Does the Surface cut it as a machine for developers?
I hear great things about the Pro. You would definitely not want the RT/ARM models as a developer. Whether you want to spend $900+ on the Surface Pro to use a dev machine is another matter.
Microsoft’s Hardware, Round 2: Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2
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Re: Microsoft’s Hardware, Round 2: Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm a college student studying engineering. I can say that replacing my laptop with my Surface Pro has been amazing. I'm virtually 100% paperless, with all my notes being taken with OneNote (seriously amazing!) and textbooks saved as PDFs. It's also awesome that the Pro has enough power for me to do real dev work on it. So make the switch! You won't be disappointed!
OneNote (+ digitizer) is indeed amazing ... I don't have a surface, but I do have a series 7 slate, and I have to say that the writing/drawing experience on win8 is really really nice. Considering upgrading it to the pro 2 now.
You won't regret the upgrade my friend! I'm actually thinking about buying the docking station for my Surface. I think once I get 8.1 on there and the screen scaling issues are fixed, I'll do that.
Re: Microsoft’s Hardware, Round 2: Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2
#43Those prices are... delusional.
Why? Did you even look at the specs? They are far in advance of the capabilities of an iPad. It's a full blown "PC as a Tablet". Even having a DisplayPort output and single USB port on a tablet device immediately makes it worth $200 more than any iPad.
Re: Microsoft’s Hardware, Round 2: Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2
#44Was it the device itself that caused such poor sales? I assumed all along it was a marketing/image problem which remains unsolved. Has relentlessness by a company ever overcome this issue in the past?
I think it's the size. Tablets that size have not done well except the iPad. I think what people primarily want from tablets is small portable computers they can carry around easily, and the Surface is the opposite of that.
Re: Microsoft’s Hardware, Round 2: Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Surface marketing was everywhere. I don't think it was particularly bad marketing at that. The devices were definitely to blame. Surface RT squandered Microsoft's ace in the whole in this space: Office + Outlook + Windows network integration. Not only did Office RT not ship in Metro form, but the product that shipped initially was a buggy pre-release. It was disastrous execution. Besides that, Surface RT sold for an…
> I don't think it was particularly bad marketing at that. I think Microsoft marketing was definitely to blame for their failure to properly distinguish the two (Surface Pro vs. Surface RT). They really were two very different devices for different uses. Trying to call them both Surface tablets was a mis-step in my opinion because of their very different use-cases: one is a desktop replacement, the other is a tablet.…
Well, they seem to have doubled down on that mistake by making the names even more similar this time around.
Re: Microsoft’s Hardware, Round 2: Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
OneNote (+ digitizer) is indeed amazing ... I don't have a surface, but I do have a series 7 slate, and I have to say that the writing/drawing experience on win8 is really really nice. Considering upgrading it to the pro 2 now.
You won't regret the upgrade my friend! I'm actually thinking about buying the docking station for my Surface. I think once I get 8.1 on there and the screen scaling issues are fixed, I'll do that.
8.1 screen scaling is awesome. Flatmate has a iMac with Windows 8.1 on it, 27" display and a low-res 24" display, Windows 8.1 fixed the scaling for the 2nd monitor now that you can set different scaling on each monitor.
Re: Microsoft’s Hardware, Round 2: Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2
#47The Surface Pro 2 could make for a really interesting developer machine. Plug it into external keyboard/monitor when you're at your desk, then just pick it up and take it on the road when you want to. I'm tempted, but part of me can't shake the idea that I'd be replacing my laptop with a tablet, even know I know that's not quite true. Also: Windows. I used to use it, but I've been working in OS X exclusively for a fe…
I still use windows but most of my day is spent in putty shells, git bash, phpstorm, pycharm, and and dbForge. It's not so bad. I'll probably move to a surface pro 2 with 256 or 512 from my ~3 year old Dell Latitude.
I forgot to mention vagrant as well. Map some directories and spend most of the work day in vagrant.
Re: Microsoft’s Hardware, Round 2: Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2
#48Better performance might help this sell, but the second I saw the "Surface Music Kit," I got excited. As a DJ, I need to carry around an expensive laptop to perform. The iPad does not have any impressive apps to DJ (at least not professionally), so I'd be VERY interested if they focused on the niche music market here. Surface 2 + Kinect/Leap + superb DJing app + Spotify-esque music supply = very happy musicians. Unfo…
It depends on what type of DJ you are I guess. Looking at your 'ultimate equation' it sounds like you might be a wedding DJ so Traktor isn't really your bag.
Re: Microsoft’s Hardware, Round 2: Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2
#49Was it the device itself that caused such poor sales? I assumed all along it was a marketing/image problem which remains unsolved. Has relentlessness by a company ever overcome this issue in the past?
It was the Surface RT that did so poorly. $900M writeoff that forced out Ballmer. Which is why I'm so surprised that they're attempting to do it again, with the Surface 2. People familiar with Windows want a cheap way to take their desktop with them. That's the primary audience, and introducing an ARM-based tablet that CAN'T run their desktop apps, is killing them. I would have gotten rid of the ARM one entirely (at…
How do you exactly use legacy Windows apps on a tablet? I think the Surface Pro should be killed immediately.
Re: Microsoft’s Hardware, Round 2: Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2
#50Dear Microsoft: Out of ARM and x86, choose one. Just choose one. For the love of god, choose ONE. Can you imagine Apple, or anyone else, deliberately releasing two different tablets, with the same name, which can not run each others' software? It is inconceivable, and for good reason. MS cannot make decisions. That's what will kill them, long term. Just choose one!!
Apple actually just made each executable have the binaries for both platforms. It's a good trick.
Apple didn't release both simultaneously.