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Microsoft Surface tablet demand booming
- Thread starter Jeremy Proome
- Start date
Relax guy... no one even mentioned apple. I don't remember anyone going off about how apple sold out of pre-orders either... not on this forum.
Selling out is good but if you're going to claim it then you should at least put up a rough figure of how many you actually sold.
I could make a tablet in my garage with money I got from my granny and I could claim all pre-orders are sold out I can't keep up with demand.
cerebus
Honorary Master
Well I do like the idea but there's not such a thing as a no compromise device, it's an impossible dream. Not unless it was physically scalable. Just putting a keyboard onto a 10" tablet doesn't remove compromises, neither does x86. Typing is still going to be better on a full scale kb. It's still going to be useful to do work up to a certain point and not beyond. I can't imagine the frustration of trying to do my job on any kind of tablet. I had much rather, when it comes time to do work, be sure that my company had invested in a full fledged 15" laptop and at least one additional screen, with separate keyboard and mouse. Size dictates function to a large extent.
elvis_presley
Expert Member
Clearly my sarcasm was wasted on you.
abandonallhope
Expert Member
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I don't really know how it works no, but I find myself agreeing with you. However in all fairness there were numbers mentioned with the apple sales, can't remember whether it was pre-orders or actual sales.
Incidentally I am also pretty much in the exact same boat wrt usage of a windows 8 tablet. Try that on an ipad... you'll be downloading apps till the cows come home.
elvis_presley
Expert Member
I was being humorous, because what happened here happens on every Apple launch ever (open for prelaunch, a few hours or a day later the "3 to 4 weeks" availability happens) and it's always spun in a massively positive light for them. I just find the double standards of fanboys funny and don't miss an opportunity to mock them
cerebus
Honorary Master
I was being humorous, because what happened here happens on every Apple launch ever (open for prelaunch, a few hours or a day later the "3 to 4 weeks" availability happens) and it's always spun in a massively positive light for them. I just find the double standards of fanboys funny and don't miss an opportunity to mock them
No it doesn't really happen that much but your public service outreach is appreciated.
elvis_presley
Expert Member
That's the lovely thing about an open hardware platform like Win8.
Behold... the Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet2, and its docking station. It's the same concept of your laptop+screen idea, but here you work in your windows desktop, then pick up your tablet, which flips to a Metro interface and now you're using the device in a totally different way, but have all your work with you. Go to a meeting, use the cover/keyboard and that's 100% fine for bashing out a few notes.
The device itself might not be physically scalable, but the OS is scalable enough to morph to whatever the needs happen to be, depending on where the device is plugged into. It's certainly more than an evolutionary step of what's happening with iPad/Android.
Edit: the point was that with 11" and 13" ultraportables becoming more common, Win8 tablets pose a credible threat as replacing them. The iPad and Android tabs never did.
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No I don't think you have any idea what sarcasm is.
I was being humorous, because what happened here happens on every Apple launch ever (open for prelaunch, a few hours or a day later the "3 to 4 weeks" availability happens) and it's always spun in a massively positive light for them. I just find the double standards of fanboys funny and don't miss an opportunity to mock them
Please show me where this has happened... I would love a link to a thread where guys on this forum were going off about pre-orders.
cerebus
Honorary Master
Look it's definitely a step up in functionality from the iPad and even something like the Transformer Infinity, mainly because you have access to the entire suite of Win8 software compatibility available to you as well as the full app store which should hopefully mature. But the main things you're going to be doing on something that size (above 10" stops really being a tablet for me) are notetaking, maybe a bit of spreadsheet work - and those can already be done quite adequately on iOS or Android with a decent keyboard attachment.
I'm just really wait and see on this. I don't think iPad is nearly as compromised as you make it out to be just purely due to the huge robust app store which makes up for any deficiencies of the OS itself. But it's not a full fat OS, I mean it doesn't even have a bona fide file system. Then again the file system is something that OSX has also largely eschewed; it's just a difference in how they handle metadata.
I'm just really wait and see on this. I don't think iPad is nearly as compromised as you make it out to be just purely due to the huge robust app store which makes up for any deficiencies of the OS itself. But it's not a full fat OS, I mean it doesn't even have a bona fide file system. Then again the file system is something that OSX has also largely eschewed; it's just a difference in how they handle metadata.
elvis_presley
Expert Member
I see what you did there. Used sarcasm. Sneaky!
I don't read this forum enough to know how much it happens here, but unless you slept through the iPhone5, iPad3, iPad2, iPhone 4S and iPhone4 launch, then you'll know that this happens and all the fanboys get everso excited. Google something like "iphone5 preorder sold out" or "ipad preorder sold out". Most the press (especially sites with "apple" or "mac" in their name) tend to get rather excited about this. It's even funnier to read the usual comments from the fandroids saying "but they have stock at apple stores, this is a scam!".
I do and this is not what happens, people have this idea in their heads that all apple owners are these raging fan boys when 90% of the time we only stoop to those levels when defending against guys who own one android device and now think they know best because they've googled how to root and side loaded this app this one time. Irritating s'all.
Back on topic... Do you think the surface pro will eat into the tablet market share or perhaps the laptop/notebook market more... generally I don't use my tablet to take notes or do work because I already have a PC for that.
elvis_presley
Expert Member
The thing is, with iPad and Android, even with their apps, it's a platform you have to "make do" with if you want to get work done, and have to adapt your workflow to its shortcomings. Plug a keyboard into an iPad or Android tab, and it's never going to be anywhere near as good as MS Office on desktop. Win8 has the same power and capabilities you're working with on your desktop right now. When you plug it into a keyboard you don't want to use Metro, you want a proper productive desktop environment, which it gives you.
