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Introducing Surface Laptop

blogs.windows.com

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Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#471

Post by Stubb »

beloch wrote: post #464

Microsoft's hardware game seems to be finally picking up steam. They used to be a big step behind Apple (e.g. Zune), but now they seem to be finally competing and doing quite well on both price and quality. It will be interesting to see if they embrace selling hardware as a core source of revenue or continue to treat hardware as a way to suck customers into their ecosystem. Microsoft is now decently involved with Lin…

The Windows Subsystem for Linux in Windows 10 seems to be eroding the need to install Linux separately. It's missing a few things like GPU access, and file I/O is leisurely, but it's already a super useful tool.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#472

Post by flukus »

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.

I learned about batch files to enable extended memory in dos.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#473

Post by flukus »

w1ntermute wrote: post #76
rocky1138 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Given the target market (schools) I think not being able to install downloaded software is only a good thing. Except that giving kids unfettered access to their computers allows them to flourish. See: BBC Micro, Raspberry Pi, Apple ][, the list goes on.

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 vast majority of children will just download games, malware, and porn.

Learning to avoid malware is an important skill for kids to learn. Shielding those kids will just create a bunch of adults that get infected.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#475

Post by flukus »

haswell wrote: post #166

It appears that the cost to upgrade the i7 model from 8GB RAM / 256GB SSD to 16GB RAM / 512GB SSD is ~$600 ($1599 - $2199). This is something Apple has long been criticized for. Is there something I'm missing? Because this seems like a ridiculous premium.

This is what's keeping me on HDD based laptops (and windows 10 is awful on HDD), I'm fine with an i5 and 4GB of RAM is plenty, but I need that 512GB of disk space.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#476

Post by flukus »

mtw wrote: post #453

I'm underwhelmed - but that's probably because I'm not the targeted user. 4GB of RAM... a youtube video, a chat window, facebook, google docs and then it will be out of memory? Also no nvidia card for graphics acceleration (VR, gaming, machine learning). Also I'm sure many kids will find a way to hack it and install steam and other good apps. I just hope it's an entrée before Microsoft introduces the next generation…

> 4GB of RAM... a youtube video, a chat window, facebook, google docs and then it will be out of memory?

I think your criticism is better directed at those apps than at the laptop manufacturer.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#477

Post by flukus »

jbigelow76 wrote: post #46
kyriakos wrote: post #28

Its not as bad as it first sounds. You can run full office, you have an ok browser and casual games. Its obviously not made for most of the people on HN but it fits the requirements for a lot of people business and home users. Assuming they release some very cheap laptops / convertibles running it it could work.

I wonder if this year at Build or anytime in the near future we will see a version of Visual Studio distributed via the Windows app store? Seems it will have to get there eventually. I wouldn't mind kicking the tires on Windows S but needing VS would keep me on Pro were a new Windows laptop to be in my future.

Being in the app store requires you go through the file dialog to get permission to read/write/create any files outside the app file, so VS will never work.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#478

Post by synicalx »

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…

Re the keyboard, if it's anything like the SP3 and SP4 material it will look pretty bad after about 6 months of use. We've got a fleet of about 100 and the keyboards on them all look pretty rough - they also have a tendency to soak up moisturiser and hand creams like you wouldn't believe.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#479

Post by ChairmanPao »

krzyk wrote: post #234
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…

Until you loose internet connectivity (happens from time to time), or go abroad and don't want to pay high fees for net access. Or when Google decides that you broke some of their rules (frequently happens in AdSense) and blocks all of your accounts.

I don't understand. What do you mean by 'loose' internet connectivity?

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#480

Post by thebspatrol »

Gaelan wrote: post #244
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…

HS student (15) here. Occasionally use chromebooks when we have time in class to work on the assignment.

What is the overall sentiment like for them?

I recently interacted with a high school kid that was given a school-provided chromebook that had the most inane website filters following him around, the USB ports literally disabled, and tons of hoops to jump through to accomplish simple tasks.

For such a locked down platform, you really would think they wouldn't have to pull this shit.

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