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New Surface Pro

microsoft.com

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Re: New Surface Pro

#431

Post by blowski »

pc86 wrote: post #170
blowski wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They fixed the logic board of my 3 year old Macbook Pro. They quibbled at first, but agreed to do it free of charge after I quoted the EU legislation.

I'm confused, you quoted the 2-year support requirement and they then fixed your 3-year old laptop?

The legislation doesn't have a fixed period, it provides a vague 'reasonable use for a reasonable period of time' type clause. This was a £1700 laptop, so I had a right to expect it to last longer than 3 years, which was supported by claims on Apple's website.

Therefore, Apple either has to say "our laptops are only good for three years", or say that particular laptop was defective and fix it.

Re: New Surface Pro

#432

Post by corford »

ultimoo wrote: post #403
goatforce5 wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought a MacBook in the UK and some time later when I was in the US they keyboard became faulty. I walked in to a US Apple store and explained the problem. The Genius person agreed there was a fault and then started tapping away at their computer. He umm'ed and ahh'ed and called over a manager. At this point I was thinking they were going to reject the warranty repair for some reason, but the manager ended up apolo…

Pardon my ignorance but what is the difference in the UK style keyboard vs the US style keyboard? Is the 4/$ replaced with the 4/£ key? Wouldn't this be problematic when programming (for example variable substitution on the shell etc.)?

Non-mac layout is different again. Here's a pic of a Dell laptop I have knocking around: http://imgur.com/a/w5GVC [ could do with a clean! ]

Re: New Surface Pro

#433

Post by rbanffy »

People are pushing this as a MacBook killer but it's more like an iPad Pro killer. With the same 4GB of RAM, a Core m3 and 128 GB of storage, it costs $100 less than the iPad Pro with the same RAM and storage (but an ARM processor). The m3 here makes a good difference.

For the same as the 8GB i5 with 256 GB, you get a MacBook with a Core m and the built-in keyboard. It's slower than the i5, but it's an actual laptop.

Re: New Surface Pro

#435

Post by jamiepenney »

andrewbinstock wrote: post #421
passive wrote: post #199

I've been using a Surface Pro 3 as my one-and-only for almost 3 years, and it really feels like time to upgrade, so I've been looking forward to this one. My workload is probably something like 40% reading, 30% writing, 25% coding, and 5% running code, and the Surface has been a nearly ideal form factor for this. The new "Surface Pro" ticks a lot of boxes for me: - Supports my existing keyboard, pen, dock, and power…

Can you run Visual Studio and all other Windows apps on the Surface?

Yeah, it's running a normal version of windows.

Re: New Surface Pro

#436

Post by BlueDingo »

e12e wrote: post #362
Hasz wrote: post #333

I recently purchased a new laptop, after looking through a bunch of options -- Dell, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft, etc. Ultimately, I settled on one from Xiaomi. For $720, I get an i5-6200U, 8gb of DDR4 RAM, 256gb SSD, 1gb dedicated graphics card, a 13.3" panel, aluminum body, backlit keyboard, USB C + HMDI + 2 USB 3.0 ports etc. Build quality is similar to Surfacebook, but I would have to spend another ~600 to match the st…

> Is the whole touchscreen tablet combo worth that premium? I would say it depends. I love the touch screen (I've disabled my touchpad) - and I love the real pen/digitizer. The sp4 is basically the dynabook: high dpi screen, a pen that works. Still some annoyances with scaling in legacy apps - and I've yet to find a great "smart" drawing/cad program that really takes advantage of the pen - I'm thinking something like…

Regarding drawing and CAD programs, have you heard of Moment of Inspiration (MoI)? The interface is designed to be suitable for stylus input with fewer and fatter buttons, scrubbing, etc. More importantly, the workflows also seem to be designed around this so repeating or chaining actions is easy and you never feel like stylus input is cramped or lacking precise control.

Other pros:

  -fully customizable HTML UI
  -fast, lightweight but powerful
  -advanced actions (cloning along a path) aren't archaic hidden abilities for advanced users, they're discoverable and usable by new uers
  -reasonable price
Cons:

  -not as serious/enterprise as some people might need
  -due to semi-indie status it probably won't serve as your ONLY 3d modeling tool with only a handful of file format option
All said, it makes for a fantastic addition to existing toolbelts but could also be a complete game changer for a certain class of users.

Re: New Surface Pro

#437

Post by popcorncolonel »

ericfrederich wrote: post #181

I would really love one but need to be able to use something on my lap when I'm on the couch. Think I may go for an XPS 13. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_aSht_ssls

If you're fine with the on-screen keyboard (which is fine for browsing, once you get used to it), flipping the keyboard so the keys are on your lap and the back rest lies on the back of the keycover is pretty good for lap usage.

Re: New Surface Pro

#438

Post by astrodust »

MLR wrote: post #249
wooter wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

seriously... what do people even use usb-a for besides charging things? compatibility was crap, transition to 3.0 was crap and even the highest end computers offered limited ports - opting to keep a few 2.0s given that support for 3.0 on the device side was even weaker, big, asymetric, fragile, ... lets just let it die and move to cables that won't need a dongle and aren't thicker than almost everything in a laptop f…

Mouse, headset, keyboard, gamepad, bluetooth receiver, USB sticks, and yes a phone charger. I have no intention of replacing any of these things until they break, that could be a long, long time.

This is exactly the same things people were saying when USB 1.0 arrived, yet somehow people managed to switch.

Re: New Surface Pro

#439

Post by tcmb »

cptskippy wrote: post #419
rbanffy wrote: post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope. ~` key is next to Z, Enter is vertical. \| is next to "'. The labeling is actually cooler, with images instead of "Shift", "Tab" etc. http://www.thebookyard.com/images/mbutcuk_notp.jpg

I'm sitting here staring at my US keyboard and scratching my head. All of the Menu shortcuts align perfectly with the UK keyboard's iconography but not the US keyboard which opts for labels. And why do we have a key labeled both enter and return?

I noticed that in the US almost all signage uses text instead of symbols. For example, writing "No smoking" on a sign, where in Europe you would have a crossed-out cigarette.

I don't really understand why this is done, since well-made symbols are also understandable for illiterate people or those not speaking the language.

Re: New Surface Pro

#440

Post by vxNsr »

stunod wrote: post #284
Helmet wrote: post #110

How is this a functional laptop? And I'm being dead serious here and 100% literal - how do I work with this machine while it's on my lap? It looks like it would be a real pain in the ass to do so, with the "Kickstand" and all.

there's a separate keyboard you can buy that makes it "lapable" https://www.brydgekeyboards.com/products/brydge-12-3

I don't get why they don't use the regular surface pro keyboard connector and offer extra ports and battery life, especially based on how much space is being used. It literally doubles the thickness while only offering a keyboard. If they did that it would justify the cost and thickness, as it is this just not worth it.
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