5 ms·

I occasionally use a Bluetooth keyboard with my iPad when I feel like firing off a bunch of email from my recliner. The keyboard is on my lap and the iPad is o

I occasionally use a Bluetooth keyboard with my iPad when I feel like firing off a bunch of email from my recliner. The keyboard is on my lap and the iPad is off to the side. It's nice because it's literally the exact same keyboard I use with my laptop and my desktop. The Surface's attached, floppy keyboard wouldn't work for me at all. If I need to set up at a desk then I'll just pull out my laptop. The concept of a screen-cover/keyboard is interesting, but I'm not sure how practical it is in real life. Virtually 100% of the time I use my iPad it (or its BT keyboard) is on my lap. (As I type this I'm sitting on a lawn chair on my patio). And if it's not a full stroke keyboard then I don't see it as being very comfortable to use. I also dislike the 16:9 screen. On a tablet, 16:9 is useless for everything but movies: Too wide to thumb-type in landscape, too narrow and tall in portrait. I also suppose they'll be able to severely undercut OEM manufacturers on price, especially of this thing stumbles out of the gate. If I were Dell or HP I would seriously question how to move forward. But ultimately success will depend on the software. Microsoft is going to be ramming Metro down the throats of faithful Windows users in a few short months. If users love it, they'll surely flock to Metro tablets where they can use the apps they've already collected on their desktops, and Surface becomes the quick number 2 tablet. If they hate it, Metro and Surface will be about as popular as Vista and Zune.

modarts 14y ago
I think Microsoft was really smart to cut the legs out from under the OEM manufacturing market: no device sales == no licensing revenue. OEM's haven't proven themselves as viable producers of tablet hardware that gets people into stores.
freehunter 14y ago
If I need to set up at a desk then I'll just pull out my laptop. Then you're not in the target audience. And if it's not a full stroke keyboard then I don't see it as being very comfortable to use. Then you're not in the target audience. I also dislike the 16:9 screen. Then you're not in the target audience. Remember when Apple went on about the "post-pc world"? This is that. And that is successful. People like it. They can watch a movie in its native aspect ratio at full screen, and also put this at a desk and type, wherever that desk may be. I was in a meeting with a division of IBM this morning, and one of their engineers pulled out his iPad, propped it up on the folding cover, and proceeded to peck away on the virtual keyboard while taking notes. I asked him to look up specs and pricing for a bit of hardware. He looked at the iPad, then reached down to pull out his Thinkpad to look up the information. Even if you don't accept that the general market will buy this, you have to admit that a full-featured desktop Windows x86 OS running smoothly on a 10" tablet with an integrated full laptop-style keyboard that also will keep you entertained watching 16:9 movies on the flight back is a pretty appealing concept. I could see something like this replacing my corporate Thinkpad just for the sheer convenience of being able to pick it up and move it to someone else's desk while still working. With HDMI-out, I can drive a second monitor as well. That's pretty spectacular.
- weiran 14y ago
  > Even if you don't accept that the general market will buy this, you have to admit that a full-featured desktop Windows x86 OS running smoothly on a 10" tablet with an integrated full laptop-style keyboard that also will keep you entertained watching 16:9 movies on the flight back is a pretty appealing concept. Hold on, where is this fabled device?
  - codemac 14y ago
    They have two keyboards available for the Surface. See the "full laptop-style keyboard" from their main marketing site: https://www.microsoft.com/global/surface/en/us/publishingimages/new/gallery_4_large.jpg https://www.microsoft.com/global/surface/en/us/publishingima...

modarts 14y ago

I think Microsoft was really smart to cut the legs out from under the OEM manufacturing market: no device sales == no licensing revenue. OEM's haven't proven themselves as viable producers of tablet hardware that gets people into stores.

freehunter 14y ago

If I need to set up at a desk then I'll just pull out my laptop. Then you're not in the target audience. And if it's not a full stroke keyboard then I don't see it as being very comfortable to use. Then you're not in the target audience. I also dislike the 16:9 screen. Then you're not in the target audience. Remember when Apple went on about the "post-pc world"? This is that. And that is successful. People like it. They can watch a movie in its native aspect ratio at full screen, and also put this at a desk and type, wherever that desk may be. I was in a meeting with a division of IBM this morning, and one of their engineers pulled out his iPad, propped it up on the folding cover, and proceeded to peck away on the virtual keyboard while taking notes. I asked him to look up specs and pricing for a bit of hardware. He looked at the iPad, then reached down to pull out his Thinkpad to look up the information. Even if you don't accept that the general market will buy this, you have to admit that a full-featured desktop Windows x86 OS running smoothly on a 10" tablet with an integrated full laptop-style keyboard that also will keep you entertained watching 16:9 movies on the flight back is a pretty appealing concept. I could see something like this replacing my corporate Thinkpad just for the sheer convenience of being able to pick it up and move it to someone else's desk while still working. With HDMI-out, I can drive a second monitor as well. That's pretty spectacular.

weiran 14y ago
> Even if you don't accept that the general market will buy this, you have to admit that a full-featured desktop Windows x86 OS running smoothly on a 10" tablet with an integrated full laptop-style keyboard that also will keep you entertained watching 16:9 movies on the flight back is a pretty appealing concept. Hold on, where is this fabled device?
- codemac 14y ago
  They have two keyboards available for the Surface. See the "full laptop-style keyboard" from their main marketing site: https://www.microsoft.com/global/surface/en/us/publishingimages/new/gallery_4_large.jpg https://www.microsoft.com/global/surface/en/us/publishingima...