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New Surface Pro

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Re: New Surface Pro

#591

Post by gumby »

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…

Indeed, Apple maintains stock of "foreign" devices (e.g. Japanese phones which use different payment hardware than US phone are in repair stock in the Palo Alto store). This can be a problem too, e.g. you move to the US with a Japanese iPhone which doesn't do Apple Pay in the States; if it breaks Apple will replace it with another Japanese phone only. I assume this reduces the sum of customer complaints (since most people with a Japanese phone in the US are tourists returning home).

As for the keyboard discussion below: when the mechanical layout is the same, or close, you can just change it from the preferences. I poured green tea into my powerbook 1400 in Tokyo; while waiting for a repair part I used it with an external Japanese keyboard set to US letter layout. I would get confused if I looked down so just typed with a blanket or jacket over my hands and it worked great. (Ironically that model was made in Japan, by Sony I believe, and was only serviceable by sending it to Japan. Since I was there I got to watch someone fix my machine while I waited).

I have gotten Applecare repair support in India where there were no Apple stores (at the time).

Re: New Surface Pro

#592

Post by Rotten194 »

fnord123 wrote: post #566
ianleighton wrote: post #542

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Explain to me the difference between these three signs: 1. a bicycle on a blue circle, 2. a bicycle on a white circle outlined in red, and 3. a bicycle on a blue square. On the other hand having to read all that in text while you're riding by isn't very reasonable either. Complex signage is only as good as your knowledge of it, which maybe is why passing a driving test in Europe is so much harder; it requires knowled…

>1. a bicycle on a blue circle Only bicycles >2. a bicycle on a white circle outlined in red No bicycles. >3. a bicycle on a blue [rectangle] Recommended route for bicycles.

You're missing the point -- that's very non-obvious if you haven't studied the signs.

Re: New Surface Pro

#593

Post by [deleted] »

ianleighton wrote: post #542
tcmb wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Explain to me the difference between these three signs: 1. a bicycle on a blue circle, 2. a bicycle on a white circle outlined in red, and 3. a bicycle on a blue square. On the other hand having to read all that in text while you're riding by isn't very reasonable either. Complex signage is only as good as your knowledge of it, which maybe is why passing a driving test in Europe is so much harder; it requires knowled…

[deleted]

Re: New Surface Pro

#594

Post by tcmb »

Rotten194 wrote: post #592
fnord123 wrote: post #566

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>1. a bicycle on a blue circle Only bicycles >2. a bicycle on a white circle outlined in red No bicycles. >3. a bicycle on a blue [rectangle] Recommended route for bicycles.

You're missing the point -- that's very non-obvious if you haven't studied the signs.

I agree, some signs need to be learned, and traffic signs are a prime example of that. On the other hand, many signs with fewer fine distinctions can be made with pictograms that require no prior knowledge of conventions.

That being said, traffic signage is a mixture of both, where some meaning is given by convention (e.g., white background and red border means "not allowed"), and then extrapolated by pictograms (bicycles not allowed, trucks not allowed, pedestrians not allowed).

Edit: A certain cultural context is of course always required, to know for example that a crossed out cigarette applies to smoking in general and doesn't mean that you can smoke pipes, cigars, or bongs. Such 'misunderstandings' only happen with QA engineers though. ;)

Re: New Surface Pro

#595

Post by FireBeyond »

Roritharr wrote: post #539
FireBeyond wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Dell XPS 15 9560 with the TB16 dock. I had tried a couple (Kensington, etc), and had issues (like, buried waaaaay down in the Kensington fine print was the fact that if you had a 4K display, the USB3 ports would "downshift" to USB2, and the GigE port would go to 100mbps...) The TB16 dock is great though, works seamlessly and smoothly with 4K displays, GigE, supports Power Delivery and remote 'wake' (there's…

Have you tried using the TB 16 with a MacBook Pro?

No. But I could try with my partner's MB if you're curious.

Re: New Surface Pro

#597

Post by 505 »

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?

Historically the Macintosh distinguished between Enter and Return. IIRC on the Lisa the Return key was on the main part of the keyboard and the Enter key was on the numeric keypad. In many apps they did the same thing, but I think in LisaCalc the Enter key would enter the contents of the selected cell and leave it selected. Return would do the same and then select the cell below. IIRC the Mac version of Microsoft Multiplan did the same.

On the MBP I'm typing this on, the key is labeled enter in small type and below that return in larger type. I think holding down the fn key and pressing that key does the enter action, while without fn it does the return action. I am pretty sure my full-size Mac keyboard has return on the main keyboard and enter on the numeric keypad. I think the Lisa was the same.

IIRC there was no Enter key on the original (128K) Mac keyboard, but the optional numeric keyboard had the Enter key.

Apple have an old user interface guideline that basically said that the main keyboard was for primarily typing text, while traditional data entry was secondary. Hence the function of the Return key was strictly to insert a carriage return into some text. And so no Enter or Control key on the original keyboard. As a kind of substitute Apple introduced the Command (Swedish campground) key, but it wasn't a direct mapping of Control. And IBM further muddied the waters by introducing CUA. By the time of the Mac II the default keyboard was much more compatible with common computers. It was a time of rapid change.

Re: New Surface Pro

#598

Post by 505 »

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?

By the way, the Mac I'm using now was bought in Australia and the keyboard has a rectangular Return key and the modifiers labeled using text rather than icons.

Re: New Surface Pro

#599

Post by kartickv »

vr3690 wrote: post #586
kartickv wrote: post #535

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, returning a purchase is not a concept that exists in India, whether for electronics or clothes or other things.

That's false. I've returned a number of items to Amazon India, Myntra and other online/offline stores

Not true. See my post at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14415675

Try walking into a random shop and asking if they permit returns.

Re: New Surface Pro

#600

Post by kartickv »

nindalf wrote: post #540
kartickv wrote: post #535

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, returning a purchase is not a concept that exists in India, whether for electronics or clothes or other things.

That's incorrect. I returned a MacBook to Amazon.in a week ago. There was no fault with the piece I received, I just changed my mind about it. I've returned other products to Amazon too, like a phone that was slightly defective and other electronics. I've spoken to people who sell products online on Amazon.in and other marketplaces. All of them accept returns and write off the losses on those as overhead of doing bus…

That's not true.

http://www.gadgetsnow.com/tech-news/Amazon-ends-refund-polic...

http://www.amazon.in/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=orc_h... — expand the laptop section and it says:

10 Days; Replacement only

Not eligible for return if the item is "No longer needed"

I've confirmed this with Amazon. You may have been successful, but nobody should buy a product assuming they can return it, when the policy says otherwise.

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