The introduction today of the 12" lightweight, highres Windows 8 mini computer tablet was a difficult one. How to convince a bunch of hard core Macbook users of the productivity of a new Surface model.
Microsoft did a virtual stage dive and confronted the Apple users with lighter than a Macbook Air and more screen real estate as well, finally usable on your lap thanks to an improved kick stand and a better keyboard but I wonder if this head-on was the smart approach.
The reality is that journalists are the only audience used to typing with a notebook on their knees and yes the Macbooks are very good at it. They are right to be highly critical of the claim that it could replace their Macbook usage.
Lap time however is certainly not the general use case for so called 'laptops'. Most find themselves perfectly flat on some table where the Surface line has a huge advantage: the possibility to use a separate keyboard.
On any flat surface which you will readily find on a terrace, in the kitchen or at your local coffee bar, the whole concept of the tablet/small but powerful computer with a 12" screen comes to life.
Use it on the road with the flat keyboard which doubles as a cover and you have a perfectly usable notebook.
However once you're back home and near your large screen you just use a keyboard of your choice with all the advantages of full size, the ergonomics of having some distance between screen and keyboard and -as shit does happen – the possibility to swap it at low cost in case it gets damaged.
For couch-surfing the new 12" Surface is actually an improvement. Most people don't hold their 10" tablets. They lay them down and have trouble reading the small screens so they try to balance them on knees or arms. A larger tablet which weighs 800 grams (comparable to the original iPad) makes sense in most media consumption cases.
Microsoft should have avoided the head-on confrontation and focus on typical scenarios for the general audience which likes to consume and create on one device.
How about you? Do you use a notebook on your lap and a 10" tablet in your hand? #Tech
Ah, and a question: if you want to receive notifications of my post plus this comment. I post rarely so just check my last ten or so posts to see if you would like to be notified.
I don't use my tablet for working. I use a netbook though, and often type on my lap.
About 9 months ago I opted for a Yoga11S, which is an ultrabook that can fold back on itself into a tablet. I knew that my main use would be laptop vs. tablet, so even though Surface was very attractive, I also knew I wouldn't get the most out of it.
This version looks great, and I could probably do very well with it, since it seems to "fix" the laptop usability while offering the tablet benefit of lighter weight and more appropriate size.
I did find with my ultrabook that I was finally able to achieve the "dream" — a single machine that could be both laptop and desktop, without compromise. A simple plug into my USB3.0 dock and I have a full desktop. I think with Surface 3, I could probably drop my Nexus 7 too, and just have 2 machines — Win8.1 ultrabook and WP8.1 phone. Maybe next upgrade cycle… 😉
love the yoga series +Brian Titus but do you use it on your lap?
Yes, I do. Lap, couch, counter, table, desktop… everywhere. I definitely use it as a lap top, and I don't think Surface 1 or 2 would have worked for me.
The most interesting stat (although who knows how accurate) from the launch was the notion that 96% of ipad owners also have a laptop.
If I wasn't just 9 months into this machine (which I am *very* happy with) I would be getting a Surface 3 tomorrow.
I am a journalist (and a programmer/analyst and a fiction writer) and the laptop has spent so much time on my lap that the heat has triggered medical conditions.
The problem for me is that the Surface appears to be 1/2 overpriced tablet, 1/2 underpowered laptop. I'd rather pay less and have an Android tablet and a PC to go with my iPhone.
Ultrabooks are not underpowered. At least not for anything I'm doing. Interesting that that's the perception.
+Brian Titus I run multiple companies on my PC, design graphics, add layers to book cover art… I need lots of RAM, disk, and processor.
+Charles Barouch Do think about your future generation….
What laptop with sufficient capabilities (more than 8GB ram, more than an i7??) still fits a lap?
My 'laptop' sits permanently on a desk connected to a large monitor. I use it much less than my iPad Mini, which I can easily hold in one hand. If I was forced to decide which of the two to get rid of, I'd keep the iPad and ditch the laptop.
