Blogs get hands on with the Microsoft Surface Pro at CES (Early Reviews)

[MuffCabbage]

http://www.techradar.com/us/reviews/pc-mac/tablets/microsoft-surface-pro-1123800/review

Not sure why they say its VGA though and lets hope its the 7W Core i5

ZDNets Simon Bisson as well.
http://www.zdnet.com/hands-on-with-microsofts-surface-pro-7000009572/

Tom Warren @ The Verge
http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/9/3857076/microsoft-surface-pro-in-depth-impressions

David Pogue @ NYT
"for now, it looks as if the Surface Pro is, conceptually and practically, a home run"
http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/microsofts-surface-pro-tablet-changes-the-game/

 

[mattopotamus]

The surface pro was a good idea, but many other companies already make the tablet/laptop combos with double the battery life =/

 

[Liquorpuki]

I like what was said about the perimeter venting. The heat was a concern of mine, especially after hearing how the Transformer Book ran hot. The stylus seems well-designed too.

Those other tablet/laptop combos have no marketing push behind them. MS is in the software business so they don't care if people buy OEM hybrids instead of the Surface Pro. As long as the hybrids are running Windows 8, they win and make $$$. From a $$$ making perspective - that Surface Pro is more important as a branding tool to elevate the Windows 8 brand than it is as a standalone product.

 

[Liquorpuki]

Impressions from the Verge

http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/9/3857076/microsoft-surface-pro-in-depth-impressions

 

[spinedoc77]

Man, that makes me want it that much more, truly a work of art. I'm on a Lenovo win8 tablet right now, the cloverfield kind, but I may just have to jump ship.

 

[ReanimationN]

Looks very, very nice. I hope MS is doing all they can software-wise to extend its battery life. I'm going to get one and sell it next year for the Haswell version.

 

[Liquorpuki]

Engadget and Gizmodo also had good things to say about the device. Engadget verified it's using a Wacom digitizer. Gizmodo said they were playing Bulletstorm on it

 

[Faux Carnival]

Thinner, lighter, cheaper than Macbook Air. With great cameras, great screen.

 

[TheHateMachine]

My only gripe is how the pen now sits on the magnetic port instead of hiding in the body. Kinda "kludgedy" to have that pen on the side covering the charging port all the time. All the old promotional renders had a circular area that led me to believe the pen went into the body of the device. Oh well...

I honestly am really confused. I had originally planned to pass my Surface RT to my mother and pick up a Surface Pro. I wanted to run some games and after testing them out on my Elitebook with its 8GB of ram and a Mobile i5 with HD 3000, I was pleased with the performance. So naturally the Surface with its even better internals (Save for ram amount) would have been a perfect fit.

Then I see the latest announcement for the Razer Fiona now called the Razer Edge. Even though I will pay more, the kit will be plastic, the cover and keyboard/trackpad solution is not as ideal and cool as the Surface and the res is lower. It does come with a GT 640M LE that will make my games look even better, more memory, a better proc and way more storage. So I kind of changed my mind but after seeing The Verge review on the Surface Pro I am really at a crossroads here. I do not know which one to buy now!

Maybe I should just buy both.

 

[cnev3]

At just about $1000 after tax, the Surface Pro will be a very niche item, at best.

Even if it smoked the iPad in every which way, there just arent enough people who are willing to drop a grand on a tablet. Low sales volume means low 3rd party developer support, and that definitely wont help people cope with the price tag.

 

[SlCKB0Y]

Thinner, lighter, cheaper than Macbook Air. With great cameras, great screen.

It's heavier and thicker with the type keyboard.... which would be the honest way to make the comparison. You are honest.. aren't you?

----------

Engadget verified it's using a Wacom digitizer.

Got a link for that? All the sources I've read have stated it isn't Wacom technology.

 

[GoSh4rks]

Low sales volume means low 3rd party developer support, and that definitely wont help people cope with the price tag.

