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Surface |OT|

eastmen

Banned
This is the first time in my life where I've felt the tension of whether to get the first gen product or wait for the second gen...

Can't decide! :-(

Saturday I get the surface pro , next year I get the pro 2 and my fiancée gets my surface pro. Then the year after I get the 3 and she gets the 2. It works lol
 

Divvy

Canadians burned my passport
That Anand review is great as usual. Definitely a product where you need to know what you're getting into, but once you're past that it's pretty excellent. I can't wait for saturday and installing photoshop right away.
 

dLMN8R

Member
It's weird to see the battery life vary so significantly between reviews. Some saying it's barely 3-3.5 hours playing video and barely 4-4.5 hours browsing the web, which would be really bad even for a laptop. But then AnandTech says it gets 5.28 hours of video playback with 6 hours of browsing the web, which is as good as or better than most Windows laptops (and the Macbook Air for that matter).

The thing is, AnandTech is the site that rated the 11" Macbook Air at barely 4 hours of battery life, so it doesn't seem like they'd be over-estimating the life of the Surface here.
 

eastmen

Banned
Oh yeah! Thank goodness for spouses and sig-Os! :)

to be fair , I will most likely buy the pro and wait for broadwell. The micron process along with the ground up redesign of intel's gpu is going to be very interesting in 2014.


4-6 hours of battery life is more than enough for my life style. If someone comes out with a nice 42wh battery pack for the surface it would double the time I can use the device. So i'm not actually worried.
 

eastmen

Banned
It's weird to see the battery life vary so significantly between reviews. Some saying it's barely 3-3.5 hours playing video and barely 4-4.5 hours browsing the web, which would be really bad even for a laptop. But then AnandTech says it gets 5.28 hours of video playback with 6 hours of browsing the web, which is as good as or better than most Windows laptops (and the Macbook Air for that matter).

The thing is, AnandTech is the site that rated the 11" Macbook Air at barely 4 hours of battery life, so it doesn't seem like they'd be over-estimating the life of the Surface here.

a lot of these sites just have the tablets constantly load sites over and over again . Its not a real test usage kinda like how the one guy complained about heat while running prime and furmark at the same time for a few hours.

Anand has a reasonable verison of the test and yo ucan read up on it there.
 

eastmen

Banned
It's weird to see the battery life vary so significantly between reviews. Some saying it's barely 3-3.5 hours playing video and barely 4-4.5 hours browsing the web, which would be really bad even for a laptop. But then AnandTech says it gets 5.28 hours of video playback with 6 hours of browsing the web, which is as good as or better than most Windows laptops (and the Macbook Air for that matter).

The thing is, AnandTech is the site that rated the 11" Macbook Air at barely 4 hours of battery life, so it doesn't seem like they'd be over-estimating the life of the Surface here.

I love how people prefer reviews that reflect their desires.

how about a review with actual tests and knowledge of the product I nstead of ones that just keep mentioning that they can't use it in their laps all the time.


I wonder how pissed an android of ipad fan would get if a reviewer kept saying ... but I can't use photoshop on this or play bioshock on this thing over and over again through a review.
 

Homeboyd

Member
I love how people prefer reviews that reflect their desires.
Well if you love it so much, why don't you marry it?! And then when a newer, better written review comes out you can give it to your siggy!

I... uhh.

Whatever. It's late. For me.

SATURDAY!
 

teh_pwn

"Saturated fat causes heart disease as much as Brawndo is what plants crave."
Well if you love it so much, why don't you marry it?! And then when a newer, better written review comes out you can give it to your siggy!

I... uhh.

Whatever. It's late. For me.

SATURDAY!

I think he's torn because there isn't an Apple logo on it.

Anyway, not commenting on the thread as if I'm a spectator of it in a vacuum, Surface Pro looks great. Battery life is a bit short, but I'd think I'd bite if I had a huge use for it. Right now my laptop from 2.5 years ago should tide me over until Haswell.

I'd be interested in what kind of battery life you all get in real world. If a 3 hour flight + 1 hour in airport lobby is feasible.
 

markot

Banned
how about a review with actual tests and knowledge of the product I nstead of ones that just keep mentioning that they can't use it in their laps all the time.


I wonder how pissed an android of ipad fan would get if a reviewer kept saying ... but I can't use photoshop on this or play bioshock on this thing over and over again through a review.

So.... 'Its not a tablet' when talking about its faults.... but 'Its just a tablet!' when talking about its faults....

