Surface Pro 3 competition heating up

[kevinlevrone]

Core M is not competition for the Haswell-U, Core M designs (especially the fanless ones) are significantly slower than the Haswell 4300-U like the SP3. And I will never buy a 16:9 form factor again. Not even 16:10. Programmers (like me) need a lot of screen height. And usage as a tablet is so much better with 3:2 form factor.

Like I read in an article, I don't think we will see "real" Broadwell (Broadwell-U, not Core M) tablets like the SP3. I think the SP4 will skip the Broadwell altogether (which will be quite short lived) and go Sky Lake.

The only release I liked from the CES was the Dell XPS 13, which eliminates the screen bezels, putting a 13-inch screen in 11-inch form factor:

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015...acks-a-13-inch-screen-into-an-11-inch-laptop/

 

[Liam2349]

Landscape is for typing and portrait for reading and inking, at least that's how I feel. I make exceptions when I read powerpoint slides as they fit much better in landscape, but I do a lot of reading and inking so portrait is very important to me, as well as N-trig. I don't think I would want to go back to Wacom as someone who uses their Surface for a lot of inking.

 

[ptrkhh]

The only release I liked from the CES was the Dell XPS

Clearly, the SP3 has set us a really high standard.

 

[ynohtna]

For windows in general sake, SP4 needs to be about equal to competition, not miles better.

 

[Kif]

This is great since we're entering a critical juncture with the release of Win 10. More devices hopefully equals better support from Microsoft. At some point the hybrid concept needs to really take off or die. Muddling along in this field never works.

IMHO 16:10 and 16:9 is almost always a poor choice for any type of computer work. If I'm going to watch a movie I do it on my TV or at a movie theater. The movie industry choose an extra wide format so there would be more seating in the theater.

 

[zhenya]

16:9 is just a ridiculous resolution for any screen that isn't dedicated for video viewing. It works ok in a phone, but I will never buy another computer with a 16:9 screen if I can help it. I would not own the SP3 if it were 16:9 or even if it were 16:10.

As stated well earlier; 16:9 is a huge compromise in both landscape and portrait orientations. It was the biggest reason I gave up my SP1 after just a couple months of use.

 

[bluegrass]

16:9 is just a ridiculous resolution for any screen that isn't dedicated for video viewing. It works ok in a phone, but I will never buy another computer with a 16:9 screen if I can help it. I would not own the SP3 if it were 16:9 or even if it were 16:10.

As stated well earlier; 16:9 is a huge compromise in both landscape and portrait orientations. It was the biggest reason I gave up my SP1 after just a couple months of use.

Curiosity got the best of me. I just checked and I did see one 4:3 monitor still available. They're a rare breed. I've had to give one of our old 4:3 monitor to one of my clients and they didn't care for it. Thought I was giving them one from the last century. I don't see the computer world ever going back to the boxy look.

 

[ScottyS]

If you use tablet mode in portrait, I would think you would be forced to use an external keyboard, wouldn't you? . . .

Like @jnjroach I use portrait for note taking in OneNote and use the handwriting to text mode of the onscreen keyboard.

 

[jnjroach]

Yep, portrait is for touch and ink..... sometimes I will use my Miracast Adapter and extend my monitor for landscape tasks while my SP3 is Portrait using the Wireless Keyboard Adapter, at that point it like having 2 computers....

 

[kristalsoldier]

Landscape is for typing and portrait for reading and inking, at least that's how I feel. I make exceptions when I read powerpoint slides as they fit much better in landscape, but I do a lot of reading and inking so portrait is very important to me, as well as N-trig. I don't think I would want to go back to Wacom as someone who uses their Surface for a lot of inking.

Don't know about the N-Trig and Wacom thing not having used the latter, but I also use the SP3 similarly! Especially when writing in OneNote, I use the SP3 in portrait mode all the time and I love it!

 

[Nys299]

Meh, i've never used or had a desire to use any tablet in portrait more. My surface has certainly never been used in this manner.

And you say idiotic, i'd be willing to bet that the vast majority of tablet use is done in landscape, not portrait, and for things that see no advantage of a 3:2 display. Tablets are mostly for angry birds or youtube etc, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with 16:9 in that usage case.

FYI the 3:2 aspect ratio is precisely why you should want to use it in landscape mode. It provides users who do serious work like Excel, Word, Powerpoint, etc etc.....to be able to see more of the vertical page because 3:2 makes the screen taller in landscape mode. 3:2 is perfect in every sense whether using it in portrait or landscape mode. It is so difficult to get work done in 16:9 aspect ratio. 16:9 because there is a lot of wasted space on the left and right of the page and when I zoom in to fill the page, I see less on the vertical parts of the page. 16:9 is only good for watching movies.

 

[hughlle]

FYI the 3:2 aspect ratio is precisely why you should want to use it in landscape mode. It provides users who do serious work like Excel, Word, Powerpoint, etc etc.....to be able to see more of the vertical page because 3:2 makes the screen taller in landscape mode. 3:2 is perfect in every sense whether using it in portrait or landscape mode. It is so difficult to get work done in 16:9 aspect ratio. 16:9 because there is a lot of wasted space on the left and right of the page and when I zoom in to fill the page, I see less on the vertical parts of the page. 16:9 is only good for watching movies.

I am fully aware of the arguments for why 16:9 is bad. Doesn't effect me a bit though, i've always done my work at this ratio, and it's never bothered me a bit. Heck, when i actually sit down to do serious work i plug in an external monitor and do my work on that 16:9 display because I actually prefer it. Nope, I love me some 16:9, 2 documents side by side, works perfectly for me. The 4:3 aspect ratio has only been useful to me when using an onscreen keyboard, but with a physical keyboard, 4:3 does nothing beneficial for me.