New Surface Pro 4 Ad Takes on Apple's 'What's a Computer?' iPad Pro Campaign

[mi7chy]

The only rebuttal I can think of is this:

iOS apps optimized for iPad: over 1 million.
Windows apps optimized for Surface: don't know, but far less than a million.

I highly doubt people who run devices like Surface Pro care about millions of stretched out phone crapplets when they can run professional software like OrCAD, SolidWorks, ANSYS Mechanical FEA, etc. They can still run phone crapplets on their phone so the iPad Pro is a redundant tertiary device.

 

[oneMadRssn]

I highly doubt people who run devices like Surface Pro type of devices care about stretched out phone crapplets when they can run professional software like OrCAD, SolidWorks, ANSYS Mechanical FEA, etc. They can still run phone crapplets on their phone that they always have with them so the iPad Pro is a redundant tertiary device.

I agree with you, but let's be real, people that run OrCAD, SolidWorks, ANSYS Mechanical FEA, etc. aren't doing it on the SP4 with it's Intel graphics. At the very least they are doing it on something with discrete graphics, likely something with FirePro or Quadro. Most likely a proper workstation desktop. Until I changed careers, I used to work on SolidWorks every day. Looking at their website and recommended specs today, not much has changed. It's pretty much unusable on most portable things.

 

[RedOrchestra]

Really? Hmmm. That's weird. Works for me.

Hmmm - how's that character spacing working for you in iOS Pages?

Hmmm - how are you able to add additional fonts to iOS iWork? You would think that Apple would be sure to have the same base fonts from iOS iWork on OS iWork - THEY DON'T.

Hmmm - ever notice that you can't BOLD or ITALICIZE individual words in iOS iNumbers, it's the entire string or nothing?

To cite a few

 

[rowspaxe]

\]I don't understand the Trumpesque chest beating that goes on around this subject. Use what works for you. Period.

People work in teams. Exchange formats are critical. And creatives have clustered around certain key softwares. While you may feel some collection of apps equals the functionality of say adobe apps, you might be less flexible to work with
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I agree with you, but let's be real, people that run OrCAD, SolidWorks, ANSYS Mechanical FEA, etc. aren't doing it on the SP4 with it's Intel graphics. At the very least they are doing it on something with discrete graphics, likely something with FirePro or Quadro. Most likely a proper workstation desktop. Until I changed careers, I used to work on SolidWorks every day. Looking at their website and recommended specs today, not much has changed. It's pretty much unusable on most portable things.

Many autodesk products and other 3 softwares work great on the Surface. It supports an external monitor

 

[rgeneral]

It's still cheaper than the iPad "Pro"

i wasn't even comparing it to an iPad. i was referring to other windows box. strange people buy direct when there are so many options.

 

[vpro]

Apple's dock is so fugly the more I look at it beside the Surface Pro, eewwww... It's so childish, huge a$$ dock icons, while the Surface Pro looks like a computer screen that I would feel productive using. IOS is so bulky especially the limiting dock, yuck. No buy.

 

[FasterQuieter]

Of course it's a computer, it's not a laptop is what it's not. Sorry to be pedantic. I love my big iPad Pro, never bought it to be a work computer and would never use it as one. It is my portable TV, magazine replacement, web browser, email, Facebook etc device. How many uses does a device need before it's worth buying? I must spend 3 hours a day on mine. Don't most of us live in houses that can afford more than one device? We have this, an iMac, and a laptop, we choose the device best suited to the task at hand. And sometimes I am surprised which device I end up preferring. My 5K iMac is only used to import photos, as I prefer editing them in Lightroom mobile on the iPad. I never would have imagined that would be the case. I am pleased Apple have stuck with the seperate device strategy. That no compromise approach inspires a lot more innovation than Microsoft's all-in-one strategy. So far at least. I think.

 

[Breaking Good]

For those people that talk about running full applications on the SP, it's really only applicable when operating as a laptop, using an external keyboard and trackpad or mouse. Because trying to do work using programs developed for desktop on a touch screen "tablet" is not productive or seamless. It's painful (I've tried).

