Microsoft surface pro: cheaper(than MBA) I also assume that this MBA has windows 8, which to point out, the MBA runs both softwares which Mac OS has more basic features with that.
Hasn't anyone noticed that the Surface is really a netbook? They detached the keyboard and ironed the screen flat, but otherwise there is nothing original here. It's a netbook.
True, both cram a desktop OS into 64 GB, leaving enough storage for most people's needs EXCEPT for music/photo libraries.
However...
The Air has a real keyboard (typing tests on both Surface covers have shown it to fall short). Backlit no less.
The Air has MUCH longer battery life.
The Air doesn't try to cram two totally different platforms into one confusing mess.
The Air's screen angle is adjustable.
The Air has OS X and the iTunes store.
The Air has a much bigger and better trackpad.
The Air is a good laptop. Not a poor laptop combined with a poor tablet.
But if you consider the Surface Pro to be a tablet (after all, the keyboard/trackpad isn't even included in the price, it's optional) then you'll be comparing its free space to the iPad, not the Air.
P.S. My 128 GB Air is not a companion--it's a full professional production machine for Photoshop, programming, office tasks, everything. It can drive a big external display and its storage is unlimited when I'm at home (external drives). I chose less internal storage to save money: SSD is well worth the performance, but it costs more per GB. If I saved even more money and got a 64GB, I'd use my Air for all the same things... but I'd rely a bit more on cheap, high GB Western Digital pocket hard drive beside it.
P.P.S. The Air has a recovery partition too--and you can delete it for more space (less than a GB).
Well said...
Also you can get an Air with 8gb of ram and run VMWare Fusion or Parallels (or dual boot) and it can ALSO run window 8 if needed....
Hasn't anyone noticed that the Surface is really a netbook? They detached the keyboard and ironed the screen flat, but otherwise there is nothing original here. It's a netbook.
It was cheap, low-power x86 Atom processors that allowed netbooks to happen. For that reason I wouldn't classify the Surface Pro as a netbook as it's CPU is more inline with the MBA as they both use Intel Core CPUs. These are quite expensive (about 8-10x more according to Intel's pricing list) as they are ULV SFF chips.
I have a MacBook Air and and MacBook Pro along with two other Macs and three iPads. When I touch the screen on any OS X computer nothing happens. Forget the comments about screen angle, battery life, etc.
I appreciate the comments but there are differences and Apple needs to put touch in OS X at some point.
They promoted this with iOS and customers expect it.
How many times have you seen a 4 year old touch the screen on a MacBook computer (any model). Apple needs to let the 4 years olds guide them.
And how many time have you ever needed to touch the screen with the excellent built in track pad????
I have had Macbooks for about 5 years now and never felt the need to touch the screen...
I personally think that Apple will developers some type of hybrid laptop/tablet. My guess is that look like an Air with a detachable screen that becomes a standard iPad. It would have a trackpad and keyboard in the base. It might have extra batteries, processors and peripheral in the base...
This seems reasonable and I would probably buy one....
However, this surface thing reminds me of a fish and ski boat. People buy them, and hate them. They are horrible fishing boats and horrible ski boats....
- with the "optional" (almost necessary) keyboard the Pro costs $30 more than the Air @ list price - and you can buy the Air for $100 under list nowadays, so the real difference is $130. the Microsoft Tax?
- the Air's 11.6" screen provides 19% more screen area than the Pro's 10.6" screen. that's enough of a difference to matter.
and that's just the base model Air. i don't know what % opt for that model, but those looking for real power can choose the 13.3" screen Air model, faster processors, and more RAM and flash storage - at a higher price, of course. which many do.
but there are no more powerful models of the Surface Pro, at any price.
Not sure if you still can but you used to be able to upgrade the storage in the Air as well aftermarket from sites like OWC. Is it possible to do that with a Surface Pro? Not sarcasm, I really don't know. I know you can do the mini card expansion with the pro, but that is slower storage I think and I am not sure of the max size of the cards available.
I'd like to point out that your original premise was that iOS fingerpainting was inadequate. It sounds that you are either no longer espousing that extreme view or have at least agreed that more than adequate art can be and has been created using iOS.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Banalltv
It sounds terrific for artists though. The finger-painting on iOS isn't adequate and won't be until we get Wacom-like line-weight variation.
