Microsoft Surface Tablet announced
- Thread starter Windu
- Start date
- Status
Opus Angelorum
Member
Let's be honest. If this tablet has better performance, longer battery life, and is cheaper than an iPad...it will still be dismissed by many.
And if you wanted to use two different programs, you couldn't. That's what I mean by "true multitasking"--in the sense of traditional desktop operating systems like Windows 7.
YuriLowell
Member
This will be great for the enterprise.
Going to test one in our environment with the pro version comes out.
Going to test one in our environment with the pro version comes out.
Kung Fu Jedi
Member
Up very slightly this morning. The announcement of these tablets is going to have zero impact on MS stock value.
Current entry level ivy bridge ultrabook pricing is around 1000 though.
Duane Cunningham
Member
Just a quick aside to answer this, the answer is yes, it's fantastic. The three iWork apps are sold ala carte, and I haven't tried the iOs version of Keynote, but I use Pages and Numbers every week and they're pretty much perfect, especially when used with their corresponding Mac versions. And they're a steal, considering the price compared to Excel and Word (which they can export to just fine).
Ballmer has already said it won't dip below $500.
There's a difference between doubting (which is fine) and actively taking a steaming shit all over a rumor like people were doing, but I've come to expect that stuff now from anything that is similar, or could challenge an Apple product in any way.
No it's not, there's several cheaper ones. Vizio is selling theirs for 898.
Antiwhippy
the holder of the trombone
Not all of them are chunky.
http://www.macworld.com/article/1156560/touchscreen_stylus_roundup.html
I agree that they are never going to be as good as a native supported device, seeing that they can't differentiate between pen touch and skin touch, but they allow you enough precision for taking notes and even drawing really, though it'll be really inflexible without pressure sensitivity.
30.81 +0.98 (3.28%)
Until you go back to the start screen
I need to look into how WinRT handles Background tasks some more. I know it has facilities to handle stuff like VOIP and chat. It seems like if it could handle those (which require keeping socket connections open in the background), it should be able to handle an IRC client.900 isn't around 1000?
Kung Fu Jedi
Member
The sentiment goes both directions however. Plenty of people take a shit all over Apple products all the time. And you simply had to look back at the thread when the iPad was announced to see the vitriol that was spewed about after it was revealed.
The pro will most likely be double the price of the iPad. You really need to compare the pro to a macbook air if anything.
Not really?
Hari Seldon
Member
Can they import from Excel and Word?
When I think of multitasking on Windows 7 I think of having things like Word, Firefox, and more all open simultaneously.
It doesn't matter what Android does in the background to me if I can only interact with one application at a time.
Perhaps the mono-app paradigm makes sense on a phone, but I think it's a major shortcoming on a tablet and glad Microsoft is attempting to address it.
D
Deleted member 1235
Unconfirmed Member
People expecting iPad pricing for this are going to be pretty pissed off when it's priced around 900-1100 range. I can already see the thread. People for some reason assume since it's a tablet it must be priced like an iPad. It has far more in common with a MacBook air than a iPad.
Good point. Fuck people who do that on anything. Give the thing a fucking chance before you get on your soapbox about why it's going to be terrible, you know?
Infinite_Daremo
Member
Can someone explain how W8 emulates a mouse click on the touch interface. Is 1 tap a left click and 2 fingers is right click? Tap and drag is a selection box? Or am i mis-understanding W8?
Good Job Bob
Member
I agree, comparing an iPad to a "tablet" with vents, fans and a 16:9 screen that will in all likelihood fail miserably is really quite idiotic.
Kung Fu Jedi
Member
Yes.
Antiwhippy
the holder of the trombone
I can buy alot of cheeseburgers with $100 man.
Hari Seldon
Member
Exactly, if the screen is a reasonable size get that fucking 1980s DOS-age tech the fuck out.
StrikerObi
Member
The idea of including a physical keyboard & trackpad is a good idea on a lot of levels, especially built into the case the way they have done it. But there will be some pitfalls to navigate. If these things all ship with a keyboard/trackpad, developers will assume that users have them. I see that as a pretty big hurdle to get over. If the keyboard/trackpad isn't included, they'll be fine, since developers will have to assume users don't have a keyboard/trackpad (like with iPad). But if it's included, I see potential for developers to use it as a crutch, resulting in lazily designed apps.
