Surface Devices

[Roadstar]

Today’s Apple keynote made me happy that I bought my Surface Book with Performance Base for just 20€ more than the Finnish price for the entry-level new MacBook Air. Performance-wise they are in totally different leagues despite the SB having an older generation CPU. Oh, there’s also a good keyboard and a GPU in the SB

 

[Queen6]

I am not against advancements either, but in this case it has only been a couple months? Some people are still in their honeymoon period hahaha.

Reading the description of the Vega it appears to use less power and hopefully generates less heat? They had to do something about the current design limitations I suppose. Too bad they didn’t announce a Gen4 keyboard to go with it

That'd good news on the GPU front then, I don't follow the latest and greatest unless I'm in the market, and definitely not in the market for the MBP

Q-6

 

[SteveJUAE]

Yikes - $330 (plus tax) for the new Pencil and Keyboard Folio! That is just ludicrous. Previous Pencil doesn't work with new iPad Pro either.

With the cheapest ($999) 12.9-inch 64Gb WiFi option, that's $1330. Considering I got my 2017 Surface Pro i5 8Gb with a Platinum Type Cover in a bundle for $749...yeah. Even the Surface Pen only bumps it to around $850. These prices are just insane.

Exactly my point and if you compare IPP 256GB vs Black SP6 I5 256GB only $50 delta at RRP, throw in KB and pen on each and it just gets daft for a big phone with biggest productivity software available is equally subscription based

It would not be so bad but the IPP KB has no TP and is not even back lighted no idea what the keys are like

 

[SDColorado]

That'd good news on the GPU front then, I don't follow the latest and greatest unless I'm in the market, and definitely not in the market for the MBP

Q-6

I am only going by Apples blurb on it, keeping in mind this is the same company that just claimed that the Gen 3 Butterfly keyboard is 4X more durable....

“ Vega delivers an enhanced compute engine and utilizes High Bandwidth Memory (HBM2). HBM2 doubles the memory bandwidth to the GPU while doing so at considerably lower power, so more of the graphics power budget can be used by the GPU itself. The result is significantly faster graphics performance — up to 60 percent faster than the Radeon Pro 560X15 — for tackling demanding video, 3D, rendering, and compute workloads.”

Exactly my point and if you compare IPP 256GB vs Black SP6 I5 256GB only $50 delta at RRP, throw in KB and pen on each and it just gets daft for a big phone with biggest productivity software available is equally subscription based

It would not be so bad but the IPP KB has no TP and is not even back lighted no idea what the keys are like

But you can now run full Photoshop on the iPP, almost like a real computer

Edit: Unless they have greatly improved the ASK keyboard for the iPP, it’s a vinyl covered, mushy feeling, POS with no backlight or trackpad. It just has a terrible feel to it, at least the current ones do. Kind of “Oh geez, guess we gotta offer some kinda keyboard, what can we throw together real quick?”

 

[Queen6]

Exactly my point and if you compare IPP 256GB vs Black SP6 I5 256GB only $50 delta at RRP, throw in KB and pen on each and it just gets daft for a big phone with biggest productivity software available is equally subscription based

It would not be so bad but the IPP KB has no TP and is not even back lighted no idea what the keys are like

It's the future, but not mine Apple can wrap it up how it want's, equally it will many more years before the desktop OS is obsolete. I have no doubt many get good mileage from the likes of the iPP, personally I'll stick with my abacus & clay tablets

Apple is well Apple and needs you to replace your toys fairly frequently what else

Q-6

 

[SteveJUAE]

It's the future, but not mine Apple can wrap it up how it want's, equally it will many more years before the desktop OS is obsolete. I have no doubt many get good mileage from the likes of the iPP, personally I'll stick with my abacus & clay tablets

Apple is well Apple and needs you to replace your toys fairly frequently what else

Q-6

Agreed, I'm sure some find it ideal but every time I walk past one with that home page Icons that the Hulk can use I just cant take it seriously

Given the innards and many other parts are identical to Iphones they are much better value than Iphones as the IPP screen and battery are vastly larger etc somehow the price ratio seems wrong to me on a simplistic level
[doublepost=1540923213][/doublepost]

I am only going by Apples blurb on it, keeping in mind this is the same company that just claimed that the Gen 3 Butterfly keyboard is 4X more durable....

“ Vega delivers an enhanced compute engine and utilizes High Bandwidth Memory (HBM2). HBM2 doubles the memory bandwidth to the GPU while doing so at considerably lower power, so more of the graphics power budget can be used by the GPU itself. The result is significantly faster graphics performance — up to 60 percent faster than the Radeon Pro 560X15 — for tackling demanding video, 3D, rendering, and compute workloads.”



