Here Comes Microsoft Surface Pro, 64 Bits and All

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CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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Rumors have been circulating this week over the news that Microsoft Surface with Windows 8 Pro has just passed muster with the FCC and is poised to be making its debut in early 2013.

Surface with Windows 8 Pro is "a 64-bit tablet PC." That's not a trivial point. You get all of the goodness of 64-bit computing via Intel's power-efficient Core i5 Ivy Bridge processors.
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I am still not all that thrilled about Win8 but given the correct platform to run it on, this might actually be useful.
 
I'm excited for this tablet, I really like win8 with some modifications. I use 7 explorer for windows 8 as my shell, it performs just like windows 7 in the looks and functions. But it has all the speed of windows 8, which is one of the best parts of windows 8.
 
CvP said:
Why don't you just use your E3-1230 PC as tablet instead...would be better than this.
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Eyefinity rigs with a few blocks/rads and a liter of water in them aren't exactly portable.
 
At 900 bucks your fucking kidding me. In Canada it will be a 1000 plus a keyboard your looking at 1100 plus tax and disposal fees it will come out to 1.2k No one will buy such over priced disposable. Can't find an RT tablet from Microsoft in Canada I doubt I will ever see this one here either..
All aboard the failboat its set to sail to fail town.
 
It is too expensive. By the time you add a keyboard, it's a lot more expensive than any other laptop and though it's more portable, it's also not as productive because the hardware you use to enter data is clunky and it doesn't stand up on as many surfaces (pun intended) as well. I can put a laptop on top of just about anything that doens't block the fan vents, but the Surface's construction makes it top heavy and it really only works on something stable like a desk. There's just too little flexibility in a tablet platform to make it very good for work and it costs enough to price it out of the casual surfing crowd that would be able to use it on a sofa or bed. (Though, really, a laptop works better there too.)
 
DF-1 said:
I thought they originally said it would have an i7 CPU..
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I don't remember hearing anything about it being something other than an i5. There really isn't a huge performance gain from the i7 anyhow unless you get the ones with four cores and the Surface already seems like it's going to be wanting for battery life.
 
If I were gonna spend that much on a tablet I'd spend just a bit more and get the the Samsung ATIV PC Pro with built in Wacom digitizer.
 
Microsoft continuing its campaign of being painfully and tragically out of touch.
 
Does the Iconia W700 use a stylus? I use an HP 2730p I got off ebay for $300 a year ago. I wouldn't mind switching down the road to a tablet that is lighter and easier to write on.
 
Given what people pay for phones, and some other tablets, there is a market.
How large a one, ??
 
odditory said:
Microsoft continuing its campaign of being painfully and tragically out of touch.
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yes, they're tragically out of touch with maybe 5% of users who are diehard desktop users - or gaming laptop users.

this tablet isn't for you - it's for everybody else.

this is the first gen product, i imagine that within 5 years this will be market share.
 
they should replace the i5 with an i3 and cut $200+ from the pricetag. In this consumption focused form factor an i5 is completely out of place. Lacking a proper gpu you wont be playing games, and no one sane uses tablets for "serious" work.
 
DeathPrincess said:
they should replace the i5 with an i3 and cut $200+ from the pricetag. In this consumption focused form factor an i5 is completely out of place. Lacking a proper gpu you wont be playing games, and no one sane uses tablets for "serious" work.
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Do you think that might be because there is no other tablet that can do "serious" work? If the price goes down just a little bit I am all over this thing!
 
Fr33t said:
Do you think that might be because there is no other tablet that can do "serious" work? If the price goes down just a little bit I am all over this thing!
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No, its probably because the form factor itself is crap. Touchscreens are only useful when no other peripherals are availible, using one for long periods to do something where you need to do complex/accurate tasks isn't going to happen. But it's still seriously hamstrung, no proper GPU means no 3d editing/CAD, stuff like Photoshop and film editing will be crap, no proper sound interface means no audio work, so all we have left really is office stuff. Typing on a touchscreen is terrible. You either have to use your thumbs or place it down, at which point it might as well be a (much cheaper) laptop.
 
kcmastrpc said:
yes, they're tragically out of touch with maybe 5% of users who are diehard desktop users - or gaming laptop users.

this tablet isn't for you - it's for everybody else.

this is the first gen product, i imagine that within 5 years this will be market share.
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Who in the world is going buy a tablet with 4 hours of battery life?

Who is going to fork over $900 for a tablet with Ultrabook level performance? The same people not buying Ultrabooks?

