4 ms·

No tablet with less battery life than a cheap laptop will be handy for anyone.

enraged_camel 14y ago
Exactly. What the heck is anyone going to do with a tablet that is (over)priced like an ultrabook and has only 4 hours of battery life? It would be especially useless for students since it wouldn't last till the end of a school-day.
- avens19 14y ago
  Most of the students I know at my university get maybe 3 hours on their laptops and many have Wacom tablets to write notes with. Most classrooms have plugs now. Writing directly onto the screen is a big value proposition for many of these students. I wouldn't count it out yet.
- barista 14y ago
  And I am sure it will be even less popular than a certain laptop that had less than 4 hours battery life and didn't even have a touch screen but it fit in a manila envelope (MacBook air)
  - JuDue 14y ago
    Unfortunately being similar to 2008 Apple Air specs just isn't going to cut it.
    - enraged_camel 14y ago
      Exactly. In order to be competitive this thing needs twice the battery life and half the price.
- pmelendez 14y ago
  > What the heck is anyone going to do with a tablet that is (over)priced like an ultrabook and has only 4 hours of battery life? I might be getting too old to understand this but when I was an undergraduate student 14 years ago, I had an 1-hour-battery laptop and was 'really' useful. I can't see how a portable computer (even if I have to plug it to use it) would be 'especially useless' for students. Coming from a latin-american country, the whole battery life issue sounds a lot like a "1st world problem" to me.
wisty 14y ago
Haswell will fix this. Microsoft does well when it designs for next year's hardware - sell to the enthusiasts, then wait for the masses to upgrade into their maw.
- enraged_camel 14y ago
  Haswell will fix what? The battery life? Because that's a no. You might see some marginal improvement, but that's about it.
  - wisty 14y ago
    The main difference between the RT (10 hour life) and the Pro (4 hour life) is the CPU, isn't it? A peak 17W vs 10W draw is a pretty big difference. And that's peak power; Haswell may be even better at idling. We might see 6 or 7 hours on the next Pro (wild guess).

Exactly. What the heck is anyone going to do with a tablet that is (over)priced like an ultrabook and has only 4 hours of battery life? It would be especially useless for students since it wouldn't last till the end of a school-day.

avens19 14y ago
Most of the students I know at my university get maybe 3 hours on their laptops and many have Wacom tablets to write notes with. Most classrooms have plugs now. Writing directly onto the screen is a big value proposition for many of these students. I wouldn't count it out yet.
barista 14y ago
And I am sure it will be even less popular than a certain laptop that had less than 4 hours battery life and didn't even have a touch screen but it fit in a manila envelope (MacBook air)
- JuDue 14y ago
  Unfortunately being similar to 2008 Apple Air specs just isn't going to cut it.
  - enraged_camel 14y ago
    Exactly. In order to be competitive this thing needs twice the battery life and half the price.
pmelendez 14y ago
> What the heck is anyone going to do with a tablet that is (over)priced like an ultrabook and has only 4 hours of battery life? I might be getting too old to understand this but when I was an undergraduate student 14 years ago, I had an 1-hour-battery laptop and was 'really' useful. I can't see how a portable computer (even if I have to plug it to use it) would be 'especially useless' for students. Coming from a latin-american country, the whole battery life issue sounds a lot like a "1st world problem" to me.

wisty 14y ago

Haswell will fix this. Microsoft does well when it designs for next year's hardware - sell to the enthusiasts, then wait for the masses to upgrade into their maw.

enraged_camel 14y ago
Haswell will fix what? The battery life? Because that's a no. You might see some marginal improvement, but that's about it.
- wisty 14y ago
  The main difference between the RT (10 hour life) and the Pro (4 hour life) is the CPU, isn't it? A peak 17W vs 10W draw is a pretty big difference. And that's peak power; Haswell may be even better at idling. We might see 6 or 7 hours on the next Pro (wild guess).