+Max Huijgen I have looong legs for a short guy. I've even manaed a 17" laptop on my lap. Only one I didn't use that way was my first "laptop" which was a 22 lb. Compaq portable.
Maybe relative to a desktop PC, but relative to other laptops I wouldn't call it underpowered.
For a Windows based device it looks nice. A MacBook Air 13 inch screen, i7, and 256 flash is still less expensive from looking at Microsoft web page.
As someone who has purchased three mac computers in the last 6 years or so, I will happily convert to this with my next purchase (by then the specs will undoubtedly meet or exceed high performance laptops like my current Macbook Pro.) This idea from Microsoft is brilliant, and quite frankly Apple is doing NOTHING to improve their lineup. Year after year Apple is dropping the ball by not even attempting touch-screen capability or non-glossy retina displays, or really ANYTHING innovative.
In general, my Windows partitions (boot camp) also run WAY smoother and WAY better than Mac OS X.
Microsoft seems to have a bright future here, but I do think it's FAR too early for pats on the back… they have a lot more work to do to make this product line as popular as it's competition. Definitely they are heading in the right direction now, though!
acer ultra on lap 60% of time…and running Linux
me too. acer ultra aspire m,i5 6gb ram. Linux all the time. works great.
I recently got a WP8.1 phablet and honestly it is my "main screen" now. I do the social on it, check news and trends, schedule stuff, watch YouTube, generally keep all the stuff that used to invade my work screen in my pocket now where I can have good boundaries but easy access. My iPad is strictly for use in bed, playing games and ios only apps like Secret. I used to laptop-on-lap in bed/living room a lot but the phablet has taken most of that use now. My laptops just stay hooked up to larger monitors except if in transit, and they're mostly for "doing work" exclusively and with focus. And even then I'm using the big iMac much more than laptops mostly, remoting to a headless server for many things.
Same here. Love my #Note3 phablet and really don´t need a tablet at all. I even GOT an iPad2 and don't use it ever. Way to heavy. For real working I still use a laptop (MacBook Pro 15 non-retina, non glare, 256SSD + 750GB HD + 27" Monitor at desk or at my lap with heat protection). And at the beach nothing beats a Kindle (for reading sans social).
Still think that a real notebook design is more practical for working. Although the new SP3 looks nice and has good ideas.
It might be interesting to those still depending on Microsoft. For me, I've used less and less my netbook on the train and in meetings, and have replaced it with a 9" full hd android tablet, with a good Bluetooth keyboard when needed. Right size, officesuit pro is more than enough for the work documents, spreadsheets and presentations, and the os is way better looking and a lot more flexible than those garish tiles. I might change – but for another android tablet, possibly a Sony z2. For sure won't go back to the dark ages!
keep going
Good morning-Charles McQuone
+Gary Roth Microsoft had been making tablet PCs long before Apple introduced the iPad. While the iPad redefined the public perception of the tablet as a media consumption platform, there is no reason why tablets cannot be used for productivity, especially when that was what they were designed for in the first place.
I personally like the idea of the high resolution tablet with keyboard. It your whole computer and a tablet when you need to pick up and go.
Thanks for all the reactions. If this was a a-select sample the conclusion would be that everyone uses notebooks on their laps and nobody wants a tablet even 10" large.
But it isn't 😉
http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/2012-11-06/
lol +Jose Rodrigues
+Max Huijgen TechCrunch is calling it a "laplet"… 🙂
techcrunch.com/2014/05/20/a-walk-through-the-surface-pro-3-microsofts-ultralight-laplet/
I was going to start a post on the Surface Pro 3, but this will suffice for now:
1) Is MSFT abandoning Windows RT under Nadella? Will they finally split things into WinPhone for smartphones and smaller tablets, and #win9 for larger "tweener" tablets and laptops/desktops like everyone else?
arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/05/the-mysterious-disappearance-of-the-8-inch-surface-mini/
2) Various via Twitter:
"…Harry McCracken /@harrymccracken: Surface Pro 3 seems less like an iPad-era tablet, more like the Tablet PC which Microsoft couldn't design in 2000.
