Announcing the Surface 3
blog.surface.com
blog.surface.com
I only have two remaining concerns with the SP3: My i5 version continues to get extremely hot near the middle of the device (e.g. when gaming or using a lot of CPU, like BitTorrent). Worryingly hot in fact. And the Magsafe like connector fails right near the magnet (the wire un-twirls), see Amazon's reviews of the power supply for examples and photos.
I think this new 10.1" could be interesting form-factor for this device and a top end Atom CPU really distinguishes it from the SP3. The naming is getting a little confusing, I checked the posting date to make sure this wasn't an old announcement for the SP3. Surface 3, Surface Pro 3, Surface 2 RT, uhh...
PS - Does anyone else keep seeing a completely white screen when visiting Microsoft's web-sites. It goes completely white for like 5 seconds and only then does any content load. I am using Chrome retail latest.
Yes, this has been happening to me as well for the past week or so. Also on Chrome latest.
Well, at least it is better than before, when people bought a Surface tablet expecting it to run regular x86 desktop applications, because Windows. Having nearly the same name (Surface RT vs. Surface Pro) didn't really help.
There were always 6 SKUs for any given region (3 size options and 2 connectivity), and now there are 3 colors, and the iPad Mini form factor. That's a lot when you add it all up analytically, but that's not how consumers experience it -- they're not presented with 36 different iPads and asked to figure it out.
The consumer experience hasn't fundamentally changed since the original iPad, because each option is understandable by the user rather than buried under a confusing set of names [1]. iPads with cell radios are really only for people who already know what it is and want it, so that choice point is reduced. The form factor (iPad or iPad mini) is something the consumer can hold in their hands and figure out, as is color. Those are tangible, immediate, human choices.
RAW DEAL #1: Storage, and specifically the 16GB model, is the biggest issue with iOS products because later you'll find you can't download many apps or have too many photos before storage fills up. Bad user experience. See past iOS upgrades for outrage.
> if you don't already know what you want
Apple has invested huge amounts in iPad's branding and awareness, that translates to consumers understanding more and walking in having at least a vague understanding of which form factor and color they would like, with a visit being more of a confirmation of the choice. Note that Apple's other branding reinforces this, by sharing color across iPad, iPhone, and now MacBook, meaning more possibility for consumers to come in closer to having made a choice. Same with storage capacity if they evaluated iPhones. They also don't name it something different each time they launch a new one, they reuse the name [2]. The brand value/awareness of 'iPad' alone is probably 100x+ that of Asus or Surface. Brand awareness persists between products, so with 800m iOS devices out there, each SKU represents maybe 20m iOS devices worth of brand recognition that precedes it [3].
RAW DEAL #2: Walking into Best Buy -> raw deal. For. sure.
There's a reason Apple built stores - its to control the experience and reduce choice anxiety through consistent messaging, better presentation of products, positive sales experience, few choices, etc. Best Buy shits that away and you wind up in a chemical-smelling store filled with crappy products that subtly increases paradox of choice, talking to a spikey hair drone that doesn't understand the product, forcing comparison to unlike products, putting pressure on you to buy the replacement plan or accessories or shit you don't need, with flashing images from a wall of TVs nearby sucking your attention away from your purchase decision like the TV with a skateboarding video on at the bar you're at with friends that keeps pulling you away from the conversation you were just having. Ugh. Best Buy.
[1] Apple made this mistake in the 90s with the Performa brand, introducing too many models causing consumer confusion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_Performa). Thus, iPad is iPad, and specs do not play into the name of the product the user buys. Most other competitors such as aforementioned Asus Zenbook UX305 just don't get it.
[2] Because people think in years, not obscure model numbers ('oh thats the iPad from two years ago' vs 'oh thats the Zenbook umm... UX31A? UX42VS?').
[3] Yeah this is a super janky way of representing brand awareness, its just to illustrate how much more carrying capacity the brand has for variations relative to others. Marketing budget might be another way, except that doesn't account for people's actual purchases and their sharing with friends, plus the ridiculously valuable free marketing you get from the media talking about the device. Hence, the big unveil strategy.
How do companies not get this? Don't call it the Zenbook [Impossible Number]. Call it the damn Zenbook and be done with it. No one cares that its part of the UX300 line, because UX300 means nothing, and you're only going to have three computers in the UX line anyway before you discontinue it.
But you know why they do that? Price matching. They can sell a SKU on Amazon for $700 and sell the exact same computer at Best Buy for $750. When you try to price match with Best Buy, oh whoops you're buying the Zenbook UX305-XYZ, that's the Zenbook UX305-ABC. Same hardware? Doesn't matter, different SKU, no price match.
There's a ton of segmentation going on in the iPad line. I think you've gone through the decision tree pretty well. To answer your question I think the last bit mostly comes down to a combination of price and what the retailer even has stocked and displayed - they may only have the latest one.
I agree the mini 2 and 3 are a little too close spec-wise. I think Apple is trying to figure out supply chain choices there, and the A7 is just a good chip that still has legs. I'd guess the consumer decision on that one would be if the consumer likes the form factor and wants the latest, they choose the 3, and if they look a bit more into it and find the 2 is just lacking fingerprint and they don't care, they choose 2. Most people aren't pouring over specs, and may not even know the 3 has the same guts as the 2.
