Microsoft has today announced the latest model in its Surface line of tablets, the Surface 3. The big news here is that, unlike its predecessors, which were running Windows RT, the new model comes with a full version of Windows 8.1. This means, like on the more expensive Surface Pro models, you can install and run any Windows application including Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom, making the Surface 3 a real alternative to a conventional PC.
In terms of design, with its magnesium body without any cooling vents and the kickstand, the new model is close to its predecessor but inside an Intel Atom processor, similar to what you would find in Chromebooks and entry-level PCs, is powering the operating system. The Surface 2 had to make do with a lower-powered ARM processor.
Screen size and resolution have also changed. The Surface 2's 10.6-inch screen with 16:9 aspect ratio has been swapped for a 10.8-inch display with the same 3:2 aspect ratio that is used on the Surface Pro 3. Due to the changed aspect ratio resolution has changed from 1920 x 1080 to 1920 x 1280. The screen now also supports pressure-sensitive pen input via the same N-trig pen digitizer used in the Surface Pro devices.
In the camera department the front-facing camera captures 3.5MP images while on the back the pixel count has been increased from 5 to 8MP. In contrast to many other tablets the Surface 3 offers a good range of ports including a full-size USB 3.0 connector, headphone jack, microSD slot and a Mini DisplayPort. There is also a microUSB connector for charging.
The Surface 3 will be available from the 5th of May in two versions. Users can choose between a 64GB model with 2GB of RAM and a 128GB version with 4GB. Prices start at $499. An LTE version for $599 will be available soon as well.
Just asked my wife "do you know what Surface is" ... she satrted to explain what surface means in our language, lol. So I asked "do you know what Microsoft Surface is" ... she said "no i dont".
I Would say Microsoft did their Surface commercing really badly.
What an idiotic response! LiSkynden's talking about how well the Surface has been *marketed* - which means his question is very relevant - while your response is totally irrelevant.
Lol anyone who doesn't know what Microsoft Surface is must living in the cave for years. I always see it in the TV commercial how it trounces/humiliates Apple laptop/ipad with its mediocre features.
My wife was the the first one in our family to own a Surface, we now have 3! She still has her Surface RT, I have a Surface 2 and my son has a Surface Pro 2. Great units.
The only chromebook from Google, the $999 chromebook pixel, does have a laughable 32GB of onboard storage (which is soldered on and cannot expandable :D).
And no matter who it is designed for, chrome OS is (intentionally) crippled. I do have a chromebox myself (running Crouton linux on it nicely)
Actually the latest touch-friendly IE for win 8.1 is pretty good. In fact, just about the best to browse the net with a Windows tablet/hybrid (way way better than Firefox and Chrome.) But then again, people are stupid and cling to old prejudices, so MS had to completely tear it down and start from scratch. That's OK, Spartan looks pretty good, and as a SP3 owner, I definitely appreciate the inking feature. But, like I said, the latest IE isn't a bad browser by any stretch of the imagination.
A lot of us do. I personally find the 16:9 screen aspect ratio a bit restrictive (too bad it hasn't got the 3:2 of the Pro, even with somewhat lower res) but, otherwise, it's excellent value for the money.
I wonder if Streets & Trips is now fully compatible with the Surface? If so, for ~$30, you can pick up S&T and a usb gps, which will give you an extremely-configurable big-screen navigation system with no data charges.
Also, will the tablet read external HDDs (not concerned about SSDs)?
I remember reading somewhere that Bing Maps can work with USB GPS units, which means it takes mapping data directly from the GPS and not from wi-fi or the cellular network. You will need 8.1 or 10, however, no support for 7 or earlier Windows.
Mapping data directly from the GPS??? What does that means? The GPS does not contain any mapping data, it merely provides the NMEA data stream - provides the real-time coordinates. Or, do you mean that you can download the Bing maps offline, and then use that on a Win device with GPS to provide real-time navigation offline?
By mapping data I meant coordinates. Yes, Bing Maps can work offline and data from a GPS unit can update your position in real time. I also heard that Bing Maps can use the GPS in another Windows device. Say, for example, you have your Surface tethered to a Windows phone, GPS data is shared with the wifi device.
