So Microsoft made a laptop - Surface Pro 4 / Surface Book

Simon

Microsoft definitely seem to be undergoing a revival and are coming out with some cool tech. It's good to see them turning things around and keeping Apple honest.

The holo-lens looks fantastic - much better than full VR headsets by providing augmented reality instead (imagine 3D Minecraft projected on a table or aliens running round your living room to shoot at).

More practical though is the update to the Surface tablet and the surprise release, the surface book laptop / tablet. Yeah, it's confusing - one is a tablet that becomes a laptop and the other is a laptop that becomes a tablet.

I promised our eldest a laptop for his high-school graduation and to use now he's starting university and took him to the Apple store a few months ago but the MacBooks I was leaning towards weren't available at the time. On the way back to the car we went in to the Microsoft Store (yeah, they exist!) and after trying out the Surface Pro 3 he preferred it. It makes sense for school work with Office etc... and the pen to take notes. But the revamped version was due soon out so we decided to hold off ...

The new Pro 4 is now out and uses the latest Intel M or i5/i7 Skylake processors so get's a +30% speed boost and better batter life plus it's thinner, lighter, has a better screen, better keyboard cover and pen. All better all round. Yes, that is definitely the one we should get ...

http://www.techradar.com/us/reviews/pc-mac/tablets/microsoft-surface-pro-4-1290285/review

... but what about the Surface Book? It's looks freakin awesome! I never thought I'd ever be wow'd by a Windows laptop again but it has some seriously clever tech in a really nice package. Having a full Nvidia GPU in the base + big battery is great but you still get a large and powerful but light and thin tablet with full i5/i7 CPU and 6k display. The keyboard and trackpad look really nice and rival those on Apple's MacBooks.

My only reservations ...

That hinge! Yes, it's clever ... but it doesn't fold fully flat!!! Don't they know that will drive OCD people insane?!?!

They also haven't revealed exactly which spec GPU it is. If it's a 950m or greater it's probably pretty good but the fact they are not telling is concerning. It's probably custom.

And the last thing is ... the price. OMG, that thing is expensive. The weak Canadian Tire Dollar doesn't help but how did an Apple MacBook suddenly look like the "cheap option" and great value? What's happening?!

http://www.techradar.com/us/reviews/pc-mac/laptops-portable-pcs/laptops-and-netbooks/microsoft-surface-book-1306306/review

Oh, and the irony - the Microsoft Pen has an eraser but the Apple Pencil for the iPad Pro doesn't.

Simon

Clever ...

But I'm not sure I could stand that 'gap':

JWdaughter

I do product testing(user experience) for MS sometimes and have been excited to see the improvements to Surface. Best thing, they listen to every dumb, side, hmmm kind of comment. Every thought as you are using it and how it could be better. They are awesomely curious about how to make things better. Write and tell them every thought you have on it. They are paying attention.

Simon

They do seem to be getting better. I tried to leave lots of feedback on the Windows Insider program for Windows 10 and they did seem more responsive to feedback overall.

I still think some things are "wrong" in Windows 10 - like the 2nd closest thing on the Start Menu is Shut Down. Really, the most common thing you will want to do is switch your PC off? That should be further away.

At least they brought the Start Menu back though and tried to fix the incredible stupid that was Windows 8. Windows 10 seems fairly good but for development I'm pretty much Mac / Linux these days.

RobertT18

Thought of buying a Surface book for software dev and some Illustrator/Photoshop stuff but when I saw the price, it was too much. I think I'm going to wait a bit. I'm really looking forward to the Microsoft Band 2. Time for a second job, more reasons to skip the meetings lol 😈

username

Windows 10 is awesome, be aware of your privacy though! When first time install, don't just click on automatic install. Click on advanced install. clicking on automatic install will not protect your privacy. Microsoft can collect data on everything you do, including keystroke data!

I had the first generation surface tablet, it had windows 8 RT, absolutely hated it, but it does look like Microsoft are now getting into the game a little more by listening to customer feedback.