And im an apple fanboy now? Elohla.
 

eastmen

Banned
another good review

http://www.zdnet.com/is-the-brilliant-quirky-flawed-surface-pro-right-for-you-7000010882/

The Surface Pro (that’s not its official name, but let’s go with it) isn’t for everyone. If you make your living as a writer, it’s an especially poor fit because of the Surface line’s unique approach to input devices. If you insist on above-average battery life or a traditional keyboard and touchpad, you should look elsewhere. But if your needs line up with the Surface Pro’s strengths, you might find it just right.
 
If you can't use the type cover while the surface is in your lap, you fail as an individual. I'm fine with many of the verges comments....but Jesus, you are seriously daft if you don't like the kickstand and are unable to use type cover in your lap. Just wow.
 

DagsJT

Member
Some questions for those with an RT:

Is there a good CBR comic book reader available?
Is there an app that can play MKV's well now?
For UK people, does the Sky Go/Sky Player website work? Or is there a seperate app?
Is there still a lot of lag in games? I remember "Cut The Rope" being particularly bad.
 

dLMN8R

Member
a lot of these sites just have the tablets constantly load sites over and over again . Its not a real test usage kinda like how the one guy complained about heat while running prime and furmark at the same time for a few hours.

Anand has a reasonable verison of the test and yo ucan read up on it there.

But in this case they're specifically talking about video playback. I find it hard to believe that Engadget and AnandTech could be doing something so different in normal simple video playback to the point that AnandTech got 6 hours while Engadget only got 3 hours 46 minutes. Even screen brightness wouldn't account for a 60% difference here.
 

Alx

Member
The battery life is no surprise, we knew it would be in the 5h range, but it's still a big deal for me, I love the battery life of my RT. I'm still tempted by the pro for the pen and the full windows features, but I'm not sure it's worth the upgrade. To be honest I could live with the RT and my current laptop. Although I could also live with the 4-5 hours battery of the pro.

If you can't use the type cover while the surface is in your lap, you fail as an individual. I'm fine with many of the verges comments....but Jesus, you are seriously daft if you don't like the kickstand and are unable to use type cover in your lap. Just wow.

I have a type cover and sometimes use the Surface RT on my lap... it's functional, but to be honest it doesn't feel comfortable : I always feel that if I move a little, the tablet would fall over. It feels a lot better when I put a big book on my lap and the Surface on it. The kickstand is obviously meant to be used on a flat surface.
 

coldfoot

Banned
Because its more comfortable than typing on your lap ? I can also write on the surface pro while I walk not something I can do with a mac air. Why didn't the guy film about that and mention it multiple times.
Writing with a pen flat out sucks. That's why typewriters were invented.

Also how does the windows ecco system get a 9 ? If windows isn't a 10 then what is ?
Non-touch optimized Windows legacy apps shouldn't count 100% towards the score of an ecosystem, as many of them would be unusable on the Surface Pro unless you have the keyboard and a flat space, at which point you're better off getting an ultrabook.
 

Totakeke

Member
Non-touch optimized Windows legacy apps shouldn't count 100% towards the score of an ecosystem, as many of them would be unusable on the Surface Pro unless you have the keyboard and a flat space, at which point you're better off getting an ultrabook.

Dumb argument is dumb.
 

markot

Banned
Dumb argument is dumb.

Why?

Even windows office was hardly 'touch' enabled beyond making some icons bigger...

People might not like it... but its a tablet, and its going to be measured on those grounds... And windows 8 isnt that great of a tablet os frankly, because there is so much legacy stuff still there that hasnt changed to meet the challenge of the finger.

And no. Convergence isnt happening, you still need to give people options that match the main input device, in this case touch.

Pens are good for drawning and taking notes on already typed documents... other then that, keyboard is just a much faster way to type alot of words. Not to mention no issues with readability, wingdings aside.
 

Vyer

Member
If it's going to be pushed as a 'no compromises' convergence of two systems, it's not unreasonable to be judged by what's available in both ecosystems. This isn't some invisible metric; Microsoft itself quite clearly embraces the distinction in Windows 8, as its obviously trying to get the user focused on the touch 'apps' and its separate Store.
 
People might not like it... but its a tablet, and its going to be measured on those grounds...

I was pretty surprised that the Verge reviewer actually says "make no mistake: this is a laptop. " in the video review. Given that declaration and that that review's score for eco-system is the one in question, it's confusing.

I've always personally referred to the Pro as "my next laptop," rather than "my next tablet."
 

Troll

Banned
Can someone help me out with the Verge review?


