Microsoft gears up to mass produce large-screen touch displays
zdnet.com
zdnet.com
Where I work, we use Google Docs to conduct meetings and on-the-spot polls with up to 30 people (more than that tends to block the document) on different geographic locations.
The experience on the Surface Pro 3 is...not as awesome (while still good). The huge surface makes the difference.
Imagine every family owning one where they can easily access kids activity schedules, pin lists of groceries, track chores, to do litst that could sync with every family member's phone (for those old enough),...
This could completely replace the fridge magnets and the pin board, and it could be an excellent way for younger kids to interact with educational content.
It could also server as a communication point for younger kids who are too young to have their own phone/tablet, be able to call each-others under supervision, ...
After the years it got hidden behind furniture, because she was so small back then and couldn't draw >1m.
Except for the immense supply chain that brings those products to your store :)
This was way before cheap vision systems were around. I bet someone could hack something together today with a cheap Linux SoC, webcam, and OpenCV.
Combined with a video projector it could do even more. But then again, I don't want a noisy projector running all the time in my kitchen.
(Applications where you have boxes connected by pipes/arrows to other boxes.)
We have tables you can write on with a marker, I don't see why, if cheap enough, adding a digital layer would be unwelcome (but not yet, of course).
Using a mouse with a very large screen is a recipe for serious neck strain. Sure, you can move the cursor quickly, but your head still has to track it. I know, I've tried!
So here's a counterexample.
However, if MSFT/PPI would like to donate one, we would surely find a place for them on our team shirt!
Netbooks became a very price-conscious segment that cannibalized sales from higher-end ultra-thin notebooks.
I think there'll be plenty of demand if they can bring it in at a competitive price and it's sufficiently responsive. Of course it will be in niche markets at first but I have no problem thinking of use cases. My day job is recording and editing sound for film and when your timeline runs to a couple of hours with maybe 40 active tracks (and that's on a small project) then even the best control surface has trouble keeping up, you keep having to switch channels or pages to deal with all the virtualized mixer controls, plugins and whatnot - not to mention that that amount of dedicated hardware costs a fortune. A table-sized work surface with a good haptic grammar would make that jobs vastly easier. I imagine the same is true for anyone working in VFX with its similarly elaborate pipelines.
P.S. You guys should really make a legit keyboard dock like the clam case or the transformer. People looking for laptop replacements don't like balancing shit on their laps.
The product was best summer up to me so: "if you want a heavy tablet which can sorta be a laptop, surface is ideal. Otherwise if you want the robustness of a laptop and occasional tablet use, try a yoga."
Having used both, the yoga turned out to be the superior use case when I wanted a stable and robust screen.
If I wanted to sketch something, I wish I had a pro 3.
For me, and I suppose many other users - it's coming down to broadwell and the surface 4. (Or if they want to branch out with accessories, a stronger and more robust keyboard accessory)
But the device does cram an awful lot into its chasis. No matter what, MS did a good job on the design.
Like I said, its worth the money for what you get, but that's not going to matter much. Most people spend less than $799 on a computer of any sort.
>The only danger about that price point is that people might think it's an expensive tablet rather than a cheap computer..
Until they release a keyboard that actually transforms the device into a laptop, it is just an expensive tablet.
just last night, i woke in bed and stared at the ceiling for a while then had a thought about a a particular issue at work. Being able to just roll over and sketch it out in 4 colors for clarity in onenote without having to fiddle with the bedroom light made me consciously think about how much i liked my surface.
More practical usage involves me capturing meeting notes at work with it. To be honest were it not for the great pen capabilities and the great onenote app, i wouldn't be using the device at all probably.