New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft • Hacker News Board

Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft

#871

Post by BinaryIdiot » Wed, Oct 07, 2015, 2:57 AM UTC

gtk40 wrote: post #123

BinaryIdiot wrote: post #79

I'm very curious how well the trackpad on the Surface Book works. I've had MacBooks and the HP Spectre; the Sprectre is awesome but the trackpad...I mean holy shit it's just absolutely awful to the point where I've pretty much stopped using it. So how good is this trackpad and does it work like a MacBook's where two fingers = right click versus this weird obsession PC vendors seem to have about dividing a single trac…

generally with standard drivers you should be able to configure the click mode. I don't know about HP in particular though.

Yeah it uses the Synaptics drivers but the most you can configure are click zones at the very, very bottom of the track pad itself (so you can't do a real right click anywhere but the bottom right of the pad) and it also does the annoying thing where you can't use the keyboard and trackpad at the same time (so you can't play any FPS with it). I was able to hack up the registry to get them to work at the same time but never got a satisfying right click.

It was so unfortunate too because I really liked that machine. It's just that damn touchpad...and the store models worked the same so it wasn't like I had a weird one or anything.

Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft

#872

Post by dang » Wed, Oct 07, 2015, 2:59 AM UTC

squeakynick wrote: post #782

dang wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're crossing the line into spam here. HN is for intellectually interesting discussion, not site promotion.

I thought I was adding discussion. My point was that it's about business execution, and that at the end of the day success will be measured by sales and not about people saying "But this is a better product". It's the tastes of the fish, not the tastes of the fisherman, and there is more to product and desire than the tangible parts. I wrote this down as an essay. I thought it easier to post a link rather than regurg…

An isolated comment is no problem, of course, but if there gets to be a pattern then users complain to us.

Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft

#873

Post by al_biglan » Wed, Oct 07, 2015, 3:00 AM UTC

danudey wrote: post #710

tmd83 wrote: post #462

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This! At least from the initial look and spec it looks like they did a lot of the things right and put effort in making this nice. Yes there are things that maybe I can get by without but the basics looks fantastic. You don't chip $50 off a premium laptop and make it crappy. OEM just keeps making too many model at every price point .. at every 20 dollars it feels like. While I hate the almost singular choice for OsX…

And every price point has one thing you want that the other ones don't have, so you end up sophie's choice-ing your way through Dell's website. And then you go from their Home to their Business site and the prices, features, bundles, and add-ons are different for the same hardware. It's the same reason Google started making Nexus phones: so that someone , somewhere , would make a good Android phone without messing so…

A huge amen to this...

The universe needs

4 size formats (11, 13, 15 and 17 inch) 3 screen resolutions (1920x1200, 2560x1600, 3840x2400 (17inch only) all 16:10) 2 keyboard options on 15 and 17 inch models (with or without keypad) 4 RAM options (8, 12, 16, and 32 GB) 7 drive options (128, 256, 512 or 1TB SSD, 500GB or 1TB hybrid, 2TB HDD) 4 GPU options (Embedded, High end gaming, Mid gaming, Stable/Workstation (K620, for example)) Touchscreen or not option Removable batteries (except in thin and light and cheapest possible which have integrated batteries)

3-6 body types 1) thin and light (only 11/13/15inch) 11hr battery life, no discrete video, SSD only 2a) middle of the road plastic (13/15/17inch) 6hr or 9hr battery 2b) middle of the road metal (13/15/17inch) 6hr or 9hr battery 3a) rugged/thick/workstation (15/17inch) 4hr or 6hr battery, option slot for either BlurRay RW or 2nrd drive or 2nd video card or secondary battery 3b) thick/gaming (15/17inch) 4hr or 6hr battery, option slot for either BlurRay RW or 2nrd drive or 2nd video card or secondary battery Optional) cheapest possible (15inch) no discrete video, 6hr battery

Not sure why OEM’s can’t get this straight. Also not sure why 1366x768 is still a thing nor why keyboard options aren’t a thing.

Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft

#874

Post by untog » Wed, Oct 07, 2015, 3:08 AM UTC

nilkn wrote: post #717

When I got my first MacBook back in 2008, it was a revolution for me. The industrial design, the multitouch trackpad that actually worked 100% of the time, the backlit keyboard, the battery life, the trackpad-friendly OS -- these all worked together to make me wonder how other laptop manufacturers had got it so astoundingly wrong. I haven't had that feeling since then. Sure, the MacBook Air came out and it was amazin…

Agreed. I've been a Macbook loyalist since they went to Intel (Boot Camp was my gateway drug) but this looks like a phenomenal device.

I think I'll need to experiment with some Windows inside VirtualBox to see how many UNIX-y things I can get running. Or maybe I should be doing all of my development inside Docker anyway...

Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft

#875

Post by muddi900 » Wed, Oct 07, 2015, 3:13 AM UTC

pcunite wrote: post #800

muddi900 wrote: post #789

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I only tried a friend's, and it was cool. Personally speaking, I cannot work on a any keyboard without a Numpad, since a lot of my work requires entry of numerical data. I love the look these high-end 13" laptops, and I am intrigued as a geek, but I can never fit them in my work flow. I use an 2012-ish 17" Asus gaming monstrosity. It's not easy on the eyes, but it works for me and can run Batman Arkham games at 50+ f…

Could you use a USB number pad? Would need a heavy one so it does not move around I guess.

But then it would mean adding yet another thing to my bag when moving around. I hope Surface book succeeds so they come up with 15" model with a numpad.

Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft

#876

Post by Theodores » Wed, Oct 07, 2015, 3:24 AM UTC

mrbuttons454 wrote: post #736

cm2187 wrote: post #676

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But then you loose the USB port. But the main problem of USB adapters is that they don't like being unplugged and plugged back which happens quite frequently with a laptop. With a real port connectivity is pretty much instantaneous. I used USB adapters for a while on a MacBook pro and came to the conclusion that I will never ever buy a laptop without ethernet ports. What I wonder is why they don't come up with a mini…

Anker makes a USB 3 hub with gigabit ethernet. I've got one, it's pretty great. http://www.ianker.com/product/A7514041

That is my docking station at work! Fully linux compatible, built properly too, albeit Apple aesthetic rather than the black plastic that is more me.

Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft

#877

Post by munchbunny » Wed, Oct 07, 2015, 3:28 AM UTC

freehunter wrote: post #857

munchbunny wrote: post #752

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a bit curious why a traveling consultant is outfitted with what is marketed as a "workstation in a laptop form factor". Seems like a mismatch of use case to product. I travel a lot, sometimes for work, sometimes for leisure, so when I chose my personal computer I went with a Thinkpad X230. Fast enough to compile C++ code for my game programming hobby, fast enough to do my excel stuff for work, and the integrated…

I didn't have a choice, this is what all of my coworkers have as well. Some of them found it so hard to work with that they used their own money to buy a Macbook then gave it to the company so they could use it for their job. My last job, I had a Thinkpad T520, which was just as thick but a bit lighter and smaller footprint. At home I have a T420, again same thickness but slightly smaller footprint yet. I'm no strang…

I'd still disagree on many of the hardware aspects if we're talking about some of their latest X series or slim T series laptops, but you have a point.

I only continued to buy Thinkpads because I knew how to remove all of the Lenovo crapware the moment I got the computer. Especially with the latest privacy issues, Thinkpads are no longer the computers you buy when you just want a solid computer without frills.

The W series and the T520's though... they were always too big to be real laptops and too wimpy to match desktops. It's an awkward place to be.

Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft

#878

Post by johnchristopher » Wed, Oct 07, 2015, 3:39 AM UTC

I love the `thunderstruck' theme song but the `start me up' one from the stones was a better fit when MS communicated about Windows 95.

I remember some Office ad campaign that had more punch and coherence too.

Adding the weird Lumia branding I'd say there's a decline in MS marketing efforts. But I might very well be in an echo chamber of my own.

Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft

#879

Post by BinaryIdiot » Wed, Oct 07, 2015, 3:51 AM UTC

SwellJoe wrote: post #697

I can't believe I'm seriously considering buying a Microsoft product. But, this is a really nice looking laptop, and I suspect does not fall prey to all of the bullshit that is so common on Windows laptops, even high end ones. If it were possible to dual boot to Linux, I'd be sold. I have my doubts that it is, however. I guess one could use a VM...I've always found that clumsy in the past, particularly in terms of ge…

> If it were possible to dual boot to Linux, I'd be sold. I have my doubts that it is, however.

Why do you have your doubts? It's typically pretty easy and people have guides for doing it on the Surface Pro 3; it would be odd if the Surface Book couldn't do it as well.

Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft

#880

Post by Bud » Wed, Oct 07, 2015, 3:54 AM UTC

exelius wrote: post #359

lighthawk wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Lync... "just works" Those are two things that I would never say together. Lync is great if you are all on Windows within the same building or campus perhaps, but the video quality is horrible compared to Google Hangout or (consumer) Skype for cross country and international communication. Also: Lync is now called "Skype for Business" and old Lync will be sunsetted per http://research.gigaom.com/2014/11/microsoft-a…

Depends on how you build it out, but yeah I do agree that Lync/SfB is the weak point in the suite. But the Exchange/Outlook combo is the gold standard for corporate communication.

No. It does not depend on how you build it out. Lync sucks, period, and has for a long time. Similarly, Sharepoint sucks irredeemably. It looks and acts like bad 1990s software. It's consistently the most painful, frustrating part of my workflow, and I use it as little as I can possibly get away with.

Next time you want to defend the full Microsoft software suite, just don't mention Lync and Sharepoint, and your argument will do better.