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

Introducing Surface Book 2

blogs.windows.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

201–210 of 520 posts

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#201

Post by kyriakos »

seanalltogether wrote: post #158
pier25 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried to switch to Windows for work (for gaming it's the obvious choice) but I just couldn't. Windows 10 is IMO the best Windows ever, but I was surprised that the ecosystem was really poor compared to macOS. Most of the software you find online are outdated win32 apps with scaling problems. Even modern software from major companies still has scaling problems such as Adobe CC or even the mighty Photoshop. I also di…

Oddly enough I think mac and windows switched professional users somehow. I don't know a single developer on a windows machine, however most people I know working in 3d, digital illustration or video work all use windows machines now.

This is indeed very odd but true. I understand why developers switched and the reason is probably that most development these days is Web development and OSX is the closest to a Unix os with a polished gui. On the other hand I can't understand why creatives switched to windows.

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#202

Post by codezero »

rayiner wrote: post #17

The pricing is brutal.[1] About $100-$300 more than the 15" Macbook Pro with the same amount of storage. The base model is particularly shameful, with only 8GB of RAM. The base MBP is 16GB for $100 less. You can't configure the RAM amount, so $2,900 is the cheapest 15" model with 16GB. [1] Or perhaps it's more that the configuration options are really inflexible, with every configuration having the highest-end CPU an…

I've been considering a PC laptop for gaming specifically because of the integrated nvidia chips – the new "max q" design is really thin and has moved these things down from 10 pounds to under 5. It's totally worth the extra $300 for a dedicated 1060 with 6gb of ram – this is a legit gaming machine. Yes, I could get a desktop for cheaper, but I don't have room.

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#203

Post by always_good »

skywhopper wrote: post #66

This is a good example of how Microsoft often does marketing poorly. The text reads like a script for an in-person product launch. On the page it doesn't even make sense "When you think about Microsoft and you hear our mission – to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more – it’s powerful." What? And then after all of that, you click through to the store and there's no pricing informat…

I really can't get over the opening sentence.

"When you think about Microsoft and you hear our mission, it’s powerful."

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#204

Post by intended »

junkcollector wrote: post #178
pier25 wrote: post #90

I bought a SB last year and returned it after a couple of days since it was full of problems with the GPU and pen[1]. The machine was beautiful and both the keyboard and trackpad felt amazing, but even if my unit was defective the pen and tablet experience were poor compared to something like an iPad Pro. Also the display was really sharp in terms of resolution but suffered from an insane amount of ghosting while scr…

When I got my Surface Pro way back when, I had some similar issues. I had to update the drivers for the screen and pen to the official Wacom release instead of the Microsoft release and afterwards it ran amazingly well. It was so nice that I've been eyeing one of those absurdly expensive drafting table style Wacom setups for my desktop ever since even thought I could never justify the price. I've considered upgrading…

Yeah the pro 2... just tends to work. (with the usual variance due to windows and its gremlins).

Although, my keyboard has seen better days. The case I got was too tight, and that forced the edges to fray very quickly.

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#205

Post by linarism »

freeone3000 wrote: post #48
waegawegawe wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think what you mean is, "why do so many high end laptops have thin, metal, unibody chassis?" But, when you ask the question that way, it kind of answers itself. People like metal, because it feels more high end than plastic. Unibody chassis don't need to be fastened together, which is good for manufacturing and looks. People like thin laptops because they are more portable than thick ones.

It's technically not unibody, the keyboard (and its GPU) detach.

You may also find that the unibody MB has the screen portion housed in a different aluminum block than the body. Semantics are dumb.

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#206

Post by nikanj »

WalterSear wrote: post #191
snuxoll wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple lost a lot of the creative market with the trashcan Mac Pro. If I was doing heavy video editing or other work that demanded a high-end workstation I would immediately look at HP or Dell because I don't want to buy hardware that's obsolete out of the gate with no internal expansion support, or at least no STANDARD internal expansion support (proprietary GPU and SSD connections are stupid, why do you do this Appl…

If you are a developer who needs lots of machine power. there are few reasons not to work in the cloud, these days.

1) Latency 2) Developing custom hardware that needs to be attached to dev box 3) No rage when the wifi at the airport sucks 4) etc

Even though you don't need lots of power, there's plenty of solid and valid reasons why others might.

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#207

Post by tcfunk »

I suppose the tech is too new for this product launch...but I would have loved to see 1070 max-q in this version of the surface book, especially at this price point.

edit: I checked the price.

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#209

Post by juliand »

landr0id wrote: post #168
markcmyers wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a former advertising executive, I can tell you what the problem is here. The writer and his boss who approved the copy aren't addressing the customer, they're addressing the boss's boss. In a dysfunctional organization like Microsoft, communicating up rather than out is how you get promoted. It's a rare Microsoft employee who moves up the ladder by thinking about the customer.

Well in fairness, the link points to the Windows blog. The actual marketing page should probably be the link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/devices/surface-book...

This should be the linked page. A lot more of information than the blog post.

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#210

Post by wlesieutre »

alphonsegaston wrote: post #193
binarycrusader wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, with a 3:2 aspect ratio touch screen and WACOM-level stylus input (via ntrig).

Most creative professionals would disagree that ntrig is anywhere near parity. I work in the field and everyone uses Wacoms of some sort. There was initial excitement when the 1st generation launched with actual Wacom technology, as a lot of us do work in Windows, but it quickly fizzled when Microsoft cheaped out and went with less performant ntrig digitizers.

It's a tradeoff. The old SP1s and SP2s with Wacom digitizers get funky at the edges because of how Wacom's technology works. IIRC it's a big array of sensors behind the screen, and they have to extend past the edges of the sensing area to keep accuracy workable across the surface. If you're out at the edge of the grid it can't measure the pen's position accurately.

With Wacom's Intuos tablets you've probably noticed they have a really big bezel. Maybe 2-3 inches around every side. It's not just a physical design decision, they need that in order to work. MS couldn't accommodate that on the surface, so the accuracy at the edges dropped off. And this being Windows with a lot of software not designed for touchscreens, that meant you were trying to poke at tiny toolbar buttons in the least accurate region of the digitizer.

Ntrig solves that, it's let them at least be consistent across the whole surface, even as bezels got smaller and smaller. But like you said, the peak accuracy of Wacom in the middle of the screen probably beats it.

I sold my SP3 to buy a 9.7" iPad Pro when those came out, mainly because I got annoyed with the digitizer. If you draw a line slowly you can see it get visibly pulled back and forth along the digitizer grid. To get smooth lines you have to do fast sweeping strokes, which I really didn't like.

For reference, lines drawn on a SP3 in OneNote: http://i.imgur.com/bxpnPSv.png

In an AMA on reddit the Surface team attributed some of the pen performance issues to "capacitive coupling" making the pen not detected as accurately if you let the tip touch a ruler, so those are drawn freehand. Even so, you can clearly see the lines get pulled into the pattern of the ntrig grid.

Post reply on HN