More generally though, having this year's and last year's model in both form factors makes sense for price segmentation. It's doubly good for business as it clears out the supply chain, and it even suggests to purchasers that older products will be supported so you can have confidence in your purchase.
I've got a 16GB iPhone and am happy enough. It runs out of memory when I get to about 1000 pictures on the camera roll. I can live with that. Sure if you want hours of video get a bigger one.
There's a ton of people like you who know what 16GB space means and are happy to save the $, and a ton of people who don't use their iOS devices a lot, so for them its not as much a raw deal.
The MacBook Pro Retina 13" is almost the same weight and size as a MacBook Air 13". It no longer makes sense to keep the Air around as a "lighter" alternative.
IMHO, both the Air and the non-retina-Pro are going away. Keeping just the MacBook and the retina-Pro is what makes sense the most (the rest are just cheaper alternatives, and Apple doesn't generally do cheap).
Also even if the current lineup is not perfectly orthogonal because the purpose of the Air is less clear than it used to be, this has happened before when new lines are introduced. What leads you to assert that they are 'rapidly falling away' from anything, rather than just in a transition period with the new line?
I like having more choices, personally, but Apple used to have a much more streamlined product offering.
I don't agree that 2 sizes of iPhone is any different from 2 sizes of laptop or two sizes of iPad.
Now, things are bundled together. If you choose an iPhone screen size first, you're implicitly choosing camera quality, materials, speed, fingerprint recognition, and such things all at once. If you like a plastic case (some people do!) then 4" is your only choice. If you want the best camera, you have to get a 5.5" phone even if that doesn't fit in your pocket. If you're buying a MacBook, you have to optimize ports, weight, speed, fancy new haptic trackpad, and other such things all at once.
Compared to other manufacturers, Apple is still doing pretty well here. But it's still considerably worse than it used to be.
For example, the difference in camera quality between the iPhone 6 and 6+ is minimal. Yes, if you are obsessed with 'the best' camera quality but want it in a smaller phone, you are faced with a compromise, but for almost everyone the phone size massively overshadows the trivial difference in camera. So people will pick the size they want and those who pick the bigger device will have the minor bonus of a marginally better camera.
Almost nobody obsesses over the full matrix of possible tradeoff the way you are implying. They just choose from what is available based on what is most important to them. The iPhone lineup is easy to select from based on this approach.
Yes, they could make things more orthogonal by say, not having the plastic phone, but it seems to me that this would have almost no effect of the ease of choosing, while just serving fewer customers.
So not exactly simple.
- WiFi/Bluetooth drivers (they were terrible at release)
- Intel HD graphics drivers (improved battery usage, responsiveness in some applications, and also seems to have reduced heat slightly (when running on battery))
- They improved the touchpad's auto-disable thing while using the keyboard (so it actually worked!).
- Touchscreen accuracy improvements both for pen and finger.
- More pen customisation (with associated app)
- Several crash bugs fix (e.g. BSoD during shutdown)
- A bunch of sleep specific fixes (e.g. faster entry and exit from sleep, a crash bug here too, and so on).
- Others...
Here's a full-ish list:
http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/support/install-updat...
For what it's worth, I had the fraying problem on my old MacBook Air charter too.
It may not actually be a problem at all. CPUs can run safely up to ~70C or so, which is 160F. This means thin tablets are becoming constrained by what you can safely touch, rather than what is safe for the CPU.
http://www.colorado.edu/engineering/MCEN/MCEN5166/supplement...
The issues we see with Surface Pro 3 overheating is where it's not expected to overheat, such as using Chrome. Using IE is fine, but when you use Chrome it overheats. Turns out a lot of the time it's related to ABP (adblock plus). Switching to uBlock seems to resolve most of the overheating of Chrome.
This non-pro is Atom-based. I like to say while the i3/5/7 are optimized for price/performance, the Atoms are optimized for low thermal dissipation (which can be painful if you spend your day in Eclipse).
But if the Pro is mediocre, that doesn't speak well of the plain 3...
Indeed. With the January update to GPU drivers, the SP3 is able to drive a 4k monitor @ 60Hz while still having the built-in display on, also @ 60Hz.
Not all 4k monitors though, only the older, MST ones.
See https://www.reddit.com/r/Surface/comments/2v7te8/reduce_cpu_...
For gaming, get an USB fan.
Pro 2 user here, and to better understand it for work reasons, I made it primary machine for over 8 Hurst / day since last April. Until I guessed I had reached the point no software updates were likely.
I am genuinely disappointed.
Despite the initial impression of execution was positive enough for me to have a eight week or so honeymoon. I think the idea has legs longer term.
For me, of many many issues I encountered, it is IE tablet / touch version which has been become what in hindsight ought to be a showstopper.
There is no alternative for touch use without contortions.
Yet IE left to far too much grief.
I guess here nobody will freak if I had 50 or more tabs open. Not a usual search decision list to keep handy.
But without respite, IE would seize and redraw, reload no matter how cache sized (which pretty much needs a trip to the registry) and commonly crash.
I was heavily reliant on a 3G mifi connection during most of this time.
It is beyond my comprehension how a browser in theory close to OS that knows I am using a metered connection in particular with long latency, can be shipped with a addiction to cache miss reloads.
I would close down tabs carefully and exit IE (touch).
Reboot and ....
The entire past session and even sometimes earlier sessions would reload.
