Surface Devices

[kazmac]

There was a report out that the reason that the Duo (or is it Neo?) their ARM based tablet was delayed is that discovered that people were using their Windows machines at home much more than than previously thought. Some of it was people working at home of course, but their analytics also pointed to gaming , browsing, and other activities such as video editing etc. And more and more these days people are complaining about the price of things and expecting free more and more. I was surprised to see it even on the Apple forums and the app store. Many refuse to buy new iPhones every year. And the reason in the past many didn't try Macs was because of the price... So I don't know. We live in the best of times and the worst of times.
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I have a Surface Book and a Surface Laptop, haven't had any issues. The laptop is very thin, but has held up fine. I do take care of things though. I would be happy to share some of my art, but the only place I noticed here was about the Apple pencil, and I don't use that much. Here is a watercolor I did with Rebelle:
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I have a Surface Book and a Surface Laptop, haven't had any issues. The laptop is very thin, but has held up fine. I do take care of things though. I would be happy to share some of my art, but the only place I noticed here was about the Apple pencil, and I don't use that much. Here is a watercolor I did with Rebelle:

Absolutely, all of my clouds are backed up locally.

Glad to hear your Surface laptop and SB are doing well. Very nice watercolor work! Thanks for sharing that.
Freebies huh? There is no such thing as a free lunch...

 

[Dave245]

I feel sorry for anybody loosing their jobs because of this. There was never anyone in the Microsoft store when I’ve been in Florida or London.

Microsoft announces it is closing its retail stores permanently - 9to5Mac

While Apple is currently re-closing stores due to COVID-19 outbreaks, Microsoft today announced that it is closing its retail stores...

9to5mac.com

 

[mwptrsn]

I feel sorry for anybody loosing their jobs because of this. There was never anyone in the Microsoft store when I’ve been in Florida or London.

Microsoft announces it is closing its retail stores permanently - 9to5Mac

While Apple is currently re-closing stores due to COVID-19 outbreaks, Microsoft today announced that it is closing its retail stores...

9to5mac.com

Microsoft is closing all of its retail stores for good | TechCrunch

As other retailers begin the slow, cautious move to reopen, Microsoft has announced that it will be permanently shutting down the vast majority of its

techcrunch.com

"Some goodish news in all of this. Microsoft has committed to transitioning retail employees to new sales and other roles, as the company shifts resources back into online commerce."

So at least there seems like there's a path for people to keep jobs.

 

[maflynn]

I can't say that I'm surprised, It could have made sense, had the windows phone not died an ignominious death. They tried to copy apple, but lightning doesn't strike twice I guess

 

[LeeW]

Not really surprised, to be fair, I don't know what it is like for others with Apple, but my local Apple store is always quite busy, with browsers, not purchasers. I would be surprised if Apple makes a profit from its retail arm. More about image but it is nice to have a store to go into and complain.

 

[Dave245]

Not really surprised, to be fair, I don't know what it is like for others with Apple, but my local Apple store is always quite busy, with browsers, not purchasers. I would be surprised if Apple makes a profit from its retail arm. More about image but it is nice to have a store to go into and complain.

i agree, the Apple store in London is always busy. The problem was (I think) is Microsoft copied the Apple Store, the other issue I think is that they don’t sell nearly enough Surface devices compared to Apple. Even the iPad Pro outsells the Surface range

 

[kazmac]

Yes, Apple stores are busy (Sales and browsers). I think MS’ sales issues are they do not have Apple’s marketing team or decade(s) of making in house hardware & software that works together.

Cut from front page:

Not surprised. The Manhattan, NY Microsoft store was rarely crowded, though one sales agent (Stone) was fantastic. I hope he and the other tech minded staff still have jobs. Beyond them, the rest of the staff were bored college kids who couldn’t care less about what models they had.

Also, during Memorial Day week this store was looted, so closing most stores to focus on online sales makes sense.

What the replacement NYC experience store will be is anyone’s guess, but perhaps rethink the Apple store look before MS reopens.


—

My (good) Omen is here! Have to wait until tonight to inspect etc. Glad I have the weekend to set up etc.

 

[AndyMacAndMic]

My (good) Omen is here! Have to wait until tonight to inspect etc. Glad I have the weekend to set up etc.

Of course I (and probably others) am/are anxious to read about your experiences with it 😉

 

[kazmac]

Of course I (and probably others) am/are anxious to read about your experiences with it 😉

😚 I know it will be fine and that the reformatting of an external drive will go smoothly too. I intend to test it doing blog posts and as my work from home machine too. The Verge has a series of good beginners articles they posted recently, so I feel good about it.