But you can now run full Photoshop on the iPP, almost like a real computer

Edit: Unless they have greatly improved the ASK keyboard for the iPP, it’s a vinyl covered, mushy feeling, POS with no backlight or trackpad. It just has a terrible feel to it, at least the current ones do. Kind of “Oh geez, guess we gotta offer some kinda keyboard, what can we throw together real quick?”

Is IPP Photoshop $12/month ?

 

[Queen6]

Agreed, I'm sure some find it ideal but every time I walk past one with that home page Icons that the Hulk can use I just cant take it seriously

Given the innards and many other parts are identical to Iphones they are much better value than Iphones as the IPP screen and battery are vastly larger etc somehow the price ratio seems wrong to me on a simplistic level

Yeah but it's faster than 92% of all notebooks wonder when Apple started counting 1980

Q-6

 

[SDColorado]

Is IPP Photoshop $12/month ?

I think you can get a photograph only plan for $9.99/mo? I am not sure. I stopped using Photoshop years ago.

Yeah but it's faster than 92% of all notebooks wonder when Apple started counting 1980

Q-6

Or are they only using their own models as a baseline?

 

[SteveJUAE]

Yeah but it's faster than 92% of all notebooks wonder when Apple started counting 1980

Q-6

Faster than what LOL in my office it cannot run most of our software and 80% of our spreadsheets would not work

 

[Queen6]

Faster than what LOL in my office it cannot run most of our software and 80% of our spreadsheets would not work

Bet it ace's Candy Crush though

Q-6

 

[SteveJUAE]

I think you can get a photograph only plan for $9.99/mo? I am not sure. I stopped using Photoshop years ago.

Thks, I think there is a different mindset to users of "Apps" opposed to full OS progs in terms of pricing

Most I guess will bulk at some of these prices for full "Apps"
[doublepost=1540924745][/doublepost]Still thanks Apple for the giggles guess we should stop now else someone may think we have a bias

 

[Queen6]

Or are they only using their own models as a baseline?

Who really knows outside of Apple Day it can run full applications might get interested. I'll take an SP6 any day of the week. Tried the iPad in the past, likely better now, equally it seemed like an endless barrage of workarounds just to do basic tasks. No thx I'll stick with a fully featured OS and applications as I value my time and sanity

Q-6

 

[SDColorado]

Who really knows outside of Apple Day it can run full applications might get interested. I'll take an SP6 any day of the week. Tried the iPad in the past, likely better now, equally it seemed like an endless barrage of workarounds just to do basic tasks. No thx I'll stick with a fully featured OS and applications as I value my time and sanity

Q-6

I have a iPad Pro. I don’t find it particularly useful since buying a Surface Pro. It has mostly sat on my beside table for the past year. I check emails or browse the web a little before going to bed and do the same in the AM before hauling myself out. Otherwise I don’t have a lot of interest in it. I tried the larger one as well as the Surface Pro last August, but other than being a bigger version of what I already had... meh

 

[c0ppo]

I am still giving thought to a Surface Book 2, especially since I can get 10% off with military discount. Xraydoc has me intrigued

Well, I will test in out in 10 days or so. All I hear is great stuff about that device, so it got me being really intrigued by it.

Too bad they didn’t announce a Gen4 keyboard to go with it

Gen1 was a disaster. Gen2 was a solution to that disaster, but it was a disaster as well. Gen3 finally came as a fix sent from heavens. Looks like just one more disaster to fix a previous disaster. What makes you think Gen4 would solve anything? Maybe they will use dual condoms?

Yikes - $330 (plus tax) for the new Pencil and Keyboard Folio! That is just ludicrous. Previous Pencil doesn't work with new iPad Pro either.

You're just being pesimistic. Look at it from different angle. Those prices are great, because next year Apple will bump up prices yet again, so you will miss this years prices

 

[SDColorado]

Gen1 was a disaster. Gen2 was a solution to that disaster, but it was a disaster as well. Gen3 finally came as a fix sent from heavens. Looks like just one more disaster to fix a previous disaster. What makes you think Gen4 would solve anything? Maybe they will use dual condoms?

A a magnum condom. 8X more durable than a butterfly keyboard with no condom

I wonder if Apple would be willing to do test like this to showcase their 4X more durable claim?

 

[c0ppo]

I wonder if Apple would be willing to do test like this to showcase their 4X more durable claim?

