Microsoft Surface Pro 2
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My biggest gripe with my (school issued) iPad is that text entry is awful and I can't get serious multi-tasking work done. This looks like it's specifically trying to address those concerns.
That said, that ad sucked imho. If Microsoft has ever not "gotten" something, it's establishing an awesome brand (sans Xbox and Word, perhaps). I have no idea how they can improve this, but I really hope Microsoft's surface line is a huge success so Apple and Google have some more competition.
I just gave typeracer a try and got 81wpm, so you also may just be a better typist than me.
what I am seeing is that people use air for the more serious jobs when sitting somewhare and their smartphone for the rest.
The MB air is light, sleek, elegant, it feels good in your hands, it makes you want to use it and carry it around—and that's despite it being a notebook, not a tablet.
The Surface Pro 1, however, is exactly the opposite: it's heavy, thick, uncomfortable to hold because of the weird sharp-edged shape, and insanely hot during operation. The Surface Pro is exactly what a tablet shouldn't be. I suppose MS has all but admitted that with their strong marketing emphasis on using it with a stand and a keyboard.
I certainly hope for MS's sake that the Surface Pro 2 is better, because the SP1 was a disaster...
I find your claims ("heavy, thick, uncomfortable to hold because of the weird sharp-edged shape") to be without merit, since I used it extensively for some major work. Going forward, Surface Pro is the future for me and my household.
I guess I don't need both an MBA and a Surface, considering I also have an iPhone.
Honestly now that I think about it, I think my biggest concern with the surface would be the fact that it runs windows. As a hacker who grew up on UNIX/Linux I find that really limiting, but moreover as someone who has heavily adopted the Apple ecosystem, I feel like I could never use the surface to its fullest potential.
I think what I want is a Surface which runs iOS X. (You read that correctly.)
Could you expand on this please - why would anybody believe that a laptop running a 1.7 GHz Intel Core i7 with 8 GB 16000 MHz DDR3, OS X 10.8.5, and a very snappy flash based storage system wasn't a "real computer?" I think you were trying to say, "It's a real computer with great battery and portability" - right?
I continue to be intrigued by the surface pro - Apple has been slow to bring a stylus capable tablet to market - and there are times when sketching is really important - and it's painful on the "crayon stylus" that you have to use on the iPad. Also - Windows has a lot of great Games. :-)
Multitasking/task switching and lack of a real shell make the iPad a non-starter for me for getting real work done - I would never consider going on a trip with just my iPad.
I think Microsoft is onto something - I just wish they had a decent Terminal App (something better than putty) and bash (cygwin always just feels like it's been tacked on).
It's always been unclear to me why nobody has written a great terminal application for Windows. Is it just because the majority of those who really care are already using Linux or OS X?
I find it somewhat ironic that a significant portion of the command line population has migrated to the macintosh.
I'm actually in the process of writing a Metro terminal app which will hopefully fill the void here.
The main problem with the Surface Pro IMO, is that it has no Ethernet port... or ports in general. (just one USB3.0 port). Larger laptops are needed if you want to connect to say, your Gb-Ethernet network or whatever.
The Macbook Air may gain a USB3.0 port over the Surface Pro... but thats about it. It also fails to have an Ethernet port, and also lacks the ability to run any Windows-compatible application.
Compared to the Surface Pro, the Macbook Air's resolution is poor and restricting. Finally, a decent Surface Pro will cost you $1030 (Type Cover + Surface Pro), while a similarly specced Macbook Air costs more.
Aside from having "one more" USB3.0 port, I don't think the Macbook Air has any real advantage over the Surface Pro. A "real portable workstation" would be either a Dell Precision Pro, or something similar to those specs. (IE: DVD Drive, tons of Ports, Gigabit Ethernet).
Granted, both companies offer a solution. Surface-Dock seems rather complete for the Surface Pro, and Thunderbolt from the MacWorld does work. Nonetheless, it'd be nice to have enough features built into a laptop... extra devices / gadgets / attachments are annoying to handle.
Pro has the touch screen, and stylus.
I think, at the end of the day, what decides this is how much you can use the stylus and want windows apps/games.
