Monday's big ​announcemen​t.

9 minutes ago, itsnotabug wrote

@cbae: Oh wow. I didn't even notice that... I'm running 1920 x 1080 and it gets grainy with my browser at full screen.

Since the image is only 980 x 717, it's understandable. Interestingly, the images in the gallery section autoscale too, but they stop getting bigger at a certain point. I download edthe high-res images using the download link from the gallery page, and the images are 4000x2250. Maybe they should have used one of those on the first page (Video section). LOL.

I like the perimeter venting. I like many of the things of course amongst the 200 custom components in this device.

Will it have NFC?

Let's talk about this: 

Marketing 

Microsoft's marketing/web-site launch of this product is horrible. What the hell is wrong with Microsoft marketing department? That video is like a 90s car commercial where they keep saying nonsense words like "power" "elegance" "freedom" and then finally at the end of the commercial say the name of the product like it stands for all that stuff.  

Half of the video doesn't even SHOW the damn product, it is just metal falling all over the place and then finally at the end they give you 3 seconds of product, name it, and we are done. 

The web-site is also bare bones. And not bare-bones in a "less is more" way but bare-bones in "WHERE THE HELL IS THE INFORMATION?!" way. The only concrete information seems to be purely from a PDF (wtf?) and even that contains little concrete information.   

Honestly based purely on the web-site and video I cannot help but think that Microsoft wants this to fail. Maybe I've just been spoiled by Apple having a half competent marketing department where they upload videos talking about the product's features, benefits, and uses. Then have detailed specs pages (e.g. battery life) and even prices on day 0!   

I would take a YouTube-style unboxing over literally everything Microsoft has done to launch this product, including the event. Cost of that video: $100. Cost of all of this buzzword filled art student made tat: $1,000,000.   

0/10 for marketing. Epic fail - again. 

Product

I'm going to base my opinions of the product purely from The Verge since they have coverage of the product (as opposed to Microsoft's pages). 

 - Very impressed. Really feels like a "step forward." 
 - Love the kick stand, it is a "little touch" but a hugely useful one.
 - The keyboard/protector is neat, I'd need to try it in order to see how responsive it is and if the keys provide any "feedback." 
 - Definitely competing with the Asus Transformer range.   
 - The pen is a useless gimmick (as it is on all mobile devices).

But that being said I cannot make a "buy, no buy" decision since they failed to tell me the ONLY two things I really care about:    

 - Battery life. 
 - Price.  

If the price is higher than the Asus Transformer with its keyboard/battery, then I likely would buy that product instead. Yes Microsoft's product is lighter and thinner but the Transformer gets like 16 hrs battery life!  

If Microsoft's product has less than a 5 hr battery life in the "real world"  that is just an automatic no-buy. If they have less than 6~7 hrs then it still makes the iPad look like a better product, in particular as I expect this to over-cut the iPad's price. 

Congratulations MSFT, great news to wake up to in the UK.

Really impressed, can't wait to see more!

Total game changer this

Wow, a lot happened while I was asleep then.  Looks cool.  Can I have one please?

Is there a list of information sources for this thing yet?

http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en/us/default.aspx

Oh, I guess this is a good place to start:

http://www.bing.com/news/search?q=microsoft+surface&FORM=BNFD

I miss having pen / stylus input. I had devices for years that I could scribble a quick note on a pocket pc device. I gave the pen up when I switched to the Windows Phone. I never did buy a Windows Tablet because when it first came out I had just spent thousands of dollars on a laptop. The performance of the laptop was so poor that I was afraid of buying a tablet that only had a Pentium III when I was already getting used to the performance of the newer generation processors found in desktops. The high resolution (relatively) of a Toshiba pocket pc would do as a compromise for the time being, until better tablets came out. So, to many people, the pen is not useless. Try doing math equations with a keyboard.

This looks more like a desktop-computer replacement than a laptop killer.

Simply because using this thing on a lap seems to be a messy ordeal. Maybe I am too cynical, but where's the beef anyway? Plug-in a USB keyboard into a tablet, and get a display holder, and you have pretty much the same thing.

