UniversalTruth
Veteran
french toast
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Some sort of magnesium backing, early hands on experiences have been positive.
January launch means Ivy Bridge based i5, which is a 2012 product. They'll probably use cTDPdown(14W) for a product as thin as this. As for thickness, the Acer Aspire S7 does better at 12/12.5mm even though its a clamshell. Now that's thin.
Somebody mentioned wanting a quad core Ivy Bridge. The base 17W might be too much for this device, nevermind a 35/45W one.
ltcommander.data
Regular
One advantage of designing a tablet not like the iPad is that it avoids lawsuits. Whether that was actually a design consideration or an inadvertent benefit we'll never know of course.
For those that don't like the ports on the system. This is so much sexier
Wouldn't be so bad if it was same color, and it worked as a stand.
It's not the standard office suite - it's some new metro version that hasn't been released yet and AFAIK no one has seen. So yeah, we know nothing about how "capable" that is.
I say the same thing about what most people do on tablets (reading on an emissive screen? are you nuts?), and while I wouldn't have thought so before-hand, I watch a fair amount of TV shows at least on my tablet. It's just convenient to be able to go chill outside and watch a show, or in bed while falling asleep, etc. Plus, as others have mentioned, the "snap" thing works best with widescreen, and I'm speaking from experience with a Samsung Slate with the Win8 RC on it that is very similar in concept to the "Pro" version (although less fancy design-wise).
It works fine actually, although many people are typically worried. For "tablet-like" stuff (surfing, movies, etc) on my Samsung Slate the fan will never even turn on and the device doesn't even feel warm. Launch a demanding game (not a casual tablet one) and you'll get the fan on low (although it can be disabled if desired) but hey that's something a typical tablet can't do at all so it's hard to complain. Battery life is good (but not great) for typical tablet stuff as well at around 6 hours on the Samsung (usable time).
And this is a newer CPU with a lower TDP, so I expect it to be quite decent.
Certainly there are trade-offs but as a bunch of us have been saying, the decisions in conventional tablets have made them non-starters for a portion of the market, so it's obvious that different options are desirable. A comparison between the ARM Surface and ipad/android tablets is fair and inevitable, but the "Pro" one is really a different class of device (and likely cost
).Online and MS Stores only for sales.
Could mean it's a US-only product, at least at launch.
Also could be a way to not piss off the OEMs too much, by not putting these out at Best Buys and other popular outlets.
But it might also mean that they're not intending or expecting to ship in high volume. So it could be more of a reference design like Google's Nexus phones, but not necessarily a design that takes most of the market share.
Could mean it's a US-only product, at least at launch.
Also could be a way to not piss off the OEMs too much, by not putting these out at Best Buys and other popular outlets.
But it might also mean that they're not intending or expecting to ship in high volume. So it could be more of a reference design like Google's Nexus phones, but not necessarily a design that takes most of the market share.
For those that don't like the ports on the system. This is so much sexier
Should use wireless USB moving forward, or what's that Sony tech called ? Ok, TransferJet.
Yeah I think they will be ok. The Mac Air i use now with Win7 64 gets about 5 hours of real world use which isn't bad, and that's with a more power hungry i5 and larger screen to power. iPads get more battery life but they also do much less, I always had to keep a laptop around and switch to that because the iPad was inevitably not enough. Price wise ultrabooks are supposed to be hitting the $799 range this year, so I figure the Surface Pro can't be priced far above that. I'll buy if they are $1000 or less. Since they replace three of my other devices that still makes it a good deal to me, as I can sell those other 3 devices to fund a single Surface Pro and still pocket some change.
Now I'm hoping many of those awesome pc point and click adventure games get re-released on the Win8 app store with mouse and touch support, that way I can play them anywhere on any device. Good times
(((interference)))
Veteran
When is the Pro expected to launch?
And there seem to be screws under the kickplate at the back. Hopefully that means the battery is replaceable unlike the iPad (where Apple just sends you a new iPad for $99 if your battery is getting old)
Digital Foundry has a good write up on what we can expect from it performance wise:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/df-hardware-microsoft-surface-spec-analysis
I hope it has a decent amount (>2GB) of RAM though, so it can actually function as a laptop replacement.