S&T is stand alone w/ capability of online enhancement - MUCH better than any only online app !!
I use S&T for its topology indications - up and down terrain, which if you drive something like a large Motorhome (heavy/slow) is nearly a must - for planning out your routes and avoiding roads that are mostly trivial to cars/small trucks.
S&T is one app I would MUST have on a tablet - thus ONLY a windows OS (not RT) can be used - Android forget it.
Well, if Bing Maps can be used totally offline, then that is a good thing; otherwise, I would just use GoogleMaps.
However, I still wonder about the MegaPOI compatibility, which is a HUGE feature of S&T. Even more important is the ability to plan various custom routes and stops, which I have not found in any other navigation package. If Bing can do that, it is a winner. If not, most road-wise, nav-wise travelers will hang on to the customizing ability of S&T.
It might work okay for small files and if you buy the 4gb RAM with the SSD. By small files, I mean 10MP or less. My friend was editing his Nikon D7100 files on an i3, 4gb RAM notebook - slowly, of course.
Meh, I have edited 16 MP RAWs from Fuji cameras on a 2011 11-inch MBA with an i5 of some sort, and Lightroom runs quite well on it. It's not fast, but it's certainly manageable.
I wonder if the performance of this Atom cpu even matches my 3.5 year old MBA?
I expect to see Windows 10 later this year. But I'm not in a hurry for it.
I run both my main PC and my Surface Pro 3 with Windows 8.1 in desktop mode with a taskbar and a start menu. So I'm not sure what major benefit I will see. (But I'll upgrade anyway. It will be free, at least for a while, for 8.1 users).
1. Cortana 2. DirectX 12 (faster graphics) 3. Native support for high resolutions up to 8K 4. Spartan (new much faster browser with inking) 5. Native support for multimedia protocols like H.265 and FLAC, which require drivers with any earlier version of Windows 6. Universal applications 7. Old-fashioned start menu 8. More gestures 9. Way more flexible windowing system (metro apps can be windowed and desktop applications can split the screen with metro apps etc.) 10. Support for HoloLens 11. Virtual desktops 12. Microsoft Hello
Papi61: Thanks for your response. No, I don't think you are missing anything significant.
I watched the streamed introduction to Windows 10, in January I think it was. I follow news about it. I'm even registered as a "Windows 10 Insider"! (As I said, I expect to upgrade to it, which will be free for me).
But the only thing on your list that might have been a major benefit to me is "Old fashioned start menu", and I already run Windows 8.1 on both my PCs with a Classic Shell start menu!
I have simple PC requirements, which can be summarised by "Adobe CC + Office 365". I avoided Metro, and don't like touch-screens. Both my PCs are high-spec models within their respective niches. So while I expect SOME performance benefits, I am already getting fast processing.
I am not criticising Windows 10! I think it will be what lots of people have been waiting for. But I am mostly getting what I want out of Windows 8.1 in desktop mode with a start menu.
I've used Win10 beta, 3 versions, and it's a lot less stupid than 8 and 8.1. Gone are those stupid things that swipe out from the sides of the screen.
It's what Win8 should have been. It's a mouse and key board operated OS, like Win 7, that will also operate via touch screen if you'd like it too, but you don't have to use it that way.
Also right it supports H265 natively which is a big boost for the Samsung NX1.
Unfortunately it still asks you to go around your wrist to get to your elbow to start in Safe Mode. (And Safe Mode is also messed up in the current build of Win10, 10041.)
Well, X7 uses the same integrated graphics as Core M, and since it's quad-core and it has a higher base clock speed, I suspect that the real-world performance will either be a wash or insignificantly slower than Core M.
Now, Core M isn't as good as the latest generation of Core i3/5/7 CPU's, but it's also way better than the Bay Trail Atoms used in cheap hybrids.
So, assuming that the X7 performance will be close to that of the only Core M chip on the market (so far), I would dare to predict that casual to moderate Photoshop use with the Surface 3 will be more than OK.
I wouldn't bother attempting any Lightroom or Photoshop on a device with an Intel Atom CPU. Perhaps very light work on a small number of images, at most.
