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People kinda need to hold off being too excited for the Surface Book.
- Thread starter TechGod
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Erm it doesn't? Microsoft didn't announce what GPU they used and that obviously arouses suspicion. Don't get me wrong, I love the Surface Book I just wanted to say that not everything about is as amazing as Microsoft is claiming.
Btw, I've been trying to change the thread title and I don't know how.
Aha!
That meshes with something I noticed in a demo video I saw on the web. The person doing the demo pulled the screen off, and for a brief moment up popped a notification in the lower right corner that said something like 43% battery remaining, or 1.something hours of usage. I figured that just had to be a mistake. Maybe not.
Considering how many folks I see watching several iPad movies on long international flights, this will disappoint a lot of early adopters if true.
Yeah but the Surface Book offers quite a bit of configuration versatility--can flip the screen around so that the keyboard is away from the display or even prop it vertical like a tent (just like the Yoga line of devices and don't have to have the keyboard exposed facing down)--much nicer that having to hold it and no need for a custom case to hold it up for you.
I agree it's not a tablet first machine but I don't see it being used for extensive periods of time as a tablet. Three hours is plenty of time to cover things like sharing some information on the display with a customer or colleague, or even if you want to do something like take notes or sketch for an hour or two. Anyone looking to do stylus/pen based tasks for longer periods of time with any frequency will likely be drawn to the Surface Pro 4.
I like the larger size and thinner profile. I know it's not a lot, but I've always wanted a 14" pro and was bummed that rumor wasn't true.
I would rather go with the iPad pro over the surface 4. I want a tablet first.
The surface book piqued my interest, it's just disappointing regarding the battery life, to me any way.
What features does the iPad have over the Surface that make it a better option for you? While I agree, the SP4 is aimed at people who want to replace the laptop, I'm not sure how it would be inferior to the iPad especially given the hardware, software and OS its running.
I still say that the iPad does a better job of presenting a "pure" tablet experience. There's more consistency, and everything is tailored exclusively to its touch based interface, while the SP4 is still pretty heavily mix and match.
I'll not argue with that, but I think the SurfacePro computers offers more options and abilities.
I was in the Mass General hospital the other day for my daughter (nothing serious), the doctors carried around the Surface Pro 3 computers. We got to talking since he noticed my SP3 that I brought as well, and they were loving using the computer. They used it primarily in tablet mode and gave them so much freedom, yet allowed them to use the enterprise software to get their jobs done. Basically they were happy about it being a tablet but also love the fact it ran the apps they needed it too.
Yeah I highly disagree with this also, but we all have different needs and likes so this one is very very subjective, and with the caveat that I'm talking about win 8.1. There is no objective marker of what makes a tablet tabletable (yeah I know it's not a word). I can put my SP3 on win 8.1 into tablet mode and not have to fiddle with anything else non tablet. Although I think your point makes more sense with Windows 10 and all the tablet features which were cut, and the lack of tablet functionality which is a huge step backwards.
If anything I feel that Win 8.1 is MORE like a tablet than iOS. Things like charms bar, swiping through apps, etc make it much easier to drive the tablet with touch than digging through the settings. I also think modern IE11 is far superior to safari in tablet functionality, MS really really got it right with modern IE11. Of course the big caveat here is that Win 10 doesn't have the stuff I mention. When I get my SP4 the first thing I'm doing on it is installing win 8.1.
With all that I can definitely concede your point about the iPad being better as a tablet than a SP4 with windows 10. I'd NEVER trade off having full windows right at my fingertips, that's way too much of a sacrifice. But of course not all consumers think the same.
There are many more apps for the iPad than there are Windows apps for touch. In practice you (or at least I) often have to fall back to desktop mode if there is no suitable app, which is less than optimal with the touch screen. The iPad (talking about the Air 2, not the upcoming Pro) is also smaller and much lighter, and doesn't need a fan (at least on the Pro 3 it can get quite annoying, lets hope the 4 runs cooler).
Obviously the Surface Pro is significantly more powerful and can turn into a laptop replacement, but if you don't need that, the iPad has its advantages.
I guess I'm still torn a little. The ipad offers a great tablet experience, and laptops like macbooks, xps, etc are great at being laptops. I understand the thinking of converging the 2 but still so far I haven't seen one that does both really well. The surface is definitely cool, and looks like it's progressing in the right way. But if it's not an ideal tablet, and you can get productivity laptops that excel at what laptops do best, then maybe for now it's best to have separate devices, that can each give 10/10 experiences, vs 1 that gives 7-8/10.
If you want to strain your back like that, carrying 2 devices. But hey, we always have room for you if you need to get patched up.
It's probably a case by case issue, but I've usually found "apps" to be quite lacking in functionality versus desktop version. Especially now with how well scaling is in Win10 and how you can scale programs individually, the scaling makes a huge difference in using the desktop with touch. Using apps sometimes makes me feel like there is just one green GO button and one red STOP button and that's it, like we've made ourselves dumb.
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lol straining to carry a tablet n laptop? There are plenty of light laptops and tablets are barely anything in a bag.
Had a chance to check out the SP4 and Book in person while I got my SP3 replaced (firmware update hosed the ability to use external peripherals, they replaced it no questions asked).
Even though I'm going with the SP4 (I'm done with anything that weighs more than 2 lbs) I was very impressed with how thing, light and easy to handle the detached Book tablet was.
Even though I'm going with the SP4 (I'm done with anything that weighs more than 2 lbs) I was very impressed with how thing, light and easy to handle the detached Book tablet was.
Instead of "People" needing to hold off, apparently it's worried _Apple enthusiasts_ that are parsing words, specs, and speculation regarding performance and usefulness.
My Surface Book will arrive shortly.
Based on my fun, fast, and highly useful Surface Pro 3, I'm sure it'll compliment my various MacBooks quite nicely
My Surface Book will arrive shortly.
Based on my fun, fast, and highly useful Surface Pro 3, I'm sure it'll compliment my various MacBooks quite nicely
What a weird interpretation of what I said.Instead of "People" needing to hold off, apparently it's worried _Apple enthusiasts_ that are parsing words, specs, and speculation regarding performance and usefulness.
My Surface Book will arrive shortly.
Based on my fun, fast, and highly useful Surface Pro 3, I'm sure it'll compliment my various MacBooks quite nicely
I think there is a measure of wisdom in holding off. By jumping in now, the only facts you have to rely on are the ones that MS released. Like Apple Microsoft is only interested in providing positive marketing material.
There is value in seeing how it actually works in real life. The two questions I have is around the dGPU. MS has been cagey about what exactly it used inside the SurfaceBook and how well will that fulcrum hinge hold up under actual usage.
I really like the SurfaceBook but I'll hold off for a variety of reasons.
I couldn't agree more with your thoughts!
Yours is the voice of Reason ...
However in my particular case and with all due modesty, I can easily afford to take any risk that may present itself, and there may be many indeed. As a long time early adopter of all types of mobile tech, the pitfalls can be significant. Yet having worked long and hard to put myself in a position of easy affordability, buying new gear is both a fun endeavor not because I end up with the latest, but of far greater joy for me, is to have the first hand experience good or bad, that keeps me completely immersed in what I love rather just reading other's opinions.
So.. I'll roll the dice and see what comes up