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Surface Devices
- Thread starter Dave245
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July might be the release for the Duo
techmybrain.com
Microsoft Surface Duo Dual-Screen Phone May Launch In July
Microsoft is reportedly planning to launch its foldable smartphone Microsoft Surface Duo in late July with advanced stylus integration and features
techmybrain.com
Pretty happy too since it's just time to upgrade with my at&t next service.....
Great News everyone! Samsung has picked it up. My new Galaxy Book Flex is on it's way! Shipped today.
Niiiice!
Review review review! 😁
(Well, if you like, when you have time, and of course, onegaishimasu)
Well everyone, I have been away, playing with my new toys! My Galaxy Book arrived and I haven’t been able to put it down! Here are my impressions and a comparison to my Surface Book.
Well that wraps it up. I hope all of you find this helpful.
- First, the build quality is outstanding. There are no loose, or fragile dodgy parts. (I am looking at you Apple) It is solid and perfectly machined. The blue color is beautiful, not garish, and not dull. The keyboard is low travel, but very pleasant to type on. The back lighting is quite easy to see on the dark blue keys, however the Surface Book is the better keyboard in this area. The key travel is better, and the feel is softer on your fingers.
- The colors on the screen are brilliant. They are full and rich, without being cartoony. It is not a 4k screen, but it is a clear and sharp HD. The Book is no slouch. It too has a nice and bright screen with accurate colors, and it is close to 4k. Both screens are very bright around 354 plus nits, but… The Galaxy wins with its separate outdoor mode, that goes up to 600 nits, and yes, it really works.
- Tablet mode: The Surface Book is the clear winner. The Yoga style is nice, and the tent mode is convenient, but Microsoft has nailed the Two and One with the detachable keyboard. This makes using it as a tablet easy to hold and work with. The Galaxy Book with the folded back keyboard is much heavier and more awkward to put into tablet position, especially with the larger 15-inch size. In addition, you have the weird “squashy” feeling of the keyboard on your hand when holding it.
- The Pens: There is a lot of “noise” going on in YouTube land claiming the Wacom EMR is better than nTrig. This is the first time that I have had an opportunity to make a direct comparison between the two. I might add at the point that most of the issues that are reported with nTrig most likely have to do with using the wrong driver. There is a tendency for many applications to default to the WinTab driver which is not the best driver for nTrig. The Windows Ink driver is the one that should be used. In my use with Painter, Rebelle, and Sketchbook Pro, I found the overall performance to be nearly equal. Wacom does really will with line drawing and inking, which is why so many cartoon artists (no disrespect, I admire all art), this sort of art plays well to Wacom EMR strengths. The fine pointed tip also works well for this sort of work. On the other hand, I found nTrig to be superior in Painter and Rebelle. It was smoother and more natural to use for smearing paint on the canvas. In addition, nTrig comes with a variety of nibs for different applications. Now it goes without saying, but I will say it. For the ultimate painting and drawing experience Wacom’s stand-alone tablets Intuos, and Cintiq are the premium options, and for portable use Wacom’s own Studio Two and One. At the end of the day, both pen technologies worked well enough for any kind of art. For note taking they were equal.
- Battery was excellent on both devices. Samsung won out with 12 hours on balanced settings. The Book went to about 10, but the book runs an additional GPU as well as having a higher res screen. Samsung was burned by using a high res display on their Galaxy Chrome Book, because shorten the battery life in that device considerably. They decided not to take the chance with the Windows variant.
- Extras – Well the Galaxy comes with the S-Pen and a adapter for USB-C to USB-A and fast charger. It also has the ability to wireless charge various accessories using its track pad. The Book comes with a charger. The pen must be purchased separately.
Well that wraps it up. I hope all of you find this helpful.
Yes, very interesting and helpful! Thank you. How about processors and thermals? This is the first laptop with Intel Lakefield and my main issue with my fanless Surface Pro 7 is that on medium to complex workflows it gets hot (and thus significantly slower) fairly easily, when not using an external fan.
I wonder if Intel is finally getting competitive with ARM on this aspect.
I am looking to buy another PC. SB3 13" is my 3rd choice under the HP Omen Ryzen 15.6" and the HP Spectre 15.6. I may jump next week after I find out about my job (Pretty sure I will still be employed, but we'll see).
With both of my iPads being flaky now (Surprise! only months later), I cannot trust Apple to build a good machine with solid QC and stable OS anymore. I really do not want a tablet experience and would like a lot more power under the hood, but I am skittish about Asus and MSI after reading their not so great warranties are in the States.
You've confirmed a Wacom tablet is the way to go for art (I want more pressure sensitivity than the Surface Pen/ S Pen anyway). I am very happy you are enjoying both machines. If I didn't need more cores/graphics under the hood I would have picked once of these.
Thank you very much for your insights.
With both of my iPads being flaky now (Surprise! only months later), I cannot trust Apple to build a good machine with solid QC and stable OS anymore. I really do not want a tablet experience and would like a lot more power under the hood, but I am skittish about Asus and MSI after reading their not so great warranties are in the States.
Fantastic post Mendota! 😘
You've confirmed a Wacom tablet is the way to go for art (I want more pressure sensitivity than the Surface Pen/ S Pen anyway). I am very happy you are enjoying both machines. If I didn't need more cores/graphics under the hood I would have picked once of these.
Thank you very much for your insights.
I am still on the fence about jumping for a new laptop right now, I am WFH until 1st October but the word is that this will now be extended until 31st Dec. So little point buying one to get little use and of course, 6 months from now who knows what will be out there.