The Thunderbolt Cables cost like $40 a pop, adapters can cost more as well. Its a far cry from just being able to plug a GbE port directly into the darn thing.
As stated before, Thunderbolt is roughly comparable to the Surface Dock. You can connect an external display and Ethernet port through Thunderbolt, but you have to pay through the nose on extra wires and extra adapters. (or $200 for the Surface Dock).
BTW: Surface Pro prices are much cheaper. $1030 gets you the 128GB model now. The SurfacePro has 1080p screen. Not a single Macbook Air model has a decent resolution.
I think at the end of the day, what decides it is how much you want the 1080p screen, Stylus, Windows applications (and Windows Domain Joining for those business users), and portability.
Price-for-price, Surface Pro just gives you more than even the cheapest Macbook Air. Its just a better deal frankly.
I guess if you are resolution sensitive - then the Surface Pro has that going for it as well (I've never preferred the retina versus the normal resolution on Laptops - so that's kind of wasted on me)
Regarding what's a better deal - like you said, it all depends on what you want. I've got bash/terminal.app/aperture/quicksilver all in my finger memory now, so kind of stuck on OS X. And - we can't overlook the keyboard. Be interesting to see if the Surface Pro can go head to head with a laptop keyboard.
Regarding Windows Domain Joining - works fine on OS X for the last couple iterations, pretty much the same as the PC for things like accessing file shares. And, Office Productivity Apps (Excel/Office/PowerPoint) are pretty identical on the Mac (plus we get Acorn, Pixelmator, iDraw)...
You've got me intrigued though - I'll have to go into the Microsoft Store and play with one for a bit - the Stylus alone is really, really intriguing. And all those PC Games...
One of the most useful features for me, is the (pen)handwriting recognition on the Pro. I have terrible handwriting, terrible. I take a lot of notes in OneNote, and then convert them to text. This way I can share with my team, all the info I jotted down, in a "professional" manner. A few typos come up, usually upper vs lower case.
The pen is my favorite feature, I use it in Illustrator and Photoshop, daily. Running Ps and Ai, the battery will last about 4ish hours. Not bad, but not great. I usually will hook up an external monitor for Photoshop.
MSoft needs to work on communicating the pen, is not a stylus. It has pressure sensitivity, and lets you rest your hand on the screen while writing. A major difference from the iPad stylus(es).
In contrast, an iPad stylus thinks that the pen is just another finger. "Write then swipe" simply works on the Surface, for instance.
The big problem as I see it is it's a situation which naturally leads to desperation for a quick solution. But desperation and rushing are actually what Microsoft needs to avoid. And I'm not convinced in the slightest that Microsoft has recognised or addressed these issues, because they seem to be moving so fast and hoping for such rapid responses with their current efforts. Unfortunately the costs for trying too hard/too fast are pretty high - you taint the brand image indefinitely, as it's pretty hard to change that initial impression - certainly hard to even try without seeming like a company that has no self-identity but . With the amount of resources and innovation they're putting into their current efforts, it'd be a shame to see them blow it. I think they would have done better taking their time and letting momentum build slower.
I'm reminded of the story of how the Lotus guys (the car company) managed to convince the James Bond franchise managers to place a Lotus in a Bond film. At the time the Bond guys were being bombarded with requests from car companies, because being featured in their films was so lucrative. The Lotus guys went the other way - they took the car they wanted to push, stripped off all the signage which indicated it was a Lotus, and left it outside of the Bond franchise HQ. As they hoped, the Bond guys came out, saw the car, thought it looked amazing, but because they couldn't work out what car it was, they became obsessed with it and determined to find out. Lotus used quietness and confidence to rise above the fray of car manufacturers all trying to out-shout each other.
The true proof of confidence is relaxation. Without it, a company is always on the defensive.
Great Ads.
Microsoft over the last 13 years has flopped around from one idea to another. Their attitude has been build first, worry about identity second. They've rushed around, trying something, failing, rushing into another thing. Even within the space of one push they lack consistency. The Surface ads might be well-made but they're completely all over the place in tone, attitude and feature emphasis. Think about it: there was the liquid metal one, then the dancing clicking one, then this one. The first was hardcore/intense, the second one was exuberant/dizzying, the third was calm/productive. What's the common link? Where's the consistency in their messaging?
