Microsoft Surface Ad: Apple, You Got Served

[Meticode]

For anyone who wants to know what features the Surface will have, just watch the Keynote...

They put a ton of work into the design of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jozTK-MqEXQ

[Crystallas]

Cool advertisement. But if I bought things based on cool advertisements, and ignore realism, I would own less things, and more of it would be junk.


Linux tablets still > all (except for newbies)

[dunksby]

What a stupid ad, but then again it is targeting stupid people anyway.

[Meticode]

Anyway you will be able to use this with 3g/4g? Hope they shock the world with a 300 dollar price tag

On the keynote they said the pricing would compete with high-end ultrabook pricing.

[andgar923]

for the microsoft surface that comes with windows 8 professional, which is coming out later

microsoft surface with windows 8 rt will be much lower

Silly question but most users will wanna know.

What's the difference?

What can I do on a pro model that I can't on the avg one?

Should I wait for the pro model?

What will I sacrifice?

[andgar923]

On the keynote they said the pricing would compete with high-end ultrabook pricing.

What does that mean?

Are they not competing vs other tablets then?

Is this then considered a tablet or an ultra book?

[andgar923]

it was confusing to me at first as well

but windows 8 rt tablets run off ARM chips. so not x86/x64.
windows 8 rt actually comes with office preinstalled, but due to the chip in it, cant run all applications.
as of right now, acer, samsung, and asus windows 8 rt tablets are between 599 and 699.
so windows surface rt will be around there or lower

windows 8 pro tablets will run off of the low powered but high end intel chips. ivy bridge i5, higher capacity solid state 64gb/128 gb, and 1080p displays.
so essentially it is an ultrabook in a tablet form factor.
i imagine these will be at least 800 starting

I think Windows 8 looks like a potentially revolutionary OS, I've promoted the Windows phone (I just got an app that emulates their metro UI for my iPhone), but I dunno if they'll compete with both Droid or iPad tablets.

They need to keep it simple.

Yeah, I will come off as a fanboy to some, but there's a reason why Apple keeps their models (choices) simple and why iOS is different than their OS X. They thought about the different possibilities. And while they may be wrong at times, I think they made a wise choice in creating a different OS for both systems, and making their mobile shit the same for everybody. Imagine the criticism Apple would receive if they had an iPad PRO, iPhone PRO and a non PRO one?

Dunno bout this Microsoft.

[Meticode]

Pro would be the way to go if you get it. It'll give you a PC experience in the forum of a tablet/ultrabook. As jaydacris said, The ARM version will be limited to apps specifically designed for the tablet. If you go with the Pro version you'll be able to use apps you use on your PC right now.

[andgar923]

yah i agree.
there will no doubt be some consumer confusion. since for one microsoft is deciding to release their own hardware (like Apple) alongside OEMS. and as well trying to explain what differentiates windows 8 rt vs windows 8 traditional. since they do look the same. but it isnt too hard to understand once properly explained

microsoft is essentially trying to kill two birds with one stone. the RT version is meant to be like an ipad/android tablet. and the pro tablet is meant for better productivity and use it like a real version of windows. this can be potentially successful or potentially backfire. i for one am a fan of the PRO tablets. and depending on price, id prly buy one

my friend is a manager for a staples canada store, and staples has a big push for selling apple products right now and obviously to sell windows 8 when it comes out.
they literally are talking about how if windows 8 seems too overwhelming for a consumer, then it'll help them sell apple. microsoft subliminally helping apple hahah

So what happens when MS releases the Office suite for the iPad?

They will release it, they've been rumored to be working on it. Either way, there's different replacement apps. If I have an iPad, why would I or my employer wanna spend another $800 on something I can already do on my current tablet?

YOu can already sync and share documents

[niko]

Other companies need to make the point that you can move over your songs that you formatted for Itunes, your movies, etc. My wife has a huge library of stuff on her ipad. ALL of it could move over (it's not purchased from Apple). But she doesn't want to lose anything, so for her the thought of a different company is scary. THe advertising should make clear that you can move your stuff over. We are not different, we are better. There is a perception from those not technically savvy that apple products are easy to use (tablets) and that the other companies are not.