…
Tom Warren /@tomwarren: To me it feels like the Surface Pro 3 could be Microsoft's final attempt to create this laptop / tablet device. Third time lucky?
Shira Ovide /@shiraovide: Maybe the only thing Microsoft and Samsung have in common: Love of digital pens. Big love. pic.twitter.com/UZBvnGccwg
Satya Nadella /@satyanadella: today's @Surface event, sketched on a #SurfacePro3 pic.twitter.com/Tv7S8ACgxP
Jonathan Blow /@jonathan_blow: The iPad 1, which everyone thinks was a bit too heavy for a tablet, was 680g. Today's announcement weighs 800g. iPad Air is 478g.
Mary Jo Foley /@maryjofoley: Here's the full price list for the Surface Pro 3 and accessories. (thanks @hoyty) pic.twitter.com/XwwxsAuU6p
[notice that the MacBookAir-11.6-equivalent power Core i5/128GB version costs $999 plus $130 for the keyboard = $1130, while the MBA now costs $899 after the recent spec upgrade/price-drop. Which is a bit crazy if you ask me…
To have ANY real chance (more on what that "chance" really means below…), they would have had to offer the WHOLE package WITH keyboard and the i5/128GB at the $799 price point. Then there could be some hope.
Certainly seems like they "shaved off" some weight vs. the MBA STILL at the cost of having a slightly wonky keyboard/kickstand attached to its "slate", which is now decidedly too large/heavy to use as any kind of tablet… and still doesn't have an "organic"/solid laptop form-factor like the MBA.
(And actually, just found this from a pro-MSFT review no less:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2458316,00.asp
"…when you add the Type Cover and Surface Pen, the Surface Pro 3 tips the scales at 2.44 pounds"… = same weight as MBA11.6…)
Only true advantage would be the screen resolution at this point, which is very likely to be upgraded on the MBAs before long, maybe this year. MSFT claims equivalent "up to 9 hours" battery life, we'll see what real-world testing reveals, but fine.
And that's the really puzzling part to me: Hasn't MSFT gotten the memo that Ultrabooks are a relative niche business even for Apple which defined it with the MBA?! Consumers are moving en masse to large-ish smartphones, phablets, and small-to-medium-sized tablets. And MSFT is for now still next to nowhere in ANY of these three markets…
Ultrabooks or "laplets" are not what's eating MSFT's lunch by any stretch of the imagination, so why compete there?!
UPDATE: And also not to forget about the Chromebook challenge to MSFT laptops in the $200 – $500 category…
]
Chris Ziegler /@zpower: omg the @joannastern“why did panos just hand this to me” shrug pic.twitter.com/ZpRB8b1kww
[shows how truly massive it looks as a "tablet" held by someone in a real-world, non-stage environment; I always thought the SF1 looked ridiculous held by people on-stage…
]
Will Smith /@willsmith: Surface Pro 3 is essentially fanless* (*Surface Pro 3 has a fan)
Nilay Patel /@reckless: THE NEW SURFACE IS NOT 16:9 REPEAT IT HAS A SANE 3:2 ASPECT RATIO
"—
/cc +Stefan Svartling
Turns out the dimensions of Surface 3 are exactly the same as my Yoga11s, except of course it's a lot thinner. While I do fold mine into a tablet from time to time, at ~3 lbs it's too heavy to hold like an iPad. Surface 3 at 1.76 lbs is significantly lighter. iPad retina is 1.44 lbs.
I still use my Nexus 7 for things like the Kindle app, but between the Yoga and a recently-acquired Lumia Icon WP, I've used it much less, and Kindle-reading is about all I really do with it. I wonder if Surface 3 would let me collapse one more device down, namely the Nexus. Hard to know, but I suspect it's just a little too big and heavy yet. Tempting though, if I was in the market.
