*** The Official Microsoft Surface Thread ***

Martini1991 said:
Perhaps, but they need an 8" tablet to aspire too, as the majority of people seem to be getting mini tablets.
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I'm curious to see if the interest in mini tablets declines with smartphones getting bigger and bigger. When people start owning 5.7"-6" phones they may not need a mini tablet at all.
 
POB said:
Perhaps they can give the task to Nokia. Surface = Pro, Nokia = Fun.
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Perhaps.

Never seen a Nokia 2520 in person, I'd love one for its spec is better than the Surface 2's as I rate Snapdragon 800 better than the Tegra 4 (I mean the things my Phone can do, compared to the Surface it's silly)

Nokia 2520 misses kick stand though.
 
Peew971 said:
I'm curious to see if the interest in mini tablets declines with smartphones getting bigger and bigger. When people start owning 5.7"-6" phones they may not need a mini tablet at all.
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I somewhat agree with you there. But people don't really want the bigger phones. I had a Z Ultra (Which I thought was perfect, and wish I had one still) and it really could do a lot and would easily replace some 7" tablets.
 
Next year at the Surface 4 event that front row of journalists will still be sporting MacBooks. I'm pretty sure one of them said she was running Parallels which says it all really. I like the SP3 but I still don't think it's a true laptop replacement. A laptop alternative, yes, but not a like-for-like replacement.

If I'm going to choose a laptop over a tablet I want a great (not just good) keyboard, a stiff hinge/properly balanced computer and lots of ports (at least 2x USB, card reader, ethernet etc.)

I'm not impressed with this idea that they don't want to compete in already established categories. That's arguably where the Windows ecosystem needs the biggest shot in the arm. A high resolution 3:2 ultrabook with epic battery life and Surface materials/build would do a heck of a lot more for the ecosysyem than pursuing another niche category.
 
cu3ed said:
So what happens with the SP2 line? Have these technically been replaced? Do they keeping making and selling them? And chance I'm going to get a good deal on one lol,?
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I've got a hunch they're sat on a lot of unsold inventory, same as with the SP. I bought an SP a few weeks ago direct from MS (at massive discount). It was manufactured May 2013 - which is the EU launch date. At just over £300 after cashback it was a bargain with the type cover included.
 
Looks great. May have to see if the missus fancies letting me sell her Surface Pro 2 to make room for one, I think the 3 would be better for her anyway.
 
Trig said:
I want to know whats happening with the dock for the Pro 2, especially as they have redesigned where ports are on the Pro3, that and the redesigned Surface pages on the MS site, to me it looks like there is the Surface 2 and the Pro 3, anything else is clearance, I want my dock damn it, I was told it was coming several times but nothing and now the Pro 3 is here I'm feeling a bit screwed over on a device thats not really that old...
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I think you should give up on your hopes of a dock.
 
theheyes said:
Next year at the Surface 4 event that front row of journalists will still be sporting MacBooks. I'm pretty sure one of them said she was running Parallels which says it all really. I like the SP3 but I still don't think it's a true laptop replacement. A laptop alternative, yes, but not a like-for-like replacement.

If I'm going to choose a laptop over a tablet I want a great (not just good) keyboard, a stiff hinge/properly balanced computer and lots of ports (at least 2x USB, card reader, ethernet etc.)

I'm not impressed with this idea that they don't want to compete in already established categories. That's arguably where the Windows ecosystem needs the biggest shot in the arm. A high resolution 3:2 ultrabook with epic battery life and Surface materials/build would do a heck of a lot more for the ecosysyem than pursuing another niche category.
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I'm hoping that a genuinely high-DPI device from Microsoft will make them realise what a horrible mess the UI is at scaling and fix it.
 
Caged said:
I'm hoping that a genuinely high-DPI device from Microsoft will make them realise what a horrible mess the UI is at scaling and fix it.
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To be fair, metro apps scale absolutely fine, as do most of the native controls in Windows. The problem is x86 applications. Although you could argue that if the major applications get their act together (some of which already have in their high DPI support) that problem pretty much goes away.
 
been playing with an i5 dell venue 11 pro for the last few days and really the biggest annoyance is the UI scaling in x86 apps. at least you can turn it off per-app but that has its own drawbacks.

