4 ms·

I think one of the other reasons is that Apple designed their own cpus. And put a lot of effort in. Microsoft just grabbed some off the shelf stuff for the surf

I think one of the other reasons is that Apple designed their own cpus. And put a lot of effort in. Microsoft just grabbed some off the shelf stuff for the surface. So it’s not even close in terms of performance. Imagine if Microsoft said you could get a surface with arm processor, 16gb of ram, with 20+ hours of battery life and the same perf as an i5 processor. And it lived up to the hype. People would love it. My 2c

ocdtrekkie 6y ago
Surfaces are very, very custom. Their x86 versions even are almost entirely bespoke: There are custom Surface drivers for nearly every component. Their hardware team is top notch, and I guarantee you hardware is not where Microsoft is falling flat. The Surface Duo is another example: The hardware was ready for years. If it'd launched when it was, they'd have scooped the foldable trend super early. But the Windows on ARM platform was still such a joke, they gave up and put Android on it.
- lostlogin 6y ago
  > Their hardware team is top notch That keyboard... it makes the bad Apple ones look top shelf. I know removable keyboards are a different thing but I cringe remembering the clicks and trackpad.
  - ocdtrekkie 6y ago
    Honestly, the typing experience for me of the Surface keyboard is perfectly fine... it's just that the form factor makes lap-use difficult. I didn't think it'd be a problem for me, but a year or two in, I felt regret there. The Surface Book seems like a vast improvement in that regard... but it's extremely expensive, and relied on an overengineered latching mechanism. Dell made a really neat Book alternative, the Latitude 7285, which was really compelling, but by the time I was in the market, they'd abandoned that form factor already. :/
  - dagw 6y ago
    I don't know, I think the Surface pro keyboard is surprisingly good all things considered. I agree the trackpad doesn't feel great, but it is accurate and usable enough and the typing experience is certainly no worse than any other similarly sized laptop I've used and better than many. For a removable keyboard I think they've done a great job.
- philliphaydon 6y ago
  > Surfaces are very, very custom. Their x86 versions even are almost entirely bespoke: There are custom Surface drivers for nearly every component. Yet almost all use Intel CPUs, and the performance of the Surface Go / Surface Go 2, is abysmal compared to the M1. The Surface Pro X? Single Core score ~800 vs ~1700 for the M1 Multi Core score ~3000 vs ~7500 for the M1 https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/compare/4799088?baseline=4648107 https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/compare/4799088?baselin... It's a ARMv8 CPU... How is it 'very custom'

ocdtrekkie 6y ago

Surfaces are very, very custom. Their x86 versions even are almost entirely bespoke: There are custom Surface drivers for nearly every component. Their hardware team is top notch, and I guarantee you hardware is not where Microsoft is falling flat. The Surface Duo is another example: The hardware was ready for years. If it'd launched when it was, they'd have scooped the foldable trend super early. But the Windows on ARM platform was still such a joke, they gave up and put Android on it.

lostlogin 6y ago
> Their hardware team is top notch That keyboard... it makes the bad Apple ones look top shelf. I know removable keyboards are a different thing but I cringe remembering the clicks and trackpad.
- ocdtrekkie 6y ago
  Honestly, the typing experience for me of the Surface keyboard is perfectly fine... it's just that the form factor makes lap-use difficult. I didn't think it'd be a problem for me, but a year or two in, I felt regret there. The Surface Book seems like a vast improvement in that regard... but it's extremely expensive, and relied on an overengineered latching mechanism. Dell made a really neat Book alternative, the Latitude 7285, which was really compelling, but by the time I was in the market, they'd abandoned that form factor already. :/
- dagw 6y ago
  I don't know, I think the Surface pro keyboard is surprisingly good all things considered. I agree the trackpad doesn't feel great, but it is accurate and usable enough and the typing experience is certainly no worse than any other similarly sized laptop I've used and better than many. For a removable keyboard I think they've done a great job.
philliphaydon 6y ago
> Surfaces are very, very custom. Their x86 versions even are almost entirely bespoke: There are custom Surface drivers for nearly every component. Yet almost all use Intel CPUs, and the performance of the Surface Go / Surface Go 2, is abysmal compared to the M1. The Surface Pro X? Single Core score ~800 vs ~1700 for the M1 Multi Core score ~3000 vs ~7500 for the M1 https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/compare/4799088?baseline=4648107 https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/compare/4799088?baselin... It's a ARMv8 CPU... How is it 'very custom'