I might well take you up on that; though I need to look into a few things first - want to get a new external HDD to back some stuff up as a failsafe for a start. Got a shitload of photos and docs I wouldn't want to lose.
Disc image? Left over European edition keys? Meanwhile, the next OS X upgrade will cost you $20 for a license to install on 5 different machines.
Probably because OSX is as worthless as Linux on the desktop. Also, considering Mac hardware costs three times as much as identical Windows PC hardware, if anything, OS upgrades should be free. Windows costs money because it's good for something other than looking pretty.
Tell me about it, Lion failed to fix a heap of the issues I had with 10.5/6, mainly regarding networking. The new 27" iMac we got constantly hangs (spinning colour wheel) for 10secs on wake up and randomly when trying to drag a file to/from a PC (XP,Vista,7) on the network, but I guess this is the PC's fault even though they communicate flawless with everything else including the macs from the PC end. The so called 'keyboard' is a joke. I'm glad MS are taking portable keyboards seriously. The screen is certainly nice, but Apple have clearly shifted from the professional approach with screens to the "looks good" approach, the blacks are great and the colours saturated, but the colours aren't at all accurate. The gloss is terrible, I'd hate to be using it to watch any sort of media on in a room with ANY light what so ever. Bit of an OT rant I know, but basically, I use Apple products all the time, and while in some ways they're great, I personally find them to be more problematic than many other competing devices and certainly more restrictive. Apple have a split between ultra mobile and desktop/laptop. They're trying to bring the two a bit closer, but MS are doing much more with Win 8 in this area, that's for sure. There is a market for tablets that can actually do everything a PC can do although traditionally it has been a niche. With slimmer and more power efficient yet increasingly powerful devices this market has the potential to expand drastically. MS are giving people the option to do what they need to do, on the go. Apple just tells you what they're allowing you to do, with the prettiness and polish of the OS supposedly making up for what you can't do. Well for a lot of people that's just not good enough.
Apple has the better approach to upgrading the OS. There's no "tick,tock" in terms of quality, there aren't 5 different versions of the same OS that add things in and take things out, you can download it anytime you want from the online store, and it's dirt cheap. People upgrade to the new OS a lot faster than Windows.
Microsoft Surface Keynote from L.A. on the 18th of June. http://youtu.be/jozTK-MqEXQ It looks short and fat, although most youtube videos on iPad are letterboxed to a similar aspect ratio. Side note. Watch him fail trying to "browse smoothly using cleartype" at 13:40.
The keyboard looks flimsy and useless unless you're sitting at a table. Microsoft seems to be forgetting that people tend to use their laptops on their laps as the name laptop implies. Also, a stylus is so 1995. The pictures looked interesting, but this thing looks like kind of a mess in actual use. I also like how everyone there is doing their best Steve Jobs impression.
Re: Re: Microsoft Surface the dimensions are there in numbers so you dont have to guess, mang. the windows rt version is as thin as a smartphone (ie galaxy s II) and the windows pro version is about half an inch thick. the keyboards arent meant to turn that thing into laptop style usage. it's specifically an apple style smart cover that doubles into a multitouch or tactile keyboard. that's why it works well with the kickstand. if it was something like an Asus transformer dock, it wouldn't be slim anymore. i assume something like that would be made by a third party.
I think the keyboards look remarkably sturdy, and with the kickstand, I don't see lap based usage being an issue. The stylus is a fantastic touch, If I need to do something like scribbling a note or doing some design work, a stylus is a million times better than stabbing a podgy finger at the screen. Fingers are fine for tapping chunky icons, but for anything requiring accuracy, you're up ship creek
I guess I'll reserve judgement until I get to try one hands on. Everyone has said the built quality on these is excellent, so I guess I'll have to take their word on it for now.
A stylus is a must for certain tasks. Like I said, they're allowing people who need to do certain tasks the ability to do them on a modern portable tablet. That market has been neglected by Apple and is the reason why the iPad is not seen as a serious computing device by many. Sure, it fits the casuals fine which is why it's been successful, but it's not everyone. WRT the keyboard, I personally don't find laptops all that suited to actually using on your lap for extended typing or anything like that. A tablet makes more sense for casual, relaxed use. The keyboard is there for ergonomic use at a desk. Perhaps it will work fine on your lap when sitting upright, hopefully it does, but I don't really see that as a big advantage over a normal tablet personally.
No need to guess, it's 16:9 aspect while the iPad is 4:3. I'm not a big fan of 16:9 for mobile devices but at least the screens are fairly high resolution, so there should be enough screen space for productivity. For media, Surface will clearly be at an advantage over 4:3 devices. I personally prefer 16:10, but I also underestimate how much most people really hate the "black bars" when viewing videos/movies. My friend that used to work at a Sony store recently told me it was pretty much the most common complaint "why are those black bars there! How do i get it to fill the screen". This was on both non 16:9 devices and 16:9 devices viewing 2.35:1 movies. I'd still rather the extra vertical space for productivity and web/text viewing, but that's me.
Laptops have been renamed notebooks and you aren't supposed to officially put them on your lap. It was a legal maneuver due to Dell CPUs overheating, and Sony's exploding battery burning people. They concluded users were using their "notebook" computers incorrectly on their laps.
Apparently the wifi signals coming from your laptop can fry your nuts, best to use it on a table I've heard. I'm I'm on the sofa I'll use my laptop unless I want to do something my iPad doesn't. I don't even use my. Laptop at work anymore. I have my iPad next to me and I use my pc for YouTube viewing
Total propaganda. Apple hasn't prevented the use of a stylus with the iPad. They've been around since the original iPad launched. The sad truth for Microsoft is that keyboards and a stylus don't differentiate their product at all, and yet that's what they're focusing on like it's the primary sales tool. I'm sure you've heard of Wacom... http://youtu.be/WcexLVa_JN0
I've used a stylus on certain phones but never tablets. I find them unnecessary but I've never had to do anything that required one. My fingers have been good enough and I don't find a stylus all that accurate anyway. When people say a stylus is required for tasks fingers cannot do I'm reminded of this: http://youtu.be/8DtbPOXFk00
You ever tried drawing a decent picture on Draw Something with your fat finger? It's impossible. I'll admit that on a phone, a stylus is more of a hassle than anything else. But on a tablet, it's much more useful. Just like a hardware keyboard over an onscreen one.
Yet this tablet already comes with these devices and uses your current software that everyone is familiar with and is very powerful and flexible. What differentiates their product is that there is basically no transition between your desktop computer and your tablet device. No compromise, no adapting, no modding or after-market devices needed to be purchased, just a unified experience.
I play draw something all the time, but not on my phone like a chump. I play on my iPad. I drew this masterpiece with my fingers:
The fact that MS split their two tablets between ARM and an Intel Core i5 should be an obvious giveaway that there are going to be compromises, i.e., the ARM version isn't really going to run the high-end Windows legacy applications well enough vs. an ultra book chip set. And if you're really focused on those high-end legacy apps for mobile, why use them on a 10.6" screen? Just get an ultra book.