How to make the Surface Pro a killer product
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malberttoo
Well-Known Member
For ME, it's the first device that I take almost EVERYwhere with me! My daily driver is a Thinkpad X201T. 12" tablet, you would think pretty small. Yet the S-Pro is the first machine I've ever had that I take everywhere. It has a small footprint if I use it out in public, and if it's not being used, it is small enough that it stays out of sight. For the first time, I'm carrying around a powerful laptop, and it doesn't feel like I'm "lugging" something around.
I couldn't go any smaller than the existing screen... but any bigger, and I think it would feel like, to me, that it was not as "discreet" to carry around as the existing size.
My .02...
mitchellvii
Well-Known Member
The plethora of MS apologists in here give me little hope the next version of SP will fix the problems with the current version. As with AA, half the solution is admitting you have a problem. MS refuses to admit their "vision" is wrong. From the moment they began beta testing Windows 8 people were saying "No, No, NO!" but nothing changed, and it won't.
BTW I passed on the ATIV 700 not because of $100 but because of the build quality and that like the SP, Samsung mysteriously settled on a screen angle more suited to an 8 year old child. With the SP I can solve that with a case. With the ATIV 700 I cannot.
The Helix is very appealing but with the new long-battery version of Intel on the horizon, why pay a premium for what will be obsolete in a few months? In addition, HP will be partnering with Leap Motion to release tablets and laptops that have all of the benefits of touch without touching the screen. In 2 years, touch will be dead.
No, as imperfect as the SP is, it is the best tech to fill the need right now. As soon as the new models begin to appear, you'll see my SP on Craigslist. Who knows, maybe MS will decide to listen to the public and be competitive, but based upon their history with Windows Phone, I wouldn't count on it.
Ask yourself this. If Microsoft were a new software company and people weren't so deeply entrenched from a legacy standpoint, would anyone have bought Windows 8 based upon it's sheer awesomeness? Would anyone have bought Windows 7? The answers would be no and yes. How much of Windows 8 sales are due to the fact that many people simply have no choice? People LOVED Windows 7. People tolerate Windows 8. THAT my friends is NOT innovation.
BTW I passed on the ATIV 700 not because of $100 but because of the build quality and that like the SP, Samsung mysteriously settled on a screen angle more suited to an 8 year old child. With the SP I can solve that with a case. With the ATIV 700 I cannot.
The Helix is very appealing but with the new long-battery version of Intel on the horizon, why pay a premium for what will be obsolete in a few months? In addition, HP will be partnering with Leap Motion to release tablets and laptops that have all of the benefits of touch without touching the screen. In 2 years, touch will be dead.
No, as imperfect as the SP is, it is the best tech to fill the need right now. As soon as the new models begin to appear, you'll see my SP on Craigslist. Who knows, maybe MS will decide to listen to the public and be competitive, but based upon their history with Windows Phone, I wouldn't count on it.
Ask yourself this. If Microsoft were a new software company and people weren't so deeply entrenched from a legacy standpoint, would anyone have bought Windows 8 based upon it's sheer awesomeness? Would anyone have bought Windows 7? The answers would be no and yes. How much of Windows 8 sales are due to the fact that many people simply have no choice? People LOVED Windows 7. People tolerate Windows 8. THAT my friends is NOT innovation.
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Sin
Active Member
I would have bought Windows 8 over Windows 7 without hesitation simply for it's design. Actually I did, since I have switch all of my personal machines to Windows 8 from Windows 7. I look at Windows 7 as just an incremental improvement over XP and what Vista should have been. That is not to say bad. I think Windows 7 has been one of the strongest OSs ever, but it is not forward thinking. You might not like where Microsoft is headed, but stating that it wrong just because you don't like it is pointless. Microsoft is not going to go back to Windows 7 because a small population complains. The benefits of having one code base and a common interface across multiple platforms (Windows Phone, Windows, Windows RT, and Xbox) is huge. Especially with the decline in PC sales, Microsoft has no choice but to shake up the mobile platforms. People can stick with Windows 7 for a while if they prefer to wait and see. There is always a choice.
Sin
Active Member
My work laptop is running Windows 7, but that is IT's decision and like most corporate IT departments, our lags behind quite a bit. We have just made the leap from 32 bit XP to the 64 bit Windows 7 with all of the Aero features turned off, so most people still think they are running XP. I expect like every OS upgrade that occurs at work that I will be running the beta version of Windows 9 at home for quite some time before we start to see Windows 8 roll out at work. Just takes so long for our IT department to ensure comparability for all of the software that we use. A lot of which is very old legacy software.
A quick Google search notes that the Helix Thinkpad probably starts at $1,500 and goes to over $2K. ASUS makes a nice Ultrabook, which my local MS Store displays, which sells for $2,500. To be sure it has a very slim and light form factor, an i7 CPU with 8 GBs of ram, and a video chip and a 13" or so screen, but at $2,500 I could buy a Pro, an iPad, and nice ultrabook. You pays your money and you takes your choice.
I'm not much of a typist, but I can type 50 wpm on a regular keyboard. Just for the fun of it, I tried to use the SP Type cover and found I can easily type 38 wpm with no warm up. Since I don't type for a living, this is more than fast enough for me. Blogger Paul Thurrott, for instance, types for a living and has large hands, he says, and thus cannot use the Type cover. Works fine for me, however.
mitchellvii
Well-Known Member
If I could change just one thing on the SP it would be adding an adjustable kickstand. There are a number of other things I would change, but if I had only one wish that would be it.
** It looks to me as if the OEM kickstand is attached with small screws. I bet someone could make a replacement kickstand that would be adjustable.
** It looks to me as if the OEM kickstand is attached with small screws. I bet someone could make a replacement kickstand that would be adjustable.
Uncensored2008
Member
5 hours of battery life on an I5 machine with 4gb DDR3 and a 1080P display is phenomenally good. I view those who would cast derision on it to be ignorant.
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