Microsoft Surface

Josh

Is anyone else taking this seriously? I am actually quite intrigued by the device. Specifically the Windows 8 version.

Wanted to get everyone's thoughts. Got a new job and am in the middle of reconciling a lot of my toys, selling on ebay and such and want to consolidate my laptop/slate into something a bit more efficient.

BlueSun

I'm quite interested in it. The arm version isn't quite as appealing, but the Intel version definitely is. There's a few remote management tools that I use that don't have Android equivalents thus limiting the usefulness of an Android tablet unless I pivot off another remote system. With the Surface running Windows 8, I wouldn't have to pivot off another machine.

budeone

I have been reading about them also. They really better be nice out of the gate.

theotherosproject

(My apologies for the bump. )

My father has a Surface Pro 1 or 2, he mostly uses Visual Studio and OneNote on it. He let me try it out for a day, it feels pretty decent and even helped me get along with the Windows 8 interface. Seems like it will be useful for me to do virtualisation and a bit of programming on.

Any opinions on the upcoming Surface Pro 4?

Doqtor Kirby

theotherosproject wrote:

Any opinions on the upcoming Surface Pro 4?

More reasons to get a Surface Pro 1.
-$$$

Although, I won't get one. I'm very happy with my ThinkPad tablet.

BOD

I find the windows 8 touch interface pretty good on an actual tablet.

Doqtor Kirby wrote:

Although, I won't get one. I'm very happy with my ThinkPad tablet.

Out of interest 2, 8 or 10?

Doqtor Kirby

BOD wrote:

I find the windows 8 touch interface pretty good on an actual tablet.

Doqtor Kirby wrote:

Although, I won't get one. I'm very happy with my ThinkPad tablet.

Out of interest 2, 8 or 10?

2?

I'm using 8.1 as primary right now.

SomeGuy

Tablets? Yawn. Microsoft? Yawn and belch.

Doqtor Kirby

SomeGuy wrote:

Tablets? Yawn.

I prefer pen-based tablets over touch, especially because I rest my hand(s, depending on if I'm holding it) on the screen and that causes problems over pure touch, but I don't lose any versatility from using a pen or touch. Also, it's easier to write with a pen--for obvious reasons.

Honestly I could write an entire thread dedicated to the pros/cons of touch and pen, but I do not wish to right now.

(Fun fact: I can type 30 wpm on the pen, which is short of half my keyboard speed, 75.)

wingzeroismine

I bought a ThinkPad Tablet 2 on ebay dirt cheap a few months ago. We had bought a couple at work when they first came out and it was a vast improvement over their earlier android tablet, but the eMMC storage really makes it feel kinda sluggish.

I recently got the keyboard for it pretty cheaply too, but the dock is hard to find for any remotely reasonable price.

I honestly barely use the thing, its amusing to poke around with metro games or if traveling and just want something simpler than a laptop for browsing / unloading camera memory cards.


The surface seems pretty well designed, and at least at work every department wants (us) to buy them, but they just seem to be the flavor of the month. First people went to conferences and saw others with netbooks, so netbooks were wanted, then people had ipads, so everyone else bought ipads, now people are buying surfaces, its all brand recognition really.

I find the almost attached keyboards an annoyance. Lenovo's first android tablet used a folio case with usb keyboard, hit a bounce and it would pop off its magnets. The surface keyboards seem to stay attached well, but you need to have ample space for its kickstand to support it.

I love the thinkpad helix's hinged keyboard design, but the first version was ivy bridge in a haswell world, and damn heavy. The newer helix shaves off a pound or more.

BlueSun

I've actually had the chance to use a surface once or twice in recent times. I can say I was impressed. The angular design of the edge makes it kind of uncomfortable to grip after a while, so you pretty much have to use the kickstand and a type/touch cover... but you really need a larger surface area to actually set that up... it's not practical to use on your lap. So it really just doesn't offer any real advantage over a laptop. Especially something like the X240.

wingzeroismine

BlueSun wrote:

...but you really need a larger surface area to actually set that up... it's not practical to use on your lap. So it really just doesn't offer any real advantage over a laptop. Especially something like the X240.

Pretty much that. I'm mildly upset that Lenovo did away with the X tablet series, I guess the rotatable screen form factor didn't sell well compared to the yoga.