While this is true, you can dock the Surface Pro and use it as a desktop because it has a full computer operating system and an Intel Core i CPU. You can't do that with a iPad.

The iPad does, however, have cellular models. The Surface Pro does not.

My hope is that the Surface Pro 5 is offered in a Intel Core M model that has a cellular modem option.

The only tablet PC's i know of that are offered with cellular modems are the Surface 3 and the latest 12" Dell Latitude models. Dell doesn't even offer it's XPS 12 in a cellular model which I find strange.

 

[thekeyring]

The fundamental problem is those apps are iPhone apps scaled up. They have the same core functionality as an iPhone app.

The question is, is it easier for a developer to take a desktop app and modify the UI to make it touch-compatible, or is it easier for them to port all the features of the desktop app into a mobile app? The answer, from a developer perspective is the former.

Then there should be something in the iOS SDK which lets you turn your desktop app into an iPad app. But not cram macOS onto a device which isn't meant for it. Best result with that is: 'Well done Apple, you've replaced the laptop with... A laptop.'

 

[sk1wbw]

I hate to say it, but it still runs Windows, which I hate. As do many others. Just because one tablet runs one OS and another runs another OS, doesn't mean much when one of the OS's is Windows.

 

[admob71]

The Microsoft store in multiple malls near me not only setup their PCs and surfaces in the store, they also take booths right outside too to get to customers because no one every walks in there unless they want to play Xbox..

And this is relevant to this thread how?..

 

[jase1125]

Except that trackpad is not an option for surface, but a required input device. You can't normally use explorer, photoshop, office...etc...etc without it.

Simply not true. touch works fine in explorer. PhotoShop can use pen input where that is the preferred input method. Office can use the full desktop version or the universal touch version if you are using it as a tablet. Flexibly is king.

 

[rowspaxe]

I hate to say it, but it still runs Windows, which I hate. As do many others. Just because one tablet runs one OS and another runs another OS, doesn't mean much when one of the OS's is Windows.

obligatory "i hate windows" post. Well played!

 

[Abazigal]

The awkward moment when Microsoft is right about everything they said in the ad...

You can be right without being relevant.

The ipad pro is running mobile apps, and can thereby get better performance on an A9X processor than a Surface trying to run similar desktop apps on an Intel processor.

I am already creating presentations on google slides and keynote and (sometimes) Office for iOS, precisely because they are more lightweight and already have most, if not all the features I need anyways. So I get none of the bloat that comes with the desktop versions of Office.

It ultimately depends on the task at hand. Yes, there are certain tasks which the Surface Pro, by virtue of being a full-fledged PC, can do better than an ipad. Just as there are tasks I prefer to do on an ipad, precisely because it is the better mix of battery life, portability and ease-of use. Such as teaching in the classroom while mirroring my ipad to the whiteboard via an Apple Tv, enjoying the connectivity of the always-on 4G, the all-day battery life, and the simplicity of the better-designed tablet apps for iOS.

At the end of the day, all that matters to me as the end user is which device best suits my needs, not so much each company's arbitrary and subjective notions of whether a device counts as a PC or not. If a device can do what I need it to do, who cares if it is considered a PC or not? And if a device fails to meet my needs, meeting the standards of what a PC is is redundant.

 

[rowspaxe]

Is it going to be easier to design a Surface to last 200% longer, or update apps to do all the "power" stuff you think you need?

Pro/power updates never coming to pointerless, usb-less, external storage-less ipad. How long do you think It will take MS to design an i5/8gigs of ram into a ipadpro form factor. I imagine its pretty close in 5 years, but we'll see

 

[threesixty360]

you can completely destroy a Windows installation with just few registry changes. Worse still, malware or a virus can render your whole thing dead.
That can't happen with an iOS device. (If it can its a very unusual occurrence).
The simplicity of the design that some think is a negative compared to Windows and the surface pro is actually it's greatest feature.
You can't really mess an iOS device up permanently. It will always just work as if it is an appliance rather than some intricate machine.
The biggest problem computing faces is not all the stuff we let it do but all the stuff we ask them to do that it doesn't need to.
Simplicity is strength, robustness etc.. Complexity creates hidden issues and problems down the line. To me that sums up the two philosophies pretty well.

