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Microsoft's new foldable keyboard

blogs.microsoft.com

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Re: Microsoft's new foldable keyboard

#241

Post by tellarin »

7952 wrote: post #233
freehunter wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's both the hardware and the software. For $500, you can get a high quality, well designed piece of hardware tightly coupled with the software and it does everything you need it to do. If the iPad breaks, throw it out and get a new one. But chances are, it won't break (that is, unless you break it). Meanwhile for $500, you can get a cheap plastic laptop that will break on its own through normal wear and tear. It ru…

In general I think building operating systems is difficult and sooner or later you get a bad apple (no pun intended). Apple may have avoided this but it is common on Windows and some Android devices to have strange issues that are never really resolved. As we pile platform on top of platform this kind of emergent property becomes more likely. By simplifying things you just delay this for a few years before the bloat…

In general I do agree with you. But I have to point out that even Apple has been facing this type of issue recently.

E.g. The Wi-Fi issue in iOS 8. Already on 8.2 and not fixed for many people.

Is this inescapable?

Re: Microsoft's new foldable keyboard

#242

Post by anonbanker »

freehunter wrote: post #222
anonbanker wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks. Exactly what I was hoping for. Totally worth the downvotes for asking.

You didn't get downvoted for asking. You got downvoted for the way you asked. [citation needed] is incredibly rude.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9207078

Re: Microsoft's new foldable keyboard

#243

Post by eb0la »

sosuke wrote: post #76

I like the more foldable style that has been around for a while http://www.amazon.com/Targus-Stowaway-Portable-Keyboard-Hand... I hope they come out with one like that. I had one for a Compaq iPaq, it felt like the future every time I opened up. That was 2000 or 2001 I think?

For the iPaq it was 2001. I still have it around and Iw was great. Only problem: it was a bit thick when folded. Thiker than any modern smartphone.

Re: Microsoft's new foldable keyboard

#245

Post by soylentcola »

freehunter wrote: post #221
7952 wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does "post PC era" even have a meaning to anyone other than tech pundits? Is tablet hardware really better, or do people just prefer the software experience? In a world of commodity hardware that distinction is quite important. People will buy an IPad because it is easy to use and will reject the Windows 8 laptop because it is hard to use and ignore the practicality of the hardware.

It's both the hardware and the software. For $500, you can get a high quality, well designed piece of hardware tightly coupled with the software and it does everything you need it to do. If the iPad breaks, throw it out and get a new one. But chances are, it won't break (that is, unless you break it). Meanwhile for $500, you can get a cheap plastic laptop that will break on its own through normal wear and tear. It ru…

I guess this can be the case but at least in my totally-unscientific anecdotal experience, it's not quite there yet for everyone. About 3-4 years ago I bought an iPad 2 for around $650 because I was going to be traveling a lot and wanted something reasonably capable to take along while not adding a lot of weight to my backpack. Maybe 6 months later, my girlfriend wanted a lighter laptop to replace her old Dell but she didn't have a lot to spend at the time. I spent about $500 on a fairly low powered (i3, 4GB RAM, Intel GPU, touch screen, etc) Asus laptop because it was very light and reasonably capable and well built for such a low cost.

Today, that iPad has cracks in the screen from the minor bumps and scuffs it's taken over the years. After several iOS updates it's become slow and tedious to use. Wifi reception is terrible so I often have trouble using it when sitting in bed, exactly one floor above my home router. Opening more than one or two tabs in the web browser causes each one to reload when switching and overall performance is barely acceptable.

Contrast this with the less expensive Asus laptop. My girlfriend still uses it as her sole personal computer and runs Office apps, connects to her work VPN for access to company resources, uses it to watch movies on Netflix, browses the web, and plays casual games. It runs just as well as it ever did and while there are also minor scuffs on the housing, the screen has no sort of cracking and the touch input still works as it always has.

I think that a big part of this has been how iPads and the more "appliance" style tablets have gotten more capable but so have more traditional notebook and desktop computers. Likewise, the performance you get from budget/entry class computers continues to go up even as hardware stays cheap.