I found that bookmarks did not store or persist.
It just goes on and on from there.
This is merely the highlight commentary.
But within nearly 80 single spaced pages of description, not solely concerning IE behavior, I realized I had been building a "not fit for purpose" complaint.
I did not exclusively encounter the IE problems with only a few tab open, either.
I actually do think that the shipping state of the Pro 2 would, if I had understood beforehand, guaranteed I did not purchase it.
I don't maintain a web presence or have access to a appropriate place to publish my extensive review. But I am thinking what to do about that, right now.
Although I speak very casually about what ought to touch upon different memory models for touch aps from Metro thinking, the process sumps I ran, API monitoring, attempts at querying NTFS to find "lost" writes and a determined effort to seek out any possible corruption of the SSD writes.... all of which were reasons in terms of finding free time which delayed my formal complaint so far beyond when I first became incredibly frustrated, I hope I may be permitted here a modicum of credibility that I did at least have a fair go at figuring out anything that might be otherwise wrong.
I very much like this format.
This new 3 might be just the ticket for lightweight moments needing a x86 device I can carry substitute another tablet.
Yet, the sad ending to this, is that in my private but professionally minded quest to bring a 5th decade brain out of atrophy and into the current device world, this is the punching:
I bought a Sony Xperia Z3 Compact.
For everything I commonly did with my Surface Pro 2, exception anything requiring long concentration, I suddenly found myself using the Z3c for entire days and continue to in cactuses it primarily.
Even when I have a environment up to write and edit, how exactly can it not plain suck to be fighting with a browser when piling through API refs or SO to check out whichever. That was simply a concentration breaker.
I probably will check out the new one as above.
But I have rarely found anything so frustrating in primary use as intended or advertised....\
And I get done faster with my Z3c, for too many tasks.
I almost feel bad at the tome I am about to dump on Microsoft,
Pro 2 user here, and to better understand it for work reasons, I made it primary machine for over 8 Hurst / day since last April. Until I guessed I had reached the point no software updates were likely.
I am genuinely disappointed.
Despite the initial impression of execution was positive enough for me to have a eight week or so honeymoon. I think the idea has legs longer term.
For me, of many many issues I encountered, it is IE tablet / touch version which has been become what in hindsight ought to be a showstopper.
There is no alternative for touch use without contortions.
Yet IE left to far too much grief.
I guess here nobody will freak if I had 50 or more tabs open. Not a usual search decision list to keep handy.
But without respite, IE would seize and redraw, reload no matter how cache sized (which pretty much needs a trip to the registry) and commonly crash.
I was heavily reliant on a 3G mifi connection during most of this time.
It is beyond my comprehension how a browser in theory close to OS that knows I am using a metered connection in particular with long latency, can be shipped with a addiction to cache miss reloads.
I would close down tabs carefully and exit IE (touch).
Reboot and ....
The entire past session and even sometimes earlier sessions would reload.
I found that bookmarks did not store or persist.
It just goes on and on from there.
This is merely the highlight commentary.
But within nearly 80 single spaced pages of description, not solely concerning IE behavior, I realized I had been building a "not fit for purpose" complaint.
I did not exclusively encounter the IE problems with only a few tab open, either.
I actually do think that the shipping state of the Pro 2 would, if I had understood beforehand, guaranteed I did not purchase it.
I don't maintain a web presence or have access to a appropriate place to publish my extensive review. But I am thinking what to do about that, right now.
Although I speak very casually about what ought to touch upon different memory models for touch aps from Metro thinking, the process sumps I ran, API monitoring, attempts at querying NTFS to find "lost" writes and a determined effort to seek out any possible corruption of the SSD writes.... all of which were reasons in terms of finding free time which delayed my formal complaint so far beyond when I first became incredibly frustrated, I hope I may be permitted here a modicum of credibility that I did at least have a fair go at figuring out anything that might be otherwise wrong.
I very much like this format.
This new 3 might be just the ticket for lightweight moments needing a x86 device I can carry substitute another tablet.
Yet, the sad ending to this, is that in my private but professionally minded quest to bring a 5th decade brain out of atrophy and into the current device world, this is the punching:
I bought a Sony Xperia Z3 Compact.
For everything I commonly did with my Surface Pro 2, exception anything requiring long concentration, I suddenly found myself using the Z3c for entire days and continue to in cactuses it primarily.
Even when I have a environment up to write and edit, how exactly can it not plain suck to be fighting with a browser when piling through API refs or SO to check out whichever. That was simply a concentration breaker.
I probably will check out the new one as above.
But I have rarely found anything so frustrating in primary use as intended or advertised....\
And I get done faster with my Z3c, for too many tasks.
I almost feel bad at the tome I am about to dump on Microsoft, but I felt strongly enough about the potential utility to me of this device format, I am not writing any consumer report complaint. I very much want my observations, which had me regularly disrupted from my flow even of corridor meetings, to be appreciated. I am to concerned by my experience to plump for a new model without most definitely being certain I can get refund after sufficient time to go the necessary test distance. And absolutely no way will I let myself think a future update will solve anything.
That last point, the confidence that updates will resolve glaring problems, is the kind of issue that would have me shut the entire teams to standstill (per Toyota System) until this was understood.
At present, the market for any Surface is small and tolerant and sophisticated. But this is if unsolved, a PR problem that could shut down regular consumer retail dead.
