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Announcing the Surface 3

blog.surface.com

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Re: Announcing the Surface 3

#301

Post by seanmcdirmid »

greeneggs wrote: post #299
emsy wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks! We already tried it and she liked it so far, but unfortunately, the tablet had only Paint installed. She doesn't do hardcore art, but the sketches she draws should have a certain quality (No jiggy edges, which I heard was a problem when drawing slowly). I think I'll ask for a demo with a sophisticated drawing app next time I'm in the store. But the linked article gives me hope that this might be perfect for h…

Here's a good test to try in the store. You can do it in OneNote. Using a business card as a ruler, try to draw a diagonal line, slowly (a few seconds to cross the card). Unless they have fixed it recently, the Surface Pro 3 cannot draw straight lines in this way, and they will be quite jagged. In practice, you might never draw lines in this way, but the same jagged features will pop up everywhere, especially if you…

I really like Adobe's solution for this:

http://www.adobe.com/products/ink-and-slide.html

We need that at Surface...

Re: Announcing the Surface 3

#303

Post by tracker1 »

freehunter wrote: post #179
gurkendoktor wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is nothing that runs on one Mac that doesn't run on all the others. Apple's device classes are getting confusing, but at least everything in a category has access to the full ecosystem (either iOS or OS X).

There's nothing that runs on current-gen Microsoft hardware that doesn't run on all the others either, with the exception of phones (and Apple has that limitation too). There are no current-gen Windows RT devices.

A well-written Windows 8 application should be able to target desktop, phone, tablet and xbox with very little rework, and mostly shared libraries.

Re: Announcing the Surface 3

#304

Post by freehunter »

npunt wrote: post #296
stinkytaco wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like Apple's fallen of the wagon on this one, however. Look at the iPad line. From what I can tell there are at least 6 different models and all of those are available in different storage capacities and with different connectivity options. Additionally, there are 3 different iPhone models. If you're a consumer walking into Best Buy for an iPad, I can definitely see you getting a raw deal if you don't already…

I respectfully disagree, there's only two raw deals I see with your example: buying a 16GB model, and going to Best Buy. There were always 6 SKUs for any given region (3 size options and 2 connectivity), and now there are 3 colors, and the iPad Mini form factor. That's a lot when you add it all up analytically, but that's not how consumers experience it -- they're not presented with 36 different iPads and asked to fi…

RE: The Zenbook

How do companies not get this? Don't call it the Zenbook [Impossible Number]. Call it the damn Zenbook and be done with it. No one cares that its part of the UX300 line, because UX300 means nothing, and you're only going to have three computers in the UX line anyway before you discontinue it.

But you know why they do that? Price matching. They can sell a SKU on Amazon for $700 and sell the exact same computer at Best Buy for $750. When you try to price match with Best Buy, oh whoops you're buying the Zenbook UX305-XYZ, that's the Zenbook UX305-ABC. Same hardware? Doesn't matter, different SKU, no price match.

Re: Announcing the Surface 3

#305

Post by freehunter »

aasarava wrote: post #131
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…

Amazon's Kindle Fire naming is equally painful. There's a Fire HD 7 and a Fire HD 7". Try buying accessories for the right one.

But then again, try buying accessories for the Kindle Not-Fire. First off, you have to figure out how to search for Kindle without Fire results coming up. Then you have to try to figure out which generation you have, when Amazon themselves don't tell you that anywhere.

Re: Announcing the Surface 3

#306

Post by AlbertoGP »

wz1000 wrote: post #24

Does anybody have experience of running Linux on previous Surface devices?

Yes, I've been using a Surface Pro 3 as my primary computer since last year, with Ubuntu (dual boot with Windows, secure boot, no problems). It works well enough after I made my own kernel patch to have both multi-touch trackpad and keyboard with the type cover. There are patches for the cameras too but I haven't used them yet. Wireless is iffy but it works every time if I connect manually instead of letting it connect automatically.

