Microsoft Surface Tablet announced

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charsace said:
I have a feeling that the pro model will fall in the $700-1000 price range. The cpu is an i5 and who knows what will be used for the graphics processor in it.
Click to expand...

The pro will most likely start at $800 and end at $1200 .


I'm going to assume in febuary when this launches they will forget the 64/128 option and go with a 128/256 option. The 64 gig drives are all under $80 and the $128 are now at $150 and are all droping , if you pay attention you can find 240+ gig drives for less than the 128 gig drives priced two months ago.

I'm going to assume the more expensive models will come with diffrent ram amounts and diffrent processor speed options
 
eastmen said:
The pro will most likely start at $800 and end at $1200 .


I'm going to assume in febuary when this launches they will forget the 64/128 option and go with a 128/256 option. The 64 gig drives are all under $80 and the $128 are now at $150 and are all droping , if you pay attention you can find 240+ gig drives for less than the 128 gig drives priced two months ago.

I'm going to assume the more expensive models will come with diffrent ram amounts and diffrent processor speed options
Click to expand...

I will so buy at 800. I dont need much disk space and am pretty poor. but a pro for 800 would be a steal
 
$700-800 seems too low for the Pro model. Most ultrabooks are more expensive than that, and that's for models that ship without a touchscreen, two separate digitizers, and WACOM stylus.
 
border said:
$700-800 seems too low for the Pro model. Most ultrabooks are more expensive than that, and that's for models that ship without a touchscreen, two separate digitizers, and WACOM stylus.
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How many 2013 ultra book prices have you seen ? $800 sounds right for the low end price point
 
So I've been considering buying a Macbook air to replace my current laptop. Thing is, the Surface is very intriguing to me. Will it most likely be more powerful than a 2011 Air and will the keyboard be comfortable on the lap, or is it more just a stand? Also does it have a trackpad?
 
All i really need to see is the the price on the RT version, release date, and battery life. Once I get those I may think about selling my iPad 2012
 
Izick said:
So I've been considering buying a Macbook air to replace my current laptop. Thing is, the Surface is very intriguing to me. Will it most likely be more powerful than a 2011 Air and will the keyboard be comfortable on the lap, or is it more just a stand? Also does it have a trackpad?
Click to expand...

Know nothing about specs, but the keyboard and stand are designed to be placed on a table.
 
Izick said:
So I've been considering buying a Macbook air to replace my current laptop. Thing is, the Surface is very intriguing to me. Will it most likely be more powerful than a 2011 Air and will the keyboard be comfortable on the lap, or is it more just a stand? Also does it have a trackpad?
Click to expand...
You should just get the air. The surface will not replace the laptop with its current specs, imo. The keyboard cover does have a track pad, but it's not using on your lap.
 
Izick said:
So I've been considering buying a Macbook air to replace my current laptop. Thing is, the Surface is very intriguing to me. Will it most likely be more powerful than a 2011 Air and will the keyboard be comfortable on the lap, or is it more just a stand? Also does it have a trackpad?
Click to expand...
Just get the air.
 
I suppose I may just get an Air then. I really love this thing though, it looks absolutely beautiful. The air just seems to be the laptop perfected though. I'm not even an Apple fanboy, I actually love Microsoft's stuff really, but holy fuck does the Air look good.

I figured I'd ask though, since that air is near a grand, and that's what the top-end Surface is rumored to be as well.
 
border said:
$700-800 seems too low for the Pro model. Most ultrabooks are more expensive than that, and that's for models that ship without a touchscreen, two separate digitizers, and WACOM stylus.
Click to expand...
So has MS said anything about the stylus being included with the tablet?
Izick said:
I suppose I may just get an Air then. I really love this thing though, it looks absolutely beautiful. The air just seems to be the laptop perfected though. I'm not even an Apple fanboy, I actually love Microsoft's stuff really, but holy fuck does the Air look good.

I figured I'd ask though, since that air is near a grand, and that's what the top-end Surface is rumored to be as well.
Click to expand...
When it comes to tech. It's always the early adopter that are the most likely to get screwed. It'd say get the air, wait it out, and if you still want the surface, sell the air.
 