When I am at work I use a laptop which is on my desk 98% of the time. At home I have a desktop, laptop and tablet, but most of the time I use my laptop on my lap on the couch. Having to hold the tablet is annoying, and my laptop is much better for web browsing, which is what I am most often doing.
+Alex Schleber the true advantage over an MBA is not the resolution but touch and that the keyboard is out of the way. See +Brian Titus understandable love for his Yoga 11s
+Max Huijgen I don't quite see the Touch use case in a laptop-like setting (you do mean used with kickstand down, on a desk, yes?), as you constantly have to move your hand/s between ANY keyboard and touch-screen, no?
And overall the SF Pro 3 set-up with keyboard still looks so rickety/unstable overall (the "new" keyboard sort of hangs in the air with the raised "lip", and will presumably flex under weight a bit?), with the kickstand also NOT allowing for the infinite adjustability of a hinge with the main (CPU/SSD/etc.) weight solidly on the resting surface.
Did those larger touch-screen-based desktops from HP et al. ever really pan out as a big hit in the market? I don't think so, but am willing to be enlightened on their use cases.
I've actually though about this a lot over the years, and to me, if you really wanted the optimum keyboard and touch-screen usage scenario, an 8-10" (max) iPad or Android (or any…) tablet placed in one of those Logitech keyboard covers with the fixed slot is probably your best bet, because you can get the screen as close to the keys as possible:
Less area in front of and behind the keys, with essentially no need for a touchpad "mouse"; so you can move the screen toward you by a few inches for extended touch operation, while also having the smaller screen close enough to your eyes to result in about the same "screen/image field" size as a 12-13" set back an extra 6-12".
I personally also prefer the Portrait view mode for almost all tablet use cases other than Web sites/pages that have specifically optimized AGAINST it. More viewable vertical scroll area with saner text-widths, asf. There is a reason why the "Pinterest-ification" of the desktop Web (including here on G+) has progressed as far as it has, because there was always all of that unused or inefficiently used horizontal screen real estate…
Overall problem then is still precision cursor insertion and text highlighting, which should be solved by software/OS in a more touch-friendly way (that includes all current entrants).
BTW this somewhat long-winded discussion outlines the reason (as you may remember) for why I have NOT bought an iPad Mini to add-to/replace my Galaxy Tab 8.9 (because the Mini lacks Swype, and therefore doesn't solve the keyboard issue when Swype is pretty ideal for that smaller form-factor in Portrait).
Given that I will need SOME iOS device in the very near future for my development work for my "app-creation engine" project, the iPad Air plus one of those keyboards sounds like the better plan. Only then will I know for sure of course if my form-factor musings have been correct… 🙂
+Brian Titus you have to realize that the iPad Retina at 1.44 lbs is the "last year+" run-out model, and the older iPad 1, 2 and Retina form factors were pretty much acknowledged even by their ardent users/supporters to be just about too heavy.
Which is exactly the reason why I went with my Galaxy Pad 8.9 at 1lbs even (same as the iPad "Air" now…) in 2011 and never looked back… (OK, except for Samsung's shameful Android update history on it and most of its other older devices…).
So to me 1.7+ lbs is just not usable as a hand-held tablet at all, and so it just doesn;t make sense to go through all of those machinations with the kickstand, "click-in" or now "lip-up" whatever… keyboards. It's all too clever by half, and the lack of Surface sales thus far appear to prove that the use case just isn't really there, EVEN for many ardent MSFT supporters.
Especially at the non-sensical price points (they were already too-pricey from the word go, and MSFT really needed to get some sort of viral adoption… maybe due to unbeatable/subsidized pricing… to get the ball rolling and into the game as a late-comer…
/cc +Eli Fennell
I think we know how I feel. I thought 10.6" was too big, but 12"? That's a slate, but not really how we've come to understand tablets as content consumption devices.
