New Tablet manufactured by Microsoft - 'Surface'

New Tablet manufactured by Microsoft - 'Surface'

Author
Discussion

Anubis

1,029 posts

178 months

Tuesday 19th June 2012
quotequote all
davepoth said:
It'll tank. It's a commodity operating system on commodity hardware
I remember not long ago that a certain Mr Jobs stood up on a stage an announced a device called the "iPad".

The media didn't really know what to make of it - it was either going to be a hit or miss product. A lot of folk jumped on the bandwagon without giving it a chance by repeating it was "just a big iPod Touch"...how wrong could they have been.

I'm pretty sure the majority that were saying the iPad was a flawed product (not a laptop or a desktop - what's it for? Why would you buy one?), now have one. It's a funny old world.

Personally I think Microsoft have got this bang on and it will sell like hot cakes. Those that wait for the "next big launch" of iPads may now hold back and seriously consider Microsofts offering.

I can also see businesses picking them up as the x86 version if the real deal full fat operating system. That means you can have "full fat" apps on your PC, laptop and tablet without various watered down versions. I'm not saying the iOS software is lacking - it's a fantastic operating system, however it is still a mobile operating system.

Apple, Android, Microsoft - who cares. All I know is that the bars keep being raised and competition is good for everyone. Without Microsoft upping their game (and they have with W8), it means the market leader gets a little lazy and doesn't offer any 'wow' factor people expect and want.

This also sits right in the middle of both a tablet and laptop and works like both perfectly well. That's why Microsoft developed Windows 8 as either keyboard or touch - makes sense now. wink

I'm certainly going to buy one. smile


KaraK

13,177 posts

208 months

Tuesday 19th June 2012
quotequote all
From what I've seen so far I'm very impressed - seems to offer the best of both worlds IMO. To be honest if they can keep the price of the i5 version below £1000 it'll probably replace my laptop AND my tablet in one fell swoop.

Real productivity with casual tablet convienience in one package? Sign me up!


freecar

4,249 posts

186 months

Tuesday 19th June 2012
quotequote all
The tegra should be $400-600 and the I5 $800-1000

Unless techradar got their guesses/info wrong.

Podie

46,630 posts

274 months

Tuesday 19th June 2012
quotequote all
It looks more like it's trying to find a niche between a laptop and a tablet. It appears that it might be workable at a desk with the keyboard and a mouse, then pop off to a meeting and use the tablet part to carry on.

Saw a demo at MS a while back, but I'd be interested to get hold of one.

ReaperCushions

5,949 posts

183 months

Tuesday 19th June 2012
quotequote all
KaraK said:
Real productivity with casual tablet convienience in one package? Sign me up!
Couldnt agree more, if this can cross the bridge between the two areas then they are on to a winner.


TheHeretic

73,668 posts

254 months

Tuesday 19th June 2012
quotequote all
Anubis said:
I remember not long ago that a certain Mr Jobs stood up on a stage an announced a device called the "iPad".

The media didn't really know what to make of it - it was either going to be a hit or miss product. A lot of folk jumped on the bandwagon without giving it a chance by repeating it was "just a big iPod Touch"...how wrong could they have been.

I'm pretty sure the majority that were saying the iPad was a flawed product (not a laptop or a desktop - what's it for? Why would you buy one?), now have one. It's a funny old world.

Personally I think Microsoft have got this bang on and it will sell like hot cakes. Those that wait for the "next big launch" of iPads may now hold back and seriously consider Microsofts offering.

I can also see businesses picking them up as the x86 version if the real deal full fat operating system. That means you can have "full fat" apps on your PC, laptop and tablet without various watered down versions. I'm not saying the iOS software is lacking - it's a fantastic operating system, however it is still a mobile operating system.

Apple, Android, Microsoft - who cares. All I know is that the bars keep being raised and competition is good for everyone. Without Microsoft upping their game (and they have with W8), it means the market leader gets a little lazy and doesn't offer any 'wow' factor people expect and want.

This also sits right in the middle of both a tablet and laptop and works like both perfectly well. That's why Microsoft developed Windows 8 as either keyboard or touch - makes sense now. wink

I'm certainly going to buy one. smile
clap I think the best thing Microsoft could do would be to enter the market itself, and make a good quality product. Many people would like a tablet AND full OS on a tablet type device, even if it was more expensive. I know an iOS and OSX device would be very nice indeed, but it would also be silly expensive. Whether the tech is there to do that I'm not sure.

