Microsoft Surface tablet coming in two flavours

Nice tablet, but they really need to pull finger to build more Metro apps for the Windows RT version.
 
Their keyboard cover is a good idea. As for the rest, there's nothing interesting that would make me want to consider this instead of an iPad or a Transformer - if they're all similar in ability and price I would choose either Android or iOS.
 
The Intel one seems very nice. I will be picking one up as soon as they land in SA. Time to get rid of my bulky laptop, this will make a very very nice replacement.
 
Mouse said:
Their keyboard cover is a good idea. As for the rest, there's nothing interesting that would make me want to consider this instead of an iPad or a Transformer - if they're all similar in ability and price I would choose either Android or iOS.
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The Intel one would be like having a full on PC but on a tablet that can run all the programs and do all the work that your ultrabook can do. Not so much Windows RT with the ARM. I think this tablet (Intel version) is much more capable over the Ipad and Android devices.
 
Look nice.
But I don't like how they use the Surface brand, but non of it's cool tech
 
Yeah, it'll be interesting to see pricing. This has genuinely not yet been decided, I hear. Speculation is that it'll be at the higher end, to provide an umbrella for IHVs to still make a living. Also, MS faces pricing complexities others like Apple don't have: anti-trust, etc.

Because Win8 represents such a major milestone for MS (forget the UI, it's the most trivial of the engineering issues), there's been a lot of focus to do this at least half-way right. With some exceptions, past hardware attempts have been pretty unimpressive, as steveb said in the presentation. That's why they hired in a whole team of industry experts under Panos Panay.
 
still need to see the pricing... currently the Windows (7) Tablets (Dell Latitude St, Fujitsu Q550) comes in at way way more expensive than even the top model iPad3, and is no Ipad "competitor" even remotely... only has Windows familiarity and compatibility going for it, nothing else.
We can only get Windows tablets for office, and Win7 is clearly not a tablet OS, ... Win8 cons preview that I tested on the tab is like a completely different machine, so it could make it work for us

... ... the magnetic cling-on cover... is Apple not gonna throw another hissy fit coz it resembles Apple's cover :-)
 
This is going to change things...

1) A full desktop OS on a tablet
2) The same OS on your tablet that you use on your desktop

Price will determine success... I mean, would you rather spend R5-7k on a 'good' tab (ipad/galaxy), or R5-7k for a tab that doesn't run a 'lite' OS and that you can use interchangeably with your desktop while on the road.

If they release this AFTER Windows 8 it would be better. I can't see what Apple and Google are going to be able to do to put a stop to this. Android hardware manufacturers and Apple are just going to have to price their gadgets right.
 
CeeBee said:
still need to see the pricing... currently the Windows (7) Tablets (Dell Latitude St, Fujitsu Q550) comes in at way way more expensive than even the top model iPad3, and is no Ipad "competitor" even remotely... only has Windows familiarity and compatibility going for it, nothing else.
We can only get Windows tablets for office, and Win7 is clearly not a tablet OS, ... Win8 cons preview that I tested on the tab is like a completely different machine, so it could make it work for us

... ... the magnetic cling-on cover... is Apple not gonna throw another hissy fit coz it resembles Apple's cover :-)
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Those Tabs aren't meant to be competitors. iOS is a mobile OS where windows 7 is a desktop OS. Those tablets aren't even in the same league. Those tablets are actually meant to compete with ultrabooks.
 
Any reason why the writer kept calling this a PC? Does that make the Ipad a PC as well? Or was it written by an Apple fanboy who thinks anything MS must be a PC?
 
inferno said:
Any reason why the writer kept calling this a PC? Does that make the Ipad a PC as well? Or was it written by an Apple fanboy who thinks anything MS must be a PC?
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It's a Microsoft thing. But Personal Computer could mean anything, your smart phone is a "PC"

Windows RT though I think is a bad move for M$, just a developer headache.
 
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inferno said:
Any reason why the writer kept calling this a PC? Does that make the Ipad a PC as well? Or was it written by an Apple fanboy who thinks anything MS must be a PC?
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Nah, I don't think there's a good reason. In the end it's just a computing device. "PC" after all was an IBM proprietary name that became generic. In the early days of the PC, when I was a PC product manager at IBM, we went after other vendors who called their system a PC or Personal Computer. The generic name was "microcomputer" in them thar days.
 
anyone know?

Would you be able to buy an RT app for your tablet/phone and use it on your non ARM desktop free of charge and visa versa?
 
If you do not want one of these then something is wrong with you :P
Seriously though, I will preorder the ARM one for myself and fiance the second it is available in the states. (I have a Samsung Series 7 so don't need an x86 one).

Park@82 said:
Would you be able to buy an RT app for your tablet/phone and use it on your non ARM desktop free of charge and visa versa?
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Yes - that's the point in "WinRT" which is the new framework that apps are built atop. It creates partity between ARM and traditional Intel architectures.
 
ChocolateBadger said:
Windows RT though I think is a bad move for M$, just a developer headache.
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I know where you're coming from. And the RT name is confusingly used for both the new API set and also for the ARM-only version of Win8.

From a developer perspective, RT is the future, so tablet or not, we're gonna have to move there eventually. Win32 just doesn't have the legs anymore, and there really isn't any way forward other than RT.

Like any important platform shift, there will be winners and losers. Anyone who's watched the industry closely for the past few decades knows that incumbent dominants seldom manage the platform transition, and this opens up opportunities for lean hungry and nimble new competitors ... eg DOS to Windows to name just one such shift.

If I were a developer or heading a development shop, I'd make it a priority to get started with RT as soon as possible - there's a huge opportunity opening up to unseat incumbents.
 
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