As an analyst, I the killer app for this is Microsoft Excel, which you really need a keyboard for.
Surface Pricing Announced - $499 USD
91–100 of 112 posts
Re: Surface Pricing Announced - $499 USD
#92I applaud Microsoft for doing something new-- the new windows UI is very original. Further, they have managed to meet Apple in terms of pricing for a comparable iPad, something others have struggled with. But the big take-away innovation here, and the center of their marketing campaign, is that it has a keyboard cover. This seems to be about 5 years out of sync. 5 years ago, everyone expected the iPhone to fail becau…
Maybe its just you, I've seen so many iPad owners spend extra 100-200$ just for an extra keyboard and cover. Your needs are well-served by the inbuilt keyboard, so you don't need an extra attachment. But for many others, a physical keyboard solves various problems.
The MS surface keyboard is an extra $100 (if you buy them together; $120 if you buy independently)
Re: Surface Pricing Announced - $499 USD
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
Let's see if it's actually the same Office. The versions of Office that I got to play with on WinMobile * and WinPhone7 were not on par with Word on windows, or even OpenOffice of the time. (For all I know, it might still be the best available word processor for tablets; I have never used Apple's "Pages"; but previous versions were ... lacking)
The Office apps that come with the Surface are the real deal. It's the Home and Student version according to the web site.
It's Office RT, whatever that means. I tried to follow the link to the description http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/home-and-student/office-ho... - but on my Linux/Firefox combination, it shows nothing. Perhaps it's a silverlight thing, but the HTML is so messed up that I wasn't able to see if it was.
Way to go Microsoft!
Re: Surface Pricing Announced - $499 USD
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
If they're going to be cheaper, they are also going to be ridiculously slow compared to the iPad (and possibly the ARM Win8), or they are going to have ridiculously short battery life, or they are going to be subsidized by Microsoft (or all of the above ....) Have you seen a netbook that can deliver 9 hours of real usage on Windows _and_ run at a reasonable speed (for $500, or even more)? I haven't. And the laptops t…
From what I have seen both the x86 and ARM perform on par with the iPad and have 9+ hours of battery life. I think you are just making stuff up now.
I am making it up that I couldn't find a notebook with ipad comparable snappy response times and ipad comparable battery time? I'm not saying I'm all-knowing and that I survey every single piece of hardware that ever goes on sale everywhere, but I did spend considerable time looking for a Windows one (I needed it for a product I'm selling, and ended up with a $2200 HP notebook instead! and it has less than 6 hours of useful battery life!), and came up empty.
If you know of such a notebook, please let me know. As they say, put up or shut up.
Re: Surface Pricing Announced - $499 USD
#95I think this is the nail on the already-likely-dead coffin of MS Surface. What's the market they are going after??? "tablet market"? nope - already dominated by iPad "enterprise"? nope - 1) not a market, 2) already dominated by iPad "budget"? nope - priced on par with iPad seriously, how are they going to push this thing? they don't have a channel like Apple nor Amazon, so they need to rely on all their other paths.…
Personally, I'm going to be buying one of these tablets, they look pretty powerful and cool, plus I prefer Microsoft offerings over Apple. They don't need to own a particular market, sure it helps, but personally, I couldn't care less how much it costs or how powerful it is, I would buy one of these just so I didn't have to buy an iPad. So to be honest, I think at least one market which this tablet will dominate is t…
> So to be honest, I think at least one market which this tablet will dominate is the "fuck you Apple" market.
Sorry, this is already a crowded market - Android rules here, whether it's Google or Amazon shipping the product. Why would I buy this when I can get a Kindle Fire 4G with $50/yr mobile data? Why would I pay $300 more than a Nexus7?
Microsoft has lost the forest for the trees - so bound up in hating and trying to produce an "iPad Killer" that they don't realize the competition is way ahead of them.