That's my original premise, that finger painting is severely limited compared to using a pressure-sensitive pen.
I am happy to hear that there are pressure-sensitive pens available for the iPad. It does put the iPad and the Surface Pro on a more equal footing for me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stelligent
- Pollock was not using the most efficient tool. He was using the tool that felt right, artistically and emotionally.
That is the most efficient tool for Pollock.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stelligent
- It is simply not true that, whatever brush effects you tweak (line weight, etc.), Wacom pen tools can replicate finger painting. A finger on glass (or canvas) is a different tool than a brush in hand. Brushes (and digital pens) are more versatile. But the tactile and kinesthetic feedback of a finger are different than those of a pressure sensitive pen and will lead to a different painting.
It is simply not true that:
Quote:
Originally Posted by stelligent
... no Wacom pen tool can replicate some of the work being produced on the iPad.
It's also irrelevant and reprehensible to suggest that the consumer "take out the recovery information and put it on a USB stick."
There is also the factor (unmentioned in almost every instance of this article), that Office doesn't come stock on the Surface Pro so it isn't mentioned or included. Whereas there are quite a few stock apps on the MacBook Air (iLife, etc.) that *do* come pre-installed. The author fails to mention or suggest that removing these would also make a substantial difference in the MacBook Air's favour.
If you're going to argue that "the Surface Pro is better is you remove this and that," one should also include a variety of configuration options and measure the effect of all of them. This is clearly biased bullshit.
People are also overlooking the fact that no matter how you swing the numbers, the MacBook Air still "wins" either by a little or by a substantial amount.
The more realistic title for these articles might be something like "MacBook Air gives the user ~10% more user space than Surface Pro out of the box."
That is hilarious. Statements like "if you just remove X or Y" to get more space are ridiculous. How about Microsoft providing more storage out of the box? Why put it on the users to have to get rid of anything. I mean it is not like they are removing bloat ware, they are talking about the recovery partition.
[" url="/t/155870/test-finds-surface-pros-storage-space-comparable-to-macbook-air#post_2273477"]On the Macbook Air, notice how the display can be opened and tilted to a wide range of angles. You can actually use a Macbook Air on your lap, if you wish. Isn't that amazing? Yet, the Surface can not perform such a simple task. Does somebody using a Surface have to walk around with a fold up table in order to use it? Or do they have to lie down in the middle of the street if they wish to quickly check something?
One of the biggest drawbacks though is the fan IMO. I can't imagine ever using a tablet that has a ridiculous fan inside of it. I demand absolute silence from any mobile device, such as phones and tablets.
From what I could find, fan - actually, two of them - inside Surface Pro are completely silent. MBA also has fan, you cannot get iCore tech without active cooling in such a small package.
And you can use SP on your lap as well, albeit as a tablet, not laptop. If you need tablet on your lap, that is advantage. If you need laptop, MBA would definitely do better.
True, both cram a desktop OS into 64 GB, leaving enough storage for most people's needs EXCEPT for music/photo libraries.
While respecting your right to have an opinion, I will exercise my right to have one as well, and I hope you will see that opinions are quite relative.
However...
The Air has a real keyboard (typing tests on both Surface covers have shown it to fall short). Backlit no less.
Surface Pro also has real keyboard. There are two keyboard options for SP. You'll have to purchase one, though.
The Air has MUCH longer battery life.
I've just been on Apple.co.nz web site, and it is said there that 11" MBA has 5 hours of battery life. Annandtech.com got 6 hours of web browsing on SP, 5.3 hours of HD H264 video playback, etc. I'd say that is more than comparable to 11" MBA.
The Air doesn't try to cram two totally different platforms into one confusing mess.
The Air cannot replace notebook and tablet on the go, while SP can, with expected compromises. As Win 8 user on both laptop and desktop, I'm happy with those compromises.
The Air's screen angle is adjustable.
No complains here. Though, SP has full 1080 IPS screen in there, so it has it's own screen advantages as well. Plus, IPS has good viewing angles, partially negating lack of angle adjustments.
The Air has OS X and the iTunes store.