Can someone make a Thanks Obama! gif out of the part when he knocks the pen off the side and when he hits it off his lap?

It would be very much appreciated.
 

Pooya

Member
the reviews are all what we were expecting.

I think if MS doesn't give up on this line and make a new surface (2) with new atoms this fall, it can cover all bases, battery life, being thin, and having good performance. that should price a lot better too. $600 maybe.
 

Nero3000

Member
Some questions for those with an RT:

1 -Is there a good CBR comic book reader available?
2 - Is there an app that can play MKV's well now?
3 - For UK people, does the Sky Go/Sky Player website work? Or is there a seperate app?
4 - Is there still a lot of lag in games? I remember "Cut The Rope" being particularly bad.

1 - I think there are apps that can read that file format, however I don't know if they are any good.
2 - YES! mobile.HD player. Does MKV's extremely well with subtitle's and multiple audio support.
3- No, no Silverlight or app support. Considering Sky's lovefest with iOS, I wouldn't hold my breath for that one.
4 - Non that was noticeable for me (but I don't play games on it that much (mostly minesweeper lol)).
 

DagsJT

Member
1 - I think there are apps that can read that file format, however I don't know if they are any good.
2 - YES! mobile.HD player. Does MKV's extremely well with subtitle's and multiple audio support.
3- No, no Silverlight or app support. Considering Sky's lovefest with iOS, I wouldn't hold my breath for that one.
4 - Non that was noticeable for me (but I don't play games on it that much (mostly minesweeper lol)).

Thanks for the reply. A bit odd that Microsoft haven't bothered with implementing their own Silverlight software onto the RT.
 

Nero3000

Member
Thanks for the reply. A bit odd that Microsoft haven't bothered with implementing their own Silverlight software onto the RT.

Silverlight is end of life. Everything is moving to HTML5 and WinRT.

Outside of web browsing, I use my Surface RT for MKV's mostly. While liveonlinefooty was online I used that aswell - but alas that's dead.

So if you can handle not having Sky Go, then definitely well worth the purchase.
 
After reading the reviews, I think I'll try one in-store before making a decision.
Shame about the battery life. If it had 7 hours, I think it would have been an easy decision.
 

zorbsie

Member
Battery life is a bit of a bummer, but a non issue for me. I'll be using it during my commute into work which is 45 minutes. I'll just need another charger plug at work so I don't have to keep lugging that cable around. Other than that I can't wait for Saturday!
 
DagsJT, try Comix for your .cbr and .cbz files. It's really good, and totally free. Comics Jolt! is decent, too, try the lite version. The full version is $1.49. I don't think Surface RT is that great as a comic reader in portrait mode, though. The 16:9 screen is a bit too narrow, so you're gonna get a lot of dead space at the top and bottom reading in full page modes (especially on older comics, which had more of a square dimension.). And if the comic has a lot of text the resolution is going to show some jaggies and fuzziness. It's serviceable, but it isn't going to wow you.
 

DagsJT

Member
DagsJT, try Comix for your .cbr and .cbz files. It's really good, and totally free. Comics Jolt! is decent, too, try the lite version. The full version is $1.49. I don't think Surface RT is that great as a comic reader in portrait mode, though. The 16:9 screen is a bit too narrow, so you're gonna get a lot of dead space at the top and bottom reading in full page modes (especially on older comics, which had more of a square dimension.). And if the comic has a lot of text the resolution is going to show some jaggies and fuzziness. It's serviceable, but it isn't going to wow you.

Cheers, will look them up when I get a Surface.
 

JaggedSac

Member
Just curious, how are these lower TDP Haswell chips going to compare to the same or similar TDP ARM chips in terms of computation power? Has there been any info released about this?
 

Cipherr

Member
Yea sounds like a great usage case there. Engadget and the verge have poor reviews. I agree with some of their gripes but like children they focus on one thing and are not consistant with other reviews. Hopefully some others are better.

In terms of consistency, Verge claims to use the same type of system for their battery reviews I believe.

That's a 'good' review?

I don't know man, but that little snippet doesn't do anything to entice anyone about the appeal of a surface pro. It comes off as resoundingly mediocre to me.

90% of the reviews have this product sounding resoundingly mediocre to be honest. Everyone but a few labeling it in a round-a-bout way as stuck in between two worlds. I will have to wait until I get my hands on one, but from the outset after reading these reviews, they seem to support that viewpoint pretty damn well. The battery life is especially unfortunate.