Think about Apple's strategy in contrast. Their product strategy, company image, attitude and presentation has basically been one smooth progression from the iPod to the iPhone 5S. The image they've presented has been the epitome of stability and consistency. It's not that they don't make mistakes or make strategy shifts - it's just that Apple astutely realises that it's best to make these changes subtly. It's only techy people like us who notice shifts in emphasis (specs don't matter > A7 64-bit processor). Everyone else loves it. They're not saying the same things over and over again - their messages and emphasis changes over time, but the change is gradual and smooth. Each product, each launch, each ad builds on top of the last.
It's not to say that there aren't recurrent themes in Microsoft's messaging - but the difference between the two is night and day. And what's the result? Apple makes vast amounts of money - all without seeming to lift a finger convincing people to buy their products. They're reaping the fruits of taking the time to work out their strategy early on, and sticking to that strategy.
That's the problem for Microsoft - this is a game where it's your behaviour over years, not months, that matters most. Until they really learn and absorb that lesson they are extremely vulnerable I think.
Here is the last few years of Apple Ads.
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfv6Ah_MVJU (PC Ad)
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQw3mVWXncg (iPod Ad)
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMcrw8WTWSs (Genius Ad)
They have been hitting their stride recently:
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoVW62mwSQQ (iPhone Camera)
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu1jHtf_oUc (iPhone Facetime)
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDUKt_XgfJ4 (iPhone Music)
Interesting, one of the supposedly "Worst reviewed" ads really spoke to me
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=170fh2mvog0 (Designed in California)
I hope we see more like the last one. That's the sort of thing that I think a company should aspire to.
You can't compare MS to Apple regarding those products on the basis that you believe an 18 year time-span is what matters in this game. Because the ipod, the iphone, the ipad and the macbook air aren't even 10 years-old.
But I agree with you on your main point: MS is highly inconsistent regarding its branding and that's a problem for consumer identification and reliance perception.
As far as Apple's performance - the iPod range is 12 years old at this point. Apple has been producing consistently branded Macbooks since 2006, this line is clearly continuous with the iBooks which go back to 1999. The iPhone range is 6 years old at this point. Consumer OS X is 12 years old - they've only just dropped the cat name motif, and Mavericks is still recognisably a progression from 10.0. Etc.
In a device like this the concept of Windows 8 seems to make perfect sense, you have all the easy to use Metro-style Apps and if you need to, you can switch to the full Desktop experience which can run Development Enviroments, Full Office Suite, Photoshop, PC Games etc.
This seems to be the perfect personal computer that does everything people need and they didnt even show the docking capabilities that allow a high res Screen and complete Desktop experience. It might be a bit worse than a laptop when using on your lap but people should avoid that anyway as its not very ergonomical.
This is not a workstation PC for developers but the perfect PC for my girlfriend and my parents as it doubles as a tablet for around the house!
(Also i am pretty sure with Haswell, the dock and 2 external screens (one via USB3.0 To DVI) it would even make a good software development workhorse for many people)
edit: I actually watched the video because of the parent comment because most of the time when I see laptops/tablets in use, people ARE hunched over & stabbing away (usually some game).
I agree the Surface product looks great - I just don't know who really needs the functionality of a highly portable laptop that wouldn't just get an Air instead. Possible exceptions would be people who can use the stylus or want the Microsoft applications/games.
And yet, it seems like nobody cares. Google gets away with completely crap productivity apps.
Maybe nobody is seriously trying to displace enterprise PCs with tablets yet. But this has to start biting them in the ass someday soon.
iWork is absolutely terrible from experience as well. It's not possible to effectively work with others, the UI is horrid and unproductive and it's completely unmaintained.
Microsoft Office 2011 for is pretty much close to perfect, and is certainly as capable as Microsoft Office 2010 that I run on Windows 7.
I run them side-by-side all day (PC Desktop with a big honking Monitor, Mac Laptop, 13" screen) - and I don't see any significant functional/usability issues with the Macintosh version.