I am very happy that SP hasn't got either. All my other machines are Windows, having to cater for two different ecosystems would complicate my life unnecessarily.
The Air has a much bigger and better trackpad.
SP has touch screen, which is basically 11" touchpad. Plus it comes with digitizer with 1000 levels of pressure. If you'd like to run something like Lightroom or any other graphics software - like I do - you'd be happy with what SP is offering as replacement for larger touchpad.
The Air is a good laptop. Not a poor laptop combined with a poor tablet.
SP is machine that will allow some people to replace good laptop and good tablet with one device. It is good device for some people, and not good for others. Same as MBA.
But if you consider the Surface Pro to be a tablet (after all, the keyboard/trackpad isn't even included in the price, it's optional) then you'll be comparing its free space to the iPad, not the Air.
I'm considering SP, and other x86 tablets, to be new category of portable devices. Like iPad was when it emerged back in the days.
P.S. My 128 GB Air is not a companion--it's a full professional production machine for Photoshop, programming, office tasks, everything. It can drive a big external display and its storage is unlimited when I'm at home (external drives). I chose less internal storage to save money: SSD is well worth the performance, but it costs more per GB. If I saved even more money and got a 64GB, I'd use my Air for all the same things... but I'd rely a bit more on cheap, high GB Western Digital pocket hard drive beside it.
So is SP. It will run Photoshop, Office, Lightroom, be part of domain, access network shares, connect external USB3 HDDs and SD cards, while providing better screen than MBA for number of tasks. MBA will be more comfortable for use in laptop usage scenarios, but there are so many situations when I personally find laptop's keyboard in a way, and would like to have laptop features but without keyboard attached. I can see market for SP-like devices. If not Surface Pro itself, then Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet 2, or some other x86 tablet.
SP is just one part of new standard (PC in proper tablet form), and this is more about will this standard take off or not, Surface's personal success aside. I think it will. Time will tell.
As a mac loyalist, I thought I'd try the surface pro for work. First off, Outlook via Exchange doesn't easily set up on the Surface, the metro app connected to my exchange server but not outlook, its a known issue? What, Outlook can't connect to exchange on a surface but on all my apple devices it works fine, are you kidding. The screen on the surface is nice, but its to heavy compared to the ipad mini and not as useful as my macbook pro. I had a motion computing l1200 tablet in 2002 and that's what this is, 10 years later, the surface is trying to be everything and can't be anything.
"The Air has a real keyboard (typing tests on both Surface covers have shown it to fall short). Backlit no less."
I find the type cover perfectly fine. I can type on it just as well as any keyboard. It's quite impressive for not being a 'real' keyboard.
"The Air has MUCH longer battery life."
5 hours out of my Surface Pro is as good as ultrabooks or laptops. Going from a full laptop that got less than 2 hours of battery time to a Surface Pro with around 5 was quite nice for me.
"The Air doesn't try to cram two totally different platforms into one confusing mess."
The Air doesn't have a Wacom digitizer built in either, or a convenient tablet form factor, or an astounding quality 1080p display. I can sit my Surface right on my desk and create graphics on it like a mini cintique. Air can't do that...
"The Air's screen angle is adjustable."
I've never had an issue with my Surface Pro's viewing angle. Whether I have it sitting on my chest while laying down, sitting on my lap (Yes, the Surface Pro sits on my lap just fine, and I can easily type this way as well..) or on my desk. Maybe if you have a cheap laptop display from 5 years ago with a viewing angle of 30 degrees you might worry about this..
"The Air has OS X and the iTunes store."
My Surface Pro has iTunes, and doesn't need or desire OS X.
"The Air has a much bigger and better trackpad."
The track pad on the type cover is fine and works as well as my laptop's. But, I don't use it because I don't need it. I have a beautiful touch screen..
"The Air is a good laptop. Not a poor laptop combined with a poor tablet."
The Surface can do everything that both a tablet and laptop can do, and also can do things that neither can do.. Re-evaluate.
"P.S. My 128 GB Air is not a companion--it's a full professional production machine for Photoshop, programming, office tasks, everything. It can drive a big external display and its storage is unlimited when I'm at home (external drives)."
Uh, my Surface Pro can do every single thing you just listed, and just as well. Better, actually, with anything that can benefit from using a pen/digitizer and tablet form factor.