The last picture shows an iPad, with a holder and pluged-in keyboard.

The holder costs less than a dollar! And of course it can work with pretty much any other tablet too.

So, enligthen me, what is the big deal? And even with such a setup, I still prefer a mouse and would rather not smudge the screen the whole time like a retarded monkey.

2 hours ago, Charles wrote

@Ray7: This is a new type of computing device - designed and built by Microsoft. The style and form factor are stunning.  

I expected more reaction from the Niner population. Understood about timing, though. Tomorrow will be fruitful.
C

Well, we have a reaction from ZDNet:

Perhaps wait for someone else.

They didn't actually comment much on the actual device, more on the effect on Microsoft's partners, who, to my mind, haven't really been advancing the cause.

@wastingtimewithforums:

It's actually a lot more like this:

But the touch pad is a really nice touch.

8 minutes ago, Proton2 wrote

I miss having pen / stylus input.

Then you will be happy this comes with
"The Windows 8 Pro model of the Surface has a larger battery and comes with a stylus that magnetically clips to the side of the Surface when not in use. The tablet detects when the stylus is close to the screen and conveniently disables touch input, preventing you from accidentally touching the screen with your finger or palm."

source; http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/review/tablets/microsoft/surface/428002

4 minutes ago, Ray7 wrote

@wastingtimewithforums:

It's actually a lot more like this:

Darn, this makes it even more underwhelming.

@wastingtimewithforums: I tend to agree about the straight laptop replacement thing.  There is still going to be a market for beefy, touchscreen based Ultrabooks.

When I think about my own requirements I guess I have:

1. Work: Time at a desk

2. Work: Travel and office hopping / meetings

3. Leisure: Time in the lounge

4. Leisure: Out and about

For me this would tick two of the boxes  really well (2 and 4). It might also be OK for 3.  I would want to see the specs before I used it as my main CPU for 1 but I would certainly give it a go.

So I think the Intel device is the one I probably would get most use out of, but will I be able to resist the first ARM device?  (Answer: No, I will justify it on the basis that I need it to properly test out my Apps)

3 hours ago, Charles wrote

@Ray7: This is a new type of computing device - designed and built by Microsoft. The style and form factor are stunning.  

I expected more reaction from the Niner population. Understood about timing, though. Tomorrow will be fruitful.
C

A 3% share price drop right there Never heard you pump up anything before.

I wouln't mind getting one of these, depending on price and battery capacity. To hand it to apple, they do include these in their events, which make me think Microsoft is a little desperate .

Obviously, price and battery life (and international availability) are the obvious questions here, but I'm also wondering about Windows RT now. I never cared that Windows RT wouldn't run regular desktop software, because I figured "Why would I want the desktop on a tablet?" This, however, isn't just a tablet. I realize that this is the reason for the regular and the pro version, but still, I'm wondering if the very fact that I could use it for more than just regular tablet usage will make the lack of running all that desktop software out there a problem where it wouldn't be if it was just a straight up tablet.

Anyway, it looks good, the cover is great (anyone saying that you could just get a regular tablet, a stand and a keyboard accesory is missing the point spectacularly) and overall reaction I've seen is good. Would it have been better if you could order it now? Yes, but then again the iPad and iPhone were only available six months after announcement as well. Of course, they didn't have any catching up to do, but still.

That ZDnet article is laughable by the way. Journalists "have to" travel the globe to hear about something that won't be available for months all the time, and they do so happily each time. What do they care, after all? They make their money from writing about it, not from buying it.

5 minutes ago, Bas wrote

anyone saying that you could just get a regular tablet, a stand and a keyboard accesory is missing the point spectacularly

Why?

Apple and other tablet makers could very easily ship their devices with a stand and a keyboard well before Surface even ships.

In Apple's case these additional items wouldn't even make a dent in profit.

But Gizmodo loved it.

@wastingtimewithforums:I think there is a fundamental difference between a product that has been designed without compromise for use in a keyboard situation to one that has one as an add on. 

But I guess the proof will be in the pudding. 

Here is the keynote! Ironically enough, there was a Surface crash @ 13:37.