10 ms·

Surface to arrive with Windows 8 on 10/26, says Microsoft

34 points by sosuke 14y ago

stevejabs 14y ago
While it looks like a slightly promising competitor to iOS and Android, if they don't lock down good pricing, it will fail. $1000 is just not a good price point when it comes to a tablet. I understand that this thing will support a full Windows environment, but honestly, I use my tablets to surf and play. If I want to run Photoshop or an IDE, it's going to be on my workhorse laptop.
- ryanhuff 14y ago
  The $1,000 price-point is for pc tablet, which sounds more useful for the enterprise market. The ARM tablet, which is more in-line to what you describe, is supposedly going to be $500-600.
- facorreia 14y ago
  Surface RT won't cost $1000. As for the $1000 model, I suppose it depends on whether someone considers the Surface Pro a desktop-capable tablet or a MacBook Air with touch screen.
  - s_henry_paulson 14y ago
    I don't think the target market is looking to play starcraft on these things, but rather just be able to run the full version of applications. I know having a nice thin device that can run OneNote is what I look for more than anything. There's nothing better than being able to take endless amounts of handwritten notes, and have them all indexed and searchable without any extra effort.
zephjc 14y ago
Is anyone else totally uninterested in Windows RT? I'm much more interested to see how Win 8 and existing Windows applications run. That is, to have a tablet-cum-laptop with a full touch UI plus keyboard and trackpad.
- freehunter 14y ago
  I think Microsoft has a little bit of a marketing problem in that I don't completely understand the difference between Windows RT and Windows 8. I don't understand. And this is a big deal. If you read some of my past comments, you'll know I don't hate Microsoft. If anything I actually like them. I play Xbox, I own a Windows Phone, I run Windows 8 on my desktop at home, I own a Zune and subscribe to the Zune Pass. But I wouldn't feel comfortable buying a Windows RT tablet without knowing exactly what I'm getting. I'm sure that information is out there, but none of the tech blogs seem to be talking about it. In Ars Technica's recent review of Windows 8, the author himself seemed confused. It read like he thought he was reviewing the RT version, but then complained that the desktop buttons were too small for a touchscreen. But if it's the desktop version, why is he not using a mouse and keyboard? There are two very different tablets in the Surface lineup, and I don't think Microsoft has done a good enough job making sure the press and reviewers understand the difference. It's not that I'm uninterested. I'm very interested. I've been liking Windows 8 so far, buggy though the Release Preview is. But all I'm seeing in the press is confusion, which leads to frustration, which leads to bad reviews. It's Windows ME all over again, in that people thought their Windows 98 drivers would work, and when they didn't everyone blamed the OS. The reality is, Microsoft seems to think they can release this and people will automatically catch on. That has never been the case.
  - MatthewPhillips 14y ago
    To make matters worse there is WinRT, the runtime. So although you want to abbreviate Windows RT to WinRT, you can't do that without confusing the conversation. "Windows Metro" and "Windows Pro" sounds less confusing to me. Microsoft has been reluctant to call anything Metro (instead wanting to say Metro-like) which makes me think someone else owns the copyright to the Metro name.
  - AshleysBrain 14y ago
    Isn't Windows RT just Windows 8 without the desktop?
    - freehunter 14y ago
saturdaysaint 14y ago
In the meantime, the Apple rumormill has the 7.8 inch iPad dropping in late September. If that's true it will completely eclipse this launch, much like the Zune all but disappeared when Apple announced the iPod nano (when the Zune was hard drive based) and iPod touch (just as the Zune came out with a nano competitor).
- savramescu 14y ago
  I really don't think so. Surface isn't a half baked product like the Zune was.
  - skrebbel 14y ago
    Actually, the Zune was pretty damn cool, but it had serious trouble with people telling their friends that it was half baked.
ChuckMcM 14y ago
Its interesting to see the "will it" / "won't it" compete questions but frankly I'm impressed it is such a dramatic move. I think that speaks to a pretty motivated Microsoft. I had the sad experience of loading up Atmel Studio 6 on my laptop, which uses Visual Studio 2010 as its foundation (Microsoft convinced them to abandon Eclipse somehow) and it really put the hurt on my core-duo laptop. So a challenge of a company newly embracing the world of ARM will be to insure its tools don't drag it into unusability.