"I wouldn't bother attempting any Lightroom or Photoshop on a device with an Intel Atom CPU. "
Again, THIS Atom generation has little to do with the old and indeed very slow 2008-2009 generation. The new generation is only a bit slower than the brand new "M" Intel CPU used in the new 12" Macbook and is significantly faster than old Atoms.
Does this Atom x7 processor run x86/x64 binary apps - or is it via emulation or ?
If not then, AFAIK you will have to either buy NEW or update any apps you now own to run on this processor, thus likely NOT a very inexpensive tablet in reality - I have oodles of apps for x86 windows - ZERO for Atom binary.
I don't know much about the X7 Atom specs. The more recent ones don't appear to have an integrated video card, which the Core M does.
Can the i3 run without any fan?
There already are less expensive Core M machines, that seem quite fast to me, probably don't use the fastest version of Core M CPUs. I've played with demo units, but not tried to see how long a battery holds up.
Atom X7 also has integrated video. In fact the very same type Core M uses. Another reason why there isn't really much difference in the real world between the two (aside from X7 costing much less, of course.) Yes, Atom is less powerful, but it's quad-core vs. dual-core of Core M. Also the X7 has a base clock speed of 1.6Mhz vs. 1.1 of Core M.
I don't have the benchmarks yet (I guess we'll have to wait until May), but I sense that in the end the results will be a wash. Or that X7 will only be 5% slower.
Consider that even if Intel released 3 different Core M CPU's, only one has been adopted so far. Intel has stopped developing Broadwell and it's about to release Skylake. Which is another reason to predict Core M will soon fade away, replaced by a more advanced Skylake counterpart. This will probably be considerably faster while still very easy on power and somehow re-establish a proper CPU hierarchy, without models overlapping on performance.
Going by Wikipedia the Atom X7's GPU is different. (Yes I was wrong about it not being there--must have read the wrong list).
And again:
The Windows 8.1 computers that I've tried, which run the Core M, are impressively fast. This has not been my experience with Win 8 Atom machines--though I've not tried the most recent ones.
This has an Atom x7processor, usually reserved/used for low power Android uses - the RT OS was created to run on the low capabilities (processing and memory, etc - ie cheaper systems) of the Atom and such processors - much less powerful than i3,i5 etc processors.
They always knew this, the Atom processor is a weak processor compared to the i3/5/7 processors - RT was created for low resource systems - that also can be cheap - less hardware $$ !!
RT never was about anything other than running some apps from M$ & hoping that developers would create new ones for RT - which they did NOT !!
Own and use my Surface RT daily. Great unit. Beautiful display, great audio, excellent build quality does everything I expect a tablet to do and more, especially like the way the standard Windows file handling has been built in. If I need to do serious work I use my desktop workstation, that's what I bought that for. ;)
BUY SOMETHING ELSE! And have money to spare to get a tablet too. My SP2/128 is the most problematic hardware I have owned in 30 years. Endless problems - and I'm on my second unit, MS having replaced the original after 11.5 months of complaints about the first one. This one's no different. Endless firmware/OS update problems (latest today). Screen brightness instability. MD adapter risks damaging the unit beyond economic repair. Battery replacement costs almost £200!!! Type kb failed after a few months. Power adapter fitting falls out easily (both examples). Accessories hard to find or unavailable (no car adapter.) Wireless display adapter completely unreliable. MS Bluetooth mouse freezes unpredictably (both units.) Maybe the SP3's better; but that's what I thought when I bought the SP2... Now someone's going to say "mine's OK..."
Definitely. Generally, the SP's are reported to be reliable. At least they don't have frying video cards, as opposed to the notebooks of a specific fruit ex-computer, now-fashion company...
Apple fanboy? That's a *****ng joke. I haven't owned Apple hardware since 1990. That said Apple charge about £90 to replace an iPad battery. See the MS forums if you think I'm exaggerating - there have been endless problems. This product - ALL MS hardware that I've bought in the last year - is overpriced junk. Buy something by all means - best of luck. (As I'm typing the screen spontaneously dimmed by about 30%.) Part of the problem has been with the implementation of W 8.1 on this device. I'm running the same OS on an Intel workstation without any comparable problems. My comments are absolutely accurate. I've been doing this stuff for 30+ years, most of that time professionally and owned or used hundreds of devices. I've also had my own electronics R&D and manufacturing business selling hardware through one of the biggest Japanese companies. Fanboys? Unlike many posters here I don't give a hoot; it just has to work. This stuff is overpriced junk.