+Alex Schleber is right. Microsoft is still aiming for a target which consumers seem uninterested in. Laplets and "convertibles" aren't eating their lunch, largish-smartphones, phablets, and small tablets are, and MS is nowhere in any of those. This Ultrabook/Power-User-Convertible niche might make some tech journalists salivate but does nothing for most people.
Don't know guys, desktop replacement is not a niche but a large market. The surface 3 with a docking station makes sense there.
Sizewise I still believe 10" was the real DOA. It's not the weight or size itself but the effective moment of force which makes it difficult to handle with one hand.
8" inch is the new and improved 10" and 12" is what people looking for a portable paper sized tablet are looking for.
+Eli Fennell +Alex Schleber +Anton Theunissen
+Max Huijgen Honestly, outside of the internet, I don't know too many people looking for this. I did recommend one for my dad (not this one but another Win 8 convertible) because his needs are simple but also tragically Windows-dependent (for a single app). I'll set him up with Chrome as his browser, and that single app, with a default-to-desktop and Start Menu replacement, and he'll be fine. But otherwise, I can't really think of anyone I personally know looking for this kind of thing.
+Eli Fennell I happen to know several people interested in a Surface, but the N=1 approach is broken 😉
BTW, forgot my main argument against the 10" form factor: you can't build a fitting keyboard for it which is usable by humans. 12" and you're fine.
+Max Huijgen We've been told since the late 90's (by Microsoft) that this form factor is what people really, really want.
Yet, despite everyone with a stake in the industry pulling out all the stops, it hasn't happened. It isn't happening. At best it is showing incremental growth from a Herculean effort. At worst it is possibly staking out the weakest niche to get trapped in: aiming for consumers but still beholden to Almighty Big Business because of a debt they can never fully repay.
They do these things out of appreciation, I think, for their history, which is fine and well, but you know the one thing an iPad launch or a Nexus tablet launch doesn't have? A whole lot of talk about work. Right away you're hit with "Play, Play, Play!… and oh yeah, you can do some work with it too. But seriously, PLAY! Tap, Purchase, Install, Purchase More, Rinse, Repeat, Spit, then take a picture of it, apply filters, and upload to all your Instagram followers!"
Businessmen don't care enough about those things.
A touchscreen on a laptop is a wonderful thing. I use it all the time, whether on lap or table or desk. I would never want another laptop without it. In fact when I have to undock my brick of an HP work laptop and go to a meeting I constantly find myself trying to flick the screen to scroll things.
I don't know about the market size for desktop replacement, but I can say this is the first machine I've ever had where it's actually practical. No compromise — it's a great laptop and a great desktop. Bonus for the Yoga, it can also be a tablet, albeit with compromise — weight. I think if it was as light as an iPad Air, the size would not bother me at all. Although we'll have to wait a few years to see if that can be achieved, (and if I would still agree).
I am still not sold on Surface because I know I prefer the laptop form-factor when it's all said and done. 3 seems to get closer to being better as a laptop, but it obviously is a slate first. I really would love to see the continuing evolution of the Yoga and similar convertibles.
+Max Huijgen hmmm… not sure… even Apple is finding (through iPad sales growth flattening…) that basically people are going mostly all smartphone including say phablets.
For a mainstream usage laptop/desktop "PC" replacement, the Surface could IN THEORY work (have worked) if they ever got around to understanding the price-point issues.
At $930 MINIMUM with keyboard it's just a non-starter IMO. If the Surface set-up had somehow produced something viable at $499 with keyboard (like the fire-sale priced Surface RT 1.0's at one point), THEN there was a case to be made for the somewhat clunky set-up maybe being worth the savings.
(It feels almost as if MSFT let themselves be tricked by Apple into trying to go for some sort of Apple-ized look & feel upscale-design territory with the Surface, instead of trying to attack relentlessly on price.