This is a niche product that the vast majority of consumers won't bother with. He was right that MS is out of touch with today's mobile market, and it's showing in the sales figures. People want cheap (Android) or expensive (Apple). People aren't buying a Surface RT or any other Windows tablets (<1% of all Win8 devices sold). The Pro might sell to a select portion of the population who can actually use it (provided they don't mind the abysmal battery life), but don't expect this to become a hit with the public.

MS needs to wake up and realize they're not a household name like Apple and people aren't going to buy MS's expensive shit quite like they will Apple. Google realized this with Android and they've done very well. If MS wants to sell any of their devices they'd better get with the times: If you're going to sell me a Microsoft product, give me a reason to buy it. $900 for an Ultrabook with shitty battery life isn't going to do.
 
Even with a cheapo Atom processor, Win8 tablets are just too expensive.

The cheapest Win8 tablet I could find on Tiger Direct was a HP Slate Atom with 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage for $680

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2075128&CatId=6958

For $650, you can buy a Core i7 laptop with 4 GB of RAM, a 500 GB hard drive, a much larger screen, a keyboard, and a ROM drive. It's not just CPU costs, but the other junk that adds $$ to the price that makes them a bad cost vs productivity trade off.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4903661&CatId=3982

The Surface's problem with cost is more than just CPU related and there's probably not a much that Microsoft can do to bring down prices so that tablets can compete with laptops.
 
Azhar said:
Now why would you want to put Windows 7 on a tablet?
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The wife's Iconia W700 came with Win 7 and Win Touch which wasn't all that bad. She has Win 8 on it now, and likes it better than 7 w/Touch

armandh01 said:
Does the Iconia W700 use a stylus? I use an HP 2730p I got off ebay for $300 a year ago. I wouldn't mind switching down the road to a tablet that is lighter and easier to write on.
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The wife's didn't come with one, but it was a re-furbished unit.

She bought a couple of the 'fancy' style CAPACITIVE type styli off of eBay for around $1.00 each, and they work just fine.
 
SkribbelKat said:
Even with a cheapo Atom processor, Win8 tablets are just too expensive.

The cheapest Win8 tablet I could find on Tiger Direct was a HP Slate Atom with 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage for $680

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2075128&CatId=6958

For $650, you can buy a Core i7 laptop with 4 GB of RAM, a 500 GB hard drive, a much larger screen, a keyboard, and a ROM drive. It's not just CPU costs, but the other junk that adds $$ to the price that makes them a bad cost vs productivity trade off.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4903661&CatId=3982

The Surface's problem with cost is more than just CPU related and there's probably not a much that Microsoft can do to bring down prices so that tablets can compete with laptops.
Click to expand...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4917323&CatId=6845

Newegg has it for $600: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834131397

The HP Slate is a Windows 7 device.
 
While I applaud Microsoft's efforts to release a high-end tablet to the market, the price point is going to kill this.
This feels more like the GTX690 or MacPro of tablets: super powerful, top-dog, best of the best, etc., but it wasn't designed to sell in high numbers and appears to have a very niche market at best.

However, high numbers is what Microsoft needs in an already overly saturated tablet market, and niche+tablet /= high profits.
$900 + keyboard + accessories + software... by this point one could have just bought a MBP and been done with it.
 
Red Falcon said:
While I applaud Microsoft's efforts to release a high-end tablet to the market, the price point is going to kill this.
This feels more like the GTX690 or MacPro of tablets: super powerful, top-dog, best of the best, etc., but it wasn't designed to sell in high numbers and appears to have a very niche market at best.

However, high numbers is what Microsoft needs in an already overly saturated tablet market, and niche+tablet /= high profits.
$900 + keyboard + accessories + software... by this point one could have just bought a MBP and been done with it.
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completely relevant
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DeathPrincess said:
Have you ever used one... Slow ass crash prone OS and gimped hardware barely makes it midrange. :p
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OS X under x86 blows chunks, at least for anything beyond social media sites.
Though I do have to say, if Final Cut Pro users want anything beyond an iMac, their wallets are going to be hurting.

Poor Final Cut Pro users.
 
For that price I'll buy a Mac Book Air. Hell my Andriod tablet will be better then this thing and I'll get 14 hours of battery life.
 
Red Falcon said:
OS X under x86 blows chunks, at least for anything beyond social media sites.
Though I do have to say, if Final Cut Pro users want anything beyond an iMac, their wallets are going to be hurting.

Poor Final Cut Pro users.
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i'm sure the ubuntu studio users are laughing somewhere. also is it me or is it starting to get really chilli outside?
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