Izick said:
I suppose I may just get an Air then. I really love this thing though, it looks absolutely beautiful. The air just seems to be the laptop perfected though. I'm not even an Apple fanboy, I actually love Microsoft's stuff really, but holy fuck does the Air look good.

I figured I'd ask though, since that air is near a grand, and that's what the top-end Surface is rumored to be as well.
Click to expand...

I still recommend you stick to your initial 600$ plan. http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=483456&highlight=

Just this week I saw two ads for notebooks here in Germany for 15" notebooks around 600 to 700 Euros (for most electronics the prices in Euros and Dollars are 1:1) that had faster components than the Air. Faster CPUs, non-integrated GPUs, more RAM.
For home use and light gaming I'd take those over the Air and at almost half the price no less. From time to time you might want to have a DVD drive and the battery life won't be particularly important.

E.g. I just looked at some of the best sellers on Amazon Germany. Here's an HP with an i7 2.2 GHz, 6GB RAM, and a dedicated GPU for 550 Euros some HP and here's an Acer with an i5 2.5 GHz, 4 GB RAM, and a GeForce GT 640M with 2 GB memory for 600 Euros some Acer

There are probably comparable devices from all manufacturers. You could just go to some electronics store where they have lots of different models (including the Air) at hand so you can get a feel for the devices and make up your mind.

For only 15$ you can upgrade those to Windows 8 and if you bought an extra SSD it'd still be cheaper than the Air.
 
Complex Shadow said:
So has MS said anything about the stylus being included with the tablet?

When it comes to tech. It's always the early adopter that are the most likely to get screwed. It'd say get the air, wait it out, and if you still want the surface, sell the air.
Click to expand...
In hope the magnet on the side means the stylus is part of the package.
 
eastmen said:
The pro will most likely start at $800 and end at $1200 .


I'm going to assume in febuary when this launches they will forget the 64/128 option and go with a 128/256 option. The 64 gig drives are all under $80 and the $128 are now at $150 and are all droping , if you pay attention you can find 240+ gig drives for less than the 128 gig drives priced two months ago.

I'm going to assume the more expensive models will come with diffrent ram amounts and diffrent processor speed options
Click to expand...


Man I really dont feel like paying 1000 euros for a tablet, its really pushing it. For that price I can get a really good laptop.
 
Izick said:
So I've been considering buying a Macbook air to replace my current laptop. Thing is, the Surface is very intriguing to me. Will it most likely be more powerful than a 2011 Air and will the keyboard be comfortable on the lap, or is it more just a stand? Also does it have a trackpad?
Click to expand...
It will be close in specs. The whole screen is a track pad plus both covers have touch pads.

I'd assume it will work in your lap but most likely won't be ideal. You have to remember though that there will be situations where the air will not be an ideal use.

border said:
Which $800 ultrabook has a touchscreen plus Wacom digitzer plus stylus?
Click to expand...
the digitzers should not be a huge cost increase. The pen might be sold as an accessory. The iPad 3 screen is roughly $120 so even if the second digitizer would cost half that your still looking at $10. At 800 you have at least $620left to pay with. Even at $300 for the CPU/ram/mono you still have $320 left . The iPad 3 has a 70 cost for 64 gigs and 30 for battery

TurkishEmperor said:
Man I really dont feel like paying 1000 euros for a tablet, its really pushing it. For that price I can get a really good laptop.
Click to expand...
And what happens when u need a tablet
 
SirChained said:
Can someone explain what exactly a digitizer does?
Click to expand...

Basically it's a kind of laser that shoots you and turns your component atoms into data and transits you directly into the grid. Where you will have to fight to the death to prove you are a user.
 
Izick said:
I suppose I may just get an Air then. I really love this thing though, it looks absolutely beautiful. The air just seems to be the laptop perfected though. I'm not even an Apple fanboy, I actually love Microsoft's stuff really, but holy fuck does the Air look good.