[IGOTGAME]

http://gizmodo.com/5952106/microsoft...s-8s-best-hope



Price is out. Don't know if I can justify getting this over the Nexus, Mini or IPAD 3.


Going to have to wait for the reviews.

[Asiantastic]

Andgar is the Clippersfan/Euroleague/pauk of Apple.

[andgar923]

http://gizmodo.com/5952106/microsoft...s-8s-best-hope



Price is out. Don't know if I can justify getting this over the Nexus, Mini or IPAD 3.


Going to have to wait for the reviews.

DOA

[rezznor]

http://gizmodo.com/5952078/inside-su...get-perfection

Inside Surface: Microsoft’s Insane Quest for Gadget Perfection
Sam Biddle
Surface, the sorta-tablet-sorta-laptop that shouts the future, goes on sale today. We got to peek (and touch, a little bit!) behind the scenes, with access to Microsoft's secret labs never granted to anyone else before. So, should you buy a Surface? Very possibly—the thing seems pretty fantastic.

At least, that's what Microsoft is screaming until its lungs explode.
Note: for those of you who don't care about anything except how and when you can buy a Surface, OK: it's available for pre-order today, with the 32 GB model running $500 (and a benjamin for the obligatory touch keyboard case) and the 64 GB costing $700, including keyboard. You can buy them straight from Microsoft here.

In a pretend Microsoft retail store in a nondescript Redmond shopping compound, masked from the outside world and cordoned off by corporate paramilitary forces—I had to attach a labeled sticky note to my phone and surrender it before entering—is a prototype of what every Microsoft store will look like when Surface launches. "Store Zero," they call it. It's a fake store, but the idea is very real: All Surface Everything. The word is everywhere. Almost half the joint is covered with slate samples. And in the back, on a very large screen, we were treated to a preview of the first ad for Microsoft's wunderkomputer, a one minute dance montage directed by the guy who brought us Step Up 2 and one of the G.I. Joe movies. It's sixty seconds of people whirling around with impeccable matte Surfaces, clicking the keyboards into place, spinning into each others' arms, grinning, winking, spinning more, twirling upside down—an orgiastic tablet frenzy, a perfect hybrid of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and late-season Glee.

Microsoft presents Surface with the pride parents would ascribe to a drumming, overachieving baby. Its creators actually refer to it as "baby" on multiple occasions.



Absent from the ad is any mention of how you actually use the computer, or why you should. Which is odd, because Microsoft gave me a meticulously guided tour of its hermetically sealed R&D facilities just to impress upon me how much thought it put into the Surface as a super-slim ultra-computer of the current millennium, not a musical dance prop. And there's no reason to doubt it: Microsoft poured an unprecedented amount of dedication and consideration into Surface, easily (ostensibly) equaling Apple's recent design fanaticism with the iPhone 5. It shines with thoughtfulness. The size of the screen was agonized over, oscillating between fractions of an inch to reach ideal proportions for Windows 8's multitasking. It had to feel exactly like a book, spine and all. The kickstand, project leaders explained to us, was carefully tweaked so that it would sound exactly perfect when it snaps shut. The extent to which this click was obsessed over during the design process seems like marketing hot air, then insanity, and then after you keep hearing them talk about it, you realize it's just a company truly giving a damn about making something beautiful and nearly perfect.

Surface has an extra, custom-designed hinge devoted solely to create this particular click sound.

The industrial design team, commanded by a Teutonic Jonny Ive equivalent with glasses as meticulously designed as the computer he oversaw, walked us through Microsoft's creative odyssey, the spirit of which they say began before Windows 7 was even finished. A time, Microsoft brass archly points out, in which there was "a complete absence of an iPad." Microsoft says it's the logical advancement of everything that is Microsoft—everything that is the computer, regardless of what shape it takes. It's not about an expensive way to play Temple Run or watch movies on an airplane, say Redmond's acolytes.[COLOR="Red"] It's about making things. Real life stuff, like emails, essays, presentations. Things that earn you money, grades, and gratification. Not the sexy stuff of Zooey Deschanel ads or dance routines, but, as the boring term calls it, productivity. Creation, not consumption.