I have just ordered the Ipad air 2 and hoping I have better luck with this one. So far I have had 5 tablets in the space of two years, non of them I liked. The last one I had was the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1, Samsung's build quality is shocking, the thing fell to pieces so I have vowed I will never buy another Samsung product again!

For my phone I will probably stick with HTC ONE, the build quality is pretty awesome with it's metal unibody, and it is surprisingly durable. There is a video on Youtube where they tested the HTC ONE M8 by placing it in water for 30 minutes. It emerged still fully functional, and the glass screen is extremely tough too.

OMG! Can't you tell I'm a bit of a techy

The Rebel

Well I am a simple man. The truth is I always thought my IPad was a computer. Anyway the way I look at it is, I don't need to dress better, my 4 year old IPad gives me all I need.

funny thing was my 10 year old kid gave me 20 reasons why he needed a computer on his Xmas wish list ( I have bought him the computer he wanted, but he doesn't really need it) The Xmas present he will treasure is a leather bound paper blank with me finding the time most days,to fill the pages by telling him all the love he has given me, and how much he means to me.

The Rebel.

Simon

Windows 10 is awesome, be aware of your privacy though! When first time install, don't just click on automatic install. Click on advanced install. clicking on automatic install will not protect your privacy. Microsoft can collect data on everything you do, including keystroke data!

Yeah, the small light blue text on a blue background. I noticed that ... just. Unfortunately Microsoft just can't help being Microsoft.

Windows RT was a mess but they got past it. One of the things I dislike is that they don't seem to consider brand loyalty when making customers pay for their mistakes. At a certain point you get burnt enough that it takes a while for any trust to come back.

Like the XBox One Kinect. Effectively dead and discarded but cost early adopters a lot and nothing to make up for it (they should have given a free year of XBox live or something). Then they stopped offering a family XBox live account, expecting individual accounts for everyone ... guess what, we kind of stopped playing as much.

iPad's seem pretty solid if everything you want to do can be done with one. We still have a Galaxy Tab 10.1 ye-olde version updated with Cyanogen and it runs fairly well ... enough for browsing while watching TV and, ehem, Candy Crush (hangs head in shame).

I have a Galaxy S3 phone with cracked case. Yeah, I look at a lot of tech now and chose to have the money instead. We also get to the point where newer versions are just refinements - there are fewer dramatic leaps forward that mandate upgrades as often. Once your phone is higher res than your eyes can see, why do you need an even higher res screen for instance?

jws

Windows with hardware. Only a matter of time before their OS will only do certain things on their hardware. And eventually, perhaps, only run on their hardware.

Of course there are hacks, but Apple does do that too. Try installing Mac OS on any old desktop or laptop. They probably say it's a quality issue. To make sure you have the right specs to do the OS justice. But we really know it's a profit motive. Selling both the OS and hardware at incredibly steep prices.

Which, if you ask me, was the thing that let the PC get it's advantage over Apple over 30 years ago. Sure, the IBM PC had great advantages. Even little things like 80 columns like a sheet of paper or upper and lower case. But, IMO, one of the biggest breakthroughs was the clones. Run your OS anywhere. We'll see where Microsoft is headed. It's not beyond them to put in things that give them the advantage. If I'm not mistaken, it's happened with software before. Their developers know about hidden functions to make their software do more, make coding easier, or make their stuff work faster.

The more fingers they get into the pie, the less I trust them.

Simon

Yes, what made the PC and Microsoft was the clean-room BIOS implementation that allowed non-IBM clones to be manufactured. I don't think they will ever go back to a single supplier model - regardless of the hype they still have the overwhelming share of the computing market, just not mobile computing (tablet + phones).

Having complete control of the whole thing lets you optimize the software more for the platform which is the advantage Apple have - not having to support all those different systems and drivers.

But the diversity of the Windows ecosystem is what makes it powerful and I doubt MS would jeopardize that (I wonder how many partners their Surface Book pissed off though?). Really though, they are premium products at a high price and I don't think many PC manufacturers are competing in that space. This is aimed at Apple buyers.

So Microsoft made a laptop - Surface Pro 4 / Surface Book

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