Compare what Xiaomi is doing here, in essence "out-iPhone-5c-ing" Apple with this ~ $270 tablet competitor to the iPad Mini Retina:
pcworld.com/article/2155580/chinas-xiaomi-breaks-into-tablet-market-launches-lowprice-4k-tv.html
E.g. what good were/are those Surface keyboards if they don't come at a major savings vs. Logitech/etc. aftermarket stuff?!)
—
As to the "portable paper-sized tablet", while it sounds good in principle, and Apple tried to go for the "magazine experience" in its initial marketing of the iPad 1, 1) it's just not turning out that way from what I can tell, and 2) more importantly at 1.7+ lbs. the Pro 3 is just way too heavy to use like that, especially in the larger form-factor.
It's a bit like the weight of a couch when moving: The absolute weight may not be that much, but the spreading out over a large-ish space creates (through leverage) a heavier weight perception, we call it "unwieldy"…
+Alex Schleber BOOM! Exactly. #truthbomb The thing costs too much to be so big to deliver such a weak app ecosystem requiring such a major UI readjustment (even from competing OS's; there's a backstory here where Google out-Microsofted Microsoft by saying "Screw the patents, we'll work that out later". Which, given recent events, seems to have worked out pretty well. Microsoft, meanwhile, agreed to Apple dictating terms that the UI need look "nothing like" iOS in any appreciable sense. Basically, Microsoft agreed to own the Square Square, and Apple the Rounded Square/Rectangle, which for obvious reasons was a crap deal from the word go.). It's a Duckbilled Platypus in the desert.
+Max Huijgen re:the 10" and 12" screen/keyboard issue, that to me is largely a failure of imagination actually. Especially if you start out with the Surface design idea of a tablet/slate, and can in theory try/use any old keyboard add-on you want, there is nothing that says that they couldn't have paired a 9-10" tablet with a 12"-diagonal-equivalent keyboard, along the lines of this:
http://www.zagg.com/keyboard-cases/cover-fit/8778
etc.
Also… my wife just got an iPad Air for work. I have to say after helping set it up, it holds zero interest for me. iOS7 is, IMHO, hideous; I don't know what they were thinking. And after using Win8.1 and WP8.1 on touch devices, I find it almost comical that people are still paging through screens of icons and pressing that big button.
+Brian Titus Don't get me started. Every time a coworker hands me an iPhone I feel like I've just been handed some kind of toy.
I'm like Will Smith in MiB when Tommy Lee Jones hands me the Noisy Cricket.
"Feel like I'm gonna break this damn thing!"
Ironically, half of them actually have broken screens that still technically work.
Re: UI. I think Microsoft is actually going to win this one. Maybe it's just their idea that wins, (kinda like how Macintosh "won" desktop computing… via Win95), I think that live tiles and multi-windowing apps are the future.
+Brian Titus I think some elements of their idea are winners, but not the whole package. Individual elements will simply be aped as needed.
Hahaha Brian, my husband says a similar thing every time he looks at my iPad, and after having my phablet a month my old iphone 4 feels like a tiny little toy to me too, and I have little girl-hands.
+Max Huijgen David Pogue appears to agree with you (which I don't think has ever happened before, usually he's trashed most recent MSFT stuff):
http://www.yahoo.com/tech/microsoft-surface-pro-3-review-if-you-had-to-be-a-86496376264.html
One thing I didn't realize is that at least the Kickstand is now an inifini-adjustable hinge. That's progress to be sure.
The Surface storage (64GB) vs. the baseline iPad he brings up is a bit disingenuous, due to the massive Win8.1 footprint of 27GB on the Surface Pro 2 (assuming that hasn't changed much on the 3):
http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/support/storage
So 64GB is really the minimum set-up to have any free disk at all…
And that's ultimately the point: The Surface is in its own category, competing against Ultrabooks mostly, so why seek the comparison to the iPad (or other tablets) like this? It just doesn't create a relevant juxtaposition for most people.
