Mac. I can't fathom how a professional ad agency could make such a huge mistake.

Well, I have a Mac and am probably going to listen to his opinion more if I see that he shares my current experience and is having a better experience with a different product.

 

[Atlantico]

Hey the Surface Book is a damn fine piece of engineering, I'd recommend one as a Mac user of 20 years. Windows 10 is just as Mac-like as OS X is.

 

[merkinmuffley]

The new MS devices are the first ones that perked my interest and when combined with the the holdup in Apple's ability to get Skylake into their products in a reasonable time period I have been looking at them. I've been a Mac user since 1984, and have never used a product from MS. When I visit a MS store and fool around with the products I confess I have no idea what is going on. To illustrate my ignorance, I do not know how you find and start a program on one of these things. Usually one of the smiling droids working there pops up and starts showing me things the products will do, and this doesn't help. I tell them all I want to do is look at photos, delete the ones I don't like and do light edits using Photoshop on the ones I want to keep and run a chrome browser in the background. Instead the droid starts drawing circles around text blocks, moving them around, showing me to "share" them. This has happened more than once, and I have no idea what or why the droid is doing this - my best guess is they're programmed to do these odd things and hope it sells something. From what I can tell, the screen resolution on their products is excellent, the pen is a very handy device to have. I have concerns about the hinge on that laptop gizmo, I'd worry that crap in my backpack would get caught in and mess it up and I don't like the way the laptop doesn't close all the way. Software maturity seems to be lacking, what I've managed to find on them indicates they lack a lot of functionality when compared with the Mac. Photo sharing is one area I've asked a lot of the droids about, it's clear that's not something they know anything about. I keep hoping if I visit enough stores I'll run into a droid that uses a camera and can show me something I might be able to understand.

 

[2457282]

I have an ipad and a mac air (among my other apple toys). I have to admit that there are times when I touch the mac screen as if it was my ipad. Having said that, for an artistic use case, what the iPad pro has done may be a better solution -- everything I read is that the pencil is better than the pen.

I think given the use case presented, MS is misleading since an artist would use the ipad pro and not the mac.

 

[Studioman]

Honestly, your argument might hold more water if touch input was the only way to interact with the SB. You never have to touch the screen; with a finger or the pen. It's about having a choice. Trackpad, keyboard, and mouse input are readily available on the SB. For those who want it, touch input is available as well.

How have they solved the problem that 99% of all the software made for this device expects a mouse to be used and how that little pointer does not work well in a touch environment. Add the complexity of navigating which input method actual works on what app and it's not a ready for the masses approach once more.

 

[69Mustang]

On one end, I agree.
On the other end, though, I'm happy for Apple's resistance in bringing touch screens to their laptops because they instead poured so much into producing some of the best trackpads ever. That was the primary thing that made me switch back in the day and personally, I can do more with the Mac / OS X trackpad than the benefits that would be brought with direct manipulation on it.

I digress, to each their own, though.

I'm not advocating for Apple to add touch capability to their laptops. What I'm saying is touch doesn't negate trackpads, keyboards, or mice. Each can be used without any affect on the other. If Apple did add touch the trackpad would still be just as good as ever and available for those who want to use it.

I can wipe them on my shirt easily. Not so with a laptop.

You could not use the touchscreen at all or use the pen. Touch is not required on the SB. Your shirt could remain nicely tucked.

 

[AppleFan360]

Is that Peter Coyote doing the voice in the Apple commercial? It sure sounds like him.

 

[Mascots]

I'm not advocating for Apple to add touch capability to their laptops. What I'm saying is touch doesn't negate trackpads, keyboards, or mice. Each can be used without any affect on the other. If Apple did add touch the trackpad would still be just as good as ever and available for those who want to use it.

Oh I wasn't implying that - just throwing out for the general audience that Apple's resistance has lead to major improvements in alternative inputs - all the way to 3D Touch when you think about it.

 

[MasterRyu2011]

No.
I wouldn't exactly call video editing drawing, but tell us how would you show off the benefit of a Retina display notebook? Maybe a nice spreadsheet or a terminal session ...

I used "drawing" as a placeholder for all things media. That was liberal of me, sorry!

The thing is that all I hear about is how the iPad Pro or Surface Book can be used for work etc. Yet it's always about the media, photo, and other creative professions that get the limelight. The last time I checked, there are a lot more non-creative professions out there that outnumber the creative ones.

Yes --- actually I WOULD like to see a nice spreadsheet or powerpoint slide or two and how the iPad Pro or other guy can help me work with them (more pixels = more cells in a spreadsheet?). It wouldn't hurt, if you're marketing toward the working crowd, to also include things like content sharing and meeting collaboration tools.

 

[69Mustang]

How have they solved the problem that 99% of all the software made for this device expects a mouse to be used and how that little pointer does not work well in a touch environment.

Seems pretty simple; use a mouse. I don't mean that with snark, but you're asking a question that had an answer before you asked it.

Add the complexity of navigating which input method actual works on what app and it's not a ready for the masses approach once more.

What complexity? People tend to use the input method that makes the most sense for the task at hand. I could understand if someone is curious to see if an app works with touch, but that's curiosity. There's a learning curve with any new device, be it from MS, Apple, or any other vendor.

 

[MH01]

*Surface Book bricked after a shoddily-tested Windows Update corrupts OS and causes system to be stuck in a bluescreen loop*

"My Mac can't do that"

right...... Guess yours did not have an ethernet port......

 

[oneMadRssn]

I kind of think it doesn’t matter.
In general, if the form factor and price doesn’t change too much I’d rather go for a device that does it all. Even if it does something badly. I have an internet enabled TV, I haven’t used it yet but it’s there if I need to. I actually have a touchscreen laptop for work, (an awful Dell), and I use that touch on probably 0-5% of occasions that I work with it. I’d rather have the ability to do it than not at all and be able to do something like sign on the screen even if it’s a bit of a bind.

Yea, I think I agree there. If I was given a choice of two computers, otherwise identical in specs and price, but one had touchscreen and one didn't, I suppose I would choose the one with touchscreen.

Then again, OS X has had a built-in PDF signature feature that uses the webcam or the trackpad for ages now

 

[bushido]

this damn ad shows up on every break on Hulu. it is driving me insane

 

[ReneR]

it is impressive how much M$ changed during the last few years