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The Windows Incident – Day 0

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Re: The Windows Incident – Day 0

#51

Post by peeky »

nikanj wrote: post #21
wvenable wrote: post #13

I had a similar experience with my Asus Zenbook Prime ultrabook. I noticed that the very loud fan was running a lot faster and more frequently than it should. I checked the power settings and minimum processor state was 100%. I changed it to a more reasonable number and all was good. But 10-15 minutes later the fan would come back on full blast because that setting has been reverted back to 100%! Every time I reset i…

I should start an online collection of stories like this, so I could refer people to it when they complain about Apple hardware being overpriced and/or only bought by idiots.

To be fair I've found Asus notebooks to be superb value for money hardware-wise, it's the drivers and software out of the box that are the problem.

Re: The Windows Incident – Day 0

#52

Post by gbl08ma »

The funny thing is, a week ago I bought a 7.5"" 1200x800 tablet with just 2GB of RAM and 32 GB flash (see the similarity?), the difference is that mine is a even cheaper device (~$150) from an unknown Chinese brand, has an apparently slightly weaker Bay Trail CPU, and comes with Windows 8.1 - properly licensed as now Microsoft does it for free for small tablets, but it's by no means a "signature" device. The out-of-the-box experience was much, much, much better than the one from the article. The touchscreen not only worked, it still works fine, even for hitting small menu items or quickly typing on-screen. Sleep/resume (actually, InstantGo) doesn't have any problems, except you can't turn off the screen without desktop apps being suspended, which is annoying in the case of music players - but this is actually a problem with all devices supporting InstantGo.

There have been updates to fix early problems, which were already pre-installed on mine. I'm so happy with it, I don't think I'm buying an Android tablet so soon (having great multitasking alone is worth it). Another thing that surprised me, was that there wasn't any OEM bloatware.

Say what you will about Microsoft (and I usually say very bad things, and will keep saying), but it seems they really got Windows 8.1 right on tablets (the problem is desktops).

If an unknown brand can make a device with the same specs as the mentioned Asus, for a lower price, and still have the device work much, much better, why can't Asus? The "underpowered"/"underpriced" justification some people give here in the comments doesn't quite make it... I have had Windows 8 running on single-core 512 MB RAM VMs just fine, and these devices have four times the RAM and cores.

Re: The Windows Incident – Day 0

#53

Post by arthurfm »

chamakits wrote: post #10
rtpg wrote: post #4

I wonder what the Surface experience is like, I can only hope it's better. This also reminds me of when I got world of warcraft CDs and had to spend almost 48 hours just to patch up to the most recent version.

I have Surface Pro 3, and I absolutely love it ... but it's not without issues. For starters, the price. Although having had it for a while now, and feeling that this is the best tech I've bought in a while, it is pricey. Between the tablet itself, plus warranty, plus the keyboard cover (a must. I love pen and touch, but too many things I use the keyboard for still), it gets pricey quickly. Usability issues, there is…

> there is this nasty driver bug with its Wi-Fi card, where you get BSOD after waking up from sleep.

Have you installed the latest Surface Pro 3 firmware update [1]? It fixes several Wi-Fi related issues, including:

* Intel(R) 8 Series PCI Express Root Port #3 - 9C14 update (v2.0.1151.0) addresses cases when the Wi-Fi adapter is not available upon resuming the system from sleep.

* Wireless Network Controller and Bluetooth driver update (v15.68.3059.117) improves Wi-Fi throughput, especially after rebooting with Bluetooth devices that are paired, enhances power consumption situations, and addresses instances of system instability.

You shouldn't need to disconnect and reconnect your Wi-Fi once the drivers have been updated.

[1] http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/support/install-updat...

Re: The Windows Incident – Day 0

#54

Post by cabirum »

macspoofing wrote: post #50
cabirum wrote: post #18

What did you expect from a $250 device? Or, what did you expect from an 8″ 1200x800 tablet with just 2gb ram and 32gb ssd which comes with a full Windows OS, instead of Win RT? Some phones have more powerful hardware than that. It's not Microsoft's fault that Asus decided to sell a cheap, untested, poorly-built device. It's your fault, as a tech-savvy customer, to buy it.

>What did you expect from a $250 device? I don't care what it costs - it should work. >It's not Microsoft's fault that Asus decided to sell a cheap, untested, poorly-built device. Microsoft probably wouldn't be able to prevent Asus from selling it outright, but it could refuse to sell it through MS Store or giving it a 'signature device' branding.

  > it should work
It works.

  > refuse to sell it through MS Store
MS is probably bound by some partnership agreements so it cannot refuse, and 'signature device' means there's no third-party bloatware as OP said.

