So the highly anticipated last minute MS event just unveiled a tablet. A very impressive tablet to say the least, called the Surface. 10.6 inches (looks like 16:9) and has a built in kickstand. It will have full usb ports as well. They made 2 versions. An ARM version with Windows RT and an x86 version with Windows Pro. x86 version uses ivy bridge. They didn't go into the ARM version much. Also the x86 version has a better display too. The highlight of the show was when they showed the case.... which doubles up to be a multitouch keyboard. I haven't been wow'd like that in a while. They'll also have a tactile version of that available as well. It will have displayport. The build quality looks extremely good. It'll also have a stylus and digital ink (600 dpi) support. No pricing yet.. other than "priced to compete" This looks like all win.. depending on how they price it. http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/18/3094157/new-microsoft-surface-windows-tablet A little more specs: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2012/jun12/06-18announce.aspx
Doesn't this violate antitrust? I thought MS couldn't make their own PC hardware. This looks like a step in the right direction for MS though. They're going to need something incredibly impressive with really good marketing if they ever want to seriously take on the ipad. This looks like a really interesting piece of hardware with its ultrabook/tablet hybrid design, but the real question is can they market it to the masses? They have a terrible track record with marketing.
I totaly saw this coming... just not from MS. It's like the Asus Transformer Prime combined with the Mac keyboard the'd been pimping for over a year now. That being I'm just not a fan of multitouch keyboards. I need my buttons. I may get used to it but I am not a fan. It'd be like playing a trombone... I never got it.
MS already has you covered with the tactile keyboard. http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/18/3095699/microsoft-type-cover-keyboard-surface-revealed
So was Windows Phone. Even when MS has a decent mobile product, they never seem to get off the ground because they have no idea how to market them. Also, I'm not really sure how this is any different from say the Asus Eee Transformer or Dell Latitude XT line of tablets. This idea has been done before, and it never set the world on fire.
This difference with the multitouch and tactile versions is the thickness. But to answer your question, a large touch keyboard is MUCH easier to type on than a smaller onscreen keyboard sharing space with your display. One of the biggest problems with the Zune and Windows Phone is the development community. If you notice, a lot of dying (or dead) platforms have terrible dev communities. When MS killed the Zune, I think it had less apps than windows phone had when it launched. Windows 8 won't have this problem.. and I can only see pricing killing this off. The windows RT version will be the version that's priced to compete with this existing tablet market, but how many people will be interested in that one? The Dell Latitude XT series was a bit clunky. About 1" thick? The ARM version of the Surface is about as thick as my Galaxy S II phone and the x86 version is about half an inch thick. Asus has their Asus Tablet 600 (ARM) and 810 (x86) coming out later.. but the x86 version is Atom.
Now that's hot. Surface is a winner. Dell, Asus, Lenovo, and friends will soon make clones of Surface. It's the new standard. Everything is on schedule for 2013: Year of the Windows Tablet.
Aren't they a little late to the party? I figure everyone who wants a tablet either already has or is going to get an iPad. Also was that Windows 8 Metro whatever it is I saw? Isn't that meant to be god awful? I like the fold out keyboard though, snazzy.
They are late to the party, and this thing is going to flop hard. You only do a big announcement like this if the thing is ready to launch and be in peoples' hands in like a week. Apple has that figured out. MS still doesn't get it. People have a short attention span. By the time this comes out in October or November, everyone will have forgotten about it. There was a lot of buzz about Windows Phone too back in 2010, but it took Microsoft two years to get the flagship Nokia phones out, and by that point, no one cared. And yes, Windows 8 is pretty damn awful and no one wants it. About the only good thing I can say about Windows 8 is that all of the nasty criticism MS is going to get over it might inspire them to create a better OS. They got ripped to shreds over Vista and used the feedback to create Windows 7, which is possibly the best OS ever. So maybe Windows 9 will be really good too. Mostly I think they need to stop with all of the mobile stuff, because they're pretty damn bad at it, and just focus on the only thing they've ever been good at, which is making a traditional OS for laptop and desktop PCs. They have nothing to be ashamed of. Apple is the same way, just the other way around. Apple makes great mobile devices but their traditional PCs suck cock.
Very excited about the pro model as a laptop replacement with more portability options. The RT version is apparently very snappy too. It seems like they've made a very solid product, a lot of sites are raving about the build quality to the point where is sounds like it is above anything out now in that regard.
It's kind of odd that they're putting all the focus on three things that would normally be secondary sales points: the keyboard cover, the kickstand, and the magnesium body.
Re: Re: Microsoft Surface there was no party like this before.. so they're not really late to anything. There's 2 versions. Windows RT and Windows Pro. The windows rt version of the tablet would be most comparable to ios/android. it runs windows but cannot support x86 apps. The windows pro version of the tablet uses a core i5 ivy bridge processor and is basically a full fledged computer. basically a current day ultrabook. this is basically what people have been asking for for years. Things MS can do to make this fail pricing and marketing.
Re: Re: Microsoft Surface Which is the reason that this genuinely interests me and the iPad doesn't. The USB port alone makes the world of difference to what you are able to do with this. I see the iPad as a toy, albeit a £500 toy that you have alongside a computer that you still use for the real stuff. This can replace the computer because it effectively is one just in tablet form and the great thing is because it is running a normal OS and normal hardware everything you need to run/use already exists. Lets just hope M$ don't cock this up as this looks to be a step in the right direction for making tablets into things that you really can use every day. * Note that my opinion on the iPad being a toy or accessory also applies to Android tablets.
I just don't see how that's true. There have been tablet/laptop hybrid things in the past like the ones I mentioned, and they never did very well. The only difference I see here is that the design is more elegant and the keyboard comes out using a different mechanism. I just don't envision consumers getting excited over this. Google, who has been a juggernaut in the mobile phone world, couldn't even get people to put down their ipads and take notice when its tablets came out. And in this case people have a real aversion to Microsoft mobile products. Once again, Microsoft is releasing a "me too" kind of mobile product, and it's about 2-3 years too late to market to be of any relevance.
Re: Re: Microsoft Surface The only "real stuff" that tablets currently aren't running is the high-end professional image/video/3D editing and engineering software. They can all easily run business software etc. nowadays. The "toy" idea is really outdated. And you've also illustrated a problem for MS: neither their OS or their hardware is really specialized for touch control, which means customers are going to be wondering why they shouldn't just buy an ultra book instead. MS isn't integrating the keyboard and touchpad into the cover because it looks cool. They're doing it because it's a requirement related to the half-and-half nature of the product.