+Alex Schleber regarding the keyboard size: your zapp example still forces people to carry two object. Integration of a full size keyboard with the 10" form factor hasn''t been shown so far.
The UI of iOS and Android seems broken to me. I still long back to my Windows Phone…
Especially after scaling up to more than 5 inches and worse on tablets the grids of endless icons are a very ineffective way to use screen estate.
Agree +Max Huijgen I just entered the WindowsPhone world and am not looking back.
Speaking of Pogue, what a terrible career move he made leaving NYTimes.
+Max Huijgen I merely meant the Zagg as a pointer in the right direction. Should be doable IMO.
BTW, here is some food for thought I just came across on another SfPro3 thread:
plus.google.com/u/0/+JRRaphael/posts/Q4PMmKxgGur
"…Jon Barron11:20 AM+1
P.s. believe me, I've never said the same about Chromebooks. As soon as Google released them, I knew it was the beginning of the end for Microsoft. Chrome OS will have become the dominant OS within 5 years or so, while Microsoft is still refining it's …kickstand.
Yes, the success of Chromebooks exactly proves that there is nothing wrong with the traditional form factors, it's the services on them which matter.
That's my whole point, Microsoft is thinking they're solving some imaginary form- factor problem, which only exists in their heads, while Google and to a lesser extent Apple are busy connecting all your devices from home appliances to watches, to your car, and putting their software on devices Microsoft isn't even thinking about, yet still trying to cling on to the last vestiges of relevance Windows and Office still have, which are diminishing by the week. "
—
I can understand anyone's need to have Office running on their device, or whatever the ecosystem need may be. But that's simply a niche from all I can tell. Surface Pro 3 sales this year will tell the tale one way or another I guess.
+Max Huijgen also just came across this on Twitter (a16z partner VC…), read bottom to top:
—
"…Balaji S. Srinivasan @balajis · 15h
7/ If advantage is sufficiently great, the ridiculer faces mass defection. Now clear the disruption will not be stopped by sarcasm alone.
6/ However, if your new idea/tech provides an individual advantage, people may decide that economic benefit outweighs social cost.
5/ Few are willing to be laughingstocks and most new things are odd. Sarcastic ridicule can slow social propagation, stop or reverse growth.
4/ "Then they laugh at you": if traction grows despite silence, next they attack your social network w/ ridicule. Goal: cut off support.
3/ "First they ignore you": many potential threats on radar; most amount to nothing. So drawing attention to you by condemnation is free PR.
Balaji S. Srinivasan @balajis · 15h
2/ While the specific sequence is not immediately intuitive, a rationale exists for why these stages happen in this order.
Balaji S. Srinivasan @balajis · 15h
1/ Amazing how much in tech actually follows the "first they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win" pattern.
"—
From this I'd say the Surface is hanging by a thread, because it does not meet the criterion in 7) to a sufficient extent: It is at best a 10% to 20% better solution, it is NOT a "10x" (or at least 2-3x) solution that would make the value proposition obvious. Also, arguably it hasn't really transitioned from 3) to 4), i.e. it is still largely being ignored.
But we'll see, maybe MSFT can beat the odds and yet somehow win with this?
Somewhat related stats: http://www.splatf.com/2014/01/peak-mac-revisited/
This topic is drifting. My original observation was that MSFT should target a different group than 'lap-typing' journalists who are understandably hooked to their MacAir.
Let's be real: Apple's worldwide shipments of notebooks don't even get into the top five of vendors, so why focus exclusively on this niche use case. +Alex Schleber +Eli Fennell
+Max Huijgen because Apple has dominated the "Ultrabook" category. If the SFP3 is not in that category, then what is it?
A high end productive tablet? +Alex Schleber
+Max Huijgen but at 12" it's never really a tablet. Maybe a skech pad slate for artists as described here?
http://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2014/05/23/surface-pro-3
But how common of a use case is this?
