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Introducing Surface Laptop

blogs.windows.com

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Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#211
post #199

Nice aesthetics and form factor, which makes the choice to use fabric right under the palms, more than odd. Perhaps it will have strong sales given potential buyers rarely consider these long term issues. However, that fabric is almost certainly going to turn nasty over time and be a pain to manage. It's like innovating by installing living potted plants inside a Ferrari to improve air quality. Cleaner air is a desir…

This struck me as really odd too. This is one thing I think Apple (and others) have gotten really right. Metal doesn't wear down much from regular use or resting your palms on it like plastic or fabric does.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#212
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It looks like $49.99 unties it.

Is this the first instance of an in-OS purchase we've seen, or have there been others?

There was that time that Apple charged a few bucks to enable 802.11n on MacBooks after the standard was ratified supposedly for accounting reasons. https://arstechnica.com/apple/2007/01/6679/

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm kind of gobsmacked at that something like Windows 10 S exists. It's like Microsoft doesn't understand that the absolutely enormous quantity of Win32 apps in use is the moat that protects their Windows business from serious competition. Millions and millions of regular people just assume that it's not really safe for their next computer to be a Mac or a Chromebook or what have you, because they're afraid of the ri…

How would you feel if you were a Windows pc maker right now? MSFT commoditized your business and sucked all the profits out of your eco-system until your net margins were 2%, forcing you to cut R&D, Design, etc, and compete in a brutal price war without much hope of unique differentiating features or value. Now MSFT is directly competing with you by so lavishly spending on design that they are years away from making…

Do we care how they feel? Does MSFT care?

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with 16:9?

Only useful for consuming content. It's like working through a slit when it comes to content authoring. 16:10 adsorbs a lot of toolbars.

Only useful for consuming certain kinds of content. It's great for movies but terrible for comic books.

I got my Surface Pro 3 with digital comics in mind, and one of the reasons I chose it is that it has a 12" screen with a 3:2 aspect ratio, which is exactly the same as a real comic book. Double-page spreads are a little awkward, but for single pages, it's like I'm holding a (very heavy) comic in my hands. Marvel Unlimited and the Surface Pro line go together like peanut butter and chocolate.

I actually use my Surface in portrait mode 90% of the time. It's great for reading text too. My favorite way to read online fiction now is to grab my Surface, flop down on my couch, and read while holding it in portrait mode.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#217
Do any of you have children at a school using Google Chromebooks and Google Drive? Calling Windows S a Chromebook competitor completely misses the point.

Chromebooks are instant on, and your profile/data is 100% cloud based. You can grab any Chromebook from the rack in the back of the classroom, open it up, log in and immediately get to work on your report or whatever.

I got an original Chromebook from Google I/O years ago based on an ancient ARM chip, and it's still perfectly usable for when my kid's friend comes over to do homework and they need an extra box.

Windows and Mac computers will never be that easy to setup, use or maintain. Chromebooks and the cloud system of apps that Google has made is pretty much a perfect combination of simple and cheap and good enough.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#218

I don't know why they decided to launch 10 S with a Macbook competitor. Makes zero sense - launch it with a Surface 4 or a Surface "Lite" or something that costs Even then, the device itself is severely gimped - only 1 USB 3, no USBC. While the display looks like it should be nice the fact that the $1,000 base model only offers 4GB of RAM is nothing short of absurd.

There's another article floating around announcing other devices as low as $190 running Windows 10 S that will probably actually compete with Chromebooks.

When why launch with a neutered version on the ultrabook? It doesn't make sense to me.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#219

This seems to heavily dilute the Surface brand. Until now, you could get a Surface device and know you were getting a useful, independent writing/touch surface and a good-to-great keyboard/trackpad to attach. Now we're given a laptop with no convertibility whatsoever; not even a 360 degree hinge like many similar-spec laptops?

How is this diluting anything? The brand still stands for solid products (not just writing/drawing and this still does has a touchscreen). here are just several models denoted by the second word in the product name.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Compared to what? Surface i5, 8/256 $1299, MBP $1499 or $1799 depending on the i5 processor. Surface i7, 8/256 $1599, MBP $2099 Surface i7, 16/512 $2199, MBP $2499. So not sure how you're saying this is on the expensive end.

Xiaomi Mi Air 13, i5 8/256 $690. Aluminum unibody, smaller and lighter than MBP 13. Stop buying overpriced crap and start supporting companies that charge fair prices and maybe MS and Apple will release products that aren't 2-3x as pricey as the competition.

But where would you buy one? (That is also trustworthy I should add.)
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