6 ms·

I expected to click through and have my belief that Microsoft just doesn't "get it" reinforced, but I have to say, that is a really appealing device to me. My

by aroman 13y ago

I expected to click through and have my belief that Microsoft just doesn't "get it" reinforced, but I have to say, that is a really appealing device to me. My biggest gripe with my (school issued) iPad is that text entry is awful and I can't get serious multi-tasking work done. This looks like it's specifically trying to address those concerns. That said, that ad sucked imho. If Microsoft has ever not "gotten" something, it's establishing an awesome brand (sans Xbox and Word, perhaps). I have no idea how they can improve this, but I really hope Microsoft's surface line is a huge success so Apple and Google have some more competition.

city41 13y ago
I have a Surface Pro 1 with the type cover. Great tablet, I really like it. However the type cover is only a marginal improvement over the iPad (which I also own) for typing. If you really need to type a lot, a laptop is still your best bet.
- tedsanders 13y ago
  Why is the type cover only a marginal improvement? I recently tried a type cover for the first time and was able to hit my typical 100 WPM on typeracer.com. To me, it seemed like a significant improvement over both the on-screen keyboard and even the touch cover.
  - city41 13y ago
    Maybe you had better luck with it than me. I've tried on many occasions to buckle down and use it for typing and I always give up and get a real keyboard. I just gave typeracer a try and got 81wpm, so you also may just be a better typist than me.
    - tedsanders 13y ago
      81 is quite good. Can you get anything close 81wpm on an iPad? Maybe I'm just bad at on-screen iPad keyboards.
- _random_ 13y ago
  Does iPad have an USB port you can plug any external keyboard into?
  - Samuel_Michon 13y ago
    The iPad has a Lightning connector, for which you can get an USB adapter. That way, if you absolutely must connect a wired keyboard (instead of Bluetooth), you can. http://www.theipadguide.com/faq/can-i-use-usb-keyboard-ipad http://www.theipadguide.com/faq/can-i-use-usb-keyboard-ipad
mrtksn 13y ago
I would say apple addressed that problem with macbook air. it feels like real computer, yet it has amazing battery and portability. what I am seeing is that people use air for the more serious jobs when sitting somewhare and their smartphone for the rest.
- iamshs 13y ago
  Touchscreen. Stylus. Tablet+Laptop. Portability. Battery. High resolution screen. All in Surface Pro.
  - snogglethorpe 13y ago
    The thing is, however, that when you actually try them out, the MB air leaves a hugely better impression. The MB air is light, sleek, elegant, it feels good in your hands, it makes you want to use it and carry it around—and that's despite it being a notebook, not a tablet. The Surface Pro 1, however, is exactly the opposite: it's heavy, thick, uncomfortable to hold because of the weird sharp-edged shape, and insanely hot during operation. The Surface Pro is exactly what a tablet shouldn't be. I suppose MS has all but admitted that with their strong marketing emphasis on using it with a stand and a keyboard. I certainly hope for MS's sake that the Surface Pro 2 is better, because the SP1 was a disaster...
    - iamshs 13y ago
      I used Surface Pro for my graduate thesis extensively. It left a huge impression on me. Metro side apps were all fun for me, while a swipe to desktop meant all work business. Yeah 1 kg is not a big deal for me, i taught classes with it, took notes with it, ran IBM SPSS doing ANOVA, wrote papers in LATEX and did some SolidWorks, and heavy MATLAB work on it. It is hot, yes. But then, it remained in my lap for around 5% of the time. I find your claims ("heavy, thick, uncomfortable to hold because of the weird sharp-edged shape") to be without merit, since I used it extensively for some major work. Going forward, Surface Pro is the future for me and my household.
- aroman 13y ago
iamshs 13y ago
Get a type cover not touch cover. Surface Pro is an amazing device for college-goers. Onenote with stylus is a good note-taking tool. I ran SolidWorks, Matlab on it, with Mozilla going 20+ tabs at a time. Pulls serious power, and importantly it has portability. Only problematic thing sometimes can be small screen, which I solved by having an (pre-existing) external monitor. It entirely replaced ipad+laptop for me with added comfort of running legacy apps which windows has no dearth of.
- Osmium 13y ago
  What was battery like under that kind of work load?
  - fumar 13y ago
    Battery on the Surface Pro 1 is anywhere from 4 to 6 hours on average for me. You can squeeze out 7 with all wireless off, and using it only for typing. The Pro 2 addresses the battery life. It adds 20% more. One of the most useful features for me, is the (pen)handwriting recognition on the Pro. I have terrible handwriting, terrible. I take a lot of notes in OneNote, and then convert them to text. This way I can share with my team, all the info I jotted down, in a "professional" manner. A few typos come up, usually upper vs lower case. The pen is my favorite feature, I use it in Illustrator and Photoshop, daily. Running Ps and Ai, the battery will last about 4ish hours. Not bad, but not great. I usually will hook up an external monitor for Photoshop. MSoft needs to work on communicating the pen, is not a stylus. It has pressure sensitivity, and lets you rest your hand on the screen while writing. A major difference from the iPad stylus(es).
    - dragontamer 13y ago
      The pen is amazing in quality. Its a full Wacom pen, with full pressure sensitivity. It counts as a totally separate input, so your "finger" and "pen" are seen completely differently. In contrast, an iPad stylus thinks that the pen is just another finger. "Write then swipe" simply works on the Surface, for instance.
innino 13y ago
Microsoft's brand problems stand in stark regard to Apple's success with branding - lack of a coherent overall product strategy, releasing too many products, releasing too soon, changing tone and strategy too often - failing to make up their mind and focus. In response they seem often to try and compensate by racheting up the enthusiasm levels, with limited success. It's hard to trust a company pushing their newest product on you with maniacal enthusiasm - the emotional environment that attitude creates makes it virtually impossible to really enjoy a product, to feel comfortable and relaxed and as if the product truly belongs to you. This is something Apple has been really successful with, and it's absolutely crucial if Microsoft is to host a truly creative user community which can match Apple's. The big problem as I see it is it's a situation which naturally leads to desperation for a quick solution. But desperation and rushing are actually what Microsoft needs to avoid. And I'm not convinced in the slightest that Microsoft has recognised or addressed these issues, because they seem to be moving so fast and hoping for such rapid responses with their current efforts. Unfortunately the costs for trying too hard/too fast are pretty high - you taint the brand image indefinitely, as it's pretty hard to change that initial impression - certainly hard to even try without seeming like a company that has no self-identity but . With the amount of resources and innovation they're putting into their current efforts, it'd be a shame to see them blow it. I think they would have done better taking their time and letting momentum build slower. I'm reminded of the story of how the Lotus guys (the car company) managed to convince the James Bond franchise managers to place a Lotus in a Bond film. At the time the Bond guys were being bombarded with requests from car companies, because being featured in their films was so lucrative. The Lotus guys went the other way - they took the car they wanted to push, stripped off all the signage which indicated it was a Lotus, and left it outside of the Bond franchise HQ. As they hoped, the Bond guys came out, saw the car, thought it looked amazing, but because they couldn't work out what car it was, they became obsessed with it and determined to find out. Lotus used quietness and confidence to rise above the fray of car manufacturers all trying to out-shout each other. The true proof of confidence is relaxation. Without it, a company is always on the defensive.
- ghshephard 13y ago
  Did you watch the Surface Ads - they look pretty damn confident of their product. Their strategy for the last 18 months has also been consistent, "Tablets are great for portability, but the iPad is not a knowledge workers tool, it's a media-consumption devices for most people - the Surface gives you the portability, and the knowledge worker flexibility" Great Ads.

