Microsoft Surface

Demo showed it running lightroom. Has USB so will take card readers etc.

WOOT!

Really?

Not to question anyone's judgement, but an announcement for a product to be released in 4 more months to compete with a product that was released 3 years ago?

...to compete with a product who's main competition already exists in the form of Android Tablets.

MS is so content to be a late starting also ran.. even after the ground work has been laid and others have shown them how to do it, they still take forever to move.

And they will also be LATE in finally realizing the only future of this product is to discontinue it... ala Zune.

Lastly, it folds and has a keyboard.
ie: It's not even a tablet! it's a laptop running Windows 8!

The price of the "Pro" version is too high in my opinion. If I was a Windows user I'd definitely consider the Pro tablet if it was around the $700 mark or lower. I'm assuming that "ultrabook range" pricing means over $1000.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #14600727
Really?

Not to question anyone's judgement, but an announcement for a product to be released in 4 more months to compete with a product that was released 3 years ago?

...to compete with a product who's main competition already exists in the form of Android Tablets.

MS is so content to be a late starting also ran.. even after the ground work has been laid and others have shown them how to do it, they still take forever to move.

And they will also be LATE in finally realizing the only future of this product is to discontinue it... ala Zune.

Lastly, it folds and has a keyboard.
ie: It's not even a tablet! it's a laptop running Windows 8!

I don't think you have looked at what it is properly. They showed it running Lightroom in the demo. Is there a current tablet that can do that?

In some ways it is just an ultrabook, but it is one that can be used like an iPad when you want and like a laptop when you want. Much better than lugging around 2 devices.

I am not knocking the ipad, I have one and I really like it. I just wish it could do more. It is very limited.

Also the design of it has had alot of thought. Strikes me that this is more of an xbox than a zune but time will tell.

shedberg wrote in post #14600771
The price of the "Pro" version is too high in my opinion. If I was a Windows user I'd definitely consider the Pro tablet if it was around the $700 mark or lower. I'm assuming that "ultrabook range" pricing means over $1000.

I would rather have the surface than an ultrabook. There are hardly any full HD ultrabooks out there, let alone one that doubles as a decent graphics tablet. It is going to be awesome for photoshop if they get the pen integration right.

Seriously I could be wrong but I am happy to stick my neck out on this one: this will be good hardware for photogs.

I'm going to seriously be looking at these.
I've been waiting for a long time to be able to use my programs on a portable device, and I hope these don't die off since the form factor is necessary.

I think at some point tablets will actually become a hub for desktops but the mobile processors still have a ways to go.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #14600727
Really?

Not to question anyone's judgement, but an announcement for a product to be released in 4 more months to compete with a product that was released 3 years ago?

...to compete with a product who's main competition already exists in the form of Android Tablets.

MS is so content to be a late starting also ran.. even after the ground work has been laid and others have shown them how to do it, they still take forever to move.

And they will also be LATE in finally realizing the only future of this product is to discontinue it... ala Zune.

Lastly, it folds and has a keyboard.
ie: It's not even a tablet! it's a laptop running Windows 8!

Yeah, I know. It really doesn't sound promising; but Microsoft's biggest challenge has really always been (except for the XBox) that it isn't a hardware company. They have been constrained in the past by the fact that their main product, an OS, is designed (in some sort of weird symbiosis, it's true) with the hardware companies that produce the basic platform of the system.

I like my iPad and my Samsung Galaxy Tab just fine. But there are things I haven't been able to do with either one that I may be able do with a machine like the Surface (I hope); if i could only run multiple apps in their own windows on the same screen, it would be a much nicer package. Right now, , e.g. while driving, on my Tab standing vertically on the console I can look at Maps, then switch to GPS Speedometer, then to Pandora, then to...but I'd love to have Navigation running in the top half, GPS speedo in the bottom left quarter, and Pandora in the bottom right corner. At the speeds I drive, I dont want to be having to pick the thing up to find something out, or stop to do so.

A machine powered between what's now an Ultrabook and today's tablets with a touch sensitive multiwindow OS and complex applications that can be worked with a tool more accurate than the tip of your finger would be very nice.

PS - the market's going soemwhere, but I don;t think anyone knows where. Tablets are outselling laptops and desktops, smart phones of all kinds are probably outselling both. MS has something like 92% of the OS market, but it's shrinking, and Apple has something like 68% of the mobile market, and it's growing, along with Android. I wonder if you counted smartphones and tablets and all other hardware that has an operating system as a computer, how large MS' total market share would be.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #14600727
It's not even a tablet! it's a laptop running Windows 8!

At least it's a touch screen!

I think it looks promising. Plenty of interesting features that set it apart from lacklustre droid tablets.
The Pro version could do well in the business sector, a Core i5 tablet running full Windows... nothing to compete with (yet)

Hen3Ry wrote in post #14603259
PS - the market's going soemwhere, but I don;t think anyone knows where.

It's going to suck when there are no user upgradable devices left but it looks like thats where all this is going.

The number of mobile Internet users is expected to exceed desktop Internet users beginning in 2014, according to ComScore.

Microsoft got the message in introducing the Surface line of mobile devices, taking a page from Apple's total-control product strategy and its own Apple-like approach to the Xbox over the last decade. Microsoft Xbox, which follows Apple's vertical-integration formula, now has a near 50 percent share of the U.S. console market, with 67 million units sold since 2005, according to Microsoft.

http://news.cnet.com …let-think-apple-and-xbox/

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #14600727
Really?

Not to question anyone's judgement, but an announcement for a product to be released in 4 more months to compete with a product that was released 3 years ago?

Well... the product released 3 years ago, that re-introduced Microsoft's idea from 10 years ago.. with a different little logo on it.... http://www.wfaa.com …t-a-tablet-159531965.html ... So... Just because the folks at Apple are better at marketing, and convincing people to spend an amount of money you could buy a laptop with on a device that has less than the functionality of a netbook.... they're not innovators.. just marketers.


Re: The keyboard issue.... quite a lot of Bluetooth keyboards are sold for tablets of all designs... so many in fact that companies sell device covers with built-in keyboards. How is this any different?

Now, I'm no MS fanboy... I'm more of a Linux man myself.... but Let's not pretend that Apple is doing anything innovative and groundbreaking. They're great at marketing, but show me anything "groundbreaking" that they "came up with" and I'll show you a very similar device long before it had an Apple logo on it.

va_rider wrote in post #14606842
Well... the product released 3 years ago, that re-introduced Microsoft's idea from 10 years ago..

Actually, that product released 3 years ago copied a Microsoft idea from 1991, when they released "Windows for Pen Computing" that was an add-on for Windows 3.1.
No, the Microsoft tablet concept is over 21 years old.
It was way ahead of the technology--Windows tablets were too heavy and the batteries sucked.
That's changed.
iPads are enlarged iPod touches--there's nothing wrong with that, as you can see by their useage numbers.
Surface is a PC that was shrunk.
There's a huge difference. As I said in a previous post, I'd love to run my software on a portable device, and I hope these sell well, so they continue to develop them.

va_rider wrote in post #14606842
Re: The keyboard issue.... quite a lot of Bluetooth keyboards are sold for tablets of all designs... so many in fact that companies sell device covers with built-in keyboards. How is this any different?

Bluetooth is a battery hog and eliminating it by docking into the keyboard you save power.

isoMorphic wrote in post #14608179
Bluetooth is a battery hog and eliminating it by docking into the keyboard you save power.

Shouldn't be. I use Apple's bluetooth keyboard with my iPad 3 and it has virtually no impact on battery life.