Microsoft Surface going at it again?

[Folji]

So, Microsoft Surface, huh? I've only ever seen one for real, in an electronics store, and someone had left it with a Metro app search reading "this keyboard sucks", and all in all it doesn't really look like they caught on much! But now it looks like Microsoft's going at it again with a take 2 on the platform, at the same time as ASUS announces a new version of their Win 8 Transformer Book series, anyone out there who think those things might actually catch some air under their wings?

Biggest problem for Windows 8 when it comes to tablets, especially RT tablets, is that the app store just sucks. Biiiiiiiig time. I actually own an ACER tablet that runs Windows 8, but most of the time it's just left as the IM-while-gaming ultrabook since the selection of useful apps offered in the Metro store is so narrow you couldn't count it on one hand!

But I'm curious, anyone who think Microsoft's tablet dreams might still have some merit in them, that the existing mobile platforms might get some competitive edge from it? That they'll come to realise why Android, at least, offers ways for apps to be suitable on mobiles as well as tablets at the same time? Because it seems the biggest problem for Windows 8 as a tablet platform is the terrible app selection. Seriously. Call me one-sided and cynical, it's still terrible. But who knows, maybe it's still got a good shot at not being so terrible once it's had the needed time to grow! What do you people think, can it turn into something big?

 

[Esotera]

If they sell them at like £50 then people might start buying them en masse. But otherwise I can't see it becoming big - they've fragmented their platform with the ARM/X86 processors and there's just no reason to get this when you can get something on Android.

 

[DefunctTheory]

I have the Surface Pro 128GB. Love the thing. Plays Bioshock Infinite (On reduced settings) very well, runs all the programs I need, and does everything I want.

I also have the hard keyboard and the Microsoft wedge mouse (yah, I bought in hard). It all works increasingly fine. battery life is subpar, but I never use it while walking around. I just like having a full blown PC tablet that I can bust out whenever I want, where ever I want.

As for the future of the Surface... they need to suck it up and put an i3 into one. The i5 drives cost up and battery life down, and the i3 will work just fine.

Surface RT needs to be abandoned.

EDIT: Intel could really help out, too, by changing how they determine where to put their best on die video processors. Right now you need to get an i7 to get the good stuff - They need to figure out how to put it in an i3. I am aware of the technical difficulties (I know its not as easy and shoving it on the die. There's a reason the i7s have them and the i3s don't). But I think if they could increase video performance on the i3s, they'd be making a fantastic stride forward.

 

[Estelindis]

My friend has a Surface Pro and loves it. He let me test it out for a bit and I loved it too. For me, the touch-sensitive pen makes it stand out compared to the competition. I have always wanted a graphics tablet where I can draw on the screen rather than drawing on a separate surface (no pun intended) while looking up at a screen. (I've tried those types and can't get the "trick" of them down pat, even though I know at some level that it should be no different to "drawing" with a mouse.) However, they are expensive and I couldn't justify the cost. With the Surface Pro, though, I could have a tablet-laptop and the kind of graphics tab I want for roughly the price of one of those graphics tabs! I didn't buy one straight after I tried my friend's because I wanted to see if a new generation using Haswell would come out. Now that I hear this is going to be the case, I will save until I can afford a Surface Pro 2. Can't wait to have my very own.

 

[Hoplon]

EDIT: Intel could really help out, too, by changing how they determine where to put their best on die video processors. Right now you need to get an i7 to get the good stuff - They need to figure out how to put it in an i3. I am aware of the technical difficulties (I know its not as easy and shoving it on the die. There's a reason the i7s have them and the i3s don't). But I think if they could increase video performance on the i3s, they'd be making a fantastic stride forward.

Unfortunately that's why it's an i3 and not an i7, and why it pulls less power. You could totally have an i7 in there as long as you didn't mind a half hour battery life.

 

[Aerosteam]

You get used to the keyboard, trust me.

I don't really use the app store, only Internet stuffs... like posting on The Escapist forums.

 

[Folji]

I have the Surface Pro 128GB. Love the thing. Plays Bioshock Infinite (On reduced settings) very well, runs all the programs I need, and does everything I want.

I also have the hard keyboard and the Microsoft wedge mouse (yah, I bought in hard). It all works increasingly fine. battery life is subpar, but I never use it while walking around. I just like having a full blown PC tablet that I can bust out whenever I want, where ever I want.

As for the future of the Surface... they need to suck it up and put an i3 into one. The i5 drives cost up and battery life down, and the i3 will work just fine.

Surface RT needs to be abandoned.

EDIT: Intel could really help out, too, by changing how they determine where to put their best on die video processors. Right now you need to get an i7 to get the good stuff - They need to figure out how to put it in an i3. I am aware of the technical difficulties (I know its not as easy and shoving it on the die. There's a reason the i7s have them and the i3s don't). But I think if they could increase video performance on the i3s, they'd be making a fantastic stride forward.

If you're gonna be thinking mainly CPU cost and efficiency... hell, CPU and GPU efficiency as a joint thing, both Intel and Nvidia's stretch goals can make mobile platforms like what the Surface wants to be more and more feasible. Small-factor power and efficiency is pretty much the key word for both parties by the looks of it, what with the scaleability of the Kepler architecture Nvidia's been working on and the up and coming Broadwell CPU architecture from Intel, so the future prospects are kinda exciting! But even so a platform like a tablet is just getting drawbacks without many advantages for having a processor like that in an ultramobile device. Where are you even going to draw the advantage of that extra power?

But the biggest problem with the RT platform in general seems to plain well be the poor app selection. I mean, can anyone out there say they would recommend a Win 8 device purely based on the ability to use apps? I know I wouldn't, I'd tell them to just stuff the RT and go with an Android tablet instead.

 

[Frezzato]

I have the Surface Pro 128GB. Love the thing. Plays Bioshock Infinite (On reduced settings) very well, runs all the programs I need, and does everything I want.

I also have the hard keyboard and the Microsoft wedge mouse (yah, I bought in hard). It all works increasingly fine. battery life is subpar, but I never use it while walking around. I just like having a full blown PC tablet that I can bust out whenever I want, where ever I want.

As for the future of the Surface... they need to suck it up and put an i3 into one. The i5 drives cost up and battery life down, and the i3 will work just fine.

Surface RT needs to be abandoned.

EDIT: Intel could really help out, too, by changing how they determine where to put their best on die video processors. Right now you need to get an i7 to get the good stuff - They need to figure out how to put it in an i3. I am aware of the technical difficulties (I know its not as easy and shoving it on the die. There's a reason the i7s have them and the i3s don't). But I think if they could increase video performance on the i3s, they'd be making a fantastic stride forward.

Thanks for the balanced mini-review. No really, I mean it.

There's only one problem I have with the Surface, and that's the damned duplicate naming convention that Microsoft has going on. Defunct Zune media player, meet Zune Windows Phone docking software. Gigantic cocktail bar Surface novelty smart table, meet the Surface tablet. Or is it just me? What's next? Will they call the new controller for the Xbox One the '360'?

To avoid any low-content replies, I'll go ahead and say it's just me.