Windows Surface tablet

[Anorak]

And they again snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. They could fuck up a baked ptotao.blorp.

Facing lackluster demand for its new Surface RT tablets, Microsoft has reportedly slashed 2012 orders from its Asian manufacturers from 4 million to 2 million units.

[NikonsAndVStroms]

Originally Posted by Anorak

And they again snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. They could fuck up a baked ptotao.blorp.

And the "pro" version of the tablet will have half the battery life (~4 hours) of the RT.

[DriveShaft]

Originally Posted by ~DC~

I think one thing to keep in mind, is that Microsoft has an alternative vision of the tablet. Where in many ways, the iPad and Android tablet's are essentially blown-up cell phones, the Windows RT experience is an attempt at further bridging the gap between the 'small' mobile device experience and the larger desktop/laptop. The obvious advantage with Apple's approach, is the application availability as well as the lesser hardware requirements. With the MS approach, the operating system is 'heavier' supporting a huge library of USB device drivers, the MS Office environment, larger display screen, and etc.

I'm curious about these alternatives, because I find alot of the android/apple arrangements to be soooo limiting, and slows me down in the name of "slickness." They're way way too consumer-oriented...woe is me if somebody hasn't slapped together "an app for that."

$899 starting price, though...boy...you really have to change people's mindsets wrt how a tablet fits into their life if you're going to drive high volumes with that kind of price tag. They've done a lousy job of that...not that it'd be an easy thing to do.

[_cy_]

way overpriced .. was thinking about getting pro version until price come out.

has to run Garmin basecamp to support GPS on the move. this means some type of Win 7 netbook instead of Surface.

[~DC~]

Originally Posted by _cy_

way overpriced .. was thinking about getting pro version until price come out.

has to run Garmin basecamp to support GPS on the move. this means some type of Win 7 netbook instead of Surface.

Have you looked at Win 8 Tablets from other vendors?

[_cy_]

Originally Posted by ~DC~

Have you looked at Win 8 Tablets from other vendors?

yup... been checking out Asus netbooks with Win 7 @ $250, but screen is not highest resolution available yet ... don't mind paying a bit extra for a nicer model. but not 3x-4x $$$. don't want Win 8 until all the gotcha's come out.

none of the tablets will run basecamp and/or basic app's needed to function as main PC. one can boot Linux on android tablet, but Linux will not support Garmin basecamp.

need a real keyboard to be functional as main PC for me. wifi linked to iphone with tethering should do it.

[mantan]

Originally Posted by _cy_

yup... been checking out Asus netbooks with Win 7 @ $250, but screen is not highest resolution available yet ... don't mind paying a bit extra for a nicer model. but not 3x-4x $$$.

Surface Pro to Asus netbook really isn't a valid comparison.

[Kayakgk]

Right now it has potential but there is certainly a learning curve. The display seems fine and it ismuch faster than surface , but time will tell.

[Kayakgk]

for watching movies, just did a 30 mins on the exo bike with it watching a documentary on the dam busters. My legs are going to be sore tomorrow.

[Ritalin Boy]

Has anyone given consideration to the Lenovo Yoga laptops?

[Mr. Fisherman]

Well, those that have one... the newness must have rubbed off by now.

What are your thoughts? Regrets?

Any update on the Pro version?

[~DC~]

Surface Pro is supposed to hit the market on January 26th per an MS announcement last week.

[~DC~]

Originally Posted by NikonsAndVStroms

And the "pro" version of the tablet will have half the battery life (~4 hours) of the RT.

I think the Atom processor has a chance to make a huge difference here. (Atom is the x86 mobile processor.) This would run the full Windows 8 at very near the same power envelope as the ARM CPU. Intel is about to relase the next generation ATOM, I suspect we'll see some new products soon after that have the potential to light a fire under the Win 8 tablet market. Intel will make or break this depending upon their pricing model. If they try to prevent ATOM from taking sales from their more lucrative processors, they'll kill Win 8 tablets on that platform. If they can price ATOM similar to the ARM CPU packages, then good things could happen.

Edit: if Surface was available today with ATOM, and priced about the same as Surface RT, I'd own one. Don't know if MS will ever do that though as it would kill the Windows RT product.

[NikonsAndVStroms]

Originally Posted by ~DC~

I think the Atom processor has a chance to make a huge difference here. (Atom is the x86 mobile processor.) This would run the full Windows 8 at very near the same power envelope as the ARM CPU. Intel is about to relase the next generation ATOM, I suspect we'll see some new products soon after that have the potential to light a fire under the Win 8 tablet market. Intel will make or break this depending upon their pricing model. If they try to prevent ATOM from taking sales from their more lucrative processors, they'll kill Win 8 tablets on that platform. If they can price ATOM similar to the ARM CPU packages, then good things could happen.

Edit: if Surface was available today with ATOM, and priced about the same as Surface RT, I'd own one. Don't know if MS will ever do that though as it would kill the Windows RT product.

I'm not sure about that, netbook sales were pretty good for 2-3 years and they didn't put a huge dent into laptops.

[~DC~]

Originally Posted by NikonsAndVStroms

I'm not sure about that, netbook sales were pretty good for 2-3 years and they didn't put a huge dent into laptops.

I never used a netbook so I can't speak with any authority on the subject. That doesn't stop me from making some wild assed assumptions though.

Netbooks came out when Windows XP was king of the hill. Atom based netbooks suffered huge performance problems because the CPU performance was not up to the task. Combine that with tiny screens and poor quality hardware in general, I suspect most people found them lacking.

Windows 8 and especially RT don't require the same amount of CPU horsepower that XP needed. That along with better Atom processors today and the upcoming Atom have changed the equation.