It's not really acceptable that applications like chrome dont properly support it tbh.
 
That's just the tip of the iceberg with Chrome. It's just generally badly behaved.

We ended up using Applocker to stop it at work, as there was no business reason the users could provide to justify it.
 
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theheyes said:
To be fair, metro apps scale absolutely fine, as do most of the native controls in Windows. The problem is x86 applications. Although you could argue that if the major applications get their act together (some of which already have in their high DPI support) that problem pretty much goes away.
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You're right, my issue is using the 'runs all the Windows apps you already have' as a selling point of the product when there's no guarantee that they will actually be usable is a bit crap. There's no real reason why Windows 8 couldn't do an Apple-style doubling of all the pixels for non-high DPI aware applications, but instead users are subjected to a bit of a mess.
 
Martini1991 said:
I somewhat agree with you there. But people don't really want the bigger phones. I had a Z Ultra (Which I thought was perfect, and wish I had one still) and it really could do a lot and would easily replace some 7" tablets.
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I agree, with the increase in phone size 7" tablets are becoming a bit redundant. 8" tablets on the other hand I think will stay just the right size. That extra inch gives a large amount more screen space (see Nexus 7 vs iPad mini), one of the reasons 8" tablets seem to be being released all over IMO.

wildest_jjk said:
I can't wait for the reviews etc to come out on this. I've thought the surface was a brilliant device from the start. This latest iteration might just be the one for me :D
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Same. I really wanted one but just couldn't justify the 10" form factor. I have an iPadmini and a 2011 13" air and the surface wouldn't replace either (and neither 1 or 2 had the batter life to replace). The 12" 3:2 screen on the other hand, a much better size and aspect ratio to sort and edit photos on the move (or produce anything digitally really). Will be interesting to see what happens with the n-trig pen, a couple of people have been complaining bitterly that it'll be rubbish , we shall see.

As for the 8" tablet, I wonder if it's because MS don't want to annoy the OEMs. The lack of differentiation would mean it's competing against all the 8" tabs out there which is not really what they have been doing with the surface (producing high end producer/niche products - see the 12" pro for example) and leading the way for others in other catagories.
 
Caged said:
You're right, my issue is using the 'runs all the Windows apps you already have' as a selling point of the product when there's no guarantee that they will actually be usable is a bit crap. There's no real reason why Windows 8 couldn't do an Apple-style doubling of all the pixels for non-high DPI aware applications, but instead users are subjected to a bit of a mess.
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The screen furniture would end up huuuuge at 200% - would be the equivalent of a 1080x720 resolution. Many desktop apps, even a few years old are designed around a 1024x768 minimum.

Default scaling out of the box on the Surface Pro is 150% which is just about right.
 
Amp34 said:
Same. I really wanted one but just couldn't justify the 10" form factor. I have an iPadmini and a 2011 13" air and the surface wouldn't replace either (and neither 1 or 2 had the batter life to replace). The 12" 3:2 screen on the other hand, a much better size and aspect ratio to sort and edit photos on the move (or produce anything digitally really). Will be interesting to see what happens with the n-trig pen, a couple of people have been complaining bitterly that it'll be rubbish , we shall see.

As for the 8" tablet, I wonder if it's because MS don't want to annoy the OEMs. The lack of differentiation would mean it's competing against all the 8" tabs out there which is not really what they have been doing with the surface (producing high end producer/niche products - see the 12" pro for example) and leading the way for others in other catagories.
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Yeh I know what you mean, I've managed to hold off for a tablet/laptop for ages. I've been wanting a hybrid ultrabook for a while but when Microsoft started off with the Surface it was already what I had wanted.

I'm concerned about the use of Haswell CPU's to begin with though. Battery life is another thing which I hope is close to what they have said. 9 hours web browsing I think it was? The Macbook Air actually lasts longer than its stated 9 hours, I think in some cases.

With the 8" I don't think it suits what they are trying to show. I don't know too much about this really but I thought maybe with Nokia etc there might be some sort of tablet. I just think that the Surface suits Windows 8 perfectly which is what they always wanted. OS works pretty good with touch and mouse/keyboard now.
 
Its still an improvement for what its doing, guess we have to wait and see if they managed to get a larger battery into it, but would be surprised at how light it is.
 
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