34 points by sosuke 14y ago

While it looks like a slightly promising competitor to iOS and Android, if they don't lock down good pricing, it will fail. $1000 is just not a good price point when it comes to a tablet. I understand that this thing will support a full Windows environment, but honestly, I use my tablets to surf and play. If I want to run Photoshop or an IDE, it's going to be on my workhorse laptop.

ryanhuff 14y ago
The $1,000 price-point is for pc tablet, which sounds more useful for the enterprise market. The ARM tablet, which is more in-line to what you describe, is supposedly going to be $500-600.
facorreia 14y ago
Surface RT won't cost $1000. As for the $1000 model, I suppose it depends on whether someone considers the Surface Pro a desktop-capable tablet or a MacBook Air with touch screen.
- s_henry_paulson 14y ago
  I don't think the target market is looking to play starcraft on these things, but rather just be able to run the full version of applications. I know having a nice thin device that can run OneNote is what I look for more than anything. There's nothing better than being able to take endless amounts of handwritten notes, and have them all indexed and searchable without any extra effort.

zephjc 14y ago

Is anyone else totally uninterested in Windows RT? I'm much more interested to see how Win 8 and existing Windows applications run. That is, to have a tablet-cum-laptop with a full touch UI plus keyboard and trackpad.

freehunter 14y ago
I think Microsoft has a little bit of a marketing problem in that I don't completely understand the difference between Windows RT and Windows 8. I don't understand. And this is a big deal. If you read some of my past comments, you'll know I don't hate Microsoft. If anything I actually like them. I play Xbox, I own a Windows Phone, I run Windows 8 on my desktop at home, I own a Zune and subscribe to the Zune Pass. But I wouldn't feel comfortable buying a Windows RT tablet without knowing exactly what I'm getting. I'm sure that information is out there, but none of the tech blogs seem to be talking about it. In Ars Technica's recent review of Windows 8, the author himself seemed confused. It read like he thought he was reviewing the RT version, but then complained that the desktop buttons were too small for a touchscreen. But if it's the desktop version, why is he not using a mouse and keyboard? There are two very different tablets in the Surface lineup, and I don't think Microsoft has done a good enough job making sure the press and reviewers understand the difference. It's not that I'm uninterested. I'm very interested. I've been liking Windows 8 so far, buggy though the Release Preview is. But all I'm seeing in the press is confusion, which leads to frustration, which leads to bad reviews. It's Windows ME all over again, in that people thought their Windows 98 drivers would work, and when they didn't everyone blamed the OS. The reality is, Microsoft seems to think they can release this and people will automatically catch on. That has never been the case.
- MatthewPhillips 14y ago
  To make matters worse there is WinRT, the runtime. So although you want to abbreviate Windows RT to WinRT, you can't do that without confusing the conversation. "Windows Metro" and "Windows Pro" sounds less confusing to me. Microsoft has been reluctant to call anything Metro (instead wanting to say Metro-like) which makes me think someone else owns the copyright to the Metro name.
- AshleysBrain 14y ago
  Isn't Windows RT just Windows 8 without the desktop?
  - freehunter 14y ago

saturdaysaint 14y ago

In the meantime, the Apple rumormill has the 7.8 inch iPad dropping in late September. If that's true it will completely eclipse this launch, much like the Zune all but disappeared when Apple announced the iPod nano (when the Zune was hard drive based) and iPod touch (just as the Zune came out with a nano competitor).

savramescu 14y ago
I really don't think so. Surface isn't a half baked product like the Zune was.
- skrebbel 14y ago
  Actually, the Zune was pretty damn cool, but it had serious trouble with people telling their friends that it was half baked.

ChuckMcM 14y ago

Its interesting to see the "will it" / "won't it" compete questions but frankly I'm impressed it is such a dramatic move. I think that speaks to a pretty motivated Microsoft. I had the sad experience of loading up Atmel Studio 6 on my laptop, which uses Visual Studio 2010 as its foundation (Microsoft convinced them to abandon Eclipse somehow) and it really put the hurt on my core-duo laptop. So a challenge of a company newly embracing the world of ARM will be to insure its tools don't drag it into unusability.