I may exaggerate, and as well two years ago I thought neither Lumina WP nor Android phones (I tested a variety from mid to flagship) were persuasive, but the change in experience since then has blown my mind. Still yet so much I would do on WP or 'Droid. But the complete experience is entirely impressive. Not only that, but my very elderly family members who are most immune to me thrusting new toys into their hands in ever desperate attempts to connect our diaspora family, are finally impressed. Because above all the response of apps is good enough to prevent a kind of "Senior Valley" in which UX and app latency makes them just pause enough to think they "did it wrong".
The story will continue nevertheless.... it feels like the second or wherever we are counting, Act, is not the dramatic finale but having introduced the Dramatis Personae, we are getting some action sufficient to appreciate full blown characters.
And buy now page with tech specs: http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/productI...
Looks like $499 for 64GB storage and 2GB RAM, $599 for 128GB storage and 4GB of RAM (WiFi models; 4G LTE model pricing wasn't showing for me).
Edit: It was about 3 pro ... ignore.
4 GB is the minimum I'd run anything newer than Windows XP on. The SSD's speed might be able to "save" the 2 GB from being completely unusable, but it is still going to be damn slow with the amount of paging that's going to occur.
Honestly, I get that Microsoft wants to hit that magical $500 figure, but that device is going to give a really poor use experience in my opinion.
iOS is extremely memory efficient but it comes at a cost which can be quite high for some.
Now, granted, the OS does use more RAM has availability increases (I have 16 GB) however Chrome is a beast no matter what.
I run Chrome with a lot of tabs open on my Asus Vivotab Note and I don't really feel the pain of having only 2GB. I'm one of those guys with bad habits about closing tabs.
The thing you have to remember -- Atoms are serviceable CPUs, but they're nothing like the Core series. If you're looking to do heavy lifting, you should probably go for a Surface Pro anyways.
But 2 GB? And maximum 4 ? Just kills me inside. Way to ruin the device.
My home workstation has 32GB and I can remote into that anytime I want from every device that I own, so I tend to lean on that.
But of course, the sad reality is that the only reason there is a 2 GB version is so that they can have a ridiculous premium for the 4 GB version yet still lure customers with the low starting price point.
I wonder if, when the market has matured enough, that there will be honest companies making products that tries to make good mainstream products rather than trying to get away with whatever they can. There is no reason what so ever that there should be any high-end smartphone available for purchase with less than 64 GB of storage. But now we have 16 GB and, for a $100 GB premium you get, gasp, 32 GB!
Phone storage has not gone up, in many cases down, in the last five years... And that's like 120 years in the tech world.
But hey, 2 GB of ram is certainly enough for the 5 min demo you get in the store...
I love having full control on a tablet that lasts 10 hours and fits in most of my pants and jacket pockets.
Have you considered switching to Firefox, which is a bit more conservative with memory usage? :)
http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/03/16/how-wind...
I'm hoping 10 comes out with a more refined understanding of modern OS expectations, especially when your OS is both a desktop and mobile OS. I find it amusing that 8 came out with this large install size when SSDs were becoming the norm. I guess Redmond can't move fast enough to avoid this outcome. They saw 1TB drives being the norm in 2009-2010-ish when they started this project and couldn't pivot fast enough to stop it. Now things like the sxs folder being 20gb is the norm. Or still defaulting to a 1996-like "make your swap file twice 2x your RAM size" mentality. I have 16gb of RAM. I sure as hell don't need a 32gb swap file.
The only reason I have a swap file is because DirectX seems to expect one for many games, so I have a token 512mb one just for gaming. No other application expects one. MS really needs to contemporize with Win10. There's just way too much legacy cruft in 7 and 8. Win8 on that sexy Surface hardware is like driving your Ferarri on a dirt road.
On Windows, every allocation gets reserved by actual memory, so it's easier to run into a situation where you would start failing malloc. So having swap is more important.
Also, I think that anonymous mmap is backed by the pagefile. So anything using mmap without specifying a file is going to increase your pagefile needs.
I'm curious: does anybody besides OS developers want this to be the case? I don't want the way I interact with a tablet to be the way I interact with a laptop or a desktop.
Nope. Windows grows over time. So a Windows install that fit into 40 GB would grow to over 100 GB over a two or three years.
Heck we had to pull an entire rack of servers because the idiots that set them up partitioned the drive into a 100 GB C: and a massive D:, and Windows consumed all the space on C: just through Windows Update and then started falling over.
We had to rebuilds the machines with a 200 GB C: and they have been running fine ever since.
Obviously user folders can grow quickly, but I wouldn't put the blame on Windows for that.
That really depends on your use case.
I've been using the Asus Vivotab Note 8 for several months (2gb/64gb), and I haven't even come close to feeling a need to put an SD card in it yet. I use it as a complement to my laptop. Mostly for consumption, communication and note-taking with OneNote. I don't think you'd want to do any heavy lifting on an Atom-based machine -- you'd be better off with a Pro in that case.
I'd love to see Microsoft release a Surface Mini with that Surface Pen. Having a Wacom pen on my Vivotab is great, except at the edges.
Windows installs themselves or with other software installed? The latter makes sense but I've never seen anywhere close in the former. 32GB would be a bad idea but 64GB I think is fine for the majority of people.