That's really because of the sandboxing - Win8 Metro has this to an extent, but works around it with their new contracts for inter-app communication. The advantage of being a latecomer like Win8 is that you get the chance to fix the deficiencies in existing solutions.
elvis_presley
Expert Member
I specifically clarified my point by mentioning "fanboys". I realise they're the minority, but they make the loudest noises. And you have to admit, they're fun to poke and prod to see them squirm.
I'm not a giant fan of the Surface Pro, mainly because it's based on i5. That means short battery life, and a cooling fan. I'm most excited about the Clover Trail x86 based tabs (ASUS, Lenovo and Acer have already announced these, to be available on Oct 26) - I do believe the Clover Trail tablets will gnaw away at both the tablet and ultraportable market because they have good power, great battery life, and form factors comparable to ARM tabs.
Looking at it from the other "home" side of things, I could grab a Clover Trail tablet, put XBMC on it (its interface has nice fat buttons, good for touch), and be consuming my home media from my LAN almost immediately without jailbreaking or jumping through hoops like on iOS/Android. Or just installing VLC and being able to go to "\\myserver" and bam. It just works. It's not just about the UI, everything's made to work with Windows, so it's so easy to get stuff done.
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cerebus
Honorary Master
I do see what you're saying, I just don't know how much of a compromise one really has to make with tablets that you wouldn't still have to make on a fuller OS like Windows, given a screen size of 10". You're going to be hunt and pecking to multitask, and you're going to be stabbing at the screen and squinting to do touch-based cell manipulation or word editing. It was always the problem with netbooks, which is why they disappeared so quickly when the iPad came onto the scene. Once you get below a certain screen size your workflow has to become adjusted and single-task oriented in any case. I've found that actually typing on an iPad can be pleasurable because the entire device is made to serve one unique task, and you also aren't fiddling around and getting distracted the whole time.
Actually on a tablet size I'm perfectly happy to stay within a Metro environment. And for a larger size, I'm not really bothered about a touchscreen because it's going to become unwieldy to hold in that way. It might be that they've solved a problem nobody really has. Although...having said that... tablets have been crying out for a decent keyboard implementation and the Surface has totally nailed it bang on.
Actually on a tablet size I'm perfectly happy to stay within a Metro environment. And for a larger size, I'm not really bothered about a touchscreen because it's going to become unwieldy to hold in that way. It might be that they've solved a problem nobody really has. Although...having said that... tablets have been crying out for a decent keyboard implementation and the Surface has totally nailed it bang on.
falcon786
Honorary Master
Yeah that was a major reason and another major reson was they were big and bulky with crappy screens that used crappy resistive technology.
These severely hampered ease of use and portability,the ipad could address this but not even remotely possible on osx they had to do it on ios which is a phone os.
Yep tablet,sorry typo.No need to throw insults like that around especially after all you have so much we can insult you about since you are after all highly prejudiced towards Apple devices.
Not released yet,and besides an ultra-book convertible would probably make more sense than a lego type tablet with keyboard etc...i primarily will use it while watching tv etc sitting on a couch so it needs to be able to hold up its own screen without cutting through my legs!I think acers one looks quite decent just pricey!
Do you ever,you're the biggest isheep on mybb then go buy a sony tablet,you are thoroughly confused.:wtf:
Answer the question since you guys will shortly say oh an ipad is a proper powerful pc and can do the same as a windows 8 tablet.Just wanna make sure you know what a pc is before we head down your defensive path again.
Well it can be a dual purpose device,if the application is really taxing then i dont mind plugging it into a power point as i would with my current laptop,but for normal stuff and less intensive applications it would be as portable as a conventional tablet,thats the idea anyway and the tech is certainly catching up to it very very fast....
elvis_presley
Expert Member
You're thinking too much as a Win8 tab as a straight iPad replacement. Look at Win8 tabs as "convertibles" - these things are made from the ground up to interface with proper keyboards, have proper docking stations and have a proper operating system to use when you're not forced to use the puny 10" screen (many Windows apps have had fullscreen mode for years, so that's not an issue)
No, it's definately a problem. I've noticed over the years so many people get their shiny new iPad, and bring it into meetings with a little keyboard, then bash out meeting notes, email it to themselves, reformat it on their desktop PC, and send it out. I think in every single case those people have gone back to their laptops in meetings, and just get the job done right first time. Tablets as they stand today are like little delivery vehicles you drive away from your PC for a fun drive, grab some supplies, but at some point you need to go back with the payload to actually get the work done.
elvis_presley
Expert Member
It's called "convergence". I remember the days I carried a PDA and cellphone around. Then they converged into a smartphone. Then I carried a smartphone and media player around. They converged into a -er- smarterphone. And when I get my Lumia 920, I'm hoping I don't have to keep a compact nearby for casual snaps when out and about with the family.
Tablets and PCs are going to converge at some point. I believe we're at that point.
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falcon786
Honorary Master
THIS is the truth,theres no "which part of the market will these converged devices affect the most" its more of an evolution of both laptops and tablets and soon both will be relegated to speciality devices only but for general usage these converged devices are going to take over,the only problem right now IMO will be the high initial price but its more a matter of when prices drop rather than if because they will definitely drop given time.
Just like the laptop has become the primary pc for general usage....
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