Why The Long Wait For iPad Pro?...Surface Pro 4 Beats It To It...

[Krevnik]

I was (and still am) a big fan of the WinRT-equipped Surface devices. The desktop was actually a GOOD thing about it. What hurt the Surface RT/2 was (1) the price and (2) the name. Microsoft named the two devices (non-Pro and Pro) and their operating systems too similarly which caused confusion. Call the Surface RT the "Zune tablet" running the Zune OS that happens to run apps in the app store, and the perception and reception would've been different.

Speaking strictly from a touch, tablet perspective, except for the active digitizer, there was no difference between the Surface RT and Pro... except that the Surface RT had longer battery life, was lighter, ran cooler, and didn't have a fan. Windows tablets will sink or swim as tablets primarily on the quality of the apps in the app store.

So even the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book will have their tablet experience limited by the touch-optimized apps in the app store.

Except the desktop was not a touch optimized experience (which you say lives and dies on the App Store providing those experiences), and couldn't be extended on RT devices, because those devices ran ARM instead of x86, so no Photoshop. Thus, they didn't sell when you could get x86 and actually make use of the desktop and ignore the fact that the Store wasn't actually up to snuff.

@JPIndustrie is spot on. That is EXACTLY what Microsoft is doing. This is one of the reasons why Microsoft NEVER advertises any of the Surface devices WITHOUT a TypeCover. Microsoft knows that Surface devices are primarily notebooks and only a tablet "in a pinch".

Except my argument is that they aren't pushing people back to the desk, but responding to the fact the developers largely ignored the Store for touch-first apps, and users were buying x86 Win tablets over ARM ones. So they are basically creating the device for today, not what they think is coming tomorrow.

 

[Thares]

I would like the Surface Pro if it was thinner, had less bezels and - most importantly - was an actual tablet and not a windows PC.

Using a surface without a keyboard and mouse is rediculous.

 

[UltimateSyn]

Hope they give us an update during their earnings call on Tuesday

 

[iSheep5S]

Haha, they are totally different. I have a Surface 3 AND an iPad. Both have their uses.

 

[pika2000]

When you buy an iPad Pro, it is an iPad first. The iPad Pro just happens to have powerful enough SoC that it might be useful for other things where you might need a keyboard, and Apple sells an optional keyboard you can buy.

A Surface Pro is the same old Tablet PC in fancier packaging and desktop OS, and now you have to pay extra for the keyboard where it is a must since it IS a regular Windows desktop OS. Might as well get a laptop to begin with. Same Windows OS, same overall functionality. Most people I saw that have the Surface Pro use it as a laptop. With the keyboard down, the Surface Pro takes up as much desktop space as a laptop. With today's ultrabook, the weight advantage of the Surface is no longer a significant selling point.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

There are all those who would have preferred an iPad Pro that ran OS X...

This is, in a sense, a battle for the hearts and minds of the corporate world. Apple's bet is on iOS as the future of mass-market business usage, while Microsoft, after having failed in mobile OSes (despite being one of the first at the attempt), is doubling-down on the relevance of the desktop.

Smart Phones and tablets put computing power into the hands of all those who never wanted/needed a desktop computer. Apple took "computer" out of the corporate name, but Apple is still, 100%, a computer company. Everything else is marketing spin.

Those who love and are still married to their desktops/laptops are justifiably delighted by what Microsoft is doing. The people who want nothing to do with Windows (or nothing further to do with Windows) or "computers" can't care less.

This is Apple's advantage: IT can say, "You know how to use your iPhone, here's an iPad, now go to work!" There's no way they'd ever want to train and support every restaurant server, sales clerk, mechanic, driver, and loading dock worker on the care and feeding of a Windows computer. "Every worker connected" is the long-term goal, and neither Windows nor OS X are the way to get there. There will be desktops/laptops and the OSes to go with them for the foreseeable future (effectively, we can classify them all as workstations), it's just not what most users need or want.

In the end, no matter how innovative Microsoft can be with its Windows/desktop approach, they're still on a (very) slowly sinking ship (and they are certainly smart enough to know it). It's the classic business school example of a company married to the product that put them on top. If Microsoft is to thrive long term, it'll come from something deeply hidden in their R&D efforts, not from products like Surface, which are effectively a stop-gap.