Either way, I am very happy we seem to have been launched into some proper star trek, sci-fi tech gizmos these last 10 years or so. It's good for the consumer, it is good for the corporations. My little MacBook air, and my main computer are seldom used nowadays, and they are confined to a room upstairs doi g mundane tormenting, and transcoding type tasks, the poor little puppets. It looks like Microsoft and apple seem to be heading in somewhat similar directions, although from different angles. Interesting times ahead. With Microsoft stores opening up, I can see microsoft branded tablets being an inviting option as they have the same walk in, genius style setup that apple has, and it seems to be appreciated.

Oakey

27,523 posts

215 months

Tuesday 19th June 2012
quotequote all
Keyboard in the cover is a great idea, does this exist for existing tablets yet?

I also predict the flap on the back will go tits hehe

TheHeretic

73,668 posts

254 months

Tuesday 19th June 2012
quotequote all
Oakey said:
Keyboard in the cover is a great idea, does this exist for existing tablets yet?

I also predict the flap on the back will go tits hehe
There are, but none that seem so thin, (or ZX81 for that matter).

thehawk

9,335 posts

206 months

Tuesday 19th June 2012
quotequote all
I think it's a bit of a fail, the techie people and MS fans will no doubt salivate but I think it just looks nasty. Those cheap rubber keyboard covers look terrible on the iPad (think Logitech make one)

I'm no analyst paid millions of bucks, but this will go the way of Zune and Windows Phone.

As for corporates buying this sort of tech - well that's not really a good market to rely on as we move towards BYOD or consumer choice of devices.




Podie

46,630 posts

274 months

Tuesday 19th June 2012
quotequote all
thehawk said:
As for corporates buying this sort of tech - well that's not really a good market to rely on as we move towards BYOD or consumer choice of devices.
You say that, but only today one of our users complained PowerPoint docs transferred to the iPad were a pain to work on.

JDRoest

1,126 posts

149 months

Tuesday 19th June 2012
quotequote all
Anubis said:
I remember not long ago that a certain Mr Jobs stood up on a stage an announced a device called the "iPad".
That was then, this is now. We're close to 100m iPads in the game today and the market is very different.

thehawk

9,335 posts

206 months

Tuesday 19th June 2012
quotequote all
Podie said:
You say that, but only today one of our users complained PowerPoint docs transferred to the iPad were a pain to work on.
Yes, a well known problem, but the upcoming MS Office for iPad should alleviate that

TheHeretic

73,668 posts

254 months

Tuesday 19th June 2012
quotequote all
thehawk said:
Yes, a well known problem, but the upcoming MS Office for iPad should alleviate that
Friend a mine uses 'Smart office 2', and he does his presentations using that.

thehawk

9,335 posts

206 months

Tuesday 19th June 2012
quotequote all
Podie said:
You say that, but only today one of our users complained PowerPoint docs transferred to the iPad were a pain to work on.
Yes, a well known problem, but the upcoming MS Office for iPad should alleviate that

Podie

46,630 posts

274 months

Tuesday 19th June 2012
quotequote all
TheHeretic said:
thehawk said:
Yes, a well known problem, but the upcoming MS Office for iPad should alleviate that
Friend a mine uses 'Smart office 2', and he does his presentations using that.
I think SmartArt was the issue...

Podie

46,630 posts

274 months

Tuesday 19th June 2012
quotequote all
thehawk said:
Podie said:
You say that, but only today one of our users complained PowerPoint docs transferred to the iPad were a pain to work on.
Yes, a well known problem, but the upcoming MS Office for iPad should alleviate that
Spoken to a few MS bods... has it been officially confirmed yet?

RobDickinson

31,343 posts

253 months

Tuesday 19th June 2012
quotequote all
JDRoest said:
Anubis said:
I remember not long ago that a certain Mr Jobs stood up on a stage an announced a device called the "iPad".
That was then, this is now. We're close to 100m iPads in the game today and the market is very different.
Yep and in a matter of days android tablets will have more market share.

The tablet market is still tinny to what it will be and very fluid.

Podie

46,630 posts

274 months

Tuesday 19th June 2012
quotequote all
I seem to recall someone trotting out a stat at a conference that tablets had outsold laptops in the last quarter.

AnotherClarkey

3,589 posts

188 months

Tuesday 19th June 2012
quotequote all
Bring it on, looks like an ideal replacement for my iPad 1. If it is as good to use as windows phone 7 it will be way ahead of Apple for my purposes.

HeatonNorris

1,649 posts

147 months

Tuesday 19th June 2012
quotequote all
RobDickinson said:
Yep and in a matter of days android tablets will have more market share.

The tablet market is still tinny to what it will be and very fluid.
But the Android market is very fractured and incredibly frustrating. Android is largely an unfinished product that isn't ready (even now) for mainstream release - and many tablet manufacturers are putting increasingly bloated versions of Android on under-powered hardware to steal a march on the competition. This is all before you start looking at app stores.

If MS get this right, both they and Apple will dominate the market for years to come.