Surface Windows 8 Pro tablet pricing and launch date

Here is a criticism to you MyBB.

This is actually not real news IMO. Surface Pro was expected at end January, now it is being released on 9 February. Wow. What an amazing turn of events.

If you scour the Internet you will find this sort of info in at least 25 articles.

It is information on the issue in the quote above that you should be actively searching for and not waiting for it to fall into your laps. Investigative journalism? Or perhaps it is not part of your strategy or is information on the said topic outside of your strategic jurisdiction?

It's the same news that Techcentral, Gizmodo, Arstechnia, CNet etc etc are covering, why should MyBroadband not do the same? I'm sure MyBB will find out as soon as Microsoft wants them to.
 
It's the same news that Techcentral, Gizmodo, Arstechnia, CNet etc etc are covering, why should MyBroadband not do the same? I'm sure MyBB will find out as soon as Microsoft wants them to.

Sure they should also cover the mundane news. That is a given.

What I am saying is that they should be the ones to break the news and not to just rely on international sites or news sources for such articles. Which Tech website doesn't have this article?

Should the only thing that makes MyBB stand out from the crowd be their investigative local stories?

All I am asking is that MyBB goes investigative internationally too and give us the scoop on stories that others haven't covered yet - yes, and the obvious stories too.
 
All I am asking is that MyBB goes investigative internationally too and give us the scoop on stories that others haven't covered yet - yes, and the obvious stories too.

I think MyBB would be barking up a non-existent tree there. They can really only investigate on what they have, information regarding product release is not going to be slipped up to some local Microsoft rep before it's already old news in the major tech centres. If the Pro does get here and it's discovered that it has a pro or con that seperates it from other devices in locally, that's the sort of story I think would be in MyBB's sights.
 
After you add on the extra $100 for the keyboard, it'll be more expensive than an 11" MacBook Air! I know which one I'd prefer!

Well if you want to compare to a MacBook Air... it's thinner, lighter, better display and more outputs for a comparable price. Suddenly it's the MacBook Air that you should be saying "sheesh, that's a bit much ... it's the same price as a Surface Pro!".
 
I've just bought 15 Dell netbooks for technical staff to use in the field. Yes, netbooks that are supposed to be dead. We have been doing trials with all kinds of devices for months (incl all sizes/types of tablets with and without keyboards) and the netbooks were chosen by the field staff themselves as a far superior solution. We got ours with Windows 7 Pro on them (not Windows 7 Basic).

The netbooks cost far less than all these new devices and can do the job perfectly (even better as proven by our own trials). Why pay R12k for something that can be done for R4k?

Yes, the screen is small. Yes, it is an Atom processor. But for many that is still enough. Pity the netbook has been declared "dead" as I believe it still has a lot of kick in it. Fortunately Dell still makes a very good netbook (which they now promote for use in schools in the States). And now MS wants to buy Dell and kill all that ...
 
You can't compare the specs to an iPad.
Surface Pro should be compared with UltraBooks - and at $899 for the 64GB unit + $100 for keyboard, for a device that is the minimum spec to run Windows 8.
Running Window 8 x64 on 4GB RAM is hardly fun.
On 64GB disk, once you've installed Windows 8 and Office 2013, you've used 32GB, leaving 32GB for data.

You smoking crack? Windows 8 is fine with 4gb of ram. And if 64gb isnt enough, get the 128 version.
 
Sure they should also cover the mundane news. That is a given.

What I am saying is that they should be the ones to break the news and not to just rely on international sites or news sources for such articles. Which Tech website doesn't have this article?

Should the only thing that makes MyBB stand out from the crowd be their investigative local stories?

All I am asking is that MyBB goes investigative internationally too and give us the scoop on stories that others haven't covered yet - yes, and the obvious stories too.

Dude you missing the whole point of MyBB. Its not just another news paper/tech site. Its a South African one where we African people can comment and fellow Africans will know what we complaining about. Good luck bitching about IC prices onb sa The Verge.

Also note that they do not have a permanent staff of 100+ running around looking for news all over the place.

TL;DR It local because of the people that is in the comments are local. Deal with it.
 
You smoking crack? Windows 8 is fine with 4gb of ram. And if 64gb isnt enough, get the 128 version.

I wonder what the price difference will be? I hope there isn't a rediculous price jump between the two models. Either way you can put a Class 10 SD card in there and be okay I think.
 
