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Introducing Surface Laptop

blogs.windows.com

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Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#341

Post by endorphone »

krzyk wrote: post #250
azag0 wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That kind of misses the point for school use. But yes, for personal use you're right

At schools, during exams internet connectivity is disabled on purpose. How Chromebooks work then? EDIT: Why the down votes? My wife is a teacher and disabling internet access during any kind of a test (not to mention exam).

The down votes are likely because you're stating a regional behavior as if it's the universal norm. My children use Chromebooks at school, and fwiw they are very happy and productive with them. They're extremely prolific across the school boards in my jurisdiction. This isn't necessarily true everywhere, though.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#342

Post by UnoriginalGuy »

Steko wrote: post #336
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…

> Windows and Mac computers will never be that easy to setup, use or maintain. While half true, I think Microsoft could ship that if they wanted to. Moreover, only listing the things Chromebooks are great at is also missing the point: there are areas where Chromebooks suck and that is where Microsoft can compete.

> there are areas where Chromebooks suck and that is where Microsoft can compete.

Absolutely, but Windows 10 S cannot do any of them.

Windows 10 Home/Pro can, but we are talking about the S version which is more comparable functionality wise to a Chromebook. Particularly a Chromebook that can run Android apps.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#343

Post by [deleted] »

cm2187 wrote: post #269
captainmuon wrote: post #40

Windows S is completely backwards. If the Windows Store was actually any good, they should make a version without store apps (win32 only) and let customers pay a premium to use signed, vetted, store apps. (Only half kidding...) But this way around, store apps will always be viewed as the cheaper, less featured option.

Mostly I don't get the different between Windows RT and Windows S. Did they just change the name?

[deleted]

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#344

Post by yoandy »

avn2109 wrote: post #132
dangrossman wrote: post #27

They're now demoing the Surface Laptop. Thinner than a MacBook Air. Faster than a MacBook Pro. Longer battery life than either. The downside? "Windows 10 S", which only runs apps from the Windows Store. The upside over Windows RT from the Windows 8 era? You can port Win32 apps to the Store today, don't think you could back then. Edit: You can upgrade Windows 10 S to ordinary Windows 10 Pro for $50. Laptops that run W…

If this thing could be persuaded to run Linux out of the box with no driver problems, it could be a Macbook killer.

I am agree with that, I won't buy it just because it comes with Windows.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#345

Post by jclardy »

wklauss wrote: post #229
dangrossman wrote: post #27

They're now demoing the Surface Laptop. Thinner than a MacBook Air. Faster than a MacBook Pro. Longer battery life than either. The downside? "Windows 10 S", which only runs apps from the Windows Store. The upside over Windows RT from the Windows 8 era? You can port Win32 apps to the Store today, don't think you could back then. Edit: You can upgrade Windows 10 S to ordinary Windows 10 Pro for $50. Laptops that run W…

Not the only downside. Machine looks great but that fabric material in the keyboard looks like it will be easily stained with sweat (a common problem with surface pro keyboards). No USB-C seems like a big missed opportunity as well.

Yeah, if this laptop were cheaper I could forgive that. But it is 2017, this laptop starts at $1k and quickly rises but only has USB3 and mini display port. Change the mDP to Thunderbolt 3 or USB-C and i'd be sold.

Or drop the proprietary charger and stick another USB-C port on that side and use it for charging.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#346

Post by squeaky-clean »

krzyk wrote: post #287
lucasmullens wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You take digital exams on computers without internet access? Where and how?

At schools in Poland. You can't have internet access so you won't look up answers on the internet. You have just computer in from of you. It's pretty standard way of doing any kind of grading. Example would be for programming class or for office suite. You don't need internet to work in IDE or in Office.

As long as you log in before internet is disabled (don't show up late to class?), you'll be in your user account. The laptop screens don't become black once they lose internet connection.

Google Docs/Sheets/etc supports offline editing, and a quick Google shows there are IDE's that run on a chromebook with offline mode support.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#347

Post by UnoriginalGuy »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #331
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 was thinking it would be interesting if you could get ChromeOS for these new laptops :-)

I suppose. But Google already tried the $1K Chromebook with the Pixel line, it didn't do too well against the $250-400 competition.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#348

Post by mwambua »

dethswatch wrote: post #222
w1ntermute wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A minute fraction of kids will use the ability to install downloaded software to flourish. The vast majority of children will just download games, malware, and porn. Society should be more honest with itself about the simple reality that the vast majority of children are not and will not ever be special.

The games got me into coding- I had to know how it all worked. Without games, there wouldn't have been any point to dig deeper than word processing.

Similar story. I learnt how to code because I wanted to become a hacker. Somewhere along the way... I learnt that it was far more satisfying [and legal] to actually make things rather than just break them.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#349

Post by yohui »

rkangel wrote: post #102
Flow5457 wrote: post #87

From the FAQ ( https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4020089/windows-10-... ) : > Are there any defaults that I cannot change on my Windows 10 S PC? > Yes, Microsoft Edge is the default web browser on Microsoft 10 S. You are able to download another browser that might be available from the Windows Store, but Microsoft Edge will remain the default if, for example, you open an .htm file. Additionally, the default se…

I'd imagine that Microsoft looked into that closely. I actually don't have a problem with it - you can install firefox through the store easily enough, and opening local html files is a niche case. It'll be mildly tedious if coding docs appear in Edge, but I'm probably not coding on Windows 10 S.

Where is Firefox on Windows Store? I don't see it.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#350

Post by lottin »

BinaryIdiot wrote: post #262
skrebbel wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The FAQ is deceptive. AFAICT you can't make Firefox the default for opening links in other apps either. That, together with "no changing search to google" is going to make many people hate Windows S, I bet.

> "no changing search to google" is going to make many people hate Windows S, I bet. I highly doubt it. The majority of customers won't care at all. Edge and Bing are both really, really good. Most customers that I've worked with when during technical support don't really notice and usually just keep the defaults. Chrome's touchscreen support is absolutely awful so Edge is usually the best go-to option for a touch sc…

A lot of people do care, especially if they're used to using Google.
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