Its a nice device though. Everyone is praising the screen (Anand does too once its calibrated) and the overall design is interesting.
 

coldfoot

Banned
He's saying the ecosystem should be docked points because you need a flat surface to use it with a keyboard.

Yeah, how about you dock points for a monitor usability because it needs space on a table.

You can use every single app on an iPad without needing a keyboard, You can't do that with the Pro, so when comparing ecosystems for touch friendly apps, the iPad wins by 10 points to 4 points (from their RT review.)

However, it's not wise to ignore ALL legacy Windows software because it's not touch friendly, since you CAN use it on a surface, despite being hampered by a small high DPI screen without proper OS support for proper scaling, a shitty small touchpad, and a mediocre keyboard, it doesn't get the full compatibility marks for that portion, so we get 10 points vs 9 points when compared with the iPad.
 

commish

Jason Kidd murdered my dog in cold blood!
DagsJT, try Comix for your .cbr and .cbz files. It's really good, and totally free. Comics Jolt! is decent, too, try the lite version. The full version is $1.49. I don't think Surface RT is that great as a comic reader in portrait mode, though. The 16:9 screen is a bit too narrow, so you're gonna get a lot of dead space at the top and bottom reading in full page modes (especially on older comics, which had more of a square dimension.). And if the comic has a lot of text the resolution is going to show some jaggies and fuzziness. It's serviceable, but it isn't going to wow you.

I found all of the comic readers a bit annoying for one reason or another (often, bad organizational ability). Or maybe because I'm just spoiled by the excellent reader I used on my ipad. Still, you have options here, and all work well enough that it wasn't a huge deal.
 

Totakeke

Member
90% of the reviews have this product sounding resoundingly mediocre to be honest. Everyone but a few labeling it in a round-a-bout way as stuck in between two worlds. I will have to wait until I get my hands on one, but from the outset after reading these reviews, they seem to support that viewpoint pretty damn well. The battery life is especially unfortunate.

Its a nice device though. Everyone is praising the screen (Anand does too once its calibrated) and the overall design is interesting.

When the best device of its kind is resoundingly medicore, you're not looking for what it's offering.

You can use every single app on an iPad without needing a keyboard, You can't do that with the Pro, so when comparing ecosystems for touch friendly apps, the iPad wins by 10 points to 4 points (from their RT review.)

However, it's not wise to ignore ALL legacy Windows software because it's not touch friendly, since you CAN use it on a surface, despite being hampered by a small high DPI screen without proper OS support for proper scaling, a shitty small touchpad, and a mediocre keyboard, it doesn't get the full compatibility marks for that portion, so we get 10 points vs 9 points when compared with the iPad.

When a "small high DPI screen" is now a downside, the type keyboard is a mediocre keyboard, a touchpad which functions well now shitty, and all these stuffs has nothing to do with the "ecosystem", this argument is full of bullshit. Since when is iPad the de facto standard for "ecosystem", especially it has all of little niggles like you need to convert video formats to play on it? Windows 8 deserves a +10 over other "ecosystems" when it has the ability to access networks and all the good stuff that comes with that instead of relying on cables or the cloud. How about that for "ecosystem". How about when I connect the device to a larger monitor then connect keyboards, mouse, and have it run pretty much like a desktop? How about that for "ecosystem". Is that unfair because iPad cannot do that and "tablets" are meant to be touch devices? The comparison is stupid in the first place.
 

Cipherr

Member
When the best device of its kind is resoundingly medicore, you're not looking for what it's offering.

That depends. As far as I am concerned, this is the only device of its kind. So its sort of the best of its kind by default. Nonetheless I wasn't having a go at them, just pointing out what I read.
 

iFootball

Member
So, while I was 99% certain I was getting the Pro instead of the RT, the recent review sort of made me doubt about my decision... I've read all review and watched all video-reviews, and I believe ANAD's review was the most objective of all (and I was a bit disappointed by The Verge's)

Of all reviews, the comment that captured my thoughts about the device was WIRED's video review
video-review was bad though IMO
:
WIRED said:
..it's not a great tablet, or a great laptop, but it is the most compelling and unique Portable Windows 8 Hybrid we have used to date

... and that's what I've been looking for... not a Tablet, not another Laptop... and it looks like this is currently the best option out there despite its shortcomings.
 

Subitai

Member
Battery life is a bit of a bummer, but a non issue for me. I'll be using it during my commute into work which is 45 minutes. I'll just need another charger plug at work so I don't have to keep lugging that cable around. Other than that I can't wait for Saturday!
Are you going to do an unboxing video (I have no idea if you've done any before)?
 
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