Ironically, Microsoft Office is not a reason to use the Microsoft Surface instead of the MacBook Air. In fact, I'm willing to wager it runs better on the MBAir than it does on the surface. (Keyboard on MBAir laptop is probably better than one on Surface)
I'm thinking about what your average knowledge worker who wants to just have an email/excel/terminal/browser tool would want on a business trip - I think if we took an unbiased sample of people, 75%+ would rather go with the Air for that particular use case than they would surface pro.
There is the catch - excluding the gaming/stylus scenario - people still need a laptop - Few "knowledge workers" go on a serious business trip with just an iPad except as an experiment (that usually works out poorly), and they aren't going to carry both a laptop and a surface pro to meetings with them - therefore - just a laptop.
The iPad (and better yet, the Mini/Kindle Fire) - are great for just kicking on the couch, the Subway, reading in bed when you don't want to lug a laptop (and power cable) around with you.
It remains to be seen - but I don't think the Surface is going to get overwhelming traction. Yes, it's a better laptop than the iPad - but the iPad / Mini /Kindle Fire is a better media-consumption tablet than the Surface.
Glad to see Microsoft taking this seriously and improving on them.
1. Keyboard covers are superfluous. Bluetooth keyboards are what people use with tablets. The "DJ" cover is especially superfluous. That's what touchscreens are for.
2. It's a PC in a tablet form factor. It weighs like small PC. It has battery life like a small PC. It costs like a small PC.
3. The OS is better than previous attempts at tabletizing Windows, but it's still Windows with a tablet UI that has little traction with app developers tacked on.
4. It will make you fiddle with touch-unfriendly controls. Bad things that would never happen in iOS or Android will happen: You open an app, and wham! You are trying to touch a tiny button or drag a window by a tiny title bar.
5. Windows is a brand with negative value for buyers of mobile devices. "You're running Windows on your tablet? Why?"
Microsoft is a company that could have chosen to make any product. But the problem there is that XBOX and Zune haven't made any profit, so choosing "Windows everything, everywhere" was at least a plausible choice, on the basis of a history of making money. Who could argue for "Zune II?"
They will have to learn by failing.
2. Well, it is a small pc
3. That's kinda valid. On the other hand, it's a plain Windows PC, so runs millions of apps hence sheer amounts of developpers are in the running
4. I seem to remember a very recent post about tiny buttons in iOS 7 :P
5. Again valid. But that value might change over time: Windows Phone 8 is rather good, pretty hard to deny that.
Also, in 2 you're obviously talking about Surface Pro. Pro 2 is hugely improved. And in 5 you're doing little more than stating a personal opinion.
Also, while Bill called it a mistake in the video, I don't think he truly believes it.
In that same video Bill starts to explain how CTRL-ALT-DEL fires of a (low level) hardware interrupt and for that reason it had to be a key that was hard to accidentally press.
He then dumbs it down for the audience saying they could have used a button, but that was not approved and finally he flippantly calls it a mistake.
The reality is the requirement for the hardware interrupt was real and without a hardware button the only other approach is to use a weird easy to remember, hard to accidentally press key stroke, something like CTRL-ALT-DEL.
In real mode, Ctrl+Alt+Del is handled by the same BIOS code as any other keystrokes. Each of those three keys generates the usual keyboard interrupt, and BIOS code checks for Ctrl and Alt being down when Del is pressed. When that happens, the BIOS jumps to the POST (Power On Self Test) address.
Or alternatively, Ctrl+Alt+Del is handled (or not handled!) by any other code that has taken over the keyboard interrupt.
There are no low level hardware interrupts involved at all other than the normal keyboard interrupt that handles any other keystroke.
I wrote up the details over on Reddit a couple of days ago, including some code listings from the XT BIOS:
http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1n68nz/bill_gate...
"We could have had a single button, but the guy who did the IBM keyboard design didn’t want to give us our single button.."
"You want to have something you do with the keyboard that is signalling to a very low level of the software - actually hard-coded in the hardware - that it really is bringing in the operating system you expect, instead of just a funny piece of software that puts up a screen that looks like a log-in screen, and then it listens to your password and then it’s able to do that," Mr Gates said.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/technology/news/bill-gates-confe...
