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The Microsoft Surface Isn’t Rosy

chasingperfection.co.uk

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Re: The Microsoft Surface Isn’t Rosy

#41

Post by drzaiusapelord »

pavlov wrote: post #39
drzaiusapelord wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>although I imagine trying to walk the average user through "booting from USB" How is that any worse than the current status quo of every Windows product ever sold? I'd say it would be harder to walk mom through deleting the restore files when she calls and says her tablet won't hold all her movies and music. Let's just face it, MS made a very stupid decision. I could see this happening during the Vista era, but SSDs…

...it would be harder to walk mom through deleting the restore files when she calls and says her tablet won't hold all her movies and music. You can just tell her to buy an SD card and insert it in the computer. Unlike iOS, Windows actually supports disk expansion.

Hold on. She paid a premium for the extra space, but now has to buy yet another storage device because MS filled her drive with restore crap?

Re: The Microsoft Surface Isn’t Rosy

#42

Post by revscat »

username3 wrote: post #8

My 64GB iPad has 57.1GB free space. That's 89%. 57.1 - 32 - 16 = 9.1; 9.1 / 16 = 0.56875; 16GB iPad has 9.1GB free space? That's 56%. My 16GB iPhone 5 has 13.4GB free. That's 83%. 13.4 + 16 + 32 = 61.4; 61.4 / 64 = 0.959375; 64GB iPhone 5 has 61.4GB free space? That's 95%. Edit: These calculations are not accurate. Read replies.

I have a 16GB iPad sitting here in front of me. The Usage preference pane on the device currently shows "11.1GB used, 2.3GB available."

That's 13.3GB, or 83%.

Re: The Microsoft Surface Isn’t Rosy

#43

Post by onli »

bitdiffusion wrote: post #29
nextparadigms wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FUD? So you're implying that Microsoft giving users a lot less space than they are promoting in commercials and on the label a lie?

They give you hardware that is capable of storing the advertised amount of data - they advertise it the same as any other vendor (nobody advertises "usable diskspace" unless there is a 59GB iPad out there). When do you think hardware vendors should start specifying available disk space as part of their SKU? When it's less than 10%? 20%? Should this value include pre-installed applications?

That is pure Ignorance to what the user wants. And we dicussed that on this site already. It seems to be fairly obvious to most that there is a big difference between having more than the half unusable and having a tiny bit used.

Defending Microsoft in that brainwashed-looking way serves neither you nor them.

Re: The Microsoft Surface Isn’t Rosy

#44

Post by whatprojectnext »

mckoss wrote: post #34
whatprojectnext wrote: post #17

I actually thick the Surface Pro, or something like it, will be the future of home computing. It is exactly what everyone with an iPad, including myself, wishes the iPad would actually do. It is a tablet form factor with a the guts of a true computer and support for multiple peripherals. Dock it wherever and have a real computer system or take it on the go like any other tablet.

I think it's wrong that this level of product integration is what everyone wants; i.e. functioning as a tablet and as a laptop. One of Microsoft's most powerful profit generators was software integration (both in Office and Windows). But integrated products (ones that do BOTH X and Y) are necessarily inferior at being the best X or the best Y. A designer must make trade offs in order to make the integration work. In…

I agree that the Surface is not the final realization of the ideal home computing device but it is a decent step towards it. Eventually the device will be a phone with the computing power of a laptop that you can dock and have a full environment ready for you. Clearly we are not there yet but this is a towards that reality.