by aroman 13y ago

city41 13y ago

I have a Surface Pro 1 with the type cover. Great tablet, I really like it. However the type cover is only a marginal improvement over the iPad (which I also own) for typing. If you really need to type a lot, a laptop is still your best bet.

tedsanders 13y ago
Why is the type cover only a marginal improvement? I recently tried a type cover for the first time and was able to hit my typical 100 WPM on typeracer.com. To me, it seemed like a significant improvement over both the on-screen keyboard and even the touch cover.
- city41 13y ago
  Maybe you had better luck with it than me. I've tried on many occasions to buckle down and use it for typing and I always give up and get a real keyboard. I just gave typeracer a try and got 81wpm, so you also may just be a better typist than me.
  - tedsanders 13y ago
    81 is quite good. Can you get anything close 81wpm on an iPad? Maybe I'm just bad at on-screen iPad keyboards.
_random_ 13y ago
Does iPad have an USB port you can plug any external keyboard into?
- Samuel_Michon 13y ago
  The iPad has a Lightning connector, for which you can get an USB adapter. That way, if you absolutely must connect a wired keyboard (instead of Bluetooth), you can. http://www.theipadguide.com/faq/can-i-use-usb-keyboard-ipad http://www.theipadguide.com/faq/can-i-use-usb-keyboard-ipad

mrtksn 13y ago

I would say apple addressed that problem with macbook air. it feels like real computer, yet it has amazing battery and portability. what I am seeing is that people use air for the more serious jobs when sitting somewhare and their smartphone for the rest.