It really is up to the buyer. Some people love the idea that they are getting "everything" even if they don't use all that's there. They just like the feeling of power. But that "power" comes at a cost to the user experience. Whatever floats your boat I suppose...

 

[kd5jos]

At the end of the day, all that matters to me as the end user is which device best suits my needs, not so much each company's arbitrary and subjective notions of whether a device counts as a PC or not. If a device can do what I need it to do, who cares if it is considered a PC or not? And if a device fails to meet my needs, meeting the standards of what a PC is is redundant.

This. Just this. This says it all.

 

[AppleScruff1]

Apples response Ad -

4 hours into the party "Hey Cortana? Cortana? You there? - Oh well I can call you a cab because I have LTE while you ..... don't. Here, I'll use Office 360 which you said was better than the Office app to look up your information and get you home. I guess you lasted as long as you could at my party... Maybe you could come back when you feel recharged?"

"Go home Cortana, you're dead."

Cortana annihilates Siri.

 

[alexgowers]

Sure compare the iPad claiming to be a computer to a computer but please not a surface! The iPad is a tablet without compromises, the surface is neither a good tablet nor a good computer. Specs and features don't make up for the terrible experience that is windows 10 with touch or a trackpad. Windows 10 with a trackpad is god damn awful.

Now don't get me wrong i love windows 10 on a laptop once you have a proper mouse and a HiDPI screen it's comparable to a mac experience. But there are inherent issues with windows that cause me to breakout in hives! The scrolling, oh god do we still want to do per line scrolling why? Trackpads, always plain dreadful and jittery and low quality. Malware, jesus windows is just so vulnerable to anything and all the free apps always install some toolbars or god knows what explorer portals that redirect you internet. Old windows sits under and pops it's ugly low res raster face all the time. I mean come on windows 10 should have gotten rid of all the legacy stuff. I know OSX is a bitch for a lot of stuff but there are just so few issues comparatively. Unfortunately i run both so have to tweak on each.

 

[kd5jos]

Pro/power updates never

Wrong already. Pixelmator. However, I'll continue...

coming to pointerless,

Apple Pencil

usb-less, external storage-less ipad.

iCloud. No you're right, it's better to use media because .... Reasons?

How long do you think It will take MS to design an i5/8gigs of ram into a ipadpro form factor. I imagine its pretty close in 5 years, but we'll see

Considering I just destroyed everything you just said, it seems I'm already there with my iPad while you need 5 years to catch up.

The iPad has the hardware NOW, the cell modem NOW, and the battery/power availability NOW. The software is CONSTANTLY being updated.

You've lost.
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Cortana annihilates Siri.

How does a device with a dead battery do anything?

 

[AppleScruff1]

Not out of the box, but there must be an app for that!
Or at least a wallpaper!

A good reminder of what iOS users don't get to experience.

iOS users get to experience quirks unique to iOS and Apple. I guess Apple quirks are better.

 

[Michael Goff]

Full office implies full version and not an app. Office 365 has full version options and provides ISO images. All app versions of office are considered "lightweight". It's like the Photoshop Elements to Photoshop.

Then they should make their apps better.

 

[cipher29]

Both iPad Pro and the Surface are computers... /end

com·put·er
kəmˈpyo͞odər/
noun

1. an electronic device for storing and processing data, typically in binary form, according to instructions given to it in a variable program.

 

[iTom17]

Both iPad Pro and the Surface are computers... /end

com·put·er
kəmˈpyo͞odər/
noun

1. an electronic device for storing and processing data, typically in binary form, according to instructions given to it in a variable program.

More specifically, the iPad is a tablet and the Surface is a laptop without the requirement for a physical keyboard.

 

[jvanus]

I own a surface 3 and I agree with this commercial 100%. It beats the iPad in every way possible.

Except weight, screen resolution, and battery life. The surface is probably a compelling device for a lot of people, but it's not superior in everyway.