I own an iPhone 5, which I love, and I use to own an iPad 4 until I sold it to help pay for my Surface Pro. I have to tell ya, I really don't miss my iPad 4 that much although I certainly loved it while I had it. My Surface can do so much more. I may end up getting an iPad 5 in a few months just to have a play toy and considering I've already invested a good chunk of money into iPad apps. I think it's funny though to see so MANY people carrying around an Air and an iPad. I mean, doesn't that defeat the purpose of these devices? I can carry my Surface around and need NOTHING else besides my iPhone. The battery life in my iPad was great but I have an inverter in my car so my Surface will always be charged while traveling. Not to mention at some point docking keyboards with built in batteries will inevitably be released to possibly double the battery life. It's completely obvious to me after owning this for a brief period of time so far that this is the natural evolution of things. Laptops will be dead before long. This device is top quality all the way and opens up everything to me that I had on my laptop and iPad, and more. Some dinosaurs out there will be resistant to change but they'll simply be left behind while everyone else is enjoying the Surface Pro 3.
Consumers are happy that OSX is an entertainment delivery system. That's why they're buying more Apple computers and less Windows PCs.
What? That statement doesn't make any since, there isn't one thing that can't be done on Windows that can be done on OSX and Windows PC's still out sell Apple computers by a very large margin. Tablets are another story.
"The Air has a real keyboard (typing tests on both Surface covers have shown it to fall short). Backlit no less."
I find the type cover perfectly fine. I can type on it just as well as any keyboard. It's quite impressive for not being a 'real' keyboard.
"The Air has MUCH longer battery life."
5 hours out of my Surface Pro is as good as ultrabooks or laptops. Going from a full laptop that got less than 2 hours of battery time to a Surface Pro with around 5 was quite nice for me.?
"The Air doesn't try to cram two totally different platforms into one confusing mess."
The Air doesn't have a Wacom digitizer built in either, or a convenient tablet form factor, or an astounding quality 1080p display. I can sit my Surface right on my desk and create graphics on it like a mini cintique. Air can't do that...
"The Air's screen angle is adjustable."
I've never had an issue with my Surface Pro's viewing angle. Whether I have it sitting on my chest while laying down, sitting on my lap (Yes, the Surface Pro sits on my lap just fine, and I can easily type this way as well..) or on my desk. Maybe if you have a cheap laptop display from 5 years ago with a viewing angle of 30 degrees you might worry about this..
"The Air has OS X and the iTunes store."
My Surface Pro has iTunes, and doesn't need or desire OS X.
"The Air has a much bigger and better trackpad."
The track pad on the type cover is fine and works as well as my laptop's. But, I don't use it because I don't need it. I have a beautiful touch screen..
"The Air is a good laptop. Not a poor laptop combined with a poor tablet."
The Surface can do everything that both a tablet and laptop can do, and also can do things that neither can do.. Re-evaluate.
"P.S. My 128 GB Air is not a companion--it's a full professional production machine for Photoshop, programming, office tasks, everything. It can drive a big external display and its storage is unlimited when I'm at home (external drives)."
Uh, my Surface Pro can do every single thing you just listed, and just as well. Better, actually, with anything that can benefit from using a pen/digitizer and tablet form factor.
I own an iPhone 5, which I love, and I use to own an iPad 4 until I sold it to help pay for my Surface Pro. I have to tell ya, I really don't miss my iPad 4 that much although I certainly loved it while I had it. My Surface can do so much more. I may end up getting an iPad 5 in a few months just to have a play toy and considering I've already invested a good chunk of money into iPad apps. I think it's funny though to see so MANY people carrying around an Air and an iPad. I mean, doesn't that defeat the purpose of these devices? I can carry my Surface around and need NOTHING else besides my iPhone. The battery life in my iPad was great but I have an inverter in my car so my Surface will always be charged while traveling. Not to mention at some point docking keyboards with built in batteries will inevitably be released to possibly double the battery life.
It's completely obvious to me after owning this for a brief period of time so far that this is the natural evolution of things. Laptops will be dead before long. This device is top quality all the way and opens up everything to me that I had on my laptop and iPad, and more. Some dinosaurs out there will be resistant to change but they'll simply be left behind while everyone else is enjoying the Surface Pro 3.
