Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

New Surface Pro

microsoft.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

481–490 of 606 posts

Re: New Surface Pro

#481

Post by melling »

ashark wrote: post #463
astrodust wrote: post #438

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I'm pretty sure I didn't retire the last of my ps/2, serial, and parallel port equipment until about 2010. Gameport and AT probably went out around '05-'07—until then USB saw very little use and if I'd had to pick all-USB or no-USB, I'd have chosen the latter. My ~3-4yr old unremarkable desktop motherboard still has several legacy ports. I've made no special effort to resist USB, I just haven't retired equipment if i…

A bit misleading. Apple was the first major manufacturer to adopt USB in 1998. It took a good 5 years before PC's started adopting them. The move to USB-C is happening much faster.

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/why-your-next-phone-or-laptop-sh...

You'll soon need adapters to use those peripherals for laptops and Surface type devices.

Re: New Surface Pro

#482

Post by dzhiurgis »

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.)?

Having recently (5 months) switched from UK to US layout, I find `/~ location to be more convenient on UK layout.

First, it's somehow easier to type ~ on UK layout (no weird finger twists) - helps quicker to get to your home directory when navigating terminal.

Second, I use cmd+1/2/3 to switch tabs a lot. Cmd + ` rotates windows. You can imagine it's very easy to mix up 1 with ` and instead of having the tab you want, end up with completely different window. Really breaks my flow often.

I do not mind enter key that much. In fact I think US one is better.

Re: New Surface Pro

#483

Post by Tsagadai »

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…

RAM really isn't that expensive, even if it is soldered onto the board. I wish more laptop manufacturers would make 16GB available in lower end models and have a true higher end of 64GB or more (instead of just 32GB).

Re: New Surface Pro

#485

Post by passive »

Tsagadai wrote: post #483
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…

RAM really isn't that expensive, even if it is soldered onto the board. I wish more laptop manufacturers would make 16GB available in lower end models and have a true higher end of 64GB or more (instead of just 32GB).

From what I've heard, certain types of memory are only supported by certain CPUs/chipsets up to a certain size, and even though other types of memory are supported, those are a more power-hungry variety that laptop makers tend to avoid.

But in spirit, yes, this. The upgrade in RAM should be $80 in hardware, but I have to pay $900 for it because of the configuration options.

Re: New Surface Pro

#487

Post by BatFastard »

nailer wrote: post #41

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 Micr…

This was a HUGE issue for me. I purchased a surface 3 for my daughter before she when to China for a year of study. Halfway through the school year it started having phantom touch issues. Which can be frustrating to the point of tears... you are writing a paper, and suddenly the cursor is somewhere else magically and the input is going to the wrong paragraph or even worse, the wrong app.

I was so impressed at first at the technical support, they seemed very responsive. But the first support persons promise of help with-in days never materialized. And the number they gave us to get back in touch with them no longer worked. The second support person promised to exchange the surface. But the exchange location was in Shanghai not Beijing. A trip not possible for a teenager in a foreign country.

Time and time again they made promises which were never fulfilled. I swore MS off forever at one point. I finally figured out how to disable the touch screen so that the surface was at least usable as a laptop.

To give some MS credit they did promise to exchange the surface for a new one when she returned home. Even though it was technically out of warranty by a week at that point. By then there were strong yellow lines on the screen for some reason. Their exchange turned out to just be a repair for the touch screen (after waiting two weeks). But it was obviously the same machine because the lines where still there. Finally some strong but nice words with the manager of the MS store got them to exchange the surface that day.

Lets hope the new ones are better...

Re: New Surface Pro

#488

Post by rtpg »

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…

It might not be the absolute best, but 8GB is totally workable for a lot of dev situations, especially if you're not doing a docker-style situation.

I've recently went form 8GB to 16GB (and a processor jump) and my dev environment haven't really gotten snappier.

That said it still feels like the easiest thing they could offer in all SKUs, given the price.

Re: New Surface Pro

#489

Post by faragon »

799 USD for 4GB RAM, 128GB of flash, and an "Intel Core m3"? Come on. I understand that the Intel CPU is almost 300 USD per unit, and that pushes the price. I hope that Snapdragon SoCs running Windows 10 with emulation for x86 stuff drive down Windows 10 tablet/laptop prices dramatically. BTW, despite being expensive, the new Surface Pro looks great.

In my opinion, Intel is playing Serguéi Bubka's technique: because there is no enough competition, they go as slow as possible in the mobile market, just matching the performance of the second competitor.

Re: New Surface Pro

#490

Post by creepydata »

acomjean wrote: post #254
nailer wrote: post #41

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 Micr…

This used to be called "gray market" (grey?) items. Items that are imported not through official channels (for example camera lenses that are often for sale from the bigger dealers in NYC). There is no warranty, but the lenses are cheaper (due to currency values and the price the companies set it can be a little cheaper, but sometimes a lot cheaper). In the old days the prices in magazines for equipment where in 2 co…

No used to, it's still called "grey market."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_market

Post reply on HN