In other words: screw you, iPad, I'm writing a book report on this thing. Go to hell, Kindle Fire HD—I'm writing books, not reading them. At least, that's how Microsoft would like to frame it.[/COLOR]



The crazy thing is, this may not be just bluster. After all, Surface runs Windows, and as un-sexy as that might sound, in 2012, it's actually great. Windows RT, the tablet-ized version of Windows 8, will give you almost all the tools you're used to using on a desktop, plus the plush touch wonders of the new Metro Start Menu interface. So you can swipe around Twitter feeds and maps with extremely fluidity—Surface's touch display is one of the best, most responsive I've ever laid fingers on—and then set your wrists down to tap-type away like you would on a desktop's keyboard.

The Touch Cover, which we were given a chance to finally paw under supervised lab conditions, combines a super-sensitive pressure-triggered keyboard and trackpad into one mega-thin sheet, definitely isn't painless. It will take practice. Typos were frequent, and my hands felt off when I first put them down on the thing. But even within ten minutes or so I was able to feel my brain slowly rewiring itself, no longer relying on the feeling of buttons being pressed down, but letting the recesses and the laser-etched lettering guide my fingertips. It never registered keystrokes in error. You can rest your wrists on it without typing "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" by accident. It's all tuned by software algorithm to detect when you're intentionally typing.

Microsoft says it'll take about five days for you to reach full speed typing on a Surface. I didn't have anywhere near enough typing time to say for sure, but I'd reckon you'll double that to account for discrepancies between Microsoft and reality. The thought of getting actual work done, or composing an email more than "k thx" on an iPad makes me want to commit shrieking suicide. On a Surface, it seems to be just a pleasant trip up a learning curve. Would it be more ideal if the keyboard worked perfectly right away? Of course it would. But if the effort to get it seamless turns out to be as nominal as Microsoft promises, it'll be well worth it.


We weren't allowed to photograph anything we saw, which is a drag, so here's a list of design-wow bullet points, the next best thing to a JPG:

The Surface design we know now was initially inspired by a Moleskine notebook. Then a college ruled spiral notebook, carved up with a knife with strung together with scotch tape to resemble the real thing.
The industrial design team, which Microsoft says had never received outside visitors before, stared at each other with a mix of caution, paranoia, and terror when we walked in, like some isolated indigenous tribe who'd traded spears and arrows for typeface manuals and Pantone swatches. They were up to their neck in dizzying prototype sketches and hugely complex planning diagrams. Their love was manifest.
Speaking of prototypes, the team's leader says they went through roughly 300 models before arriving at the Surface's current form. They still sit, stacked upon each other like old magazines, in the Surface design studio. Piles and piles.
Some of these models were unbelievably ugly—one's back was covered in reflective chrome trim.
The current model is entirely beautiful. One of the most subtle, powerful, and lovely pieces of gadget design I've ever held.
The sound the keyboard makes when touched was agonized over—it had to sound just as right as it felt. It does. The keyboard, Microsoft says, also knows when its trackpad is being used as a spacebar instead of a trackpad. The keyboard is smart.
The team used paper printouts of a keyboard and ink-stamped fingertips from hand focus groups in order to craft an optimal button layout that anyone could type quickly on.
The Surface's proprietary magnesium construction is strong as hell. At one point, a team leader brought out a Surface with skateboard wheels affixed to it and rolled back and forth standing on top. It barely flexed.
The custom-crafted polyurethane Touch Cover is washable. Spill your gravy on it and then put it under the sink.
Microsoft is obsessed with chamfers. Our year, 2012, might just be the year of the chamfer. The team spend literally minutes talking about the decision to go from an 0.3 mm chamfer on the Surface's top edge to an 0.5 mm chamfer. It was admitted that the stage Surface was first revealed upon mirrored the exact chamfering of the Surface's frame. Do you realize how crazy that is? Do you realize how much Microsoft loves this computer? There's no shame in googling "chamfer."

[rezznor]

[QUOTE]
Here's all you really need to know, all we can know at this point: Surface is truly gorgeous, and fantastically designed upon first blush, and second blush. But despite Microsoft's insistence that it has no carefully chamfered axe to grind, the company iss obviously insecure about its wonderful computer. The comparisons to and preemptive defenses against the iPad were countless