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Microsoft’s Hardware, Round 2: Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2

arstechnica.com

61–70 of 255 posts

Re: Microsoft’s Hardware, Round 2: Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2

#61

Does the Surface cut it as a machine for developers?

Performance-wise the Pro is no different than the MBA or any other ultrabook, so it all comes down to the form factor. For portable (especially lap) use the combination of kickstand + type cover makes typing a bit more difficult than a normal laptop, but on a desk it works pretty well. There are two caveats though: the relatively small screen and fixed kickstand angles (now there are two different angles but obviously still not as flexible as a notebook).

It only makes sense if you expect to use the tablet/touch features a lot, in addition to the traditional desktop. I plan on getting one mainly for the digitizer to take notes, so having a full portable computer is a nice bonus and justifies the price since I currently don't have a notebook.

Re: Microsoft’s Hardware, Round 2: Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2

#62
post #60

Earlier 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!

I'm a student also, but I've been using the iPad for this. I don't take any notes on the iPad itself because the courses I need to take notes on are mathematical, so I simply write on paper and then when I come back home I scan it and append the scans to an evergrowing PDF file that is synced to my iPad. I'm looking for a replacement for my iPad 2, but I can't settle on anything because all the non-iPad tablets have…

I only have a Surface RT :( sad days. Can't say I have any complaints with reading Kindle books or PDFs.

Re: Microsoft’s Hardware, Round 2: Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2

#63
post #14

As a Surface Pro owner [1], I like: * Surface 2 loses the low-density screen. I enjoy that low-density has been deprecated. * The names are right. Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2. No "Surface with Windows RT 8.1" nonsense. * Haswell, yes please. Longer battery life may assuage some popular criticism. * Backlit type cover. I hope this is compatible with my Surface Pro. * Two-position kick stand. I will be envious of this.…

> I hope this is compatible with my Surface Pro

Everything's compatible with the SP. Only the original Surface is missing the extra contacts on bottom for some of the new hardware.

Myself, I'll be picking up the Power Cover when that shows up (I'm expecting 2014), but not replacing the tablet. 8ish hours of battery life is plenty for me.

I'll save the big money for a real laptop when the rest of the PC makers finally put some Haswell-based stuff on store shelves this holiday season. That it's taken them over a year since the MBA is pathetic.

The only thing that keeps me from using SP2 as a desktop replacement is the GPU. I still like to do some casual gaming every once in a while, and Intel's integrated graphics are too far behind nVidia/ATI's discrete offerings in other ultrabooks.

Re: Microsoft’s Hardware, Round 2: Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2

#64

Why is there a photo of an external monitor with 3840x2160 and nothing is mentioned about it? Is it because it's just a hypothetical display that could be connected via the Mini DisplayPort, had it existed?

I was really hoping they'd announce that they are releasing such a display, to go along with the new Surfaces. I'd have bought one, along with a Surface Pro 2 and a docking station.

Re: Microsoft’s Hardware, Round 2: Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2

#65
Very nice. Pretty much everything I read was a net positive for the product, the only quibble might be the price but of all the things you can change in the future that is easiest to change :-).

I was intrigued by the music keyboard, not because I think the Surface is the instrument of the future, but because I think there is a market for a device which can easily customize its input experience like that. I have thought for a while that future test equipment from Tektronix or Agilent might look like that but with a scope control panel and a dock for attaching probes.

Like the 2 position kickstand, the one we got at work to do testing on that was annoying. I bet Surface 3 touts an infinitely adjustable one :-).

I think the ARM/x86 messaging is pretty spot on as well, Microsoft is playing the "its just windows" card pretty hard and dropping the RT moniker was smart too. Most consumers could care less about instruction set architecture. And what happens when Apple makes an Air with the A7 ? Will Apple have the 2 x 2 matrix (iOS/MacOS)(ARM/x86)? and Microsoft the 1 x 2 matrix (Windows)(ARM/x86) ? I'd think the latter long term is easier to message and less confusing for customers. If they go all Ubuntu like and create a Win 8.1 phone experience then there product / os vector is 1x3 (Windows)(phone/tablet/laptop).

That said, for me it reinforces the notion that this is the year of the Linux desktop. I recently had the experience of using a USB serial cable that worked under Linux but not under Windows 7. That was one of the signs for me that perhaps Windows was ceding the development workstation business (or at least not paying attention to it). That should be good news for folks like System76.

Re: Microsoft’s Hardware, Round 2: Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2

#66
post #36

Surface Pro with 512gb of space and 8gb ram, if I decide to move country again next year I'm replacing my desktop with a Surface.

I would love to but my hangup would be with the OS: are tablets well supported by Linux these days?

I am going to bet "no". Sure, you will be able to get a driver working, but there are no OneNotes for Linux and the rest of the OS generally has zero concessions to touch.

From my times playing with tablets, Linux trails Windows 5-10 years.

Re: Microsoft’s Hardware, Round 2: Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2

#67
post #24

Dear 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!!

Or better yet, they could stay the course and realize that architectures are going to have to be abstracted over in the decades to come.

That may be true but right now the user shouldn't have to care.

Re: Microsoft’s Hardware, Round 2: Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2

#68
Why, oh why is there no version with 3G/LTE? That is by far the biggest bummer, imho. For people that are on the road a lot that makes such a difference, and pretty much all other tablets offer that option, so it seems really lame to not have that. Also, if I spent $1800 for a Surface Pro in the best configuration, I really would expect it to have the same connectivity as a iPad mini... Other than that, this seems like the perfect device (the Pro version).

Re: Microsoft’s Hardware, Round 2: Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2

#69
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Not exactly sure what you mean, Windows apps work fine on the tablet. You either plug in the keyboard and a mouse, or you use an on-screen keyboard or the stylus. I looked at a lot of the hybrid machines before buying a Surface Pro and was pretty happy with the purchase.

Re: Microsoft’s Hardware, Round 2: Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2

#70
post #30
post #24

Dear 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.

Even if you do that, you still can't run your desktop apps on the ARM model. I really don't want to explain to luddite relatives why they can't run a game unless they buy the more expensive model.

Either ban desktop apps on both models, or neither.

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