Touch works surprisingly well, but multitouch support in Ubuntu is quite primitive still. The pen works allright but without pressure sensitivity.

Coming from a ThinkPad W500 I'm very happy with it but it still has rough edges, like the lack of suspend mode. I do a full shutdown instead.

Re: Announcing the Surface 3

#307

Post by fennecfoxen »

WorldWideWayne wrote: post #178
emsy wrote: post #167

Slightly off-topic, but my wife needs a new PC with pen input (as she needs to draw a lot). Does anyone with an Atom tablet happen to know if this will work with Photoshop (it's the heaviest program she'll be using)? If not what are the alternatives? I heard the Lenovo Yoga 2 is better than the Surface Pro 3 but I'm terribly out of the topic since a while now.

If I were an artist, I don't think that I could resist trying out the Cintiq Companion 2. It's a tablet computer from Wacom running full Windows 8.1 Pro with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. But that's not all because you can plug it into any PC or Mac and then proceed to use the tablet as an input device. Check it out - http://www.wacom.com/en-us/products/pen-displays/cintiq-comp...

Oh goodness, this is finally out??!? I had the Cintiq Companion (original), loved it, but unfortunately it was stolen (by a very lovely girl who needed it much more than I do :b) and the specs on the old one were starting to age a little.

Re: Announcing the Surface 3

#308

Post by ossreality »

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…

You know the Pixel 2 has two charging ports and handles this case correctly...

Re: Announcing the Surface 3

#309

Post by joshuapants »

WorldWideWayne wrote: post #284
joshuapants wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't entirely disagree, but my point was that it's a lot harder to use a computer without a physical keyboard/mouse than it is to use an Xbox without a Kinect. You can certainly use a Surface with no type cover, but even in Modern IE and other apps I prefer to type with a hardware keyboard. Let me put it this way: by having a computer (even if it has a tablet form factor, it is a Real Computer) without a mouse/key…

It depends on how you work, so I disagree that you always lose the core functionality. I could totally go without the type cover if I wanted to because I just don't travel much. As a matter of fact, I think when the Surface Pro 4 comes out, I will not buy the type cover and take the savings instead. In any case, I really, really disagree that Microsoft is being sleazy by offering a choice. It's more like they're goin…

> I could totally go without the type cover if I wanted to because I just don't travel much.

But also because you have another keyboard and don't mind forking over money for a docking station or plugging in. You're replacing the type cover with another keyboard, but that's still something you had to buy.

> when the Surface Pro 4 comes out, I will not buy the type cover and take the savings instead

Microsoft has announced that the SP3 type cover will be compatible with the next Pro model, so you wouldn't have to at any rate :D

> In any case, I really, really disagree that Microsoft is being sleazy by offering a choice.

I agree with you, but I don't think they're offering the choice you think they are[1]. They bill it as "The Tablet That Can Replace Your Laptop," right above a picture of the products with the type cover on them. The intended use-case clearly involves the type cover.

[1] http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/26m9cu/we_are_panos_pa...

In case you don't want to follow the link: the choice is the color of the cover, not whether or not to have a cover.

Re: Announcing the Surface 3

#310

Post by vacri »

BinaryIdiot wrote: post #190
Someone1234 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That 2 GB, 64 GB model just looks painful to use. I've seen a lot of Windows installs use up more than 64 GB, in particular as WinSXS grows as more updates are installed (thus more duplicate DLLs are stored). If anyone asked me, I'd describe 128 GB as the "minimum" storage needed for Windows. And even then you aren't storing much if any user data on it. 4 GB is the minimum I'd run anything newer than Windows XP on. T…

> I've seen a lot of Windows installs use up more than 64 GB Windows installs themselves or with other software installed? The latter makes sense but I've never seen anywhere close in the former. 32GB would be a bad idea but 64GB I think is fine for the majority of people.

I find it a bit disturbing that giving an operating system 32GB would be considered too small. I've not played with win8, but my win7 install started out at 20GB, and damned if I can figure out what consumes all that space out of the box.
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