Now what that means in terms of hardware/software I don't know, but it sounds a lot like some sore of interrupt to me.
Does it matter? I think not.
I don't think the combination of keys was ever picked for their ease of use, but instead became widely know only because the Windows of that time was not the most stable of systems.
But once again I don't thin any operating system running in real mode would've had the power protect the user from badly written programs.
The guy who did IBM's keyboard design had nothing to do with Ctrl+Alt+Del. The keyboard doesn't know anything special about Ctrl+Alt+Del or any other key combination. It just sends scan codes over the wire for each individual key press or release.
The guy who wrote (or specified) the PC BIOS is who gave Ctrl+Alt+Del its special meaning. As I explained in that Reddit post, the BIOS simply checks for those keys being down and jumps to the reset/POST address.
It's all done in software, and any real mode program running on the machine can disable or take over Ctrl+Alt+Del just like it can any other keystroke or combination. So any program in DOS, in real mode Windows, or in any other real mode operating system can be that "funny piece of software that puts up a screen that looks like a log-in screen".
It wasn't until we got chips that supported protected mode, so ordinary applications couldn't smash the interrupt vectors, that there was any possibility of a guarantee that Ctrl+Alt+Del be always handled by the OS itself and not intercepted by some other program.
Also, back in the real mode days, no one would ever press Ctrl+Alt+Del with the expectation that they would get a login screen or any other kind of operating system response. After all, when Ctrl+Alt+Del was working correctly it would reboot the computer completely!
If Surface is super successful, PC OEMs would fail a big time, which is not good news for Microsoft either.
not being negative, just wondering.
Microsoft can take this risk because they see little chance that Dell, Lenovo, Sony, etc. will jump to only selling linux machine or Chrome devices. I don't necessarily agree with that mentality, I think Chrome could be more of a threat than they realise.
Microsoft can easily mark it down to barely make any profit on it for quite a while, the screen resolution and tech behind it will be a non-issue soon, so it's just the ecosystem. For Windows users it makes perfect sense to stick with Windows.
You can use a bluetooth keyboard with iPad, there are cases with built in keyboards too. I assume the same is true for Android.
Careful in your enthusiasm, you might sound like a fan boy :-)
But I will buy one when it can do what I miss on my iPad -- run Debian/Ubuntu/etc with good hardware support. Unless the Android pads seduce me first.
Edit: Oh my g.d, the comments on this video are more positive to Surface than Apple's users are about the polished UI/hardware. Lots of ip:s from Redmond? :-)
The "concept" of Surface 2 is the same idea as the first, but maybe the execution is good enough to compete with the coming iPads/Androids, now... The extreme enthusiasm for something a year old seems funny.
Anyway, it is nice to see Microsoft trying to pioneer a niche for once. But maybe it is an unfilled niche for a reason?
(When/if this integration happens, there will probably be transparent use of extra processing units over the network. Considering needed rewrites and slow US network speed, it seems unlikely to happen even 2015.)
Ah, only Android and Apple stuff can be praised? Sorry, but I don't care about their latest "innovation" or marketing hype unless it's worth it. And I don't care how I sound, as long as I'm being honest. I have Windows 7 on desktop and laptop and an Android tablet ~$100 range to check some news. If I could undo it, I'd have a Surface Pro to replace the laptop and tablet and do all an operating system can. That's all.
But I will buy one when it can do what I miss on my iPad -- run Debian/Ubuntu/etc with good hardware support. Unless the Android pads seduce me first.
That is probably less than 1% of the user base. On the other end, I still have Photoshop 6.0 installed and it does the job for the things I need. I don't know when I bought it but I keep transferring from machine to machine as I upgrade.
Bluetooth keyboards work on iPads too.
> why would I buy a device with a new operating system
Exactly, and everyone has an iPad/iPhone... so...
Also you should check out the music/dj scene on iOS. It is crazily well developed and integrated, and unique to iOS.
Windows is to tablets what mac was to PCs in the 90s. A kind of underdog that despite good efforts never seems to pull it off.
Which is a substantially smaller set than all the USB/Wireless/Bluetooth keyboards that will work on Surface.