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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

#251

Post by dylan604 »

exmadscientist wrote: post #199
RankingMember wrote: post #170

My experience with Surfaces and, particularly, the Surface Book and its accompanying dock were such that I'd have to be paid to use one again. For example, the dock would get its own updates silently and brick itself randomly and the proprietary magnetic connector between the dock and the computer was prone to a poor connection. I remember many occasions trying to work and my screens just randomly blinking in and out…

I worked with some of the people responsible for the Surface Book, Surface docks, and specifically the Surface Book's dock. These were hardware people (EEs), not software people, and this was after their time at MS. Unfortunately I don't remember specifics (both because it's been a few years, and because I'd probably have to fuzz details anyway), but... : Docks are horrifying products. Thunderbolt docks are doubly ho…

The fact they are stuck with the concept of a dock being something the computer needs to physically sit in is just funny to me. I have a "dock" for my MBP that is just a little box that everything connects to that doesn't leave my desk. When I connect my MBP to it, I just plug in the single cable to it. If the cable goes bad, it hasn't in the 3+ years of use, I would just swap out the cable.

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

#252

Post by bahmboo »

thewebguyd wrote: post #133
EagnaIonat wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The emphasis on the fans kicking off also had a bit of a turn-off.

Can't believe they led with that in the promo video. They potentially have whats finally a competitor to an apple silicon MBP, and they lead with fans?? I love my macbooks precisely because they are silent (among other things, obviously).

Yes the MBP is very quiet when doing easy stuff but run games and heavy duty software and those fans are required to get work done.

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

#253

Post by smrtinsert »

RankingMember wrote: post #170

My experience with Surfaces and, particularly, the Surface Book and its accompanying dock were such that I'd have to be paid to use one again. For example, the dock would get its own updates silently and brick itself randomly and the proprietary magnetic connector between the dock and the computer was prone to a poor connection. I remember many occasions trying to work and my screens just randomly blinking in and out…

I also had a bad experience, but I'm willing to throw all that out of the window after seeing that it had 128 unified memory on a CUDA enabled device. This is an AI native dream machine from what I can tell. I'm almost obligated to buy one.

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

#254

Post by layer8 »

a_vanderbilt wrote: post #61

For many, the appeal of a Mac is that it isn't running Windows. I'm not seeing how this won't be a repeat of the OG ARM Surface, just with a higher spec'd GPU.

And for many others, the appeal of a Windows PC is that it doesn’t run macOS. But I agree that ARM is still a caveat for those machines, in particular long-term driver support.

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

#255

Post by als0 »

exmadscientist wrote: post #199
RankingMember wrote: post #170

My experience with Surfaces and, particularly, the Surface Book and its accompanying dock were such that I'd have to be paid to use one again. For example, the dock would get its own updates silently and brick itself randomly and the proprietary magnetic connector between the dock and the computer was prone to a poor connection. I remember many occasions trying to work and my screens just randomly blinking in and out…

I worked with some of the people responsible for the Surface Book, Surface docks, and specifically the Surface Book's dock. These were hardware people (EEs), not software people, and this was after their time at MS. Unfortunately I don't remember specifics (both because it's been a few years, and because I'd probably have to fuzz details anyway), but... : Docks are horrifying products. Thunderbolt docks are doubly ho…

> It was still better than the competition

Plenty of cases where Surface isn't. Microsoft like to think they can make hardware but they're no better than other OEM and it's clearly not a focus for them

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

#256

Post by mschuster91 »

whateverboat wrote: post #250
exmadscientist wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked with some of the people responsible for the Surface Book, Surface docks, and specifically the Surface Book's dock. These were hardware people (EEs), not software people, and this was after their time at MS. Unfortunately I don't remember specifics (both because it's been a few years, and because I'd probably have to fuzz details anyway), but... : Docks are horrifying products. Thunderbolt docks are doubly ho…

> They ordered in every single competing dock they could find, from that era's products, and found that every last one was garbage in some way or other, usually fatally so. It is so hard to believe that when more than 1000 employees at my employers are also using at least one dock (Dell and Thinkpad both) and using them very well.

We are talking about a situation some years past. I member there were USB docks that if you had them attached to external power and ethernet, but not a laptop, they'd instant-kill the network by sending garbage frames that would cause switches to fault off.

Only around 2024-ish the situation with USB and TB docks seemed to stabilize.

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

#258

Post by jansan »

anonymars wrote: post #200
RankingMember wrote: post #170

My experience with Surfaces and, particularly, the Surface Book and its accompanying dock were such that I'd have to be paid to use one again. For example, the dock would get its own updates silently and brick itself randomly and the proprietary magnetic connector between the dock and the computer was prone to a poor connection. I remember many occasions trying to work and my screens just randomly blinking in and out…

My absolute favorite fact about the Surface is that if the battery runs out, the Surface Dock power is unable to bootstrap it. You have to plug in a charger Not sure if that's still the case but truly astonishing https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/surface-dock/tro...

MacBooks recently had this bug that you had to connect it to LAN in order to initialize it, or return it to the shop. It's not all perfect in Apple world.

Still, Windows is a problem here. I wonder what the monthly fee is to get rid of the ads?

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

#259

Post by altern8 »

zitterbewegung wrote: post #245
altern8 wrote: post #243

I don't know if it's on purpose, but I've seen a few images and videos and I can't figure out what the laptop looks like. Why are all the pictures so dark? You can't see it!

I bet it will be something like a MacBook Pro but with a windows logo. I wouldn’t expect much different considering the other surfaces look practically the same including the keyboard . Not that that is a bad thing .

The keyboard is pretty much the only thing you can see, and I see that they're still doing that horrible arrow layout.
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