If the Surface Book had a 32gb ram option and 7th gen Intel chip it would be more interesting. As it is, it's pretty much the same specs as the Macs. If you're a gamer it does have a better GPU option for an extra $200, and if you're a photographer maybe the SD slot could convince you.
Surface Book – It’s Easy to Switch from Mac to Surface
71–80 of 131 posts
Re: Surface Book – It’s Easy to Switch from Mac to Surface
#72This "switch from mac" furor is hilarious to me. In 3 years people will be saying "Remember how upset people were getting about losing the escape key?". This feels the same as Apple not supporting flash or microsd cards on iPhones. Everyone made a big stink about it at the time, and a few years down the road flash is dead and no one cares about microsd cards. It will be the same with USB C and dongles; in a few years…
Can't wait to try debugging on a touch bar and needing to look at the bar if I am indeed touching the right operation. I don't want to end up with a remapping where I need to press Fn + number to get Fxy function key. Better IMO would have been if every Fxy key had its own customizable OLED/e-ink display; then I would be "awesomed" by this innovation. Even with a separate touch bar on top of it. All real DJs use prop…
I would like both the touch bar AND the function keys, but the touch bar will be more versatile than just OLED/e-ink displays on top of keys. You can actually use it as a slider. You get more surface area to display controls. You can offer something more than just a symbol for the controls. I don't know how well it'll work (none of us do, it's not shipped and reviewed yet, not fully at least). But the potential for many applications is there.
Re: Surface Book – It’s Easy to Switch from Mac to Surface
#73This "switch from mac" furor is hilarious to me. In 3 years people will be saying "Remember how upset people were getting about losing the escape key?". This feels the same as Apple not supporting flash or microsd cards on iPhones. Everyone made a big stink about it at the time, and a few years down the road flash is dead and no one cares about microsd cards. It will be the same with USB C and dongles; in a few years…
One reason this feels different is the pricing bump, which I didn't think would be a big deal until I read theverge's review earlier today [0]. They spent the entire time talking about the low-end model, and entirely dismiss everything with the touch bar as "the price for those models is really quite silly right now." Given that low end model is intentionally crippled with only 2 USB-C ports it's not great that the reaction is to dismiss the rest.
[0] http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/2/13490774/apple-macbook-pro...
Re: Surface Book – It’s Easy to Switch from Mac to Surface
#74I think it's interesting they don't mention Linux subsystem for Windows 10. As a developer, MacOS CLI was the biggest advantage over Windows. Now, you have the full Ubuntu CLI at your fingertip including apt-get install. No VM. It's a big selling point.
Even before the Linux subsystem, there were other alternatives.
I switched a year or so ago, and I use Cmder (conemu) as a substitute for Terminal (and it's great, btw). Didn't have to change my habits at all. On the other hand, I'm far from being a "hard core" terminal user.
Re: Surface Book – It’s Easy to Switch from Mac to Surface
#75I'm a frontend dev who worked on Windows for 4 years, and switched to Mac in the last 2. The biggest hurdle I had with switching was the muscle memory of cmd-[char] vs. ctrl-[char], and tangentially the Windows-specific productivity keyboard shortcuts (mainly win-[char]) and Mac-specific ones. The second-biggest hurdle is the different mouse movement kinetics on each platform. These are still "hurdles": I have a Macb…
External mouse movement curve differences are distracting on a desktop, but the difference 100% breaks trying to use windows laptops, for me. Doesn’t help that the PC laptop touchpads also tend to have worse hardware response and worse texture feel. It’s a similar UI gap for me as trying to type an essay on a 4 inch phone screen.
Surface Book has a pretty good trackpad... but the Macbook Pro is still best in class.
At this point though, I don't think it's hardware - it's the ui that keeps me from really loving Windows 10 on the Surface Book. Windows 10 doesn't allow me to natively enable three-finger window drag. It's also cumbersome to full screen my apps (e.g. my editor, terminal, etc) on Windows 10 in order to swipe back and forth through them.
Re: Surface Book – It’s Easy to Switch from Mac to Surface
#76Man, it seems everyone is chomping at the bit to take Apple's customers after that awful keynote.
Which is hilarious because they all miss the mark. Winning the Designer/developer crowd is about applications and software.
Re: Surface Book – It’s Easy to Switch from Mac to Surface
#77My biggest complaint about Windows, from a pure usability stand point, is the fact that I have yet to find anything close to a functional multi-desktop app. There used to be something as part of XP powertoys (it performed badly as I remember it) but I have yet too see anything since then. Ignoring most of the philosophical issues, that alone makes the platform a non-starter as my daily driver.
I tend to use desktops to organize tasks or task sets. (one for email, jira, time tracking. Another for the set the current ticket I'm working on: editor, browser, logs, query tool, and maybe others for incidentals that pop up: research, support questions etc...) Mutli-desktop has become my goto technique for off loading a large chunk of mental state.
Re: Surface Book – It’s Easy to Switch from Mac to Surface
#78Find it strange I can't locate the screen size of the Surface Book on this comparison page. Have to go to Tech Spec page.
Because they're both the same. Both are 13" machines.
If you hit "COMPARE SURFACE DEVICES" on that page you'll get detailed specs.
Re: Surface Book – It’s Easy to Switch from Mac to Surface
#79My biggest complaint about Windows, from a pure usability stand point, is the fact that I have yet to find anything close to a functional multi-desktop app. There used to be something as part of XP powertoys (it performed badly as I remember it) but I have yet too see anything since then. Ignoring most of the philosophical issues, that alone makes the platform a non-starter as my daily driver. I tend to use desktops…
Windows 10 has multi-desktop built right in.
Re: Surface Book – It’s Easy to Switch from Mac to Surface
#80"Hello I'm a Mac. And I'm a PC!" We've come full circle!
It would be interesting if MS hired John Hodgman and Justin Long for ads in the same way that Sprint hired Verizon's "can you hear me now" guy.