121–130 of 290 posts
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4660871
and I still think it is true... IMO Microsoft made a mistake by leading out with the RT. Leading with the Pro and then offering the RT as a feature-reduced lower cost version would have cut down on the confusion as to what RT really is and lessened the initial impression that the Windows 8 experience is kind of underwhelming.
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The problem with Windows "apps" is that they are made inefficient and un-optimized by default , because they were targeted at much more powerful processors, and as processors became even more powerful, they didn't care about increasing the performance or at least keeping it at the previous level (and not slower). Developers never really cared about netbooks, and these devices, either with ARM processors or with Atom,…
My understanding however from the "Windows 8 Doesn’t Want Your App. Try Again Later" post was that as part of the approval process, MSFT does automatically test the apps in a low performance environment, and if they don't meed specific benchmarks there (example in the post was startup or shutdown time of 2 second, but I can't remember exactly and am on mobile), they will reject the app and tel you to work on it. So i…
It is weird combo of laptop and tablet.
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The app mentioned in the post was Office, produced by Microsoft, which is the same company that makes the Surface tablet. In my opinion, that is unacceptable. If MS couldn't optimize apps that ship with Surface, they shouldn't have released it.
> If MS couldn't optimize apps that ship with Surface, they shouldn't have released it. They don't have time for that. Now there is only iPad with significant sales number. In 6 months Android tables will start to sell in significant numbers. In 12 months opportunity to conquer world market with new tablet OS will disappear.
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Brent the author here. No, I did not expect the Surface to be as productive as a Windows laptop, but I did expect that Word would be able to keep up with me while I type - just as any other modern device is. I'm not asking to do 3D renderings, just to type a document. For what it's worth, I also wrote about why I was preordering it here: http://ozar.me/2012/10/why-i-preordered-a-microsoft-surface-...
Brent, Ben here. Your original blog post is explicit that the critical issue is PowerPoint compatibility. This doesn't come up among your reasons for dissatisfaction. I'm not skewering you, only pointing out that the rationales you articulated are different from your unarticulated expectations...though your articulated expectations were rather low. The referenced post, however, implies an expectation to replace both…
"The diagonally-oriented camera is strange. In the one orientation it’s optimized for, it’s slightly annoying. In any other orientation, it’s almost intolerable. " "The built-in front-facing camera for Skype is angled so that it’ll work great when the kickstand is open, but again, only for Danny DeVito, or maybe for people who want to show off their chests in Skype." ------ "The Touch Cover is one of the Surface’s bi…
Recently, HN is quick to yell "fanboy" at anything critical of a direct competitor to an Apple product. But from the multiple Surface reviews posted here over the past few days, it seems like the consensus (even among those that aren't labeled "fanboys") is that the surface has considerable drawbacks while costing more than an iPad.
It's maddening because I don't want an iPad. An iPad doesn't fit my requirements, one of which is side loading. It can't share data between apps easily either. Android has intents, which are nice, but I would absolutely love a tablet that could switch to full blown OSX, has a USB port for mouse and keyboard. A true laptop and tablet combined.
That would be a device I might be interested in. An iPad is not a device I am interested in. So you might understand why "but iPad!" comments are annoying to me.
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Recently, HN is quick to yell "fanboy" at anything critical of a direct competitor to an Apple product. But from the multiple Surface reviews posted here over the past few days, it seems like the consensus (even among those that aren't labeled "fanboys") is that the surface has considerable drawbacks while costing more than an iPad.
> But from the multiple Surface reviews posted here over the past few days You mean all those negative reviews that get upvoted to the front-page. Thats what happens here, the positive reviews usually get ignored, get flagged, or die quickly. Unless it's an Apple product. "Surface RT" is not "Surface for Windows 8 Pro". Windows RT is a stripped down version of Windows designed for lower power CPUs. It's also designed…
You might want to tell Microsoft's marketing department that because the seem to have different ideas from you.
Surface with Windows RT is supposed to be a stripped down version of Windows, that runs 99% in Metro-mode, not Desktop-mode. Right now there are two exceptions to this: Office (preview version - buggy) and a Desktop-mode version of IE. Everything else is 100% Metro. And I don't think you can even install anything yourself on it except via it's App Store. Hence it's Desktop-mode is not really there for the benefit of…
Brent the author here. I'm 6'3". I can move the Surface RT away from me to the point where I'm fully in the camera, but then I can't reach the keyboard. That doesn't quite work.
I've had mine since 10AM yesterday; and I'm actually fairly pleased, at least for effectively being a new platform. Thoughts, in no particular order: - Love the build. Very solid overall. - 16:9 means it's one long tablet. Oddly, it's actually fairly usable in portrait; can't say the same for my old 16:10 Transformer (maybe just better balanced?) - The touch cover is, like most say, surprisingly usable. Desperately n…
Nice review. I've spent the last 6 weeks working on a Windows 8 app. I've been using a dell box and samsung tablet with visual studio and a wired mouse/wireless keyboard so I can speak first hand about what it's like to use the 'desktop' part of Windows 8 for serious work. Disclaimer: I've been a web developer for 4 years and have used a Mac during that whole time. Before that the only experience I had with windows w…
"The diagonally-oriented camera is strange. In the one orientation it’s optimized for, it’s slightly annoying. In any other orientation, it’s almost intolerable. " "The built-in front-facing camera for Skype is angled so that it’ll work great when the kickstand is open, but again, only for Danny DeVito, or maybe for people who want to show off their chests in Skype." ------ "The Touch Cover is one of the Surface’s bi…
Recently, HN is quick to yell "fanboy" at anything critical of a direct competitor to an Apple product. But from the multiple Surface reviews posted here over the past few days, it seems like the consensus (even among those that aren't labeled "fanboys") is that the surface has considerable drawbacks while costing more than an iPad.