I figured I'd ask though, since that air is near a grand, and that's what the top-end Surface is rumored to be as well.
Click to expand...

First gen products are not the best to jump into. Especially something radically new for Microsoft. Microsoft is also infamous for messy first gen hardware. Remember the 360 launch units?

Your best bet is get an Air, Apple has the line going since 2008 and basically got it 100% perfected now. When it comes time to upgrade again and you still want a Surface it will have had a few revisions and be a lot better piece of hardware.
 
Cheebo said:
First gen products are not the best to jump into. Especially something radically new for Microsoft. Microsoft is also infamous for messy first gen hardware. Remember the 360 launch units?

Your best bet is get an Air, Apple has the line going since 2008 and basically got it 100% perfected now. When it comes time to upgrade again and you still want a Surface it will have had a few revisions and be a lot better piece of hardware.
Click to expand...

Ms is any worse than other company's. Apple had the first 3 gene of I pods , the first mini and the early nanos with problems and who can forget antenna gate.
 
maeh2k said:
I still recommend you stick to your initial 600$ plan. http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=483456&highlight=

Just this week I saw two ads for notebooks here in Germany for 15" notebooks around 600 to 700 Euros (for most electronics the prices in Euros and Dollars are 1:1) that had faster components than the Air. Faster CPUs, non-integrated GPUs, more RAM.
For home use and light gaming I'd take those over the Air and at almost half the price no less. From time to time you might want to have a DVD drive and the battery life won't be particularly important.

E.g. I just looked at some of the best sellers on Amazon Germany. Here's an HP with an i7 2.2 GHz, 6GB RAM, and a dedicated GPU for 550 Euros some HP and here's an Acer with an i5 2.5 GHz, 4 GB RAM, and a GeForce GT 640M with 2 GB memory.

There are probably comparable devices from all manufacturers. You could just go to some electronics store where they have lots of different models (including the Air) at hand so you can get a feel for the devices and make up your mind.

For only 15$ you can upgrade those to Windows 8 and if you bought an extra SSD it'd still be cheaper than the Air.
Click to expand...

That's definitely intriguing. Is this the American equivalent of the first one? Also what Acer one?
 
The Pro version of this is going to be absolutely fantastic for me. I travel a lot, and have to do a lot of emailing. I'd rather travel with my iPad because it's a huge weight savings, even over my ultra book, but the lack of file system and it's incompatibility with our security and VPN stuff means its really limited, even with a Bluetooth keyboard. The idea that I can have my cake and eat it, with USB and normal storage makes it a real contender for very serious work, let alone heavy emailing.

I would pay a LOT of money for the pro version, almost certainly more than they're actually going to charge. I will be curious to try the two types of keyboard cover.

Caveat - I work for MS, but don't know much more about this product than you guys. Actually less than the people I this thread.
 
Cheebo said:
First gen products are not the best to jump into. Especially something radically new for Microsoft. Microsoft is also infamous for messy first gen hardware. Remember the 360 launch units?

Your best bet is get an Air, Apple has the line going since 2008 and basically got it 100% perfected now. When it comes time to upgrade again and you still want a Surface it will have had a few revisions and be a lot better piece of hardware.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry about this. It's nothing like the 360 and it's not that radically new. It uses all the same off-the-shelf components you can find in other ultrabooks and tablets. They've already been used and improved upon. And at this point the software is a known quantity.
It's not really something where you can clearly see how 'next year's version' will be better by leaps and bounds.

When it releases, reviews will be sufficient to accurately judge the device.


Izick said:
That's definitely intriguing. Is this the American equivalent of the first one? Also what Acer one?
Click to expand...

Sorry, forgot to paste the link. I looked at this one: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B00857W5O4

The HP is not quite the same, as the one in your link uses an AMD CPU. I'm not really up-to-date on the performance of mobile CPUs and GPUs. A quad-core AMD CPU at 2.8 GHz is probably not bad, either. Looking at the numbering the GPU might even be significantly faster.
Maybe I'll check anandtech later and see if they have some benchmarks.
 
eastmen said:
Ms is any worse than other company's. Apple had the first 3 gene of I pods , the first mini and the early nanos with problems and who can forget antenna gate.
Click to expand...