Yes, the screen is small. Yes, it is an Atom processor. But for many that is still enough. Pity the netbook has been declared "dead" as I believe it still has a lot of kick in it. Fortunately Dell still makes a very good netbook (which they now promote for use in schools in the States). And now MS wants to buy Dell and kill all that ...

The Clover Trail convertibles are the new netbooks. Similar size, and Atom-based. Something like the HP Envy2 or Acer W510. Yes, they're twice the price of netbooks, but the new trend in the PC market is not the race to the bottom, but rather keep prices reasonable and increase product quality. The only thing the netbooks have going for them is the price - which I have to agree is a massive reason - but once the convertible prices are driven down, I think that's what will "kill" the netbook (of course, the tech press say "kill" when anything falls out of favour even a little bit, even if they do keep selling it).
 
I lost all interest in a Windows8 tablet after I played with the Ativ 500t this last weekend. Metro interface is fundamentally broken imo.
 
Unless we get an Microsoft store in SA soon, you will have to import this.
 
The Clover Trail convertibles are the new netbooks. Similar size, and Atom-based. Something like the HP Envy2 or Acer W510. Yes, they're twice the price of netbooks, but the new trend in the PC market is not the race to the bottom, but rather keep prices reasonable and increase product quality. The only thing the netbooks have going for them is the price - which I have to agree is a massive reason - but once the convertible prices are driven down, I think that's what will "kill" the netbook (of course, the tech press say "kill" when anything falls out of favour even a little bit, even if they do keep selling it).

That the netbook will eventually die is a sure thing ... but it is not dead yet ... and many overlook them as viable solutions when they still have much to offer.

A few months ago I was hunting for a PC solution for my wife to use as part of her studies at UNISA. She is an Apple fan and use her iPad all the time, but she needed a machine that could run MS Office and some other Windows apps. I ended up buying her a Samsung netbook and that thing is a GEM! It is one awesome little device. Fantastic keyboard. All the ports one needs. It does all the important tasks my R15k Dell XPS 13 does, and I paid less than R 4k for it. And importantly, it is small enough to hide when using public transport or walking around in town.
 
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It is sad to see how you have been brainwashed by Apple to this degree. Very sad.

Let me explain how this works:
This device runs on Windows and has a USB port. Therefore, you are free to plug in ANY keyboard and it will work on a plug and play basis. Same for a mouse, or Xbox controller or whatever else you want to plug into it. Sure if you want the keyboard cover thing that will cost, but that is no different to the $100 Apple keyboards so what exactly are you complaining about?

I think you've missed the point. No-one in their right minds would buy this device to use purely for content consumption - there are better, lower priced alternatives. The Windows 8 Pro devices are meant as very portable alternatives to the smaller laptops and ultrabooks, not the iPad. However, I don't see that the advantage of a slightly slimmer and lighter tablet based machine out-weighs the advantage of a laptop. Having a keyboard and mouse/trackpad is essential - try creating documents in Excel on a touch only machine! Ideally, I like to "work" on as big a screen I can, and therefore favour using a desktop where possible. A laptop will suffice, if there is no option. No way would I voluntarily try and "work" on a tablet.
 
Actually there's some evidence that the netbook could have a resurgence in some form. Hopefully of course not the race-to-the-bottom-of-build-quality form that it had prior to the emergence of the iPad. But the new Chromebooks are doing hot business; and $250 for a full-on light small sized notebook that does most of what you need it to is a pretty compelling prospect as well.
 
Actually there's some evidence that the netbook could have a resurgence in some form. Hopefully of course not the race-to-the-bottom-of-build-quality form that it had prior to the emergence of the iPad. But the new Chromebooks are doing hot business; and $250 for a full-on light small sized notebook that does most of what you need it to is a pretty compelling prospect as well.

The Dell netbooks I bought for work are as well build as my XPS 13. Seriously. They are even ruggedised. Solid as a rock. It is one of the IT industry's little secrets.
 
But the new Chromebooks are doing hot business; and $250 for a full-on light small sized notebook that does most of what you need it to is a pretty compelling prospect as well.
Very true, I said this to a colleague a while ago, Google are in a very strong position when you take those chromebooks and their whole ecosystem into consideration.

I like the metro UI too though, so I'm going to have a hard time deciding which way to go with my next upgrade :(
 
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