Cool deal glad your happy. I found the Surface to be a little on the thick side though and the battery life is to low for my needs. I have a Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2, I don't need the power of the i5 as I use the Lenovo as a tablet and not a workstation. I have a Macbook Pro for that but I'm glad you like Windows 8. I find it to be a very useful and enjoyable OS despite what most on this board say. It's a much better tablet OS for me then iOS. iOS in my opinion is just to technically stripped, i.e. no file-manager, no command line, worst codec support of any device I have ever owned, no SD card, no USB, can't load files simply by plugging it in, can't connect to any SAMBA server or any server for that matter. no DLNA, no NFC, no customization, multitasking is almost none existent, list goes on and on. Apple left a lot of that out to force users in using the iTunes store and that never sat well with me. I understand the appeal though, it's a simple device to use and their are a lot of useful apps. I'm happy that Windows 8 is out though, it's not perfect and the Metro apps are few but so far it does what I need it to do very well. It's so nice when I see a missing plug-in message to have the ability to actually install that plug-in. I know a lot of people are frustrated with the mixture of Metro and Desktop but I find it to be very useful and easily to navigate, not to mention the custom finger gestures, I have a gesture to start all of my programs and favorite commands, so cool. The thing also boots up in like 10 seconds, so much faster then any tablet or computer that I have ever owned.
Comments
I also assume that this MBA has windows 8, which to point out, the MBA runs both softwares which Mac OS has more basic features with that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nagromme
True, both cram a desktop OS into 64 GB, leaving enough storage for most people's needs EXCEPT for music/photo libraries.
However...
The Air has a real keyboard (typing tests on both Surface covers have shown it to fall short). Backlit no less.
The Air has MUCH longer battery life.
The Air doesn't try to cram two totally different platforms into one confusing mess.
The Air's screen angle is adjustable.
The Air has OS X and the iTunes store.
The Air has a much bigger and better trackpad.
The Air is a good laptop. Not a poor laptop combined with a poor tablet.
But if you consider the Surface Pro to be a tablet (after all, the keyboard/trackpad isn't even included in the price, it's optional) then you'll be comparing its free space to the iPad, not the Air.
P.S. My 128 GB Air is not a companion--it's a full professional production machine for Photoshop, programming, office tasks, everything. It can drive a big external display and its storage is unlimited when I'm at home (external drives). I chose less internal storage to save money: SSD is well worth the performance, but it costs more per GB. If I saved even more money and got a 64GB, I'd use my Air for all the same things... but I'd rely a bit more on cheap, high GB Western Digital pocket hard drive beside it.
P.P.S. The Air has a recovery partition too--and you can delete it for more space (less than a GB).
Well said...
Also you can get an Air with 8gb of ram and run VMWare Fusion or Parallels (or dual boot) and it can ALSO run window 8 if needed....
It was cheap, low-power x86 Atom processors that allowed netbooks to happen. For that reason I wouldn't classify the Surface Pro as a netbook as it's CPU is more inline with the MBA as they both use Intel Core CPUs. These are quite expensive (about 8-10x more according to Intel's pricing list) as they are ULV SFF chips.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bohannjn
I have a MacBook Air and and MacBook Pro along with two other Macs and three iPads. When I touch the screen on any OS X computer nothing happens. Forget the comments about screen angle, battery life, etc.
I appreciate the comments but there are differences and Apple needs to put touch in OS X at some point.
They promoted this with iOS and customers expect it.
How many times have you seen a 4 year old touch the screen on a MacBook computer (any model). Apple needs to let the 4 years olds guide them.
And how many time have you ever needed to touch the screen with the excellent built in track pad????
I have had Macbooks for about 5 years now and never felt the need to touch the screen...
I personally think that Apple will developers some type of hybrid laptop/tablet. My guess is that look like an Air with a detachable screen that becomes a standard iPad. It would have a trackpad and keyboard in the base. It might have extra batteries, processors and peripheral in the base...
This seems reasonable and I would probably buy one....
However, this surface thing reminds me of a fish and ski boat. People buy them, and hate them. They are horrible fishing boats and horrible ski boats....