 

[ravenvii]

I loved the Surface 3 when I briefly had it (long story). So I'm extremely torn between the Surface Pro 4 and the iPad Pro, but leaning towards the iPad Pro. The Surface will replace both my 2011 MacBook Air and iPad 3, and blow them both away while doing it. The iPad Pro will only replace my iPad 3.

I'm a software engineer, so I need a desktop-caliber OS. The Surface provides that; the iPad Pro obviously does not. However while I would survive just fine with a Windows OS, I prefer OS X to Windows (especially for its UNIX underpinnings -- using the Command Prompt in Windows is a painful experience for someone coming from a Linux/UNIX background, though that have improved a lot with Windows 10). And I prefer iOS as a tablet OS (I do not program when I am using a tablet -- that would be tedious).

The reason I'm leaning towards the iPad Pro is because I personally prefer a desktop to a laptop -- the only reason I have a laptop at the moment is because I'm in school. Once I graduate and get a job, I'll get the top of the line 27" iMac as my last academic discounted purchase as an award. The iMac and iPad Pro would be kickass together.

And yet, I could just get the Surface Pro 4 and the dock, and get my portable PC, tablet, and desktop all in one. *tug*

 

[itbeme]

There are all those who would have preferred an iPad Pro that ran OS X...

This is Apple's advantage: IT can say, "You know how to use your iPhone, here's an iPad, now go to work!" There's no way they'd ever want to train and support every restaurant server, sales clerk, mechanic, driver, and loading dock worker on the care and feeding of a Windows computer. "Every worker connected" is the long-term goal, and neither Windows nor OS X are the way to get there. There will be desktops/laptops and the OSes to go with them for the foreseeable future (effectively, we can classify them all as workstations), it's just not what most users need or want.

In the end, no matter how innovative Microsoft can be with its Windows/desktop approach, they're still on a (very) slowly sinking ship (and they are certainly smart enough to know it). It's the classic business school example of a company married to the product that put them on top. If Microsoft is to thrive long term, it'll come from something deeply hidden in their R&D efforts, not from products like Surface, which are effectively a stop-gap.

This. Spot on.

 

[AttilaTheHun]

In the meantime, Samsung just kills all future tablet competition with 18" Galaxy View.

Too big for me to use it as a tablet

 

[AttilaTheHun]

I would like the Surface Pro if it was thinner, had less bezels and - most importantly - was an actual tablet and not a windows PC.

Using a surface without a keyboard and mouse is rediculous.

Exactly I want the surface as a tablet only i will never buy the stupid keyboard

 

[joeblow7777]

In the meantime, Samsung just kills all future tablet competition with 18" Galaxy View.

An 18" tablet totally defeats the purpose of the form factor to me. If a tablet is less portable than a laptop, what's its advantage?

 

[ct2k7]

I loved the Surface 3 when I briefly had it (long story). So I'm extremely torn between the Surface Pro 4 and the iPad Pro, but leaning towards the iPad Pro. The Surface will replace both my 2011 MacBook Air and iPad 3, and blow them both away while doing it. The iPad Pro will only replace my iPad 3.

I'm a software engineer, so I need a desktop-caliber OS. The Surface provides that; the iPad Pro obviously does not. However while I would survive just fine with a Windows OS, I prefer OS X to Windows (especially for its UNIX underpinnings -- using the Command Prompt in Windows is a painful experience for someone coming from a Linux/UNIX background, though that have improved a lot with Windows 10). And I prefer iOS as a tablet OS (I do not program when I am using a tablet -- that would be tedious).

The reason I'm leaning towards the iPad Pro is because I personally prefer a desktop to a laptop -- the only reason I have a laptop at the moment is because I'm in school. Once I graduate and get a job, I'll get the top of the line 27" iMac as my last academic discounted purchase as an award. The iMac and iPad Pro would be kickass together.

And yet, I could just get the Surface Pro 4 and the dock, and get my portable PC, tablet, and desktop all in one. *tug*

My tutor said: "In your IDE, run ..."
I was like "****".

Wasn't even meant to be a practical lesson either.

 

[sjleworthy]

Too big for me to use it as a tablet

just remove the end 't' and there you have it - Table