 

[BigMcGuire]

I am sad to see the Microsoft Stores go. While I never went in one, they did not seem empty whenever I walked by one. A big reason why I like Apple is that I can walk into a store and get my device replaced/fixed relatively quickly and with ease. Always thought Microsoft could benefit from offering the same.

Glad to see they're not just shafting the employees - that brightened up my day significantly. Proud Office 365 subscriber here! Always wanted to get a Surface device but after handing Apple my $ I never had much left over.

 

[Dave245]

A big reason why I like Apple is that I can walk into a store and get my device replaced/fixed relatively quickly and with ease. Always thought Microsoft could benefit from offering the same

I agree, at least with the Apple store you can go in and see/interact with the products. Also the added touch I really like is Today at Apple, so many of their classes are great (I’ve been to a couple).

Personally I really like the experience of buying a product from the Apple store.

 

[SteveJUAE]

I agree, at least with the Apple store you can go in and see/interact with the products. Also the added touch I really like is Today at Apple, so many of their classes are great (I’ve been to a couple).

Personally I really like the experience of buying a product from the Apple store.

Good enjoy as many owners around the world pay for this but never get the same experience

Many pay the same or more for their Apple products and do not get 14 day returns or more or exchange or easy access to service etc etc let alone classes or excluded from extended warranties that you have to pay extra for

 

[Dave245]

Good enjoy as many owners around the world pay for this but never get the same experience

Many pay the same or more for their Apple products and do not get 14 day returns or more or exchange or easy access to service etc etc let alone classes or excluded from extended warranties that you have to pay extra for

Do you mean in regards to different countries? I’ve never had a bad experience inside an Apple store. I can’t say the same about online customer service (my experience of that is documented on these forums).

on another note, I’m hoping the Surface Duo is launched soon. I want to try it out and see how it works.

 

[LeeW]

I want to try it out and see how it works.

You won't be trying it out in a Microsoft store.


Too soon?

 

[SteveJUAE]

Do you mean in regards to different countries? I’ve never had a bad experience inside an Apple store. I can’t say the same about online customer service (my experience of that is documented on these forums).

on another note, I’m hoping the Surface Duo is launched soon. I want to try it out and see how it works.

Yes different countries because there are so many US users here many forget or do not realize that T&C's are not the same elsewhere

If the UK had no physical store the price you pay would not change for your goods, you would have no Apple shop experience and all that comes with that, no 14/30 day return policy etc etc

Most countries without a physical store only have a lemon policy, standard 1 year warranty that is a mail in service plus 90 days telephone support

None of that if you are not totally satisfied stuff

 

[Dave245]

Yes different countries because there are so many US users here many forget or do not realize that T&C's are not the same elsewhere

If the UK had no physical store the price you pay would not change for your goods, you would have no Apple shop experience and all that comes with that, no 14/30 day return policy etc etc

Most countries without a physical store only have a lemon policy, standard 1 year warranty that is a mail in service plus 90 days telephone support

None of that if you are not totally satisfied stuff

That kind of sucks, at least we in the U.K get about 30 days to change our minds. For example when the Duo comes out I can buy it, if I use it, don’t like it but I’m within the 30 days I can return it for a full refund (provided it’s still in the original condition with the original box it came in). That is not just limited to Apple (At least not here in the U.K anyway).

I try not to do this tho, mainly because its a pain to return things via the postal service (especially with COVID-19 going on). But im certainly looking forward to seeing what Microsoft have done with the Duo and how it’s going to work (what will battery life be like and so on). Also I’ve just had a new royalty check come through and it’s burning a hole in my pocket 😂.

 

[SteveJUAE]

That kind of sucks, at least we in the U.K get about 30 days to change our minds. For example when the Duo comes out I can buy it, if I use it, don’t like it but I’m within the 30 days I can return it for a full refund (provided it’s still in the original condition with the original box it came in). That is not just limited to Apple (At least not here in the U.K anyway).

I try not to do this tho, mainly because its a pain to return things via the postal service (especially with COVID-19 going on). But im certainly looking forward to seeing what Microsoft have done with the Duo and how it’s going to work (what will battery life be like and so on). Also I’ve just had a new royalty check come through and it’s burning a hole in my pocket 😂.

Dave your mixing UK laws on mail order

US many stores give you an exchange/money back 14/30 day offer on consumer electronics etc, its almost the norm there

You would love it, knock your socks off on returns 😁

 

[LeeW]

So, the wife didn't want the new MBP either. Just going to use it as my own carry around until I return to work at which point I will decide on my actual laptop needs. Not really much use to me but I want to use it seeing as it was a gift from the office.