You just removed any doubt that you're a guy and not a woman.
Not sure if you still can but you used to be able to upgrade the storage in the Air as well aftermarket from sites like OWC. Is it possible to do that with a Surface Pro? Not sarcasm, I really don't know. I know you can do the mini card expansion with the pro, but that is slower storage I think and I am not sure of the max size of the cards available.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ankleskater
You just removed any doubt that you're a guy and not a woman.
What a ridiculous (and not necessarily correct) thing to say.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stelligent
I'd like to point out that your original premise was that iOS fingerpainting was inadequate. It sounds that you are either no longer espousing that extreme view or have at least agreed that more than adequate art can be and has been created using iOS.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Banalltv
It sounds terrific for artists though. The finger-painting on iOS isn't adequate and won't be until we get Wacom-like line-weight variation.
That's my original premise, that finger painting is severely limited compared to using a pressure-sensitive pen.
I am happy to hear that there are pressure-sensitive pens available for the iPad. It does put the iPad and the Surface Pro on a more equal footing for me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stelligent
- Pollock was not using the most efficient tool. He was using the tool that felt right, artistically and emotionally.
That is the most efficient tool for Pollock.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stelligent
- It is simply not true that, whatever brush effects you tweak (line weight, etc.), Wacom pen tools can replicate finger painting. A finger on glass (or canvas) is a different tool than a brush in hand. Brushes (and digital pens) are more versatile. But the tactile and kinesthetic feedback of a finger are different than those of a pressure sensitive pen and will lead to a different painting.
It is simply not true that:
Quote:
Originally Posted by stelligent
... no Wacom pen tool can replicate some of the work being produced on the iPad.
Why? Would women wipe their phones on their jeans or talk about it? You're looking for trouble where there isn't any.
That is hilarious. Statements like "if you just remove X or Y" to get more space are ridiculous. How about Microsoft providing more storage out of the box? Why put it on the users to have to get rid of anything. I mean it is not like they are removing bloat ware, they are talking about the recovery partition.
From what I could find, fan - actually, two of them - inside Surface Pro are completely silent. MBA also has fan, you cannot get iCore tech without active cooling in such a small package.
And you can use SP on your lap as well, albeit as a tablet, not laptop. If you need tablet on your lap, that is advantage. If you need laptop, MBA would definitely do better.
While respecting your right to have an opinion, I will exercise my right to have one as well, and I hope you will see that opinions are quite relative.
Surface Pro also has real keyboard. There are two keyboard options for SP. You'll have to purchase one, though.
I've just been on Apple.co.nz web site, and it is said there that 11" MBA has 5 hours of battery life. Annandtech.com got 6 hours of web browsing on SP, 5.3 hours of HD H264 video playback, etc. I'd say that is more than comparable to 11" MBA.
The Air cannot replace notebook and tablet on the go, while SP can, with expected compromises. As Win 8 user on both laptop and desktop, I'm happy with those compromises.
No complains here. Though, SP has full 1080 IPS screen in there, so it has it's own screen advantages as well. Plus, IPS has good viewing angles, partially negating lack of angle adjustments.
I am very happy that SP hasn't got either. All my other machines are Windows, having to cater for two different ecosystems would complicate my life unnecessarily.
SP has touch screen, which is basically 11" touchpad. Plus it comes with digitizer with 1000 levels of pressure. If you'd like to run something like Lightroom or any other graphics software - like I do - you'd be happy with what SP is offering as replacement for larger touchpad.
SP is machine that will allow some people to replace good laptop and good tablet with one device. It is good device for some people, and not good for others. Same as MBA.
I'm considering SP, and other x86 tablets, to be new category of portable devices. Like iPad was when it emerged back in the days.
So is SP. It will run Photoshop, Office, Lightroom, be part of domain, access network shares, connect external USB3 HDDs and SD cards, while providing better screen than MBA for number of tasks. MBA will be more comfortable for use in laptop usage scenarios, but there are so many situations when I personally find laptop's keyboard in a way, and would like to have laptop features but without keyboard attached. I can see market for SP-like devices. If not Surface Pro itself, then Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet 2, or some other x86 tablet.
