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Introducing Surface Laptop

blogs.windows.com

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Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#311

Post by aaronbasssett »

krzyk wrote: post #293
opportune wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're missing the point. Children don't need to worry about breaking AdSense rules and getting their accounts blocked, especially if they have accounts dedicated for school. Children also will have internet at school.

I didn't know that there are special accounts, I assumed they are reusing their own. If it is like a corporate accounts in other places then yes, no need to worry about blocking the account.

They don't use their personal accounts. Accounts are managed for students in much the same way as the would be for a business hosted with Google Apps - https://edu.google.com/

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#312

Post by sebtoast »

denzil_correa wrote: post #277
abrowne wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's "major"? No Office (only OneNote), no Adobe Acrobat or CC...

> No Office (only OneNote), no Adobe Acrobat or CC... Office for Mac - https://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/cat/Office-... Adobe Acrobat Reader for Mac - https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/install-reader-dc-mac-os.... What's CC?

Adobe Creative Cloud maybe?

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#313

Post by norswap »

If I may venture a prediction, the dealbreaker is going to be the price.

MacBooks are overpriced, and have grown more so, and it looks like Microsoft is trying to position itself on that premium segment (the Surface tablets being ridiculously overpriced).

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#314

Post by shimon »

rubyn00bie wrote: post #296
BatFastard wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly, these are single purpose laptops for education. And I do believe that google docs has an offline mode now. So they can work offline for a limited period (at least). And how does this 1000 USD compete with 250 USD boxes?

The way it likely competes (which I'm not saying I agree with) is on supportability and productivity. That is to say, I'm sure Microsoft has data that "shows" these will be cheaper to administrate and support than Chromebooks. Combine that with all the software you can install, or offline workflows, etc and Microsoft comes out on top (according to Microsoft). It's how Microsoft has always done things. I'm not here sa…

Actually, this is more like the opposite of how Microsoft has always done things. When they've entered markets, from OS to word processing to RDBMS to web browsers, they've consistently produced simpler, cheaper products. Then they've gradually improved them until they became credible competitors and often dominant choices.

With phones, tablets, and now cheap school laptops, their timing didn't allow that. Google has already succeeded with the classic Microsoft strategy, all the way down to commoditizing the hardware vendors. Microsoft is instead coming in as a semi-premium option, combined with inertia/safety as a brand trusted by enterprises. The same play is a bit more successful in cloud computing, but they're still losing to AWS who are nailing the classic Microsoft strategy. Assuming they continue to decline in their ability to rapid-follow in new technology platforms, I expect they'll look more and more like Oracle and IBM.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#315

Post by metamet »

_0w8t wrote: post #289
russellbeattie wrote: post #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 yea…

I am curious if Chromebook for schools completely block access to development mode? I have found out that with that mode enabled and Crouton I could develope Java applications offline using Eclipse and testing things using local webserver.

I believe they use this: https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/business/devices/featu...

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#316

Post by greyfox »

tmd83 wrote: post #154
rsynnott wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Faster than a MacBook Pro What's their basis for that? I'd have thought at the very best it'd be about the same speed as a 13" (assuming you're not doing anything that uses much RAM; the 4GB would really cripple it there). I'll be interested to see what CPU it has, exactly, but I'd be surprised if it has the HD540/640 graphics. EDIT: Specs here: https://i.imgur.com/Kc1fQ52.png The expensive ones use an Iris 640, so…

This look fairly expensive for the config isn't it?

I agree, i was expecting this to be priced around the same price as the chromebooks or netbooks (~$200 USD) and i was sticker shocked at $999

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#317

Post by zeeveener »

zghst wrote: post #248
ghusbands wrote: post #181

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?

It's not a dilution. It's quite the opposite, it is an expansion of what Surface can be. And let's reach back to the original Surface that was envisioned a decade ago that no one remembers, you remember that table? That Surface? And how it became a tablet years and years later? I think their marketing team has thought about this but, abstractly it seems that they are trying to cover all existing hardware concepts tha…

The way you speak is really similar to what I would expect of a Press release in response to these comments.

Are you a professional in the marketing industry?

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#318

Post by int_19h »

canadaj wrote: post #298
SoapSeller wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Windows Store page[0] state that "Prefer to run non-Store apps? Easily switch to Windows 10 Pro for free until Dec 31, 2017". [0] https://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/product...

Why don't they just ship it with W10 Pro already installed? Are there hardware issues, or do they hope a percentage of the population will pay for the upgrade in 2018?

I would expect this to be a way to pressure software providers to publish to the store. With opt-in model, even if it's free, you can assume that there will be a sizeable chunk of the market that will not opt-in to upgrade to Pro.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#319

Post by compuguy »

soapdog wrote: post #115
oceanswave wrote: post #96

A fabric covered keyboard... wondering how that's going to look in a year of use. 1 USB 3.0 port and a proprietary Surface Connect port... So more surface-only dongles if you want to connect to a VGA/DVI/HDMI display. Is the Surface Connect port completely proprietary or is a rebranded Thunderbolt? Starts at $999 for a 13.5" i5/4GB/128GB SSD, and then you have to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro for $49 if you want to use S…

From the page there appears to be a minidisplay port and a card reader. The main use for the surface connect port is attaching it to the dock. I have a Surface 4 Pro here and the experience with the dock and the connector is great.

And charging it!

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#320

Post by vaishaksuresh »

andrepd wrote: post #203
FireBeyond wrote: post #187

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.

This is purely personal, but I don't buy laptop solely for its form-factor. What sells the MBP to me is the operating system and frankly that is what keeps me from buying a windows laptop too. In the end I'm ok with paying a premium for a laptop that just works 90% of the time. MBP usually last very long (I still use a early 2011 machine), so the cost is amortized.
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