I really want to build a new, compact PC, something close the Ghost Canyon, well maybe not that tight. No issue building a PC it's building a small one that I have never done before.
I really want to build a new, compact PC, something close the Ghost Canyon, well maybe not that tight. No issue building a PC it's building a small one that I have never done before.
Now is definitely an awkward time to buy with Tiger Lake and Nvidia 3000 on the horizon, both of which are meant to be significant improvements. Though I suppose if you're interested in a Surface Book that's not likely to be updated again for at least a couple of years going by past behaviour.
I'm going to be watching WWDC with interest today (U.K time). Will anyone else be watching it?
Will be watching but with no new hardware being announced and not having any anymore then the software side is of no interest to me.
I was disappointed to find out there will be no new hardware, I saw all the leakers tweeting about it yesterday. Jon Prosser tweeted it, I believe him as he is very reliable.
I'll still be watching to see what features they announce for iPadOS 14 and MacOS. I'm also interested to see what the ARM announcement will be like.
Of course, Apple could just be trying to confuse things and will announce hardware, but it does appear unlikely, supply chain issues will have caused lots of delays across the whole piece. So it may be they were planning to release new hardware but now can't get it to people for so long that it's better revealing later in the year.
You could be right, Apple may be trying to confuse things on purpose. One of the leakers said that he is confused, apparently one of his sources told him they won’t announce the new iMacs, but another source told him that they will.
I think it’s more likely that Apple have delays and issues due to the pandemic. I think they may of wanted to show off some new hardware, but simply had to pull it at the last minute.
A set of over the ear headphones were apparently going to be announced as well, they are Apple branded and called Airpods Studio (according to Jon Prosser) but they have also been pulled from the announcement.
Again, it may be supply issues but everything on the UK store is available for delivery right away, except for the 27" iMac. It is showing several weeks for delivery and even more if you BTO. Always a sign something is happening, or was going to happen
less than 3 hours until we find out either way
Well, I've just tuned in. And TC is talking about politics of course.
And since I'm not interested in almost anything they offer anymore, I've simply closed off youtube tab
Apple has many problems at the moment. But since they are crushing it in $$$, no one seems to care.
And since I'm not interested in almost anything they offer anymore, I've simply closed off youtube tab
Apple has many problems at the moment. But since they are crushing it in $$$, no one seems to care.
Guaranteed that was going to be the opener. And all pre-recorded.
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I do like the new IOS 14 features so far, 10 years late but better late than never.
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I'm loving this so far! IOS 14 has everything I've been asking for! Go Apple!!
Really? Uhmm...I find it...very boring. :-/
The only thing I am interested in is P2P for video.
I was hoping for an update to solve some fundamental iOS issues...but nope.
Let's see iPadOS.
Edit: Yup, iPadOS was more interesting to me. I like the new side bar UI direction. Still...from what they presented, it seems they didn't open up the system...not even a little.
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They copied the action center from Windows 10 X
So iOS will finally be able to do (some) things Android has done in 2010?
That's nice.
That's nice.
They are certainly selling the ARM Macs really well.
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I mean, if they can pull off an ARM Mac with the common apps already running natively which they appear to suggest is the case, all app store apps running across any device and Rosetta 2 really working as well as they say it does (not like the original rosetta), continuing to support intel devices and so on, then that I can understand the short 2-year transition.
Of course, we saw what they wanted us to see, flawless performance. The question is whether that is true if I received one today and started using it.
I would like to believe what they are claiming, not sure I can. I would be very impressed if it's all true.
Also, Big Sur? ****ing awful name, and that macOS UI, ****ing awful.
Also, bye bye Hackintosh and Bootcamp.
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I mean, if they can pull off an ARM Mac with the common apps already running natively which they appear to suggest is the case, all app store apps running across any device and Rosetta 2 really working as well as they say it does (not like the original rosetta), continuing to support intel devices and so on, then that I can understand the short 2-year transition.
Of course, we saw what they wanted us to see, flawless performance. The question is whether that is true if I received one today and started using it.
I would like to believe what they are claiming, not sure I can. I would be very impressed if it's all true.
Also, Big Sur? ****ing awful name, and that macOS UI, ****ing awful.
Also, bye bye Hackintosh and Bootcamp.
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I was VERY impressed with what we saw today:
They keynote was on point, apart from a couple of cringe moments (Craig running) they delivered the keynote really well (especially the video production values).
I got nearly everything I have been asking for on IOS for a while, widgets, picture in picture on the iPhone, App library, the new AirPod features (especially the Pro's) some big Safari updates and the iMessages updates were also awesome!
I didn't see the picture in picture feature coming, I've been asking for that for years! Also the updates to the iPad with iPadOS, scribble will be a very useful feature for me personally, handwritten notes and the ability to write in Safari with Apple Pencil and convert it to text, the new enhanced privacy features. Theres a lot more in there that they didn't have time to go into.
For the first time in a long time, I'm actually happy with everything that Apple announced software wise. No new iMac tho.
They keynote was on point, apart from a couple of cringe moments (Craig running) they delivered the keynote really well (especially the video production values).
I got nearly everything I have been asking for on IOS for a while, widgets, picture in picture on the iPhone, App library, the new AirPod features (especially the Pro's) some big Safari updates and the iMessages updates were also awesome!
I didn't see the picture in picture feature coming, I've been asking for that for years! Also the updates to the iPad with iPadOS, scribble will be a very useful feature for me personally, handwritten notes and the ability to write in Safari with Apple Pencil and convert it to text, the new enhanced privacy features. Theres a lot more in there that they didn't have time to go into.
For the first time in a long time, I'm actually happy with everything that Apple announced software wise. No new iMac tho.