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Announcing the Surface 3

blog.surface.com

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Re: Announcing the Surface 3

#271

Post by Someone »

yAak wrote: post #240
melling wrote: post #79

Wish they could have gone with the new USB standard. These form factors would really benefit from it. http://www.anandtech.com/show/8377/usb-typec-connector-speci...

I agree, if only because I want adoption of that new connector type to spread quickly. But given that it only has one USB port, I'm not surprised that Microsoft chose not to ship something that would basically require an adapter. I imagine they are shaving pennies to keep cost down without giving up quality, but I wonder what the added cost would be to have two USB ports? (And how much extra the new USB parts would c…

I would think having two USB-C connectors poses a problem.

If you allow charging over only one of the connectors, customers will find that highly confusing.

If you allow charging the device over both, you have to be prepared for the case where people plug in two power sources (yes, some users will do that, if you give them half a chance).

I think your best bet would be to go for #2. I think that requires software (or maybe hardware) that reliably handles the 'two power sources' problem. I wouldn't run that on the main OS and CPU, so you need something else, maybe a single chip that drives two USB type C connectors. I guess those may not yet exist.

(That's quite loose thinking, so it may be hugely incorrect. Educate me)

Re: Announcing the Surface 3

#272

Post by Dylan16807 »

Amezarak wrote: post #255
Dylan16807 wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Port? Android, ChromeOS... Arm is a first-class compile target.

Yes, in theory. What a blessing it would be if cross-compatibility was always as simple as "recompile with this as the target." That doesn't mean you can take Chromium for Windows and recompile targeting ARM and get something that works on jailbroken WinRT. As best as I can tell nobody has gotten Chromium running, but they have gotten many other x86 applications running. People have already tried. There's more work t…

Right, there's work involved, but it's taking code that already works on ARM, and already works on Win32, and making it work with the ARM version of Win32.

Since microsoft disallows that, there's much less incentive to do that work. But it's not an enormous barrier.

Re: Announcing the Surface 3

#273

Post by nacs »

sliverstorm wrote: post #234
Someone1234 wrote: post #30

I own a Surface Pro 3, and when I first got it I'd describe the experience as just mediocre. However Microsoft has been aggressively updating the software as has Intel, and as a result of those effects the SP3 has really stepped up and is now quite a good little tablet/ultrabook combo. I only have two remaining concerns with the SP3: My i5 version continues to get extremely hot near the middle of the device (e.g. whe…

Worryingly hot in fact. It may not actually be a problem at all. CPUs can run safely up to ~70C or so, which is 160F. This means thin tablets are becoming constrained by what you can safely touch, rather than what is safe for the CPU. http://www.colorado.edu/engineering/MCEN/MCEN5166/supplement...

Those temperatures are OK on a desktop or sometimes even a laptop but having something running that hot in your hand / lap is not so comfortable.

Re: Announcing the Surface 3

#274

Post by Ezhik »

pckspcks wrote: post #258

Well, I'm not getting one for three reasons: 1. The laptop sometimes sits on my lap. The surface keyboard doesn't work as a laptop. 2. The resolution is a joke. 3. There is no sane pen storage. For a pen device, that's dumb. Thinkpads add a few mm, and have a hole you put it in which stores it securely. There's a move to move everything out of the device to make it small, but carrying around 50 gizmos is worse than o…

1366x768 is a joke. 1920x1280 is actually a pretty nice resolution, even if not a very common one.

Re: Announcing the Surface 3

#275

Post by WorldWideWayne »

joshuapants wrote: post #254
georgemcbay wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like they are damned if they do, damned if they don't. They attempted to make the Kinect sensor a core part of the Xbox One (including making it central in their advertising, etc) but eventually bowed to pressure to unbundle it in order to sell a $100-cheaper SKU.

A keyboard is a bit more fundamental to a computing experience than a hardly-used peripheral is to a gaming experience.

Not at all because these are tablet computers. I own a few of them and I can honestly say that I only use the keyboard when I'm sitting at a desk with it...and the keyboard I use there is an MS Natural keyboard.

If I travel, I take my Typecover with me, but I mostly work at home.

Re: Announcing the Surface 3

#277

Post by gcb0 »

is there any non-marketing comparison to the pro version?

i'm scrolling up and down that page and i can't even answer if it is the same as pro3 with the crippled OS.

Re: Announcing the Surface 3

#278

Post by 3pt14159 »

sz4kerto wrote: post #62
3pt14159 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm interested in this question too. I set my girlfriend up with the Surface Pro 3, and besides it being awkward on her lap (ironically, the Surface needs a surface), I think its an amazing machine, especially for the price. It isn't quite Apple level with the hardware design, but it's close and it feels like Windows 8 was designed for it. My worry is that Ubuntu wouldn't really work with the touch screen. Edit: I sh…

Well, her use case is exactly where this Surface would work well (and maybe a Pro is a bit of an overkill).

Eh, I figured the money was worth it since she wanted to do HDMI to a pretty decent projector. Plus, her last laptop lasted her 5 years and I figured a Surface Pro would too.

Re: Announcing the Surface 3

#279

Post by prawn »

microtonal wrote: post #78
Someone1234 wrote: post #30

I own a Surface Pro 3, and when I first got it I'd describe the experience as just mediocre. However Microsoft has been aggressively updating the software as has Intel, and as a result of those effects the SP3 has really stepped up and is now quite a good little tablet/ultrabook combo. I only have two remaining concerns with the SP3: My i5 version continues to get extremely hot near the middle of the device (e.g. whe…

Surface 3, Surface Pro 3, Surface 2 RT, uhh... Well, at least it is better than before, when people bought a Surface tablet expecting it to run regular x86 desktop applications, because Windows. Having nearly the same name (Surface RT vs. Surface Pro) didn't really help.

Think of the people who ordered a Surface and expected a digital projection coffee table to arrive. (OK, none, but it's another Microsoft Surface, now renamed PixelSense.)

Re: Announcing the Surface 3

#280

Post by CamperBob2 »

Someone wrote: post #271
yAak wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, if only because I want adoption of that new connector type to spread quickly. But given that it only has one USB port, I'm not surprised that Microsoft chose not to ship something that would basically require an adapter. I imagine they are shaving pennies to keep cost down without giving up quality, but I wonder what the added cost would be to have two USB ports? (And how much extra the new USB parts would c…

I would think having two USB-C connectors poses a problem. If you allow charging over only one of the connectors, customers will find that highly confusing. If you allow charging the device over both, you have to be prepared for the case where people plug in two power sources (yes, some users will do that, if you give them half a chance). I think your best bet would be to go for #2. I think that requires software (or…

It wouldn't be much of a challenge at all to support two power sources, or at least to keep them from doing any harm. Couple of diode-connected MOSFETs, maybe a penny each at the scales we're talking about.
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