My iPad is Collecting Dust, Thinking Surface Pro 3

[booksbooks]

Yeah it just seems too large and impractical to replace a much lighter and more portable tablet like the iPad. That's probably why Microsoft is having a hard time selling these. It's priced like a Macbook Air but isn't as good a computer and is priced higher than the iPad, but is too heavy to be a real alternative. It seems they're stuck in a hard place right now. The Macbook Air 11 is already extremely light but is a full computer and similar in price. Were it in the $500-750 range, I think it would be far more valuable.

It's a good concept though and it might become lighter and more practical in the future I believe.

We all want things lighter. But the SP3 is the exact same weight as the first gen iPad, remember that device that you were all giddy over and all the Apple faithful ended up lining up for? The difference here is that it's a full computer. It's quite remarkable. 1.5 pounds without the keyboard. And with the keyboard about 2.4 pounds. A 13" MBA is 3 lbs. So let's cut the too heavy bit. Yes, it's heavier than an iPad Air. It's not as easy to toss around as an iPad Air. But what I love about it is how much bigger the screen is and it definitely serves the function of a tablet. Sitting at home on the couch, using it at the office in my chair...

 

[spinedoc77]

Thinking about this a bit more, and I have to say that in some respects, I disagree. Yes, Google could wholly on their own decide to make a better Chrome browser for Windows, however, that is not the strategy that they are pursuing (only Microsoft themselves have just recently decided to pursue all platforms nearly equally). What Microsoft needs to do, and I've been saying this since the release of Windows 8 and the very first Surface Pro, is to take their App store seriously themselves. They need to light a fire under developers using any means they can to fully build out their store so that it is not hovering in limbo the way it has been for years now. That will have a snowballing effect, where if the app store is growing, and developers see it as a serious platform, they will decide that they can't afford to ignore it. This is exactly what happened on iOS and why every major company has serious apps in that store. Microsoft is doing a lot of great stuff right now. The next step is to take their own app store seriously.

I agree with you on the developer side for sure. But I disagree in terms of Google. Chrome is very decent in iOS for example, with the caveat that it has to adhere to Apple's very binding rules. But Chrome for Modern windows is absolutely horrid, it's an atrocity that Google should be ashamed to put their name to. With the number of eyeballs that Microsoft has provided to Google over the years I find it very crappy for Google to pretty much disown them. In certain respects I would loosely opine that Google might not exist if it wasn't for the eyeballs Microsoft has provided.

 

[booksbooks]

I agree with you on the developer side for sure. But I disagree in terms of Google. Chrome is very decent in iOS for example, with the caveat that it has to adhere to Apple's very binding rules. But Chrome for Modern windows is absolutely horrid, it's an atrocity that Google should be ashamed to put their name to. With the number of eyeballs that Microsoft has provided to Google over the years I find it very crappy for Google to pretty much disown them. In certain respects I would loosely opine that Google might not exist if it wasn't for the eyeballs Microsoft has provided.

Google doesn't know how to build consumer software. Android is an exception but is a disgusting copy of iOS. At least MS did something totally unique with Windows 8. And in some aspects, it blows iOS away (multi-tasking).