New Surface Pro • Hacker News Board

Re: New Surface Pro

#41

Post by nailer » Tue, May 23, 2017, 1:17 PM UTC

One import thing with all Surface laptops that most people don't know:

> Support is limited to the country you purchased the device in.

Eg:

- If you buy an Apple laptop, and need a repair, they'll fix it if it's in warranty, regardless of where you are.

- If you buy a Microsoft laptop, and need a warranty repair done in a different country, Microsoft won't help you.

I purchased a Surface Book (which I love) in a Microsoft store in the US. It's been sporadically doing this since a couple of months after I unboxed it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_f85KlC5Bc

Microsoft UK won't fix it. Even when I travel to the US I'm not sure I'll be there long enough for Microsoft to do the repairs. I love the hardware, but this policy is really bad. I paid for the top of the range laptop and expect support for it.

Edit: I've raised this with Microsoft Support in the past and they've simply restated the policy and closed the case as resolved. When I attempted to escalate it, they told me to post a complaint to Microsoft's legal department (?!?).

Re: New Surface Pro

#42

Post by lz400 » Tue, May 23, 2017, 1:17 PM UTC

Anybody knows if they are going to release a new surface book too?

Re: New Surface Pro

#43

Post by angus-prune » Tue, May 23, 2017, 1:17 PM UTC

tzaman wrote: post #22

apapli wrote: post #7

I love my Pro 4. This video won't convince me to upgrade, but I'll be a tad jealous of every new starter at our firm who gets assigned one!

Care to elaborate why? I'm somewhat of an apple-fanboy but Surface seems more and more appealing, and I'm leaning towards giving one a try.

I have an SP3. It is the best device I've bought in years.

I interact with the device in a fundamentally different way. I will sit and read a document with a pen and no keyboard (to proofread, highlight and makes notes). I'd tried this on ipad and it never fit in my workflow well.

I will use it to take notes at a meeting in OneNote. Again, the ipad workflow never worked for me for this.

The benefits definitely aren't for everyone. But it fits me perfectly, and I wouldn't go back from it now. Its probably at least a year before I upgrade (I also have a desktop for heavy lifting). I'm feeling the pinch of the older SP3 cpu a bit on some of the work I do, but not enough to warrant an upgrade yet. If I had money to throw around, I'd get the new one as a drop in upgrade without a second thought.

Re: New Surface Pro

#44

Post by nrki » Tue, May 23, 2017, 1:18 PM UTC

chrismorgan wrote: post #31

franciscop wrote: post #8

They are still using the SurfaceDock with the SurfaceConnect Cable: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/accessories/surface-... , which does basically the same as USB-C. In an era when even Apple is rumored (and even if false, still plausible) to be switching to USB-C for the iPhone, Microsoft still tries to force a proprietary connector. Didn't they learn anything from IE? Even if it's good for them for a while,…

From what I’ve seen, USB-C is a disaster . The ports and cables all have to support specific profiles, which are just getting more and more complicated, for specific features to work, and there is no visual indication at all of this. If you got a cheap cable (which people will do), you may suddenly find that maybe charging doesn’t work. Or maybe it melts. Or maybe it doesn’t transfer data. Or maybe using it for a vid…

Sure...except you have to buy a $200 dock to connect it to anything.

Why can't I buy a $40 (or Chinese equivalent for $20) adapter to connect it to things?

Why isn't there a pin-out or open standard?

I know the magnetic factor would be a problem for this use-case - it would often be too "heavy" for the magnets.

Re: New Surface Pro

#45

Post by rimher » Tue, May 23, 2017, 1:18 PM UTC

How many cores will the new CPUs have? I remember someone telling me that the older version all had 2 cores only

Re: New Surface Pro

#46

Post by mondoshawan » Tue, May 23, 2017, 1:19 PM UTC

georgeecollins wrote: post #20

dawnerd wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would considering it's a "pro" device. 16 should be minimum.

OK its pro, but it is also mobile. Who has a mobile device (not something that just sits at your desk all day) with 32 GB of ram?

I specifically bought my System76 Galago Pro (when considering it vs. the Purism Librem 13) because it can do 32GB of ram.

Re: New Surface Pro

#47

Post by 8draco8 » Tue, May 23, 2017, 1:21 PM UTC

nilved wrote: post #13

Longhanks wrote: post #4

> The most versatile laptop. ...that doesn't ship with a keyboard (pen isn't included either). No USB-C. 16GB RAM maximum.

Are you saying that 16 GB isn't enough?

It vastly depends on your work flow. If you are like me and just using editor, browser, small LEMP stack, git, gulp, ssh and some other small tools then you are fine and 16GB is plenty but when you start doing virtualisation, docker instances, data crunching, in memory dbs etc. then suddenly 16GB doesn't look like much.

Re: New Surface Pro

#48

Post by dagw » Tue, May 23, 2017, 1:21 PM UTC

mgkimsal wrote: post #26

georgeecollins wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK its pro, but it is also mobile. Who has a mobile device (not something that just sits at your desk all day) with 32 GB of ram?

Lenovo has laptops with 32g. HP does too. ASUS... gosh... lots of companies offer it... What's the point of the question? Lots of end users want a laptop with 32g.

I think the point they're trying to make is that the sort of person who wants 32 or 64 GB of RAM in their laptop (and I'm definitely in that group) also wants a fast processor and a decent graphics card. The number of people who need 32+ GB of RAM and are happy with a slow processor is probably quite small. The sort of work I'd use my Surface Pro for doesn't need more than 8GB of RAM and the sort of work I need 32+GB of RAM for I wouldn't do on a Surface Pro.

Re: New Surface Pro

#49

Post by mikeash » Tue, May 23, 2017, 1:21 PM UTC

nilved wrote: post #13

Longhanks wrote: post #4

> The most versatile laptop. ...that doesn't ship with a keyboard (pen isn't included either). No USB-C. 16GB RAM maximum.

Are you saying that 16 GB isn't enough?

I would personally consider it to be sufficient, but merely being sufficient is not enough to be "the most versatile."

Re: New Surface Pro

#50

Post by izacus » Tue, May 23, 2017, 1:21 PM UTC

chrismorgan wrote: post #31

franciscop wrote: post #8

They are still using the SurfaceDock with the SurfaceConnect Cable: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/accessories/surface-... , which does basically the same as USB-C. In an era when even Apple is rumored (and even if false, still plausible) to be switching to USB-C for the iPhone, Microsoft still tries to force a proprietary connector. Didn't they learn anything from IE? Even if it's good for them for a while,…

From what I’ve seen, USB-C is a disaster . The ports and cables all have to support specific profiles, which are just getting more and more complicated, for specific features to work, and there is no visual indication at all of this. If you got a cheap cable (which people will do), you may suddenly find that maybe charging doesn’t work. Or maybe it melts. Or maybe it doesn’t transfer data. Or maybe using it for a vid…

USB-C works just fine on most laptops that have it and it's incredibly convenient when you figure out you only need to drag a single charger with you to charge your laptop, phone and tablet.

Also HDMI/DP adapters worked without issues across my MacBook Pro, Samsung's Chromebook and another Dell laptop which is also hugely convenient.