Re: The Windows Incident – Day 0

#55

Post by po »

To me the age of the software sounds a bit like channel-stuffing. Often manufacturers will report on devices as being sold once they've left the factory for the retail store, not when they are in a consumer's hands. Because there is great incentive to report good sales, manufacturers will often negotiate around inventory so that a warehouse somewhere gets filled with devices.

These devices then sometimes sit in the channel waiting to be sold (sometimes for quite some time, depreciating in value) but if the device flops then the seller writes it off as a loss and they go to the clearance rack.

That's why you can have amazing numbers for 'sales' and then 3 months later the thing is a well-known dud. Device manufacturers that sell directly to consumers tend to report sales when it's been shipped to the final buyer.

Re: The Windows Incident – Day 0

#56

Post by lost_my_pwd »

gbl08ma wrote: post #52

The funny thing is, a week ago I bought a 7.5"" 1200x800 tablet with just 2GB of RAM and 32 GB flash (see the similarity?), the difference is that mine is a even cheaper device (~$150) from an unknown Chinese brand, has an apparently slightly weaker Bay Trail CPU, and comes with Windows 8.1 - properly licensed as now Microsoft does it for free for small tablets, but it's by no means a "signature" device. The out-of-t…

If you don't mind sharing, what tablet did you buy and from where?

Re: The Windows Incident – Day 0

#57

Post by maximumoverload »

cabirum wrote: post #54
macspoofing wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>What did you expect from a $250 device? I don't care what it costs - it should work. >It's not Microsoft's fault that Asus decided to sell a cheap, untested, poorly-built device. Microsoft probably wouldn't be able to prevent Asus from selling it outright, but it could refuse to sell it through MS Store or giving it a 'signature device' branding.

> it should work It works. > refuse to sell it through MS Store MS is probably bound by some partnership agreements so it cannot refuse, and 'signature device' means there's no third-party bloatware as OP said.

    > It works.
For a certain definition of "works".

    > MS is probably bound by some partnership agreements so it cannot refuse
Who cares? It's in MS store sold as MS "signature device".

Re: The Windows Incident – Day 0

#58

Post by gbl08ma »

lost_my_pwd wrote: post #56
gbl08ma wrote: post #52

The funny thing is, a week ago I bought a 7.5"" 1200x800 tablet with just 2GB of RAM and 32 GB flash (see the similarity?), the difference is that mine is a even cheaper device (~$150) from an unknown Chinese brand, has an apparently slightly weaker Bay Trail CPU, and comes with Windows 8.1 - properly licensed as now Microsoft does it for free for small tablets, but it's by no means a "signature" device. The out-of-t…

If you don't mind sharing, what tablet did you buy and from where?

I didn't say the model and maker of the thing on purpose, because I wasn't advertising/advocating for it, and also because when it comes to cheap devices like this, all you can get is pretty much anecdotal evidence (e.g., the touchscreen on mine works fine, but a few have come out with broken digitizers/too noisy power adapters). The general opinion on the tablet seems good, though, and the thing in question is a Voyo A1 Mini. Mine is the newer, slightly cheaper/less powerful 5V-powered Z3735F variant (vs. 9V Z3735D), bought on Amazon.de - but you can get it cheaper from Chinese-device-focused sites, just watch out for import taxes and the like.

Re: The Windows Incident – Day 0

#59

Post by freshflowers »

Year after year I keep reading pretty much the same complaints from the Windows ecosystem I've been hearing since the 90's.

It comes with the territory: OS and hardware may not always play nice, and how well they play nice out-of-the-box or after upgrade depends on a lot of factors.

This is not an incident, this is business as usual.

You like Windows, you should be prepared to deal with. You don't want to deal with this kind of thing, don't use Windows.

The only way to avoid this is to use "official" devices. Nexus for Android, Surface for Windows, everything Apple for OSX. Some niche products for certain Linux distro's even.

Everything else is rolling the dice, if not at your initial purchase then definitely when you want to upgrade.

After so many decades, bitching about it is like bitching about the weather.

Re: The Windows Incident – Day 0

#60

Post by subsection1h »

nikanj wrote: post #21
wvenable wrote: post #13

I had a similar experience with my Asus Zenbook Prime ultrabook. I noticed that the very loud fan was running a lot faster and more frequently than it should. I checked the power settings and minimum processor state was 100%. I changed it to a more reasonable number and all was good. But 10-15 minutes later the fan would come back on full blast because that setting has been reverted back to 100%! Every time I reset i…

I should start an online collection of stories like this, so I could refer people to it when they complain about Apple hardware being overpriced and/or only bought by idiots.

I own a Mac, but I recognize that Apple hardware is often grossly overpriced. For example, a 2014 Mac mini with a laptop-grade 3Ghz dual-core CPU, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and an integrated GPU costs $1,699. That's ridiculous.
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