Huh? This comment makes no sense. The entire point of the Surface Pro is that you don't need additional developer support.

 

[SlCKB0Y]

The entire point of the Surface Pro is that you don't need additional developer support.

Unless they are talking about WinRT apps....

 

[Technarchy]

At just about $1000 after tax, the Surface Pro will be a very niche item, at best.

Even if it smoked the iPad in every which way, there just arent enough people who are willing to drop a grand on a tablet. Low sales volume means low 3rd party developer support, and that definitely wont help people cope with the price tag.

I think the days of trying to consider the Surface a tablet, or iPad competitor have passed.

It's more akin to an Ultrabook or Macbook Air, especially the Pro model.

I am on Windows 8 now with a Logitech track pad, and overall, I still think it's missing something when compared to the ease and stability of iOS. I also have a Macbook Air, and I think OSX is generally the better all around OS.

 

[Irishman]

At just about $1000 after tax, the Surface Pro will be a very niche item, at best.

Even if it smoked the iPad in every which way, there just arent enough people who are willing to drop a grand on a tablet. Low sales volume means low 3rd party developer support, and that definitely wont help people cope with the price tag.

Yeah, I think what we're going to see is that the early adopters who have been chomping at the bit for a chance to buy THIS tablet, about half of them will actually go buy one, and the other half will look at their bank account, look at the Pro again and say to themselves "well, I didn't know you wanted me to pay THAT much for it".

And they'll pass. And consumers at-large will, too.

Enterprise? How well it does there depends totally on what kind of deals MS gives their buyers for buying more than one.

 

[Liquorpuki]

Got a link for that? All the sources I've read have stated it isn't Wacom technology.

From Dana Wollman's Engadget article:
The screen, which makes use of modified Wacom technology, is also smart enough that if you run the pen across the screen without applying any pressure no marks will show up;

In the comments section:
JoeChan 2 days ago
Has it been verified that the digitizer is a Wacom?
DanaWollman moderator2 days ago
@JoeChan Was told it's making use of Wacom technology, but that it's been modified in some unspecified way.

----

I'm assuming Engadget knows Wacom tech = proprietary, but I guess it's still a little ambiguous

 

[TheHateMachine]

Low sales volume means low 3rd party developer support, and that definitely wont help people cope with the price tag.

This is just silly. Developers writing 3rd party apps for the Windows Store will be available on any Windows 8 Machine, not just the Surface. There is a very large audience to target when developing for the Windows Store.

Let's not forget about the millions of legacy programs out there that if run on Windows 7 properly will be able to run on Windows 8. Oh yea and a very huge library of existing and new games for Windows. There is no shortage of software for the Surface Pro.

----------

It's heavier and thicker with the type keyboard.... which would be the honest way to make the comparison. You are honest.. aren't you?

----------



Got a link for that? All the sources I've read have stated it isn't Wacom technology.

Too many people seem to miss the measurements when comparing to the air. Just for information sake here they are.

Surface Pro
10.81 x 6.81 x 0.76 w/type 2.55 lbs
10.81 x 6.81 x 0.65 w/touch 2.46 lbs

Macbook Air
11.80 x 7.56 x 0.68 2.38 lbs

Also as for the Wacom tech I remember reading about it in either a MS Blog or it was said in that Reddit AMA. Also as some pointed out in these reviews it was stated to be a modified Wacom digitizer. If i had links on the blogs or AMA I would post them but I do not have time at the moment to look them up.

 

[Liquorpuki]

Then I see the latest announcement for the Razer Fiona now called the Razer Edge. Even though I will pay more, the kit will be plastic, the cover and keyboard/trackpad solution is not as ideal and cool as the Surface and the res is lower. It does come with a GT 640M LE that will make my games look even better, more memory, a better proc and way more storage. So I kind of changed my mind but after seeing The Verge review on the Surface Pro I am really at a crossroads here. I do not know which one to buy now!

Maybe I should just buy both.