I just don't think 32GB is big enough in general minus some space for the OS but I don't think I've had the same type of issue as you. The majority of my OS installs have been roughly 10GB which isn't far off from iOS and might include some restore stuff. But it's also been a while since I checked.
I've found 2gb to be perfectly usable with Win7 and 8, Chrome's voracious appetite for memory would be a sticking point, except I've noticed that it does a better job of managing itself when RAM is limited. Chrome runs just fine on 1gb Chromebooks despite having just 768-512mb available most of the time. I will say that the Atom processor is a concern with Chrome even though I know the latest versions are roughly 2-3x more powerful than the Pineview dual core I had in my old Dell netbook. Chrome routinely maxed out the processor on every page load while Firefox and IE never needed more than 25% of the available CPU horsepower. Tripling the available power would eliminate the 5 second lockups I experienced but it could still be a slow, stuttery user experience.
I may end up replacing my t100 with the 128 GB surface 3, especially given the small price difference.
If you're a Pro, then buy a Pro or get a MacBook Pro and VM Windows.
But as just a tablet, this is _close_ to a great deal (I think they can do better and probably will drop the price by the holidays).
Like Dell XPS 11
2560 x 1440 display
4GB RAM
128GB SSD
http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/665236/Dell-XPS-11-XPS...
http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-11-9p33/pd?p=xps-11-9p33&view=p...
Even in Windows 10, the new update has issues with scaling. It now caps out correctly (1920 x 1200), but it is blurry as hell.
Photoshop (since it was also mentioned) has very limited support for real scaling (beyond the OS's default of render as if on a low-dpi screen and then bitmap scale the UI up, which looks horrible, especially when combined with an app you are using to do precise bitmap editing) -- the only meaningful option it gives you is to scale everything in the UI up 200%, which is better than nothing (and what I have to do on my 3840x2160 Toshiba laptop to get a usable UI), but not a really flexible solution and even this is considered an "expirmental feature" in the very latest version.
Adobe Lightroom, on the other hand, has effortless scaling and just works great on screens at any DPI.
The point being there is plenty of support in the OS for apps that effectively scale, it is just that there are a lot of Win32 legacy apps out there which would require a near rewrite of the UI layer to scale well, it is by no means something the OS handles for you automatically (beyond the clumsy bitmap scaling default) if your code targets the older UI APIs, and there are (still) plenty of gotchas you do actually run into when running Windows apps on high DPI screens, though things are certainly improving in this regard.
The keyboard is great. Having a choice of keyboards is also great. However Microsoft makes the keyboard a core part of this device (both literally, and in adverts) so to me there should be no scenario where it doesn't ship with one.
They should just set the price at $599 and include the keyboard. At least it is an "out the door" price then, not $500 with a hidden $100 tack-on.
You can make this argument all the way down to basic sustenance, healthcare, and shelter. No-one needs more than those things.
If I travel, I take my Typecover with me, but I mostly work at home.
Let me put it this way: by having a computer (even if it has a tablet form factor, it is a Real Computer) without a mouse/keyboard, you give up half its potential (if not more, depending on how you use it). By having an Xbox without a Kinect you give up none of its core capabilities, just some of its extra navigational features and a distinct minority of exclusive games.
As a matter of fact, I think when the Surface Pro 4 comes out, I will not buy the type cover and take the savings instead. In any case, I really, really disagree that Microsoft is being sleazy by offering a choice. It's more like they're going all-in on the idea that you can use all of Windows without a physical keyboard.
But also because you have another keyboard and don't mind forking over money for a docking station or plugging in. You're replacing the type cover with another keyboard, but that's still something you had to buy.
> when the Surface Pro 4 comes out, I will not buy the type cover and take the savings instead
Microsoft has announced that the SP3 type cover will be compatible with the next Pro model, so you wouldn't have to at any rate :D
> In any case, I really, really disagree that Microsoft is being sleazy by offering a choice.
I agree with you, but I don't think they're offering the choice you think they are[1]. They bill it as "The Tablet That Can Replace Your Laptop," right above a picture of the products with the type cover on them. The intended use-case clearly involves the type cover.
[1] http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/26m9cu/we_are_panos_pa...
In case you don't want to follow the link: the choice is the color of the cover, not whether or not to have a cover.
So, what is your point here? That they should always bundle the keyboard so that users like me have to pay $100 more every single time? I don't understand what your complaint is or what you think Microsoft is doing wrong.
From the reddit comment that you linked to from the Surface Team:
> "... and some people definitely wanted to buy without cover."
That's going to be me when I get the Surface Pro 4. I don't have a Surface Pro 3, so I don't already have a compatible Type Cover already.
If I buy one to replace my Dell Venue 8 Pro (which I use fully without a keyboard), I will not need a keyboard at all...and I still count it as a laptop replacement since I can (and do) everything that I could on a laptop by using the virtual keyboard. If buy one to replace my Surface Pro (1st gen), then I'm going to use a $30 full size keyboard when I'm sitting and the virtual keyboard when I'm walking around with it. So, I'm glad that they don't bundle the keyboard.
In any case, I just don't understand how anyone could possibly have a problem with this.
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/productI...
"Checkout the new Surface - it's only $500 just like the iPad, but unlike the iPad it comes with a keyboard, too!
Oh btw, you actually have to pay $130 more for the keyboard."
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8377/usb-typec-connector-speci...