>>But, right I've never seen anybody seriously complain about any MS Surface hardware problems.
We've had issues getting it to connect reliably to a projector. It couldn't figure out resolutions and the presentation looked terrible. We plugged in another computer and it had no problem.
I often connect my SP3 to a projector (either mine or someone else's) using Microsoft's own Wireless Display Adapter (WiDi+Miracast.) Never had a single issue.
Mini DisplayPort? Not HDMI? What's wrong with Microsoft?
Microsoft just lost some potential users who uses tablet as HTPC b/c part of the reason that Windows has "windows media center" which is kind of like TiVo.
One of my HTPC is Windows which is not too bad even TiVo's OS is more stable than Windows.
BTW: Windows RT is a joke, and finally Microsoft gets rid of Windows RT.
Because it won't fit properly. Even the MS overpriced version exerts so much leverage on the socket that it's just a matter of time before a disastrous breakage. The Surface range (I have an SP2P) is disastrously bad. So many deficiencies there's not enough room here to recount them. Microsoft hardware is ALL uniformly sh!t.
I'm a long time Apple user and have detested Windows for years. However, my job provided me with a Surface Pro and I love it. For the most part, I really like the super-easy Windows 8.1 operating system too (though it is still Windows underneath, with the weird glitches that provides). Apart from occasionally having to detach and reconnect the magnetically-attached keyboard, the hardware has been bullet proof. It's a great gadget.
You're not wrong. It almost feels like Microsoft was involved in the changes! To be fair, OSX peaked at Snow Leopard. It's now more about gimmicks than reliability, sadly.
It is partially right about "Never. Machines that support connected standby mustn't use HDD."
You can use Intel's Smart Response Technology on a Hybrid Hard Drive for enabling rapid standby, resume and other functions.
I use mSATA for Intel's Smart Response Technology for HHD b/c most of Hybrid Hard Drive only has 8GB SSD last time I checked. 8GB or even 16GB SSD is not enough for getting full potential of Intel SRT IMHO.
BTW: when you config Intel SRT as Maximized Mode instead of Enhanced Mode. The PC boots/runs almost as fast as by using pure SSD b/c I have PC that uses SSD as well.
I work in a school, its a full windows environment except for the 50 odd iPads.
The staff always bitch about their windows laptops but love the iPads. They hate windows 8.1 even more. OK, teachers are not tech savvy at all, tech dimwits actually.
In my environment the Surface will replace laptops and maybe even some desktops. The rise of the iPad is likely to be unaffected. Neither will the iPad ever threaten windows machines in my school.
It's interesting to note that when it comes to personal devices the vast majority of staff own iPads, then Android.
I think the Surface is likely to threaten laptops (and perhaps even desktops) made by other vendors and not the Apple juggernaut. We'll see!
It is nice running a real computing environment (Windows 8.1) on a tablet. For those with the interest, need and patience, much better than iOS or Android platforms in my opinion. With a Windows 8.1 tablet, the system power and features are always there.
You don't care about factual reality (heck, even Apple themselves admit iPad sales are way down...) but we should all care about your unsubstantiated stories about iPads selling like hotcakes in April 2015?
Are you a dick? I never said they're selling like hotcakes.
I don't care if the whole world moves over to "whatever", I am not. I use the kit I choose to use and as for my establishment I will order what is required for it.
@Papi61 You might want to reread the supposed "facts" you posted. There was not any facts posted only speculation. At the least the person who wrote the article admitted it was all speculation on every number stated.
It may happen it may not, but don't quote "facts" and expect everyone to believe you when there isn't any. I've been hearing since 1996 - every year - that the sky is falling for Apple yet, year over year they've had a longer success than Microsoft ever has.
Still if it wasn't for Apple we wouldn't have our Samsungs and Surface Pro's. It's nice to have competition in all of these sectors.
