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Introducing Surface Book 2

blogs.windows.com

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Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#241

Post by pier25 »

baldfat wrote: post #127
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…

> the pen and tablet experience were poor compared to something like an iPad Pro Of course it would be. How would it be different if it is a Windows Machine and not a mobile device?

Because half of it is actually a tablet with touch functionality.

Windows prompts a touch keyboard and has other features, but the experience is really poor generally speaking.

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#242

Post by pier25 »

ksk wrote: post #177
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 Most of the software you find online are outdated win32 apps with scaling problems.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…

Just to give a counter point - every single device we use at work (biotech R&D) requires windows. All of our equipment (plate readers, flocytometry, purification systems, PCR, fermentors, congutators,etc etc) runs on windows-only software. And these are all several hundred million dollar verticals. Personally, I haven't run into a single piece of equipment that works with MacOS. Except maybe one of our bioreactors, w…

> Which ecosystem is "poor" depends on your own current situation

Indeed, I was speaking from my personal experience.

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#244

Post by pier25 »

snuxoll wrote: post #172
seanalltogether wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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…

> Apple lost a lot of the creative market with the trashcan Mac Pro

Exactly.

I wrote this last year criticising the current state of Mac hardware.

https://medium.com/@Pier/the-problem-of-osx-hardware-in-2016...

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#245

Post by masklinn »

rplnt wrote: post #215
masklinn wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah it's really frustrating. * this page is an ad copy with very little of interest * the store page ( https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/d/surface-book-2/8MCPZ... ) has no date, no price and only hints at specs (you can pick a model but have no idea that e.g. the 13.5" i5 is iGP and the i7 is dGPU) * https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/devices/surface-book... has the actual stuff you want, with a detailed sp…

Neither of those product pages has a photo of the keyboard. I know they are trying to sell it as a surface device with other great input methods, but come one, people still want to type on their notebooks.

There's a photo of the keyboard on the "innovation" page linked from the Tech Specs one: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/devices/surface-book...

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#246

Post by hitekker »

markcmyers wrote: post #146
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…

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.

Describing communication in terms of flow and direction is intriguing; it does sound like you have the experience to know what the problem is.

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#247

Post by alphonsegaston »

wlesieutre wrote: post #210
alphonsegaston wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I understand why Microsoft made the tradeoff - they chose to cater to a note-taking enterprise set over figuring out a design solution that would allow them to integrate Wacom tech. That makes sense from a business perspective - the majority of Surface customers aren't going to notice/care. Apple is a little bit closer to professional grade with the iPad Pro tech, but its still not there and the app ecosystem for this kind of stuff is still underwhelming.

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#249

Post by alphonsegaston »

glhaynes wrote: post #214
wlesieutre wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Does the iPad Pro work similarly to either of those?

The iPad Pro is better than the Surface in terms of the digitizer, but not as good as Wacom.

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#250

Post by jrs95 »

This is just an insane device to me. Aspects of it are performance oriented, but the same or better performance can be had for 1/3-1/2 the cost in other laptops. Personally I'd rather just have an iPad that's good at being a tablet and a laptop that's good at being a mobile workstation. And that costs about the same amount of money.
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