Re: The Microsoft Surface Isn’t Rosy

#45

Post by dpark »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #14
bitdiffusion wrote: post #2

More FUD about the disk space issue... yes - there is a large recovery partition and yes - you can delete it to free up space. Any yes - perhaps MS would have been better off if they included a USB drive for recovery purposes (although I imagine trying to walk the average user through "booting from USB" to restore their partition would be a support nightmare). This is just like the "omg - the desktop is gone and all…

>although I imagine trying to walk the average user through "booting from USB" How is that any worse than the current status quo of every Windows product ever sold? I'd say it would be harder to walk mom through deleting the restore files when she calls and says her tablet won't hold all her movies and music. Let's just face it, MS made a very stupid decision. I could see this happening during the Vista era, but SSDs…

The screen isn't "super-tiny". It's 10.6". Compared to an 11" ultrabook, you're not loosing a lot of screen space (especially when you consider the 11" ultrabook probably has a much lower resolution than the Surface Pro). If you're comparing against 13" or larger ultrabooks, then sure, the Surface Pro's screen is small (though still higher resolution than most 13" ultrabooks), but then that's a different conversation, and one that people already have every time they choose between an 11" and a 13" ultrabook.

P.S. Disclosure: I work for Microsoft.

Re: The Microsoft Surface Isn’t Rosy

#47

Post by dpark »

Yhippa wrote: post #28

I actually own a Surface RT and I like it. I get the feeling that a lot of people try out Windows 8 or the Surface RT for a few minutes and pan it as crap. There's definitely a learning curve associated with it but the payout is that it's got advanced gestures that allow you to do more without a keyboard. One thing that could be impacting sales is that you have to go to a Microsoft Store (brick-and-mortar) or online…

> it's got advanced gestures that allow you to do more without a keyboard.

I really like the edge swiping. I miss it on other devices where menus and such are wasting my screen space all the time.

One thing I don't like is the "swipe from left to change apps". There's a setting to adjust that, though, so the left swipe pulls up the app switcher instead.

Re: The Microsoft Surface Isn’t Rosy

#48

Post by drzaiusapelord »

dpark wrote: post #45
drzaiusapelord wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>although I imagine trying to walk the average user through "booting from USB" How is that any worse than the current status quo of every Windows product ever sold? I'd say it would be harder to walk mom through deleting the restore files when she calls and says her tablet won't hold all her movies and music. Let's just face it, MS made a very stupid decision. I could see this happening during the Vista era, but SSDs…

The screen isn't "super-tiny". It's 10.6". Compared to an 11" ultrabook, you're not loosing a lot of screen space (especially when you consider the 11" ultrabook probably has a much lower resolution than the Surface Pro). If you're comparing against 13" or larger ultrabooks, then sure, the Surface Pro's screen is small (though still higher resolution than most 13" ultrabooks), but then that's a different conversation…

The popular ultrabooks and all of the ones I've seen in real life are 13". My comparison is between 10.6 and 13, which is a pretty big difference. Regardless, I can see how this is arguable.

Re: The Microsoft Surface Isn’t Rosy

#49

Post by username3 »

danpalmer wrote: post #31
username3 wrote: post #8

My 64GB iPad has 57.1GB free space. That's 89%. 57.1 - 32 - 16 = 9.1; 9.1 / 16 = 0.56875; 16GB iPad has 9.1GB free space? That's 56%. My 16GB iPhone 5 has 13.4GB free. That's 83%. 13.4 + 16 + 32 = 61.4; 61.4 / 64 = 0.959375; 64GB iPhone 5 has 61.4GB free space? That's 95%. Edit: These calculations are not accurate. Read replies.

This would seem to be correct but doesn't take into account different hardware specs. For a start, the larger the disk, the more is used for formatting and is lost due to the difference in how manufacturers specify sizes, so you can't just add/subtract storage amounts, you need to scale. Also, different combinations of processor, cellular modem, etc, will require different parts of the operating system, and Apple dif…

I agree with this. Also, if they calculate space in GiB instead of GB, we should add/subtract 14.9 and 29.8.

Re: The Microsoft Surface Isn’t Rosy

#50

Post by Luc »

whatprojectnext wrote: post #37
brown9-2 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone with an iPad wishes it could run Word and Excel?

No but they wish it could run every website on the internet without issue, be a decent word processor when needed, and actually be a true laptop replacement.

It's an easy mistake to make, but not everyone is like you.
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