Introducing Surface Laptop • Hacker News Board

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#591

Post by komali2 » Wed, May 03, 2017, 9:18 PM UTC

komali2 wrote: post #396

Mtinie wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very real concern. As a parent I think about things like that all the time. My son has a personal Chromebook and both my son and daughter use Google school accounts. The alternative, in this case using a Microsoft Surface Laptop instead, should raise many of the same concerns. With the tight coupling of online services and single account sign-on options that Microsoft offers, similarly extensive advertising…

Why do you worry about this? Do you believe targeted ads are more harmful to your child than non-targeted?

EDIT: All of my comments in this thread are being downvoted, presumably because

1. People are assuming I support advertising, and advertising to children

2. People are angered by that and thus downvote me.

All I'm intending to do is clarify why readers don't like the concept of advertising, or advertising to children. Is this offense, to ask for a clarification?

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#592

Post by esotericsean » Wed, May 03, 2017, 9:56 PM UTC

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…

My dad is a computer tech at a school district. They have something like 800 Chromebooks. He can't keep up with how quickly they break. Kids are very rough with them.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#593

Post by Mtinie » Thu, May 04, 2017, 12:30 AM UTC

komali2 wrote: post #591

komali2 wrote: post #396

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you worry about this? Do you believe targeted ads are more harmful to your child than non-targeted?

EDIT: All of my comments in this thread are being downvoted, presumably because 1. People are assuming I support advertising, and advertising to children 2. People are angered by that and thus downvote me. All I'm intending to do is clarify why readers don't like the concept of advertising, or advertising to children. Is this offense, to ask for a clarification?

I have no issues with your question and was happy to provide a response.

Not sure why the downvote brigade decided to drop by your comment.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#594

Post by prawn » Thu, May 04, 2017, 12:56 AM UTC

tn135 wrote: post #583

prawn wrote: post #561

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a problem because Google banned the account. Doesn't matter if it's unclear about policy violation given they're the ones making the decision and providing limited opportunities for recourse.

Yeah I understood that part. I was only wondering if there is an explicit policy about sending chain emails.

Sorry, should've made it clear that I was making a separate point - that it doesn't matter either way when someone else can make a decision and limit follow up. It's long been a frustration for many with Google services.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#595

Post by zghst » Thu, May 04, 2017, 3:24 AM UTC

zeeveener wrote: post #317

zghst wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Hmmm, I could be, possibly not?

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#596

Post by natch » Thu, May 04, 2017, 4:00 AM UTC

la_oveja wrote: post #577

natch wrote: post #560

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. While you're still a student. Or with your personal account.

Or without an account at all.

As a paperweight.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#597

Post by jbdigriz » Thu, May 04, 2017, 7:28 AM UTC

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…

Sharing laptops like bowling shoes and being forced to sync everything with cloud for privacy pillaging - outside of a grade school context, this is the apocalypse scenario to me.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#598

Post by intoverflow2 » Thu, May 04, 2017, 9:57 AM UTC

72deluxe wrote: post #432

cm2187 wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I heard from a surface book user that he never use the tablet mode in practice, outside sometimes to make it a tablet in a plane. I owned a surface pro myself, and I tend to agree. It's a terrible device as a tablet. Slow to wake up, buggy, low battery life, not really the kind of device you can carry around and check something on it quickly. And if you use it as a laptop, it's better to have a proper laptop with mor…

Yep for me the lack of self-supporting screen has meant I hate using it - can't use it on my lap properly, can't use it on a desk because the screen is so physically tiny whilst the resolution is insanely high, causing me to run everything at 200% scaling (as supported by Windows 10, even for non-scaling older applications which then appear blurry), thereby defeating having a high-res screen.

You should be complaining to app devs who have blurry apps. This is exactly the same as the OS X transition to high DPI, you're supposed to run things at 200%

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#599

Post by intoverflow2 » Thu, May 04, 2017, 10:07 AM UTC

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…

> This would allow them to steal some market share from Apple and Lenovo

The surface line isn't about becoming a big player in the laptop market. It's about raising the bar and expectations for Windows hardware.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#600

Post by intoverflow2 » Thu, May 04, 2017, 10:12 AM UTC

sddfd wrote: post #7

deelowe wrote: post #5

I wonder if tying this to the windows store is a good move. The reception thus far hasn't been extremely encouraging.

I think the windows store just did not fit the usage patterns: People were used to download stuff right off the net, or use platforms like Valve's Steam. On a chromebook-style laptop, expectations might be different. I personally don't like the walled-garden aspect of app-stores, but I like that there is someone who can effectively respond if malware is reported. Sometimes malware is even proactively removed. For non…

>I think the windows store just did not fit the usage patterns: People were used to download stuff right off the net, or use platforms like Valve's Steam.

I don't think I'll ever understand the weird logic of most Windows users where DRM Online Store A is the best thing ever and a selling point of the platform and DRM Online Store B is an abomination that should never exist.