I have a Surface Pro 3 and use it in the field for offloading images and processing in lightroom. The Surface Pro has either i5 or i7 processors needed for using Photoshop or Lightroom and is a true laptop replacement. The Surface and its Atom processor may not be strong enough to run Lightroom and Photoshop. It would be great at off loading imqges in the field.
I checked the specs for the new Atom X7 on the Intel site and it's substantially better than the Bay Trail Atoms that power all the cheap hybrids, especially when it comes to integrated graphics. I'd say that this machine could handle casual Photoshop use without too many problems, especially if you upgrade to 4 gigs of RAM.
What's a little puzzling to me is that this new X7 CPU is actually pretty close to Core M performance, and yet that chip costs considerably more. I don't think Core M will be very successful. At least outside of the Apple realm.
Core M has had throttling issues in all the machines I've read early reviews on (e.g. Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro), but that may simply be due to poor design.
I don't know about the new MacBook, but I doubt Apple would have released an all-new, ground-up product design like the Macbook if their machine sucked. Product modifications that don't quite work out (e.g. the first 13" MBP with Retina display)? Sure, but I doubt Apple would release something like the Lenovo Y3P, which is rather slow.
I'll wait for reviews to be released, but I think the SP3 is probably still the machine I'd get.
" I doubt Apple would have released an all-new, ground-up product design like the Macbook if their machine sucked."
On the contrary, Apple can sell ridiculously obsolete technology like the non-touch 1366x768 TN screen of the 11" MBA for a ridiculously high price. That's the same screen you will find on the cheapest of the cheapest Windows netbooks and hybrids, like the $200 HP Stream. Do you think anyone would buy a Windows laptop with that old and pretty bad screen for $900?
So no, Apple don't have to worry about using obsolete technology or cheap components, because their followers either don't know better or would never dare to criticize the church. That's the very reason why they can command ridiculous profit margins.
What's not stated is that this is the latest Atom - X7 Z8700. It's a pretty high-end Atom too. I'm pretty eager to see what the benchmarks are going to be like.
I checked with the Intel site for the specifics, and the X7 sports Broadwell integrated graphics, basically the same you get with Core M. Since the latter costs considerably more, I don't think it will be widely adopted outside of Apple's new $1,300 "iNetbook"...
What? Asus has the T300 Chi and UX305, Lenovo has the Yoga 3 Pro and Thinkpad Helix 2, and HP has the Envy X2s. These are the high-profile Core M devices I can think of right off the top of my head. I'm sure there are more.
These were all released before the specs for the X7 were publicized. And yeah, reviews were not particularly favorable on these Core M machines. Neither they seem to be very successful on the market, squeezed by better-performing devices with regular Core CPU's at the top and cheap hybrids at the bottom. Now that there is something much closer to Core M, I don't think they will continue to adopt it.
Ah, I see. Possibly. We'll need to see how the X7 systems perform first. If they do offer, say, 70% of the performance, Core M is going to be in trouble.
Judging from what I read on the Intel website, X7 most likely has 85-90% of Core M's performance, especially when you factor in the integrated graphics that are common to both chips.
Sure, Atom is less powerful, but it's quad-core vs. Core M's dual core. Also the X7 has higher base and max clock speeds (the Core M 5Y70 in the devices you quoted has a base clock speed of only 1.1Mhz. The X7 Z8700 in the Surface 3 has a base clock speed of 1.6 Mhz.)
I'm surprised they don't make a true laptop replacement -- huge screen, lots of RAM and more SSD space. It would be great for photographers to use it flat with a sylus for retouching, and would serve as a true alternative to other tablets. But at least it's a true Windows machine for those who like W8.
I think Microsoft could have come up with some better way for the casual observer to differentiate as I won't be the only one making this mistake. But this is the company that gave their file management system and their internet browser -- two completely different programs and functions -- the same Explorer name.
I have a Surface 3 Pro for over 6 months and I was never aware there was a non 'Pro' version.
Anyway, the Surface Pro 3 beats both android and apple tablets by a very wide margin. I can run the full desktop version of Photoshop on the Surface Pro 3 and not some wimpy apps of limited capability.