That's a gimmick. Want real inovation? Check out touch bar

 

[SDColorado]

That's a gimmick. Want real inovation? Check out touch bar

Oooh... you can touch it? Almost like a touch screen? But with the bar much lower?

I joke. I am sure it is 4X more touchable than previous models

 

[OdT22]

I just saved a bunch of money, by not seeing the iPad mini updated. That was my only real interest in reading about the event this morning. Hope everyone else enjoys the new macs and iPads.

 

[SDColorado]

I just saved a bunch of money, by not seeing the iPad mini updated. That was my only real interest in reading about the event this morning. Hope everyone else enjoys the new macs and iPads.

I am with you. An iPad Mini pro would have caught my eye. The rest of the iPad news was not all that newsworthy imho

 

[OdT22]

I am with you. An iPad Mini pro would have caught my eye. The rest of the iPad news was not all that newsworthy imho

A mini in a Pro configuration was my wish. That would have compelled me to buy an LTE supported device with our carrier.

But I also would have wanted the camera abilities of the latest iPhones. So I could shoot and edit on the same small-ish device (in more detail than on a phone). That wasn’t on the menu either.

A Surface Go with better battery life and equal camera sounds much more compelling. So I’d rather wait for that instead of waiting for iPads to catch up to what we do with these devices.

Guess I’ll keep rocking the old iPhone and SP for now. Not too shabby. Lol

 

[max.ine]

Not sure if any of you remember, but I was here a few weeks ago saying I like the Surface but don’t really get the appeal of touchscreen... now I’m looking for a good Surface to get.

I’m in Canada, so the prices on most of the models are relatively steep, but Microsoft is nice enough to give me a student discount. Any suggestions for models below $2000? I’d prefer 2x4GB, 2x8GB or 16GB RAM, and definitely need at least an i5, but that’s probably unattainable at my price.

 

[SDColorado]

Not sure if any of you remember, but I was here a few weeks ago saying I like the Surface but don’t really get the appeal of touchscreen... now I’m looking for a good Surface to get.

I’m in Canada, so the prices on most of the models are relatively steep, but Microsoft is nice enough to give me a student discount. Any suggestions for models below $2000? I’d prefer 2x4GB, 2x8GB or 16GB RAM, and definitely need at least an i5, but that’s probably unattainable at my price.

Assuming that the $2000 budget is Canadian $? Unfortunately, you have to go to i7 to get some of the RAM/Storage configurations, so it can make it a bit pricier than you might be hoping for since you may not be able to get an i5 with 16GB of RAM or a 512SSD. You did not mention how much storage you need.

As I am sure you are aware, these are sealed units like Apple and cannot be upgraded after the fact, so you do have to make those choices at the beginning as far what you can or cannot live with down the road.

Surface Laptop 2 i7/8GB/256 comes to $1439.10 USD or 1881.77 CAD. You could save about $390 going with the i5 of the same configuration. If you need more storage than 255 however, the i7/16/512 model would bust the budget at almost $2600 CAD.

Surface Pro 6 in the i5/8/256 configuration would be about $1411 CAD, but i7/16/512 would likewise bust the budget at about $2335 CAD.

You would also have to add a keyboard cover minimum to the Surface Pro and perhaps the pen and/or mouse to the Laptop.

As for which model would suit you best, that would depend on your needs. Traditional clamshell vs tablet. Portability, being able to charge while in the car, how much or how little you have embraced touchscreen since your previous post, etc.

 

[Parsifalz]

Just got myself a sb2 15" i7 for just roughly 1400€ from an store. It was in a stand and I saw an employee putting a -50% sticker on it, going from 2790€ to 1400€.
I was at first considering a new iPad pro (which I discarted after seeing the crazy pricing), and then I checked the SP, but couldn't resist this bargain!

 

[SDColorado]

Just got myself a sb2 15" i7 for just roughly 1400€ from an store. It was in a stand and I saw an employee putting a -50% sticker on it, going from 2790€ to 1400€.
I was at first considering a new iPad pro (which I discarted after seeing the crazy pricing), and then I checked the SP, but couldn't resist this bargain!

Congratulations on your new SB2. That sounds like an amazing deal. Nothing like being in the right place at the right time

 

[c0ppo]

Just got myself a sb2 15" i7 for just roughly 1400€ from an store. It was in a stand and I saw an employee putting a -50% sticker on it, going from 2790€ to 1400€.
I was at first considering a new iPad pro (which I discarted after seeing the crazy pricing), and then I checked the SP, but couldn't resist this bargain!

WTH?? 1400€??
Where do you live? Where is that store?