And there seem to be screws under the kickplate at the back. Hopefully that means the battery is replaceable unlike the iPad (where Apple just sends you a new iPad for $99 if your battery is getting old)
Digital Foundry has a good write up on what we can expect from it performance wise:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/df-hardware-microsoft-surface-spec-analysis
I hope it has a decent amount (>2GB) of RAM though, so it can actually function as a laptop replacement.
Ike Turner
Veteran
When is the Pro expected to launch?
And there seem to be screws under the kickplate at the back. Hopefully that means the battery is replaceable unlike the iPad (where Apple just sends you a new iPad for $99 if your battery is getting old)
Digital Foundry has a good write up on what we can expect from it performance wise:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/df-hardware-microsoft-surface-spec-analysis
I hope it has a decent amount (>2GB) of RAM though, so it can actually function as a laptop replacement.
It will most probably have 4Gb of ram like all recent SB/IB based slates (Samsung Sate 7/Acer ICONIA W700 etc..)
One thing I want to add is that it has a scratch resistant coating and guerrilla glass 2.0. It won't be easy to break the thing unless you're really looking to do some damage. Personally the Pro version looks extremely good, dual core Ivy Bridge ought to drive a pretty fantastic user experience.
Yeah I think they will be ok. The Mac Air i use now with Win7 64 gets about 5 hours of real world use which isn't bad, and that's with a more power hungry i5 and larger screen to power. iPads get more battery life but they also do much less, I always had to keep a laptop around and switch to that because the iPad was inevitably not enough. Price wise ultrabooks are supposed to be hitting the $799 range this year, so I figure the Surface Pro can't be priced far above that. I'll buy if they are $1000 or less. Since they replace three of my other devices that still makes it a good deal to me, as I can sell those other 3 devices to fund a single Surface Pro and still pocket some change.
Now I'm hoping many of those awesome pc point and click adventure games get re-released on the Win8 app store with mouse and touch support, that way I can play them anywhere on any device. Good times
IMHO, you are being too optimistic about it's keyboard. I don't think it will work if you are not on a proper desk. From what I can gather from the pics, it would be difficult to type if you keep it on your lap, sitting on the couch, sitting in the bed, working in the airport....
There's already a few you can buy that costs $699 using Sandy Bridge generation Core i3.
But I doubt Tablet form factor can go much below $899. The non-Clamshell devices are aimed at high-end, starting at same ~$1000 as last year's clamshell Ultrabook models.
(((interference)))
Veteran
Really? That's good then, I didn't realise that tablets already had that much RAM, figured they'd be around 1GB like the iPad
The screen is the same 10.6" one, but the resolution is 1080p which is the important thing (if you have good eyesight) - that's higher than my current 15" laptop which is only 1440x900. So the screen should be able to function just as well.
Well, if you're not at a desk, you'll have the cover flipped to the back and just use it like a regular tablet. Don't forget, you'll need somewhere to deploy the kickstand as well as needing a stable surface for the cover to rest on.
However since it has proper pen input (matched with Microsoft's excellent handwriting recognition) text entry shouldn't be too difficult when using it as a tablet.
My main usability concern is the weight of the Pro, 900 grams might be a bit too much - the iPad isn't exactly what I'd call light at 600 grams.
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Possible...I'll be finding out. But it should work fine on the plane and in the hotel. In the airport itself I could just use the tablet keyboard, I've done that before via phone to deal with last minute emails, so tablet screen keyboard would be even easier. If I was desparate for keyboard then there are airport lounges that can be used at most major airports. In bed I'd always use it in tablet mode anyways, just more convenient. Either way it's great to have that choice. As good as an ultarbook may be, it's not as good if it's battery is dead and sometimes even an ultrabook is a bit big. Try eating your meal on a plane while using an ultrabook, can't be done
I'd have to put my Mac Air away while my wife would keep on using her iPad.I find some of them really sacrifice screen quality. It's why I use a Mac Air even though I use it 99.9% of the time as a Win7 machine. I just found other ultrabooks at the time were lacking in some way, especially the screen, hence why I went with a Mac Air. It cost more but it's screen was much nicer. I'm ok with $899 for a Surface Pro though, but I don't think they can go past $999, seems like psycologically that would just look bad.
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