My Surface Pro 3 runs an Intel i7 CPU with 8GB ram and a 512GB SSD. A true laptop replacement.
I'm highly satisfied with my Samsung Tab. For REAL computing, my MacBookPro has everything I need and more. Best thing with this combo, I don't have to worry about virus and both system are very stable.
Hi, I'm an educated Mac [and Windows, as well as Linux] user. Mac OS generally requires someone with admin access to willfully install software in order to become infected with anything, and the HowToGeek article basically says as much. The people who have done so are, unsurprisingly, a rather narrow spectrum of users, especially now that Apple has the AppStore.
There are few instances where a flaw in the OS lead to any worrisome compromise for the user [e.g.: HeartBleed], but these exploits also affected much larger, public-facing devices which would prove more problematic [in the case of HeartBleed, public servers for Gmail and FaceBook were also compromised].
Statistically, there are much fewer viruses and malware variants for Mac OS. Apple also tends to issue security updates to address exploits far more frequently than Microsoft does. Given the choice of Mac OS X and Windows for my personal systems, I choose Mac every time.
I'm happy with my Android tablet for lightweight consumption tasks, on the couch etc. For REAL computing I have a self built desktop that does things no $3000 laptop can handle for a fraction of the price, with multiple high res displays, GPUs, SSDs, 32GB RAM, a real mechanical keyboard, etc...
For something in between, this Surface looks like quite a good option. Imagine that, a usage case different than your own, will wonders never cease.
@Pappi61 and Nekrosift - Unfortunately for both of you, I also have another computer running on MS-Windows 8.1. Yes, I HAVE to HAVE Windows to support my clients who foolishly insists on MS-Win... on the other hand, it is very good for my consulting business
Unfortunately for me? Why? You're the uneducated rube who thinks OSX has no malware and it's a lot more stable than 8.1. In fact, Yosemite is actually LESS stable than 8.1. So, yeah, keep with unprotected computing on your mac: if you don't know you have crapware on your computer, you can still be happy. Ignorance is bliss...
@whyamihere - you are definitely right - - - for people such as yourself who maybe careless or does not know how to use the device. I have had the Samsung since 2012 and never had any problem. Have had my Apple since 2008 and never had any problem. I used to make my own computer since 1986. Was a beta tester for MS. Really like the Win2000 and XP. Then came the Vista . . . ouch. Windows 7, although better, was another disaster.
After 26 years stuck to MS, I bought Apple for my personal use.
Unfortunately, MS withdrew support for XP, perhaps their best Window OS.
In order to have the same functionality as a surface 3 pro you would need your android tablet and a non-existent MacBook pro which does something other than get scratched when you run a pen across íts screen. The alternative is to carry 3 devices with you, tablet, mbp and Wacom tablet... that's really mobile! not.
Yeah, you can buy a 2-in-1 with 2gigs RAM/32gb of storage from Dell, Acer, Asus etc. for about $300. The S3 may look overpriced, but not when you consider what you're getting:
- 3:2 aspect ratio - higher resolution (the $300 2-in-1's come with a 1280x720 screen) - higher quality screen (the Surface 2 could be faulted for many things but not for the excellent quality of the screen. Pretty sure the S3's will be even better.) - 64gb instead of 32 - upgrade to 128gb and 4gigs of RAM for only $100 - a true SSD instead of a much slower eMMC in low-cost 2-in-1's - a support system (the kickstand) that's the best solution on the market - an optional keyboard that's thin, light and doubles as a cover - an optional high-quality/high-resolution stylus - will run Windows better than any other device from another brand and MS will introduce optimizations specifically targeted to that device (like they're doing now with the SP3.)
So yeah, the S3 is totally worth an extra $200, IMHO.
Agreed, none of the current hybrids have impressed or compelled me much, the displays are almost always a big let down... I praised the SP3 for going 3:2, I thought it made it much more usable, so I'm glad they kept that here.
I'm very tempted, will wait for reviews and/or edu discounts, this will probably boast better battery life than stuff like the ASUS T100 tho, just because they'll optimize the living daylights out of drivers and every component choice.