Re: Surface Pricing Announced - $499 USD
#96Pro version have USB 3 and mini display port. It is a nice combo of mobility and ease like iPad + power like a laptop. It is a full blown mobile machine. Ipad, android are just content consuming devices. You can't do much on them besides just absorbing content. I am glad MS understood the missing features from ipad and came with this beautiful product.
> You can't do much on them besides just absorbing content…
… and writing, drawing, painting, designing, composing and playing music, editing spreadsheets and databases, building presentations, taking photos, editing photos, emailing, chatting, editing movies, and so on.
Yep. Only for watching YouTube. You bet.
Re: Surface Pricing Announced - $499 USD
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think the $500 iPad has 3G?
You can't get 3G/4G on the Surface at any price. How mobile is that? Hotspot/cellphone-tether needed? - not going to work for some users.
Since it has USB ports and runs Windows you can just plug in an aircard for either 3G or 4G and have that coverage.
Re: Surface Pricing Announced - $499 USD
#98Re: Surface Pricing Announced - $499 USD
#99Won't compete with iPad on quality. Won't compete with Android on price. Why should anyone buy this?
This article from The Verge does a good job explaining how much of the focus of the Surface was making sure it had quality hardware. I don't think you can say it won't compete with the iPad on quality, until you use it.
"Everything is perfected and tested in Redmond using in-house machines, many of which were invented so they could invent the Surface, and later-stage models are sent to China for more massive production. The company uses the exact same 3D and laser printers as its factories in China, so its designs are certain to be translated perfectly into mass production — though even that didn't satisfy the design team, which has made as many as ten trips to China this year alone."
"The hinge on the Surface's built-in kickstand may have been the device's most discussed feature during our tour in Redmond. Microsoft has obsessed over how the kickstand works, how it looks, even how it sounds..."
"At 3mm thick, it's almost hard to believe there's room to fit a working keyboard inside the cover — Panay liked to talk about how the team's goal was for the Touch Cover to be 4.2mm thick, and they did even better."
"At one point we stood in a testing room, where five different Touch Covers were having their hinges tested by a machine that twisted back and forth every second or so. As the Covers furled and unfurled, we watched a 36-inch drop test, the Surface crashing onto its right side. No one flinched as the Surface fell, and Panay even said he's more worried about denting the wood floor than the Surface (we'll test that one for ourselves). While our backs were turned looking at the next test, Sinofsky grabbed a Surface that had four green wheels attached to the bottom, and hopped on board. He's apparently quite the skateboarder."
"The first screen size Microsoft seriously considered was 10.1 inches, the de facto standard for tablets today. But 10.1 inches didn't work well for multitasking, and it wasn't wide enough for a full-sized keyboard. So the company tried 11.1 inches — typing was great, as was multitasking, but Panay said "it really missed on the tablet experience." So Microsoft split the difference, and found 10.6 inches was the right size. The 10.6-inch Surface is comfortable to hold, Panay said, and "when you set your hands down in typing position, you can have a great experience.""
http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/16/3511002/microsoft-surface...
Re: Surface Pricing Announced - $499 USD
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
The gaming market would seem to be out, since Windows RT devices can only run apps distributed through the Windows App Store, and the Windows App Store refuses to carry any games rated as containing mature content ( http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/10/11/windows-8-marketp... ). In other words, no matter how easy they would be to port, you couldn't make versions of Skyrim , Borderlands 2 , XCOM: Enemy Unknown , or…
That's not entireially true. The App store 18+ isn't the same as ESRB mature but ESRB AO+. >> Apps with a rating over PEGI 16, ESRB MATURE, or a corresponding rating under other ratings systems as described in the table below, are not allowed. src http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh69408...
i expect that's not region sensitive either.
in the UK the BBFC classified Skyrim as a 15.
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/website/Classified.nsf/ClassifiedWorks...
eta: although that now seems to be merely a historical curiosity, since the BBFC no longer rates games - we use PEGI instead.