But given that it only has one USB port, I'm not surprised that Microsoft chose not to ship something that would basically require an adapter.
I imagine they are shaving pennies to keep cost down without giving up quality, but I wonder what the added cost would be to have two USB ports? (And how much extra the new USB parts would cost?)
If you allow charging over only one of the connectors, customers will find that highly confusing.
If you allow charging the device over both, you have to be prepared for the case where people plug in two power sources (yes, some users will do that, if you give them half a chance).
I think your best bet would be to go for #2. I think that requires software (or maybe hardware) that reliably handles the 'two power sources' problem. I wouldn't run that on the main OS and CPU, so you need something else, maybe a single chip that drives two USB type C connectors. I guess those may not yet exist.
(That's quite loose thinking, so it may be hugely incorrect. Educate me)
Until then? It's not a computer. This is.
Anyone know how to easily download an audiobook from Humble Bundle and put it on an iPhone to listen to later?
That's how I use my Android tablet, at least.
I'd bet that it's been updated to integrate better, though. Could be a pretty good solution if you're used to using Dropbox.
As far as 3rd party audiobook player solutions, no idea. Maybe there's one that can download it, or maybe they're all tied in to their own audiobook stores. That seems to be the trend these days :(
Searching "transfer mp3 to iphone" will give you hundreds of results telling you how to install iTunes and transfer the mp3s.
It took me forever to realize that just because I can kinda-sorta interact with my iPhone as a storage device doesn't mean that it's even remotely going to actually behave as one. The whole process is infuriating if you go in expecting it to be simple (which, given it's an iPhone, one might reasonably expect). Try to find an obvious way to put an mp3 on an iPhone without some odd middleware software; some of the software looks sketchy - and/or has a cost, and a many suggestions are to just use Google Play or Amazon Music. I also like the Winamp plugin from 2010, as well. That sort of list is pretty much the opposite of trivial. I mean, if it was drag-and-drop, sure, but this that ain't.
Personally? I ended up just uploading my music to Amazon and use their app. It's less infuriating than the Music app on the stock iPhone.
(to clarify: If it were impossible, which it very well might be, that would still not be shocking)
Also, you say "For a person who frequents HN that's extremely unintuitive"... are you implying HN users are incapable of using google? That HN users are not aware that a locked-down Apple ecosystem means there's no user freedom?
I'd expect the users of HN to be a large overlap with the people familiar with Stallman's views and how Apple is known to behave. I would not expect the regular man on the street to know what "walled garden" meant in terms of apps nor what "closed source lockin" meant, but I'd expect the average HN user to be very familiar with those concepts.
I find your claim that such a simple idea is unintuitive to an HN user demeaning towards all of us.
A better term might be it seems to violate the Law of Least Astonishment, but from the hacker perspective instead: I have a device that's really just spoofing acting like a storage device. There's a lot of side trips that normally can be taken to work around this, and each are the same sort of no-op, since it's not for real. This sort of thing was common for the old 'dumb' phones, but it seemed like it was because they were too dumb to behave properly; now here's a smart phone being dumb. It's a bit unexpected, at least for what seem like obvious things like "add mp3". But there we are. The whole time there's a feeling of "gosh, surely there's a better way" and there just really isn't: install iTunes and let it do whatever it wants, or you just don't get to put that mp3 on your phone.
And wanting to avoid installing iTunes isn't pointless. I mean, you may not see it, but there are certainly reasons not to. Heck, just failing to update iTunes was useful for a few years due to some odd DRM workarounds (mostly for a WinAmp addon that read iTunes music files). Besides, it's fairly invasive - you may only use it rarely, but it installs a couple services and tries to jump in when the phone connects (all can be administered, but it's a pain cleaning up that mess). While I've finally come to just tolerate it, I don't appreciate it.
(Perhaps I should use counterintuitive? I would hope that would get the same idea across without somehow triggering offense. The problem I'm describing is of expectation and should be orthogonal to intelligence. There's a lot of subjectivity to it, but no reason to take offense. Mindsets filter, so why would a hacker find the same things intuitive as your average user?)
Yep. Exactly. Believe it or not, a lot of technical people use Linux machines.
* [I know I'm not being helpful, but I couldn't resist. Haven't tried doing that on my iPhone when I had one, but pretty easy to move stuff around on Android or other OS'es]
Composing on the subway, to open files later in Logic and make them into full-blown musical pieces? It's literally what sold me on the platform.
Oh. Wait. GarageBand is, and always will be, iOS/Mac OS only. Guess I can't use Android.
But then, as a musician, what breaks my workflow more than not being able to simply download MP3's onto my device? It makes me want to bang my head against a wall.
Another way is to use app like GoodReader, which has a file system of its own, you can create folders, and you can download files from websites/URLs to them. GoodReader can not only store and organize your files, but it also opens all the popular formats in the app (PDFs, images, MP3s, etc.).
Uploaded Model Processor Frequency Cores Platform Single-Core Score Multi-Core Score
Feb 21, 2015 Intel CHERRYVIEW Intel Atom x7-Z8700 1601 4 Windows 32-bit 984 3210
Feb 13, 2015 Intel CHERRYVIEW Intel Atom x7-Z8700 1601 4 Windows 64-bit 990 3451
Uploaded Model Processor Frequency Cores Platform Single-Core Score Multi-Core Score
Jan 27, 2015 iPad Air 2 Apple A8X 1500 3 iOS 64-bit 1814 4665My worry is that Ubuntu wouldn't really work with the touch screen.