This is true of most companies. The difference between the first 2008 MBA's vs 2012 MBA's is night and day. My personal advice is never go first gen when it comes to tech hardware, be it MS, Apple, Samsung, Asus, etc.
 
Cheebo said:
This is true of most companies. The difference between the first 2008 MBA's vs 2012 MBA's is night and day. My personal advice is never go first gen when it comes to tech hardware, be it MS, Apple, Samsung, Asus, etc.
Click to expand...

It's not like the revisions of an Xbox, though. There are four years of advances in technology between the two MBAs like new CPUs that are faster and use less energy. Surface doesn't start from scratch but will use the same advanced components.

There's a difference between a first-gen product that pushes boundaries and does something that hasn't been done before and a first-gen product that does the same things tons of existing products already do using the same components they use.

Not saying Surface will be perfect, though. But that will become clear in reviews.
 
dwebo said:
wait, the RT isn't even full-HD? so it's like 1366x768 or something?

apologies if that's been beaten to death already
Click to expand...

Correct. 1366x768 will be fine on a device of that size.

Also, they say it's a 'Cleartype display' and in the presentation they implied it would do something special with the pixels to achieve a higher quality. Windows' Cleartype technology uses sub-pixels intelligently for rendering text: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ClearType

We'll have to wait and see how well that works.
 
Cheebo said:
This is true of most companies. The difference between the first 2008 MBA's vs 2012 MBA's is night and day. My personal advice is never go first gen when it comes to tech hardware, be it MS, Apple, Samsung, Asus, etc.
Click to expand...
The xbox 360 came out when we had to switch over from lead bases sodar and was one of the first to do so. It also used a newly developed IBM CPU and and gpu. The surface will be using an ivy bridge chip that will have been out a year and the majority of tech is industry standard.
 
Izick said:
Did you check out that laptop maeh2k? Is that the American equivalent, I can't seem to tell?
Click to expand...

Yes, I looked at it. I responded here
But I can't accurately judge the performance, since I'm not that familiar with AMDs current line of mobile CPUs/GPUs.

I haven't seen a direct US equivalent of the Acer, either. Here's a review of a slightly higher-priced Acer of that series: review
Not too shabby. They even liked the keyboard.

Here's a list of all models of that series: Acer website

Around 600$ they don't have models with a 3rd generation core i5 yet. This 2nd gen i5 with a GeForce 630M (2GB) should still be faster than an Intel HD 4000.


Just saw some Diablo 3 benchmarks of notebooks: anandtech.
Gives you an idea about the performance of the different CPU/GPU combinations. Even the core i7 doesn't help the Intel HD 4000. Dedicated GPUs are all faster.
 
Getting the first release of a new product is usually a bad idea. And it has nothing to do with Microsoft. It's the same with Apple products.
 
maeh2k said:
Yes, I looked at it. I responded here
But I can't accurately judge the performance, since I'm not that familiar with AMDs current line of mobile CPUs/GPUs.

I haven't seen a direct US equivalent of the Acer, either. Here's a review of a slightly higher-priced Acer of that series: review
Not too shabby. They even liked the keyboard.

Here's a list of all models of that series: Acer website

Around 600$ they don't have models with a 3rd generation core i5 yet. This 2nd gen i5 with a GeForce 630M (2GB) should still be faster than an Intel HD 4000.


Just saw some Diablo 3 benchmarks of notebooks: anandtech.
Gives you an idea about the performance of the different CPU/GPU combinations. Even the core i7 doesn't help the Intel HD 4000. Dedicated GPUs are all faster.
Click to expand...

Didn't see that. Thank you man.
 
derFeef said:
I know, I know. But is it suspected to be available at retailers too, or just MS stores online?
Click to expand...


Nobody is going to fight the rt tablet with you. You can walk right in and buy one.

99% of the potential buyers on the thread want the intel version.
 
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