SP is just one part of new standard (PC in proper tablet form), and this is more about will this standard take off or not, Surface's personal success aside. I think it will. Time will tell.
I never said anything about choice...
I said for just a "little" more money... you can get "double" and "faster" and all sorts of other adjectives over the entry-level model.
In some instances... the entry-level model is not the best deal.
If you're already paying $1000 for the 11" Macbook Air... why wouldn't you spend another $100 for DOUBLE the storage space?
That was my point.
Apple does that to almost guarantee you'll go beyond the entry-level model.
As a mac loyalist, I thought I'd try the surface pro for work. First off, Outlook via Exchange doesn't easily set up on the Surface, the metro app connected to my exchange server but not outlook, its a known issue? What, Outlook can't connect to exchange on a surface but on all my apple devices it works fine, are you kidding. The screen on the surface is nice, but its to heavy compared to the ipad mini and not as useful as my macbook pro. I had a motion computing l1200 tablet in 2002 and that's what this is, 10 years later, the surface is trying to be everything and can't be anything.
I find the type cover perfectly fine. I can type on it just as well as any keyboard. It's quite impressive for not being a 'real' keyboard.
"The Air has MUCH longer battery life."
5 hours out of my Surface Pro is as good as ultrabooks or laptops. Going from a full laptop that got less than 2 hours of battery time to a Surface Pro with around 5 was quite nice for me.
"The Air doesn't try to cram two totally different platforms into one confusing mess."
The Air doesn't have a Wacom digitizer built in either, or a convenient tablet form factor, or an astounding quality 1080p display. I can sit my Surface right on my desk and create graphics on it like a mini cintique. Air can't do that...
"The Air's screen angle is adjustable."
I've never had an issue with my Surface Pro's viewing angle. Whether I have it sitting on my chest while laying down, sitting on my lap (Yes, the Surface Pro sits on my lap just fine, and I can easily type this way as well..) or on my desk. Maybe if you have a cheap laptop display from 5 years ago with a viewing angle of 30 degrees you might worry about this..
"The Air has OS X and the iTunes store."
My Surface Pro has iTunes, and doesn't need or desire OS X.
"The Air has a much bigger and better trackpad."
The track pad on the type cover is fine and works as well as my laptop's. But, I don't use it because I don't need it. I have a beautiful touch screen..
"The Air is a good laptop. Not a poor laptop combined with a poor tablet."
The Surface can do everything that both a tablet and laptop can do, and also can do things that neither can do.. Re-evaluate.
"P.S. My 128 GB Air is not a companion--it's a full professional production machine for Photoshop, programming, office tasks, everything. It can drive a big external display and its storage is unlimited when I'm at home (external drives)."
Uh, my Surface Pro can do every single thing you just listed, and just as well. Better, actually, with anything that can benefit from using a pen/digitizer and tablet form factor.
I own an iPhone 5, which I love, and I use to own an iPad 4 until I sold it to help pay for my Surface Pro. I have to tell ya, I really don't miss my iPad 4 that much although I certainly loved it while I had it. My Surface can do so much more. I may end up getting an iPad 5 in a few months just to have a play toy and considering I've already invested a good chunk of money into iPad apps. I think it's funny though to see so MANY people carrying around an Air and an iPad. I mean, doesn't that defeat the purpose of these devices? I can carry my Surface around and need NOTHING else besides my iPhone. The battery life in my iPad was great but I have an inverter in my car so my Surface will always be charged while traveling. Not to mention at some point docking keyboards with built in batteries will inevitably be released to possibly double the battery life.
It's completely obvious to me after owning this for a brief period of time so far that this is the natural evolution of things. Laptops will be dead before long. This device is top quality all the way and opens up everything to me that I had on my laptop and iPad, and more. Some dinosaurs out there will be resistant to change but they'll simply be left behind while everyone else is enjoying the Surface Pro 3.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Constable Odo
Consumers are happy that OSX is an entertainment delivery system. That's why they're buying more Apple computers and less Windows PCs.
What? That statement doesn't make any since, there isn't one thing that can't be done on Windows that can be done on OSX and Windows PC's still out sell Apple computers by a very large margin. Tablets are another story.
Quote:
Originally Posted by spacemanjupiter
"The Air has a real keyboard (typing tests on both Surface covers have shown it to fall short). Backlit no less."
