Blockbuster Microsoft Pad announcement?

[Reach9]

Thick as a brick. Lots of holes. Stylus. Kickstand? LOL?

This doesn't look like competition for the iPad.

http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/screen shot 2012-06-18 at 7.41.18 pm_orig.png

"Full Desktop PC."

So is it both PC and tablet? So it's like an ASUS Transformer?

Very wrong.

This might actually be the biggest competitor to the iPad, depending on the price.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/18/3094157/new-microsoft-surface-windows-tablet

i love the "smartcover"-like keyboard, this is exactly what I wanted when the iPad 2 came out.
Windows 8 is great too, so I am impressed by Microsoft.

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It's a slate

yeah but i don't think anyone uses that word to describe a tablet now, it's very old-like for a future-like tablet computer.

I like what Microsoft has done with Surface and this is really great.

 

[DingleButt]

Thick as a brick. Lots of holes. Stylus. Kickstand? LOL?

This doesn't look like competition for the iPad.

http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/screen shot 2012-06-18 at 7.41.18 pm_orig.png

"Full Desktop PC."

So is it both PC and tablet? So it's like an ASUS Transformer?

Fail. The regular ARM version is thinner than the iPad 3 buddy (9.3mm vs 9.4mm). These things look slick.

 

[derbladerunner]

Very wrong.
This might actually be the biggest competitor to the iPad, depending on the price.

I agree, could be a serious iPad competitor, it all depends on the price and availability before the holidays 2012.

The "cheaper" version with Windows RT should be (quoted from Verge) similar to other ARM tablets:

Surface for Windows RT will cost similar to other ARM-tablets.

But many other important questions remain unanswered:

- How will it integrate with XBox (SmartGlass) and Zune/Media?
- How good will the digital ink work?
...

Looks like Microsoft isn't ready to go into details yet before Win8 launches.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

I agree, could be a serious iPad competitor, it all depends on the price and availability before the holidays 2012.

The "cheaper" version with Windows RT should be (quoted from Verge) similar to other ARM tablets:



But many other important questions remain unanswered:

- How will it integrate with XBox (SmartGlass) and Zune/Media?
- How good will the digital ink work?
...

Looks like Microsoft isn't ready to go into details yet before Win8 launches.

Digital Ink is supposed to be fantastic on a Windows 7 tablet. I'd assume it's at least as good, if not better. My guess is that it'll integrate 100% with the xbox, as SmartGlass is just an app, not anything hardware.

 

[Reach9]

Digital Ink is supposed to be fantastic on a Windows 7 tablet. I'd assume it's at least as good, if not better. My guess is that it'll integrate 100% with the xbox, as SmartGlass is just an app, not anything hardware.

Agreed.

This just might be a hit in college and enterprise especially. The only thing that Microsoft is lacking is good mobile ......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8To-6VIJZRE

 

[0000757]

Looks great.


Might be getting this instead of an iPad.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Looks solid on stage. Price and real world use will be the defining factors of course. The keyboard cover coupled w/the kickstand looks very good. I've seen a number of people using iPads that have cases with built in keyboards to get this exact effect. Fast, accurate text entry is a sticking point w/tablet devices and MS, of all companies, just might have rolled out a very elegant solution.

If these work like they are supposed to they look the perfect blend of tablet and laptop.

 

[Jessica Lares]

Wow... I'm really surprised by all the positive comments about a Microsoft product on an Apple message board. It just goes to show you that slapping a higher amount of pixels into the same screen size and a computer you can talk to isn't all what it's about anymore. It's about giving the user the things they already have and making it better in a decade where technology is used much differently.

As for the price... People like to say that the iPad is decently priced, but how many of you have spent $100 or more on the apps for it? I know I have probably bought $50 worth of iPhone apps this year. Probably the same on the Mac App Store for the $1,000+ MacBook Pro I just bought. If the Surface is just priced a little bit more, at least I get really nice apps for free that I would be shelling out $4.99+ on an iPad.

 

[derbladerunner]

Digital Ink is supposed to be fantastic on a Windows 7 tablet. I'd assume it's at least as good, if not better. My guess is that it'll integrate 100% with the xbox, as SmartGlass is just an app, not anything hardware.

I just read the digital ink is only included in the more expensive Intel version:

The unit will come in both an Intel version running Windows 8 or an ARM variant running Windows RT. The Intel version is slighly thicker and heavier at 13.5mm and 1.9lb compared with 1.5lbs and 9.3mm for the ARM version. The Intel unit will also support a dual digitiser setup that supports both touch and Digital Ink with an active pen and also USB 3.0.

http://the-gadgeteer.com/2012/06/18/microsoft-surface-the-cure-all-tablet/

You are right about SmartGlass, this is only an app, so it should work fine on Surface tablets.