Where does it say 12" is not a tablet? Apart from Apple when they told us that everything but 10" was DOA (and afterwards released a Mini and are rumored to be working on a 12" themselves) +Alex Schleber
+Max Huijgen have you used a 12" screen as a tablet? I had one of those "TabletPCs" circa 2004-2006, and the thing was regardless of weight just too large to use in any sort of "mobile" setting.
Also see this detailed take-down of the Surface reasoning from a former MSFT "insider:*
http://stratechery.com/2014/time-kill-surface/
MSFT is addicted to its margins of old (circa 1995 – 2007-ish), and its killing them at nearly every turn now…
Surface is an attempt to 1) be like Apple, and 2) keep margins (previously from overpriced/monopolist software) high, neither of which is happening.
I had a toshiba tabletpc with the tablet flavor OS. I used it folded up into slate style exactly like I used a yellow legal pad previously, except I didn't have a bunch of pages to transcribe later. I even hooked it to projectors to show people Visio network security diagrams rather than put it in the white board where it would be erased.
Unfortunately, Toshiba support was one of the worst support experiences of my entire life, and my move to apple at that time was very significantly a factor of support and warranty service.
+Angyl Bender interesting, I had the HP 12" TabletPC version, and it was pretty unusable for the handwriting/note-taking folded-over use case. Ended up basically using it as an early "ultrabook" or a high-ish end of what soon became "Netbooks"…
BTW, even back then MSFT One Note seemed overrated to me.
Huh. I've been hand writing on screens since newton-> palm / handspring grafitti -> tabletpc and I even considered getting one of the wacom-modded PowerBooks (but couldn't afford it, frankly), so it might be that I've "been trained" to write in a way that works for the system?
That said, these days I'm way more interested in voice and subvoc in particular, as my hands are more likely to be busy when I want to do something on my phablet.
My husband is very interested in wacom on small devices like phablets, for use like index cards, whereas I don't see myself ever caring to use it on something under 12". Still not sure why the difference there either, but its pretty anecdotally clear to me that different people have different feelings about writing on or talking to computers in the context of different roles sometimes related to what bits are busy or available and their personal experience of writing, typing, talking… For example I know I like to draw strange personal symbols loosely based on shorthand meets Greek characters for science stuff, which I can't keyboard or voice, so certain brainstorming or note taking becomes a very different experience if I can or cannot use those personal symbols. Some people REALLY use pressure when writing to express emotions and such for later, another thing a keyboard won't do, that matters to some but certainly not all people. As I think about it, a lot of journos I know have strange personal symbol sets too, wonder if they found that in some market research or something?
I completely miss how a 12" tablet can be too large in a 'mobile setting' while 15+ " laptops are the status quo +Alex Schleber
and all those MSFT naysayers are not of interest to me in this context I'm just interested in the actual devices; not the corporate policies behind it.
BTW, following 'definitions' the MBA is not an ultrabook as it missed the required touchscreen as per Intel's definition.
Finally got to see one yesterday. Really really cool. Next to surface 2 it looks half as thin. If I were in the market for a new ultrabook I'd get one in a heartbeat.
How was subjective weight +Brian Titus The S2 Pro felt heavier than I expected.
Hard to tell accurately because of the security tether, but I would say it did not feel heavy, like the S1 and S2 did. Also, the size did not seem strange or overly big. Of course would have to actually use one to get a real sense.
Related/updates: If someone like this reviewer who actually liked their Surface Pro 2, and now likes the SF Pro 3 still finds so many things wrong with it, there might be a problem here:
ignorethecode.net/blog/2014/07/09/surface_pro_3/
Also notice that Nadella just said goodbye to Ballmer's "devices and services" (pipe-)dream yesterday:
businessinsider.com/nadella-just-rejected-ballmers-vision-2014-7