I find the type cover perfectly fine. I can type on it just as well as any keyboard. It's quite impressive for not being a 'real' keyboard.
"The Air has MUCH longer battery life."
5 hours out of my Surface Pro is as good as ultrabooks or laptops. Going from a full laptop that got less than 2 hours of battery time to a Surface Pro with around 5 was quite nice for me.?
"The Air doesn't try to cram two totally different platforms into one confusing mess."
The Air doesn't have a Wacom digitizer built in either, or a convenient tablet form factor, or an astounding quality 1080p display. I can sit my Surface right on my desk and create graphics on it like a mini cintique. Air can't do that...
"The Air's screen angle is adjustable."
I've never had an issue with my Surface Pro's viewing angle. Whether I have it sitting on my chest while laying down, sitting on my lap (Yes, the Surface Pro sits on my lap just fine, and I can easily type this way as well..) or on my desk. Maybe if you have a cheap laptop display from 5 years ago with a viewing angle of 30 degrees you might worry about this..
"The Air has OS X and the iTunes store."
My Surface Pro has iTunes, and doesn't need or desire OS X.
"The Air has a much bigger and better trackpad."
The track pad on the type cover is fine and works as well as my laptop's. But, I don't use it because I don't need it. I have a beautiful touch screen..
"The Air is a good laptop. Not a poor laptop combined with a poor tablet."
The Surface can do everything that both a tablet and laptop can do, and also can do things that neither can do.. Re-evaluate.
"P.S. My 128 GB Air is not a companion--it's a full professional production machine for Photoshop, programming, office tasks, everything. It can drive a big external display and its storage is unlimited when I'm at home (external drives)."
Uh, my Surface Pro can do every single thing you just listed, and just as well. Better, actually, with anything that can benefit from using a pen/digitizer and tablet form factor.
I own an iPhone 5, which I love, and I use to own an iPad 4 until I sold it to help pay for my Surface Pro. I have to tell ya, I really don't miss my iPad 4 that much although I certainly loved it while I had it. My Surface can do so much more. I may end up getting an iPad 5 in a few months just to have a play toy and considering I've already invested a good chunk of money into iPad apps. I think it's funny though to see so MANY people carrying around an Air and an iPad. I mean, doesn't that defeat the purpose of these devices? I can carry my Surface around and need NOTHING else besides my iPhone. The battery life in my iPad was great but I have an inverter in my car so my Surface will always be charged while traveling. Not to mention at some point docking keyboards with built in batteries will inevitably be released to possibly double the battery life.
It's completely obvious to me after owning this for a brief period of time so far that this is the natural evolution of things. Laptops will be dead before long. This device is top quality all the way and opens up everything to me that I had on my laptop and iPad, and more. Some dinosaurs out there will be resistant to change but they'll simply be left behind while everyone else is enjoying the Surface Pro 3.
Cool deal glad your happy. I found the Surface to be a little on the thick side though and the battery life is to low for my needs. I have a Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2, I don't need the power of the i5 as I use the Lenovo as a tablet and not a workstation. I have a Macbook Pro for that but I'm glad you like Windows 8. I find it to be a very useful and enjoyable OS despite what most on this board say. It's a much better tablet OS for me then iOS. iOS in my opinion is just to technically stripped, i.e. no file-manager, no command line, worst codec support of any device I have ever owned, no SD card, no USB, can't load files simply by plugging it in, can't connect to any SAMBA server or any server for that matter. no DLNA, no NFC, no customization, multitasking is almost none existent, list goes on and on. Apple left a lot of that out to force users in using the iTunes store and that never sat well with me. I understand the appeal though, it's a simple device to use and their are a lot of useful apps. I'm happy that Windows 8 is out though, it's not perfect and the Metro apps are few but so far it does what I need it to do very well. It's so nice when I see a missing plug-in message to have the ability to actually install that plug-in. I know a lot of people are frustrated with the mixture of Metro and Desktop but I find it to be very useful and easily to navigate, not to mention the custom finger gestures, I have a gesture to start all of my programs and favorite commands, so cool. The thing also boots up in like 10 seconds, so much faster then any tablet or computer that I have ever owned.