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Microsoft builds MacBook Pro rival with NVIDIA-powered Surface Laptop Ultra

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Re: Microsoft builds MacBook Pro rival with NVIDIA-powered Surface Laptop Ultra

#151

Post by dpark »

quitspamming wrote: post #144
dpark wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> an ARM device that had the battery life of Apple Silicon, yet was a real computer that wasn't locked down, ensured/promoted ARM compatibility with their ecosystem Isn’t that what this is? (Or is supposed to be?)

> (Or is supposed to be?) I would be happy to eat my words "later this year" (per their timeline) but past Surface interactions lead me to believe it will be more of the same as in the past. Bad performance, bad battery life, bad build quality, bad compatibility. For the sake of competition and options, I really hope to be proven wrong... I just wouldn't bet on it.

> bad compatibility

I’m curious what this means. Bad compatibility with Windows software? Or bad compatibility with Linux?

Re: Microsoft builds MacBook Pro rival with NVIDIA-powered Surface Laptop Ultra

#152

Post by bsimpson »

steveBK123 wrote: post #131

Who is the target market for this? As an Apple user who can’t make iPad OS work I am always tempted by the surface but.. Every time I contemplate the surface (I like the hardware / concept) it seems the software I might want to use doesn’t support arm..

I remember when they first pivoted from multiperson multitouch tables to tablets. It sounded like a really cool device - even got me to walk into a Microsoft store.

Then I realized that it used the same shitty Windows with the same shitty registry that I had mostly avoided for my whole life to that point. I certainly wasn't jumping in on that tablet.

Re: Microsoft builds MacBook Pro rival with NVIDIA-powered Surface Laptop Ultra

#153

Post by pier25 »

quitspamming wrote: post #140

A former employer of mine, owned by a retired NFL player, purchased Surface devices for the sales staff in addition to their laptops. This was presumably because Microsoft and the NFL had a deal where everyone on the sidelines were using Surfaces and they thought it was a good idea. I say that because no one was asking for them, and when we received them I was inundated with tickets about poor performance: "my surfac…

I owned a Surface Book v1 for a couple of days before returning it. It was a garbage device with tons of issues. I will say it had amazing keyboard though.

Re: Microsoft builds MacBook Pro rival with NVIDIA-powered Surface Laptop Ultra

#154

Post by bigyabai »

hackyhacky wrote: post #150
bigyabai wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like you aren't familiar with Nvidia's dedication to low-power ARM SOCs. Ever heard of the Nintendo Switch before? The Tegra inside that is a 15w TDP gaming SOC. And it supports CUDA (somehow).

> Sounds like you aren't familiar with Nvidia's dedication to low-power ARM SOCs. Ever heard of the Nintendo Switch before? The Tegra inside that is a 15w TDP gaming SOC. And it supports CUDA (somehow). I think that GP comment is not intending to throw shade at ARM SOCs (many of which are quite nice, including those from Apple an Qualcomm), but specifically the Microsoft products built on them.

I'm mostly surprised by the insinuation of bad performance or battery life. That's what will be ostensibly solved by putting an Nvidia SOC where a Ryzen or Intel one used to be.

Re: Microsoft builds MacBook Pro rival with NVIDIA-powered Surface Laptop Ultra

#155

Post by Analemma_ »

steveBK123 wrote: post #131

Who is the target market for this? As an Apple user who can’t make iPad OS work I am always tempted by the surface but.. Every time I contemplate the surface (I like the hardware / concept) it seems the software I might want to use doesn’t support arm..

I mean, I used to be - with the disclaimer that I worked at Microsoft for a while (left in 2019), there was a hot minute when Surface devices were good and on an upward trajectory to become great. Microsoft was doing interesting things with new form factors and interface devices-- the Surface Book, Studio and Dial weren't all hits, but they were some of the only noteworthy experiments in PCs-- and they actually cared about build quality in a way pretty much no other PC manufacturer did.

Then Panay left, Windows 11 has been a debacle, and Nadella seems to give zero fucks about anything which isn't Copilot or Azure, so the Surface momentum that they spent so much time building has just coasted to a complete stop. It's sad.

Re: Microsoft builds MacBook Pro rival with NVIDIA-powered Surface Laptop Ultra

#157

Post by madduci »

mzmzmzm wrote: post #103

My first thought on seeing this was that it could be great for Linux. If the hardware is a little more standard than Apple's, it wouldn't need all the tricks Asahi has figure out. Finally you could have the best performance without compromising on fine details.

My thought as well. As a Linux or BSD machine, this is a portable beast

Re: Microsoft builds MacBook Pro rival with NVIDIA-powered Surface Laptop Ultra

#159

Post by runjake »

steveBK123 wrote: post #131

Who is the target market for this? As an Apple user who can’t make iPad OS work I am always tempted by the surface but.. Every time I contemplate the surface (I like the hardware / concept) it seems the software I might want to use doesn’t support arm..

"Enterprise" people. There's this whole other world of legacy enterprise software where people do things that run companies, write large-scale software with an ancient version of .NET, and run this software on Windows servers.

Re: Microsoft builds MacBook Pro rival with NVIDIA-powered Surface Laptop Ultra

#160

Post by vulcan01 »

dpark wrote: post #151
quitspamming wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (Or is supposed to be?) I would be happy to eat my words "later this year" (per their timeline) but past Surface interactions lead me to believe it will be more of the same as in the past. Bad performance, bad battery life, bad build quality, bad compatibility. For the sake of competition and options, I really hope to be proven wrong... I just wouldn't bet on it.

> bad compatibility I’m curious what this means. Bad compatibility with Windows software? Or bad compatibility with Linux?

This is an ARM device, so presumably compatibility with third-party software.
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