Edit: I should mention, she got the i5 1.9 GHz and mostly uses it for work (Excel / Outlook) and video (Skype / Netflix). No fan issues.
I suggest this for one simple reason: Many of the Surface's features are ultimately software/driver driven. For example, the keyboard, the pen (both halfs), even much of the touch interaction, and on screen keyboard.
So unless you have really incredible driver support, the Surface is going to just be obnoxious to try and use. You might wind up with a USB keyboard/mouse plugged in most of the time.
Can it be done? Maybe. Should it? Depends how much you like pain.
Touch works surprisingly well, but multitouch support in Ubuntu is quite primitive still. The pen works allright but without pressure sensitivity.
Coming from a ThinkPad W500 I'm very happy with it but it still has rough edges, like the lack of suspend mode. I do a full shutdown instead.
Huh? Some UEFI trickiness, or some kind of quirky intel cpu? Do you mean that it doesn't work for Ubuntu, or that there's no way to get s2disk/s2ram to work on the thing with a Linux kernel?
I starting setting hybernate up but I needed it encrypted and it seemed like too much trouble; AFAIK there is no special difficulty in this machine.
Another thing I forgot to mention and I actually find quite annoying is the volume buttons, which don't work for now. There was some tentative patch / module when I last tried last Christmas but it did not work at all.
Ah, I see. Thanks for clarifying. Another thing to look for if/when buying new hardware then (lack of s3/and or instantGo support arriving in Linux)
> I starting setting hybernate up but I needed it encrypted and it seemed like too much trouble
Not sure what you mean here. You'll need the encryption key on startup, of course (but you need that on a full boot anyway). Perhaps look into putting the/a copy of the key on an usb stick?
Unless Ubuntu has been been messing with the cryptsetup/luks boot/initrd-magic as found in Debian, it should "just work".
Works fine on my Thinkpad -- I generally just do "s2disk" from the command-line (I did look into getting S3+S1 to work -- that is first s2ram and disk, then after a while turn off, awakening from disk rather than ram -- that was a bit more of a hassle to get working -- and in the end I rarely need it anyway).
Fwiw I use the "hibernate" package along with a fully encrypted (except /boot) system, using cryptsetup/luks.
[edit: Tangentially related:
http://www.oxygenimpaired.com/ubuntu-with-grub2-luks-encrypt...
(note the bit about preparing the usb key with the encryption key is in a linked post)
I'm not sure I see much value in having the key be some random part of a randomzied usb stick... but it mentions most of the things required to mount encrypted partitions -- and the keyscript-option.
Also, be wary of Dragons when systemd comes around:
Seems like it doesn't have a fan, but until someone actually tests the device there is no real way to know if it will overheat or not.
Other question would be whether processor is powerful enough to handle Windows 10 desktop applications (I am not talking about games, but even Skype is CPU hungry nowadays)
But seriously, Microsoft has some of the worst advertising period. I cannot think of a major company which is worse than Microsoft at advertising in general.
And the program actually seems pretty cool and hi-tech. Crank up the jazz-slider!
Having played with the Surface Pro 3 tablet at BestBuy a few times, it's a dream to use. I've wanted a Surface Pro 3, but the price is prohibitive and I already have a Yoga Pro 2 and a MacBook Pro. I don't really need a development laptop, but I want that OneNote pen-drawing capability to communicate.
So the Surface 3 looks about right. I'd need the 4GB model with 128GB and with the SD slot you should be able to add more. And that pen. That pen is simply a dream to write with...and I want one.
I just wish they'd make a better (metal) keyboard and include it in the price.
> So the Surface 3 looks about right.
You realize this has much lower performance, and most likely won't give you the same experience, right?
Edit: Was looking at the Surface Pro 3, the standard Surface is only ~$620. Not too bad I guess.
EDIT: Sorry, I get it now, this is the non-Pro version. I'd gone right to Amazon from a link here and it gave me the Surface 2 vs the Pro 3
I did a quick calculation and it seems like the UK is "only" being overcharged by $21/£15 when you take into account VAT. Which may exist due to exchange rate shifting and the additional regulatory costs perhaps.
PS - An extra 15% sales tax for free healthcare is a good trade if you ask me. But each to their own. :)
1. The laptop sometimes sits on my lap. The surface keyboard doesn't work as a laptop.
2. The resolution is a joke.
3. There is no sane pen storage. For a pen device, that's dumb. Thinkpads add a few mm, and have a hole you put it in which stores it securely. There's a move to move everything out of the device to make it small, but carrying around 50 gizmos is worse than one slightly bigger gizmo.
* Windows 10 IoT, which runs x86 and ARM, and is the one that runs on the Raspberry Pi.
* Windows 10 Mobile, which replaces Windows Phone 8, and I believe is also x86 and ARM, for devices under a certain screen size. No desktop, runs the Windows Universal versions of Office.
* Windows 10, which replaces Windows 8 for desktop, and runs only on x86. Has a desktop and runs both versions of Office, desktop and Universal.
RT slotted between Mobile and the full Windows -- it had a desktop, but only for a special ARM version of Office. Now there's a version of Office for Windows Universal, and so you can run Office without the desktop. Thus, the version of Windows with a desktop that can't run any non-Office desktop apps is geting killed. You can either get Windows 10 Mobile without desktop, or full Windows.