Pro 1 and Pro 2 ran real Windows too and were out years earlier. The whole reason MS flirted with ARM hardware for a while and created RT was to pressure Intel into building more optimized mobile parts AND to stop sandbagging Atom which stood still performance wise for like half a decade...
Once Intel saw ARM could legitimately encroach on their low end they were properly motivated, hence Surface 3.
Looks pretty sweet if you ask me, I have a high powered desktop so spending nearly a grand on a laptop or Surface has never been very appealing, I might go for something like this. The ASUS T100 was close, and cheaper, but this is better built and 3:2 works better for a hybrid.
The S3 maintains the SP3's aspect ratio, which is the same as 35mm film. Because of that, my SP3 displays a photo at the same dimensions of a 13" widescreen, but without black bars. Which makes the SP3 and the new S3 great tools for the photographer on the go. And for only an extra $100 you can get the S3 with 128gb of storage and 4gb of RAM. Storage and RAM-wise, for $599 you're getting the equivalent of a $999 SP3. If you can live with the slower processor and smaller screen, it may be worth saving $300. If I were MS, however, I would try to sell the S3 with 4gigs and 128gb SSD for $499. Yeah, they would probably just break even, but then they'd make a profit with the keyboard and the pen...
Anyhow, even with only 2gb and 64gb SSD, for $499 the S3 is a MUCH BETTER value than the iPad Air 2 (which has a paltry 1gb RAM and 16gb of storage.)
This should have been the original Surface from the start. Don't know why MS bothered with a crippled Windows version, it was easy to predict it wouldn't be successful.
The success of the SP3 is proof that people will definitely buy a non-Apple premium product, despite the efforts from Cupertino, their minions in the media and their fanatical fanboys to paint anyone who doesn't buy into their cult as "unsophisticated peasants who wished they had money to buy something Apple."
MS was almost forced to create RT, and then a flagship product to showcase RT, in order to pressure Intel who didn't see ARM as a threat. If MS didn't do that it's quite possible the Atom of today would still be the same slow power hog of 2009... Intel only created Atom to begin with so VIA and others didn't eat into their low end market, but they were trying to avoid cannibalizing their own Core i3/i5 sales. There's clearly room for both tho.
Maybe, but now Intel has a new M series CPU, that doesn't need a fan, being used by Lenovo and HP already, and the Mac variation is about to ship next week.
The Surface RT was a silly joke from day one, unless you only wanted it to read emails and open MS Word .docs.
That may have played a part in the story, but I'm pretty sure that MS didn't deliberately design a product they knew it would fail (which, incidentally, resulted in a quite huge financial loss.) They honestly believed RT had a chance.
I believe RT could have had a chance if they had released it soon after the original iPad was unveiled. But after Android took the biggest slice of the tablet market and Google Play marched past 1 million apps, MS had really zero chance to successfully sell the idea of yet another tablet OS.
It all depends on what kind of performance you're expecting. Nowadays there are Win 8.1 tablets with only 1gb of RAM (even from major brands like Dell and HP) and yeah, they work. Assuming all you do with them is browsing the internet, sending emails, checking social networks etc. I suspect the original Surface wasn't designed for much more than that.
I'm not excusing RT as a product, it was worthless, but it was absolutely necessary from a strategic point of view; and yea they may have lost millions, to MS the venture will still have been successful either way. Even Android was encroaching a bit with x86 support (which hasn't really gone anywhere)... RT will live on in the embedded market anyway where WinCE has long toiled in obscurity.
Intel needed a swift kick tho, which RT provided even as a flop, they would've focused on mobile regardless because it's where the market's gone, but not on low cost mobile. They have fanless Core M SKUs, sure, look up their bulk price tho... It's at least 2x that of an Atom, you'll never see a Core M in a $500 hybrid. Getting a modern Atom for was spurred in large part by MS.
Even something like RAM limits was an issue for the original Atom which could only run x86 and not x64... You wouldn't be able to build an Atom system with 4GB and use it fully even if ya wanted.
The problem for Intel now is that Broadwell M isn't really much faster than the best quad-core Atom. So, where's the market for the M? People who want to buy a premium laptop or hybrid will still choose much better-performing conventional Core CPU's, while people who want to save will go for Atoms, which are only marginally slower than Core M but cost much less.