This is one of those philosophies that Microsoft and Apple differ on, and often times they are both right.
Apple puts a lot of restrictions on things, which obviously limits developers and users, but at the same time they have put such effort into things that the final experience is very tight and understandable. Having restrictions is not always a bad thing, and being restricted forces developers to come up with new, better ways to accomplish tasks. It forces them to develop an app for the iPad specifically. It's how you get something like "pull to refresh" which is just fucking brilliant, and it was created by an iOS developer, not Apple.
Microsoft gives users and developers a lot more freedom. This is great because it gives you tons of options, but playing things more loosey-goosey like this can result in a sometimes less than stellar experience. Since it runs Windows proper, I'm afraid there could be a lot of apps that aren't truly designed for Surface, but rather for Metro in general (which runs on PCs as well). Apple has solved this problem by using a separate, albeit somewhat less functional, OS. It's a trade-off that they thought was worth it, and that Microsoft doesn't.
The Surface tablet looks great, but I'm worried that it running on the same OS as a regular computer will result in shoddily ported apps that really should be run on a "proper" computer, not a tablet. The Intel Surface seems to solve this problem, in that it is essentially IS a "proper" computer. It's a reboot of the poorly designed Tablet PCs of the last decade. The ARM one really worries me since it only has access to Metro (except for a few system utilities).
I feel like Microsoft should have sat down and had a tough conversation about which of these tablets is truly better, and just ran with that one. They're both very promising, which is probably why they decided to run with both. However, I feel like after a year of these things being on the market, the consumers will have decided which one is the best choice, and a 2-3 years down the road Microsoft will kill off the one that was deemed inferior, leaving a good portion of their users up shit creek.
The pro comes in with at least 64 GBs of storage.
I doubt it will start at $1,400 (double the 64 gb iPad price).
It's just long press I believe. Not sure if they kept their original implementation from W7 touch.
People in here seem to think its going to cost 749. I agree its going to be on the higher end but people are delusional.
Kung Fu Jedi
Member
Agreed. I'm a tech/gadget enthusiast, and while I love my Apple products, I also happen to own two Windows 7 laptops, including a sweet ultrabook. I simply like great technology that can make my life better and more productive.
I also happen to be kind of sick of the system wars that occur around here on a regular basis.
Antiwhippy
the holder of the trombone
Wait, does it only have a 64gb SKU?
Makes sense for what the device wants to be I guess.
edit: oh wait, 128gb too, should learn to not rush through reading.
Tricky I Shadow
Banned
I know Im really late, but.....wow!
I had no interest in tablets till now.
I had no interest in tablets till now.
As someone very wise pointed out in some other thread, the system/console wars are like sports for people who don't like sports.
Yeah, fuck that shit. Plus, I think people, especially Apple fans, don't realize that they should want this tablet to be kick ass, because in the end it will make Apple have to improve the iPad even further. Competition breeds excellence.
Pretty much.
Yeah, I'd say $749 is extremely wishful thinking.
If I was betting on it, I'd say the Pros will start at $899 or $999.
64 or 128 are the options for the Pro, I believe.
Depends on the interface. In Windows 8 desktop, as well as Windows 7 I might add, a click is a tap, a right mouse is touching the screen for about a second and selecting is dragging.
Within Metro its a bit different, as the function of the right mouse button gets replaced by a drag from the bottom of the screen to make a menu pop-up. In a sense, think of Metro more as a web-based approach where the right mouse doesnt actually have a function (but those functions are replaced through the interface itself)
I don't think the average consumer makes that comparison, they look at the baseline SKU price.
Remember how Motorola was laughed at for launching the 32 GB LTE Xoom at $799 (and it was initially the only model available) for $799, telling people to compare it to the 32 GB iPad 3G model instead of the baseline $499 model.
The most popular iPad models sell for $399 and $499.
The standard Surface will be priced like iPads.
That should be where the RT model comes in. Make that $500 and make the pro like $999. Very round.
I think you meant
http://www.bing.com/finance/search?q=MSFT&FORM=DTPFSA&qpvt=msft
(Sorry I could not help it...)
Like the 16GB iPad 2 or 32 GB 3rd Gen iPad?
Who knows.
- Status