The Verge Review

[netuser]

Dell XPS 13. Starts at $799. +$50 to meet the Windows Pro requirement.

I guess you need to go the the i5-5200u to get TPM - but that still falls under your $1000 price ceiling. You are asking for pro level features here. Those tend to cost extra money.

Not really. Even an Atom processor can have a TPM chip. HP Stream 11 Pro has TPM chip with a Celeron.
The XPS requires an i5 to get TPM which is processor and cost overkill for the purposes the laptops will have. Also, I don't think the XPS 13 is available with Windows 8.1 Pro loaded at the factory. That makes it difficult to get them licensed correctly so we can use our 8.1 Pro volume licenses. Pro Packs are janky to use when it isn't just one personal computer you need to upgrade. It wil be extra cost and licensing hassle to upgrade multiple laptops after purchase.
At this point, only the Surface 3 sold through commercial channels with 8.1 Pro will have everything we need except for a non-ideal form factor.
I think in a few months, more clamshell laptops with Cherry Trail or Core M chips may come out and meet all the criteria we want.

 

[zhenya]

Updating to Win Pro is one of the options in the configuration page.

Whether available on Atom chips or not, TPM is still a pro feature because few to no average consumers care about it. They have to cut some stuff to hit the $799 entry point, which will be sold largely to regular folks.

Again, the Dell meets every one of your criteria, at the same price as the i3 Surface Pro once you add the keyboard.

I manage volume licensing myself; no need to explain it to me thanks!

 

[GreyFox7]

Not really. Even an Atom processor can have a TPM chip. HP Stream 11 Pro has TPM chip with a Celeron.
The XPS requires an i5 to get TPM which is processor and cost overkill for the purposes the laptops will have. Also, I don't think the XPS 13 is available with Windows 8.1 Pro loaded at the factory. That makes it difficult to get them licensed correctly so we can use our 8.1 Pro volume licenses. Pro Packs are janky to use when it isn't just one personal computer you need to upgrade. It wil be extra cost and licensing hassle to upgrade multiple laptops after purchase.
At this point, only the Surface 3 sold through commercial channels with 8.1 Pro will have everything we need except for a non-ideal form factor.
I think in a few months, more clamshell laptops with Cherry Trail or Core M chips may come out and meet all the criteria we want.

The company I used to work for bought systems from CDW who loaded your image on the systems first as most resellers would and I would imagine Dell will do the same. In most cases if your doing volume purchases the price is lower than consumer pricing as well. You may have to ask as it's not likely to be listed on the consumer web site.

 

[netuser]

The company I used to work for bought systems from CDW who loaded your image on the systems first as most resellers would and I would imagine Dell will do the same. In most cases if your doing volume purchases the price is lower than consumer pricing as well. You may have to ask as it's not likely to be listed on the consumer web site.

They only load your image on business class laptops that are configurable with the OS you want to loaf and probably only if you buy thousands at a time.

 

[netuser]

Updating to Win Pro is one of the options in the configuration page.

Whether available on Atom chips or not, TPM is still a pro feature because few to no average consumers care about it. They have to cut some stuff to hit the $799 entry point, which will be sold largely to regular folks.

Again, the Dell meets every one of your criteria, at the same price as the i3 Surface Pro once you add the keyboard.

I manage volume licensing myself; no need to explain it to me thanks!

The average consumer may not care about "TPM" specifically because they don't know what it is, but more and more consumers want to secure their data on the device and TPM is the way to add encryption without having the hassle of having to remember a password to unencrypt the device and type it in everytime the system is rebooted. So, indirectly, they do want TPM and just don't know it and that's one reason why TPM is starting to trickle down into lower priced devices.
TPM is also in all InstantGo certified devices and many of those are consumer grade.
TPM definitely is not something "no average consumer" wants.
It's like saying "no average consumer" wants USB 3 because they never ask for it by name, but they want to transfer files fast and just don't care to know about the details of the technology that makes it happen.

 

[CrippsCorner]

For anyone stating whatever about the author of that review, you do realise Tom Warren is a Microsoft enthusiast?

http://www.theverge.com/users/tomwarren

"Tom Warren is a Senior Editor for The Verge. He is the resident Microsoft expert."

I follow him on Twitter and he's a great guy, and mostly praises everything Microsoft do... so tbh, I did expect a higher score for this! But at the same time it's nice to see he's not biased just because.

 

[GreyFox7]

For anyone stating whatever about the author of that review, you do realise Tom Warren is a Microsoft enthusiast?

http://www.theverge.com/users/tomwarren

"Tom Warren is a Senior Editor for The Verge. He is the resident Microsoft expert."

I follow him on Twitter and he's a great guy, and mostly praises everything Microsoft do... so tbh, I did expect a higher score for this! But at the same time it's nice to see he's not biased just because.

Perhaps he's over compensating but he's out of step with the majority and it read like a Troll piece.

 

[hughlle]

For anyone stating whatever about the author of that review, you do realise Tom Warren is a Microsoft enthusiast?

http://www.theverge.com/users/tomwarren

"Tom Warren is a Senior Editor for The Verge. He is the resident Microsoft expert."

I follow him on Twitter and he's a great guy, and mostly praises everything Microsoft do... so tbh, I did expect a higher score for this! But at the same time it's nice to see he's not biased just because.

Expert does not equal a supporter. I can be an expert on something yet have my loyalties lie else where.

 

[jnjroach]

Tom does like Microsoft, but he is in the same headspace as Paul Thurrott...neither are Windows Tablet Enthusiasts and prefer traditional form factors when it comes to Windows Devices....

 

[CrippsCorner]

Most people don't like change

 

[ctitanic]

Tom does like Microsoft, but he is in the same headspace as Paul Thurrott...neither are Windows Tablet Enthusiasts and prefer traditional form factors when it comes to Windows Devices....

Correct, you need to understand what's a TabletPC and how to use it to love the Surface Pro 3 and the 3. Or better say, to understand how far Microsoft has gone with these Tablet compared to what we used to have just 5 years ago.

 

[CrippsCorner]

Exactly. People that don't give these new forms a chance for a long period of time really don't know what good they can get out of it. I was doing absolutely fine with just one monitor, but now I've gone dual monitor using the Surface there's absolutely no way I could ever go back! Plus being able to take it over to my sofa and lay about using, and using my fingers rather than a mouse... I could go on of course.

Even with my Band I recently got, I didn't really know what I was going to predominantly use it for; just really wanted to test one out! As it goes, I've just made 'Alarm' my second app on it because it's so handy having an alarm that's personal to me and no one else knows is going off, it's the ultimate reminder who would have thought it.