I was looking at the Razer but then you lose the pen + digitizer, plus the discrete GPU drops battery life and I'm pretty sure will make that thing run really hot. I'm planning to use OneNote a lot so I need the digitizer. If you're buying it primarily to game, it'll be chained to a keyboard/mouse and plugged in most of the time so I almost think a gaming laptop has better value. Those analog attachments are kinda interesting though.

 

[MuffCabbage]

Paul Thurrot says battery life will be a bit over 5hrs from his source.

Sent from my 8X using Board Express

 

[TheHateMachine]

I was looking at the Razer but then you lose the pen + digitizer, plus the discrete GPU drops battery life and I'm pretty sure will make that thing run really hot. I'm planning to use OneNote a lot so I need the digitizer. If you're buying it primarily to game, it'll be chained to a keyboard/mouse and plugged in most of the time so I almost think a gaming laptop has better value. Those analog attachments are kinda interesting though.

Yea, I thought about a gaming laptop but none of them are as portable nor do they have a touch screen. My Killer device would be 10 inches, made of metal, have a touch screen, either a detachable keyboard or one that folded backwards/converted, 1080p, a 640M+, 8 GB of RAM, atleast an i5+ and 4 Hours of battery would be enough for me.

 

[cnev3]

This is just silly. Developers writing 3rd party apps for the Windows Store will be available on any Windows 8 Machine, not just the Surface. There is a very large audience to target when developing for the Windows Store.

You're assuming that because they run on the same OS, that the Surface is going to have a big library of great apps, but everyone knows the best tablet apps are ones that are designed to utilize the features and purpose of the tablet, same with the desktop, and it's environment. Nobody wants half assed ports.

Anyways, I got burned on the Zune HD, ASSUMING that a big library of great apps would come, and it never did.

You can say it will be different this time around, because of the shared OS, but i'm taking a "believe it when I see it" attitude. Once bitten, twice shy. Fool me once, shame on me.

 

[identity]

You're assuming that because they run on the same OS, that the Surface is going to have a big library of great apps, but everyone knows the best tablet apps are ones that are designed to utilize the features and purpose of the tablet, same with the desktop, and it's environment. Nobody wants half assed ports.

Anyways, I got burned on the Zune HD, ASSUMING that a big library of great apps would come, and it never did.

You can say it will be different this time around, because of the shared OS, but i'm taking a "believe it when I see it" attitude. Once bitten, twice shy. Fool me once, shame on me.

The Surface Pro runs x86 which means any programs that is on your laptop can be run on the Surface Pro as well. The Surface Pro does not run the RT apps since the RT is an ARM chip and there is no point in running RT apps in the first place when the Pro has the full desktop apps already.

 

[MuffCabbage]

Surface Pro runs RT apps because the RT apps are also compiled for x86 in the store. So you get the new Metro apps as well as old x86 programs. Since the Surface has the detachable keyboards with trackpads and can take mice via USB or Bluetooth they all have their benefit.

Sent from my 8X using Board Express

 

[spinedoc77]

The Surface Pro runs x86 which means any programs that is on your laptop can be run on the Surface Pro as well. The Surface Pro does not run the RT apps since the RT is an ARM chip and there is no point in running RT apps in the first place when the Pro has the full desktop apps already.

Please educate yourself first before making assumptions.

Sure there is a point, sometimes the RT versions of programs may be more touch friendly than the desktop versions just to give one example. Personally I stay rather far away from the Metro/RT programs preferring the desktop versions on my tablet, but I can certainly see some consumers would prefer the "light" versions on a tablet.

Additionally I don't believe there are any RT only programs, I believe you can run them all under the Metro UI on any windows PC, although I am not 100% sure on this but I'm sure others will chime in. I think the only proprietary ones are the windows phone programs.

 

[mattopotamus]

I feel like the timing of the pro is way off too. Maybe 6 months...or even 3 months ago it would have been perfect. With haswell right around the corner, you are talking about 3x the battery life of the pro and all laptops being this tablet combo