It's true that Microsoft doesn't allow alternative rendering engines on WinRT, but it is ARM instead of x86, so there is a technical component; Google would have to port Chrome.
There's an argument that future store-compatible apps are easily ported to WP10, but Google has very little incentive for any of this work.
If anything Mozilla had reasons to, but even they killed their efforts due to lack of customer interest.
Android, ChromeOS... Arm is a first-class compile target.
That doesn't mean you can take Chromium for Windows and recompile targeting ARM and get something that works on jailbroken WinRT. As best as I can tell nobody has gotten Chromium running, but they have gotten many other x86 applications running.
People have already tried. There's more work than that involved.
Since microsoft disallows that, there's much less incentive to do that work. But it's not an enormous barrier.
The 10" with an Ntrig might be a better bet because if it is more portable. Otherwise, not many win tablets still have styluses (especially the Wacom resistive kinds).
Using a business card as a ruler, try to draw a diagonal line, slowly (a few seconds to cross the card). Unless they have fixed it recently, the Surface Pro 3 cannot draw straight lines in this way, and they will be quite jagged.
In practice, you might never draw lines in this way, but the same jagged features will pop up everywhere, especially if you draw fine shapes carefully (as opposed to large strokes sloppily).
http://www.adobe.com/products/ink-and-slide.html
We need that at Surface...
Check it out - http://www.wacom.com/en-us/products/pen-displays/cintiq-comp...
I wonder if Mike Krahulik will be doing another write up, since his review of the Surface Pro 3 was immensely thorough.
Can't wait to see it at stores, I think I'll jump in on this one.
EDIT: I also hope they have a video showing Windows 10 on this Surface
Couldn't see myself using one anytime soon. That being said, I'll give the Surface 3 a test drive as I don't want to write off a new product based on the failings of its older siblings.
I do notice that the Surface Pro's performance can suck if you don't have the right settings in Windows Power Options, but that's not unique to the Surface. I had the same experience with my quad-core i7 laptop out of the box, and it was fixed by increasing the minimum CPU speed in the Power Options control panel.
Honestly that's a complete deal breaker for me (not that I was going to buy one anyway but if I was in the market I would not bother).
Microsoft: List 101 features. Tell everyone how amazing each new feature is. Remind everyone that there is a huge array of features. List them out again.
Apple: Take a nice photo. Done.
Microsoft's is called "".
* Dimensions * Keyboard size * Screen resolution * Trackpad features * Wireless capabilities * No fan * Battery design and battery life * Operating system * Apps ...
Seems like a bunch of features to me.
Can't view Apple's videos since I don't have Quicktime, so I can't compare there.
Edit: Apple's page is prettier than Microsoft's.
When Microsoft releases a product, it seems like their marketing department just wants to hammer a list of features into my head which just results in me not wanting anything.
Any marketer want to give their two cents?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLrW5SKusn0
Which, at the time, was revolutionary. Or "1000 songs in your pocket" (not 4GB in your pocket).
The Microsoft ecosystem didn't do this, to put it mildly. Which spyware/adware/bloatware is coming along with your PC purchase? Which plasticky parts? Which underpowered CPU? Which horrible battery life?
People see a Christopher Nolan movie just because he's involved. Interstellar didn't need a typical Michael-Bay style trailer to entice people to go.
It's all about the expectations people have going in. When you don't trust the chef, you want to see all the ingredients.
I cannot believe how terrible the Surface site looks, Microsoft needs its own in house designers. The "For Gaming" section hero image has a cheap blur, it looks like a 6th grader touched it up.
Long answer: The Surface 3 Pro had an SSD that could in theory be upgraded, but it required some serious disassembling to pop the display off, and even the ifixit guys couldn't pull it off without breaking at least one screen.
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Microsoft+Surface+Pro+3+Tear...
Brave hacker replaceable? Hell YES!
http://liliputing.com/2015/03/upgrade-a-surface-pro-3-with-a...
http://surfacepro3ssdupgrade.blogspot.mx/2015/02/surface-pro...
Business users will get a Windows 8.1 Pro.
But does it run linux?
i'm scrolling up and down that page and i can't even answer if it is the same as pro3 with the crippled OS.
still could not find about SD card and usb ports.
Linux supports any architecture, that doesn't matter. I'm asking if anyone has tried or knows about this: Is there a bootlock? What's the shipped BIOS? Question is legit, this is M$ we're talking about, not precisely known for its openness. And just for asking, I'm being downvoted and called "antagonistic". You fanbois are just hilarious. It's called "freedom of choice". Yes, that actually exist outside your little world where companies decide what you have to use. I prefer to make my own choices. I might like the hardware design (which is actually nice, and M$ usually makes nice and functional hardware) but I don't like Windows. Period. In fact, I'm not even surprised of your answer and the downvotes, didn't expect otherwise from M$ fanbois ;)
I'm astounded that you can take an issue where microsoft has done something you agree with and turn it into a persecution complex.
*not really optional
I know it's the popular thing to say that Windows 8 isn't fit for touch devices, but it's outdated and usually only reiterated by people who don't have any proper experience doing it.
http://www.apple.com/ipad/ vs http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/products/surface-3
How does a docking station cost as much as an entire media PC?