SP3 vs Macbook Air - which should I buy (debate/compare but dont fight)

[jnjroach]

Hmmmm. Is there a way to hard reboot? Like hold down windows touch button and power button? Maybe I just need a full, hard reboot? Sometimes that fixes any glitches

From a powered off machine: Volume Rocker Up+Power Button.... exit from UEFI making no changes...

 

[GreyFox7]

If your SP3 is heating up like that something is wrong with it, I use Miracast to extend and/or mirror my screen which has much more overhead than using the Mini-DP Port and have never had it heat up....

An Ultrabook is the Intel Marketing Speak for their thin and light laptops based on the MBA design esthetic.

Curious about the unusual problems ...

 

[fonzman78]

I think why, if a person has a gun to each of their heads and says we're going to play game. You have to send an e-mail. You're life depends on it. But the person with gun smashes the macbook air with an ax and smashes the surface pro 3 with an ax. The person with surface pro 3 is SOL. but the person with the air has the tablet to default to. I think the saying is, you don't put all your eggs in a basket.

Seriously?

 

[eltos_lightfoot]

I thin other machines are superior because if you take two people. Let's say one owns surface pro 3 because they think a laptop and tablet combo is the best possible option. Then you take the other person owns macbook air and tablet. The macbook air and tablet are far more superior. I think why, if a person has a gun to each of their heads and says we're going to play game. You have to send an e-mail. You're life depends on it. But the person with gun smashes the macbook air with an ax and smashes the surface pro 3 with an ax. The person with surface pro 3 is SOL. but the person with the air has the tablet to default to. I think the saying is, you don't put all your eggs in a basket.

If you're SP3 breaks you're done. If someones air breaks. They have their iPad. From that form factor alone it makes it superior. Iknow protection plans are out there. Is it worth the extra 180? does it give you two years protection? I'm still within my time to buy it if i want it i think.

Ummm...well, I DID own the MacBook Air and an iPad mini retina. Went to just an SP3. Really glad I did. I guess I better hope I don't run into any ax-wielding crazy people... ;-)

 

[Atwwp]

Haha!

Ummm...well, I DID own the MacBook Air and an iPad mini retina. Went to just an SP3. Really glad I did. I guess I better hope I don't run into any ax-wielding crazy people... ;-)

haha!

 

[fonzman78]

Otherwise, the MacBook Air is far superior. I mean, the pen is a gimmick in a sense. I dunno, seems like Microsoft picked up a pad of paper and pen and wrote down everything they could think of and crammed it into the surface the surface. Why do 20 things poorly when you can do 10 things perfectly like the MacBook Air achieves?

Like jnjroach, I have been using tablet laptop convertibles for many years. For my job, I had to carry notepads, legal pads, binders, whatever to write all my notes. My shelf had dozens of filled up notepads that contained notes from month to month, client to client. No organization whatsoever. If I had to reference previous notes, it was a chore to go through the notepads and try and remember day/time/customer to review. With OneNote, that all went away. All my notes are digital and categorized and easily accessible from any of my devices (Windows phone, SP3, Win8 desktop).

Is the pen a gimmick? Yeah, it certainly can be a gimmick for some. But for others, it is the best gimmick around. When used with OneNote as I described, it is an awesome tool.

Take today for example. I went to a customer meeting. This customer uses MBA/MPB as their standard. As usual, they all take out their Mac's and I take out my SP3. Then, as usual, we spend the first 5 minutes ribbing each other back and forth about Mac vs Surface. I'm always outnumbered 5 to 1 but we have fun. Today there was a new guy. He had a MBP.

In jest, I said let me see it. He handed it over and I pretended to drop it saying 'dang, this thing is heavy'. He shoots back 'yeah, but yours is heavier'. So I hand him the SP3 (no keyboard) and he says 'wow, I was just kidding. This thing is really light'. He spends a couple minutes holding/looking at it. He hands it back saying 'I really like that'. The rest of the team laughs and make snide comments about how many blue screens have I had today. Before I give him his MBP back, I open it and try to pull off the screen saying 'what, the screen doesn't come off? Are you guys stuck in the 90's?' More laughter and more snide remarks back and forth. Then we continue with the meeting.

In the meeting, I am typing stuff as they explain what they want to do. Halfway through the meeting, the new guy goes to the whiteboard to write. He starts writing and I pull of the keyboard and take the pen out and start writing exactly what he is writing on the whiteboard. After a few minutes of this, he literally stops and looks at me and says 'Wow, I really, really like that'. I say 'you wanna see something cool?'. I close OneNote. I go to the Metro home screen. Then I push the top button of the pen and it instantly opens OneNote. He then looks at his manager and says 'Can I get one of those?'.

The pen makes a huge difference when going to any meeting. Here is a sample of my notes from my meeting today:

You ever have go to a meeting and have your client whiteboard something? Maybe something like this:

With the SP3, you can draw exactly what they draw and now have it available to email back to the client when it gets erased. Yeah, sure, why don't you just take a picture with your camera? Trust me, not the same experience.

You ever have to do a webex and have a customer explain their environment to you? It starts to get confusing and you are quickly writing in your notepad that no one can see. Now what if you shared your desktop in the webex, opened up OneNote to a blank page, and started drawing their environment to avoid confusion. Like I did with the diagram above. Now, that is impressive and the customer is engaged.

So, maybe the pen is a gimmick for some. But for folks who are professionals, the pen is invaluable.

My 2 cents.

 

[eltos_lightfoot]

Well said, sir.

 

[kundas1]

^^^ very kool story!

 

[Dgomez]

I've been getting a new Mac every year for the past 7 years. I just got a new MacBook Air last month and just recently decided to try Windows. I pre-ordered the i7 512Gb (arriving tomorrow) . Hopefully I won't regret trying Windows. But from what I see I don't think I would regret it.

 

[Moonsurface]

Excellent post Fonzman and making me even more jealous of those who have their Surface and those who have their shipping ;-)