iamshs 13y ago
Touchscreen. Stylus. Tablet+Laptop. Portability. Battery. High resolution screen. All in Surface Pro.
- snogglethorpe 13y ago
  The thing is, however, that when you actually try them out, the MB air leaves a hugely better impression. The MB air is light, sleek, elegant, it feels good in your hands, it makes you want to use it and carry it around—and that's despite it being a notebook, not a tablet. The Surface Pro 1, however, is exactly the opposite: it's heavy, thick, uncomfortable to hold because of the weird sharp-edged shape, and insanely hot during operation. The Surface Pro is exactly what a tablet shouldn't be. I suppose MS has all but admitted that with their strong marketing emphasis on using it with a stand and a keyboard. I certainly hope for MS's sake that the Surface Pro 2 is better, because the SP1 was a disaster...
  - iamshs 13y ago
    I used Surface Pro for my graduate thesis extensively. It left a huge impression on me. Metro side apps were all fun for me, while a swipe to desktop meant all work business. Yeah 1 kg is not a big deal for me, i taught classes with it, took notes with it, ran IBM SPSS doing ANOVA, wrote papers in LATEX and did some SolidWorks, and heavy MATLAB work on it. It is hot, yes. But then, it remained in my lap for around 5% of the time. I find your claims ("heavy, thick, uncomfortable to hold because of the weird sharp-edged shape") to be without merit, since I used it extensively for some major work. Going forward, Surface Pro is the future for me and my household.
aroman 13y ago

iamshs 13y ago

Get a type cover not touch cover. Surface Pro is an amazing device for college-goers. Onenote with stylus is a good note-taking tool. I ran SolidWorks, Matlab on it, with Mozilla going 20+ tabs at a time. Pulls serious power, and importantly it has portability. Only problematic thing sometimes can be small screen, which I solved by having an (pre-existing) external monitor. It entirely replaced ipad+laptop for me with added comfort of running legacy apps which windows has no dearth of.

Osmium 13y ago
What was battery like under that kind of work load?
- fumar 13y ago
  Battery on the Surface Pro 1 is anywhere from 4 to 6 hours on average for me. You can squeeze out 7 with all wireless off, and using it only for typing. The Pro 2 addresses the battery life. It adds 20% more. One of the most useful features for me, is the (pen)handwriting recognition on the Pro. I have terrible handwriting, terrible. I take a lot of notes in OneNote, and then convert them to text. This way I can share with my team, all the info I jotted down, in a "professional" manner. A few typos come up, usually upper vs lower case. The pen is my favorite feature, I use it in Illustrator and Photoshop, daily. Running Ps and Ai, the battery will last about 4ish hours. Not bad, but not great. I usually will hook up an external monitor for Photoshop. MSoft needs to work on communicating the pen, is not a stylus. It has pressure sensitivity, and lets you rest your hand on the screen while writing. A major difference from the iPad stylus(es).
  - dragontamer 13y ago
    The pen is amazing in quality. Its a full Wacom pen, with full pressure sensitivity. It counts as a totally separate input, so your "finger" and "pen" are seen completely differently. In contrast, an iPad stylus thinks that the pen is just another finger. "Write then swipe" simply works on the Surface, for instance.

innino 13y ago

Microsoft's brand problems stand in stark regard to Apple's success with branding - lack of a coherent overall product strategy, releasing too many products, releasing too soon, changing tone and strategy too often - failing to make up their mind and focus. In response they seem often to try and compensate by racheting up the enthusiasm levels, with limited success. It's hard to trust a company pushing their newest product on you with maniacal enthusiasm - the emotional environment that attitude creates makes it virtually impossible to really enjoy a product, to feel comfortable and relaxed and as if the product truly belongs to you. This is something Apple has been really successful with, and it's absolutely crucial if Microsoft is to host a truly creative user community which can match Apple's. The big problem as I see it is it's a situation which naturally leads to desperation for a quick solution. But desperation and rushing are actually what Microsoft needs to avoid. And I'm not convinced in the slightest that Microsoft has recognised or addressed these issues, because they seem to be moving so fast and hoping for such rapid responses with their current efforts. Unfortunately the costs for trying too hard/too fast are pretty high - you taint the brand image indefinitely, as it's pretty hard to change that initial impression - certainly hard to even try without seeming like a company that has no self-identity but . With the amount of resources and innovation they're putting into their current efforts, it'd be a shame to see them blow it. I think they would have done better taking their time and letting momentum build slower. I'm reminded of the story of how the Lotus guys (the car company) managed to convince the James Bond franchise managers to place a Lotus in a Bond film. At the time the Bond guys were being bombarded with requests from car companies, because being featured in their films was so lucrative. The Lotus guys went the other way - they took the car they wanted to push, stripped off all the signage which indicated it was a Lotus, and left it outside of the Bond franchise HQ. As they hoped, the Bond guys came out, saw the car, thought it looked amazing, but because they couldn't work out what car it was, they became obsessed with it and determined to find out. Lotus used quietness and confidence to rise above the fray of car manufacturers all trying to out-shout each other. The true proof of confidence is relaxation. Without it, a company is always on the defensive.

ghshephard 13y ago
Did you watch the Surface Ads - they look pretty damn confident of their product. Their strategy for the last 18 months has also been consistent, "Tablets are great for portability, but the iPad is not a knowledge workers tool, it's a media-consumption devices for most people - the Surface gives you the portability, and the knowledge worker flexibility" Great Ads.