Just set it up, oddly, I thought I would be pining for Apple once it was ready to go. Once it was all done I turned it off. Honestly no interest in it. Kinda happy I was not even tempted but equally kinda sad that Apple has pushed me away to the point that even when gifted a free MBP that I should be all over, just not interested.

 

[canesalato]

Something very cool (pun intended).

My (passively cooled) Surface, when stressed, often became a bit too hot and consequently used to slow down significantly. To be completely honest, I considered it normal, something unavoidable when you have an intel Core i5 processor in a thin tablet with no fan, running a full desktop OS. Also, some firmware updates, released at the beginning of this month, had already improved the situation a little.

This morning, I noticed there were some new firmware and drivers updates for my SP7. I suspect these are not available to all users yet (I am on the release preview channel).
I don't know if it's just a coincidence, or a lucky day, but since I updated (about 12 hours ago), my Surface has been really, really, really cold to touch, maintaining low temperatures even under stress!

Thermal management was one of the few points of this device I was not 100% happy with. But now, for the whole day, this computer has been fantastic, cold, or barely warm to touch and snappier than ever.
If this was not just a lucky day, whoever made these changes did a great job.

If you have a Surface tablet, and get the update, please let me know your impressions. =)

 

[SteveJUAE]

So, the wife didn't want the new MBP either. Just going to use it as my own carry around until I return to work at which point I will decide on my actual laptop needs. Not really much use to me but I want to use it seeing as it was a gift from the office.

Just set it up, oddly, I thought I would be pining for Apple once it was ready to go. Once it was all done I turned it off. Honestly no interest in it. Kinda happy I was not even tempted but equally kinda sad that Apple has pushed me away to the point that even when gifted a free MBP that I should be all over, just not interested.

As I said before bootcamp it, set MAC partion to ~20g, install W10 and office should leave you with ~70g, use onedrive for all doc/photo storage

My wifes 12" MB runs like this for the last 4 years and we have never updated macOS

 

[Mendota]

Lee, what about installing a Linux distro? That could make it more useful for you.

 

[Dave245]

So, the wife didn't want the new MBP either. Just going to use it as my own carry around until I return to work at which point I will decide on my actual laptop needs. Not really much use to me but I want to use it seeing as it was a gift from the office.

Just set it up, oddly, I thought I would be pining for Apple once it was ready to go. Once it was all done I turned it off. Honestly no interest in it. Kinda happy I was not even tempted but equally kinda sad that Apple has pushed me away to the point that even when gifted a free MBP that I should be all over, just not interested.

Does the new MacOS update not tempt you? I know it’s not out yet. I really like it, the fact that they are making it look more like iOS is great. iOS devices and MacOS will all have that same familiarity across devices.
Obviously if Apple pull it off and there not as many bugs as there were with iOS 13.

Personally I’m still waiting for Apple to update the iMac, a new design would be good but since my 2012 iMac won’t support the new MacOS if they just update the iMac with a minor update I’ll buy it.
I’m also interested to see what ARM Mac they will announce later this year.

 

[LeeW]

As I said before bootcamp it

I have never, ever used Bootcamp on a Mac, I just might try it, nothing to lose on this one.

Lee, what about installing a Linux distro? That could make it more useful for you.

I work with Linux every day from a server point of view, centOS and Debian mostly, but as a desktop it has never appealed to me.

Does the new MacOS update not tempt you?

Yes it does, but then software has never been my issue with Apple, it has always been about the poor hardware so a new version of macOS is not going to change my mind about my current Windows setup. It actually excites me more about the IOS updates.

I’m also interested to see what ARM Mac they will announce later this year.

I will likely buy a new ARM device, that is more about the geek in me wanting to experience what Apple can deliver from their own chips than wanting to switch back at this time.

 

[c0ppo]

Does the new MacOS update not tempt you? I know it’s not out yet. I really like it, the fact that they are making it look more like iOS is great. iOS devices and MacOS will all have that same familiarity across devices.

I find new design to be really bad. Cartoonish, but not just that. It takes a lot more space than it usually does.
As someone who uses his PC for work, I want to utilize as much screen space as possible. With Linux I get that easily. MacOS was in the middle ground there, while Windows 10 is by far the worst with giant title bars.

Now Mac OS will use more space for what? Nothing but some fancy graphics. I really hate the new look.

 

[LeeW]

I really hate the new look.

I will reserve judgement until it's here but right now, I agree, not impressed, it makes Windows look modern.