But then again, there's a certain company which can still manage to sell millions of $1,300 netbooks to their generally non-tech customers... ;) So maybe that's why Intel designed that CPU...
The Lenovo Yoga 3 and the HP competition of the Surface are plenty fast, and they use that new M-Core chip.
As best I can tell neither has a fan.
No, I'd not render movies, or paint in effects during raw extraction with either, but big files are easy to open, and basic 3D CAD will run on those machines. And play back of HD movies won't be any problem.
Neither will sell well for HP or Lenovo, until Win 10 is fully released.
The HP version is a lot less than $1300, and definitely has a better sound card than the Lenovo Yoga 3, and likely has a much better sound card than the new Mac using the same CPU.
What I'm saying is that this new X7 Atom shares the same integrated graphics as the Core M and it's quad-core instead of dual-core. On top of that, the base and max clock speeds are higher (1.1 vs 1.6) and you'll see how X7 most likely has 80-90% of the Core M's performance at a substantially lower price.
In other words, X7 devices can offer similar performance to Core M machines at a substantially lower price, so Core M can easily disappear as it gets squashed between X7 and Core i3.
No, the i3 can't run without a fan. And there's only one Core M chip on the market. Most likely there won't be other ones, as Intel is about to release Skylake. Another reason why I suspect Core M won't last long.
This is what the Surface should've have been from the beginning. A good alternative to the iPad now. Microsoft, Samsung etc..have caught up with and are in places - surpassing Apple at their own game lately.
I hope Apple can counter these recent announcements with the upcoming large screened iPad 'Pro' and iPhone 6S. Next years iPhone 7 needs to be something very special!
No, it's more about RT having served it's purpose and being put out to pasture... This is the Surface they would've WANTED to build three years ago but wasn't possible, you can thank Intel for that.
"Next years iPhone 'X' needs to be something very special!"
No, it doesn't.
People say this every year, and Apple still sells gazillions of whatever model they produce.
The new MacBook is a great candidate for an iPadPro - just remove the keyboard & trackpad and attach a touchscreen... and then port iOS software to Intel, and release an Apple stylus, and ...and wouldn't it be cool if it would dual-boot via Bootcamp between iOS and Win10?? :)
@Papi61 Are you infatuated with Apple? Every one of your posts seem to dwell on them as if this story is about that company? Almost like you are trying to compensate for something...
@Gabrielz - You have clearly no clue what an illustrator needs or why this could be handy for a photographer. You've clearly also never worked on an Wacom Cintiq.
If you would have, you also would have known why a built in screen is more handy then an Intuos tablet. But never mind - You'll learn why it could be easy to do it on a 15.4" tablet instead of 10" and why a laptop doesn't fulfill that same need once you know what you are doing.
If you want a mobile device for illustrators/pen-heavy photo retouching, why aren't you looking at the Cintiq Companion 2? Real wacom pen tech with tilt recognition instead of n-trig, plus you get shortcut keys on the side. The top spec version with i7, 512GB SSD, 16GB RAM sells for $2500.
Those 2 inches make all the difference. The Cintiq is still a nice device and about A4 in size, but personally I would like to have it just a little larger. So you will end up with A4 workspace instead of total canvas size.
@Just a Photographer & BattleBrat - You're right about a 10" tablet not being great for photo editing - that's what I do, I'm not an illustrator - a tablet would be used as more of a portable showcase.
But then I don't use tablets for photo editing anyway. Also when I wrote, who on earth would want that, I meant as a general purpose tablet like an iPad...such a device would be just too bulky for that kind of market.
Anyway according to Dianoda here, you're dream machine already exists in the form of the Wacom Cintiq Companion 2? For pros that seems like a good solution, I'm more of an enthusiastic amateur myself...the Wacom too specialised.
Actually I believe it was a very wise choice. Core M would have produced marginally increased performance (which most people wouldn't even notice) for a much higher price. If the price of the basic Surface 3 were $650 instead of $499, it would be a major commercial failure, because it would be too expensive compared to competing hybrids using Atoms while the performance would still be noticeably inferior to that of the SP3. Thus the S3 would be still ignored by more demanding customers.
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