At some point, the whole "post-PC" thing will happen as the traditionally "non-PC" devices continue to become more capable up to the point where they can do 90% of the average PC user's tasks. But then, aside from the inability to customize or upgrade, what makes them not PCs?

Re: Microsoft's new foldable keyboard

#246

Post by scholia »

scholia wrote: post #237
digi_owl wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Makes me wonder how well a updated Fujitsu U1010 would do today.

We used to have quite a few nice, small machines. The one of the Psion Series 5 was amazing for the size. I had an HP Windows CE machine that was only a little bigger and the keyboard was even better. Lack of USB, SD and Wi-Fi rather limits their usefulness nowadays ;-)

Errr... "The one of the Psion Series 5" should be "The keyboard of the Psion Series 5...". Sorry,

Re: Microsoft's new foldable keyboard

#247

Post by ktsmith »

Namrog84 wrote: post #231
kabdib wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I need a "split" keyboard so my choices are relatively limited. The Kinesys Freestyle 2 keyboards (with the tenting) are pretty decent replacements for older members of the Microsoft Natural series. The Kinesys boards are not perfect (the ESC key is a bit far out, and there are 8 special purpose keys on a bank on the left that are useless). But they've got inverted-T and the key feel is good. The MS Natural keyboard…

I've used and loved all the Microsoft ergonomic keyboards. Wired ones anyways. I've never had a problem with them and while I don't ever use any of the special keys or add ons.they don't distract or cause me issues ever.

I have half a dozen of the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000 keyboards sitting in a closet because I got tired of them discontinuing previous versions right around the time my keyboard would start to have issues or an unfortunate accident would kill one. Really the only ergonomic keyboard they made that I didn't like were the second version of the original ergonomic keyboards labeled with elite. They used a layout where the arrow keys were placed i a + pattern rather than a ⊥

Re: Microsoft's new foldable keyboard

#248

Post by gretful »

soylentcola wrote: post #245
freehunter wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's both the hardware and the software. For $500, you can get a high quality, well designed piece of hardware tightly coupled with the software and it does everything you need it to do. If the iPad breaks, throw it out and get a new one. But chances are, it won't break (that is, unless you break it). Meanwhile for $500, you can get a cheap plastic laptop that will break on its own through normal wear and tear. It ru…

I guess this can be the case but at least in my totally-unscientific anecdotal experience, it's not quite there yet for everyone. About 3-4 years ago I bought an iPad 2 for around $650 because I was going to be traveling a lot and wanted something reasonably capable to take along while not adding a lot of weight to my backpack. Maybe 6 months later, my girlfriend wanted a lighter laptop to replace her old Dell but sh…

Meanwhile, I bought an original iPad, and a first gen iPod Touch that my kids are still happily using today. My 19 year old daughter learned (via Youtube) how to replace iPod/iPad screens and has a small side business going...

Re: Microsoft's new foldable keyboard

#249

Post by undersuit »

JetSpiegel wrote: post #196
michaelcampbell wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bug fixes? If something needs a firmware to begin with, it probably needs firmware upgrades.

It's a keyboard. It's not rocket science, how hard can it be to make a bug-free keyboard firmware? It's not this is virgin ground either, keyboards have been built for decades which had no bugs.

"keyboards have been built for decades which had no bugs."

Keyboards also haven't changed significantly for decades, we still use the same basic design, exterior(QWERTY) and interior(keyboard matrix circuit).

Re: Microsoft's new foldable keyboard

#250

Post by lewaldman »

walterbell wrote: post #8

Microsoft once made an awesome trackball and then discontinued it, leaving the remaining supply to be auctioned at high prices on eBay. If you're lucky, you can now find one of these extinct $50 MSRP rarities for the low price of $550 on Amazon, http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-D68-00007-Trackball-Explorer... Why they won't bring this trackball back to the market is a mystery.

I love my Logitech M570... Have one at work and one at home and can't imagine going back to a regular mouse (may be if I go back gaming but not sure if this would happen).

Highly recomend it! :)

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