Microsoft has been pushing hard to move its "tablet and a laptop" since the first Surface was unveiled in 2012, but sales have been slower than the company expected.
Uhhhhhh...
Microsoft has been pushing the convertible "laptop tablet" (unsuccessfully) as long as I can remember (back into the 90's?) Apple came out and showed then how to build a proper tablet and they are still too stupid (bullheaded) to get it.
OK MS: no matter how hard (nor hw many times) you attempt to cram your crappy "unified windows PC" nonsense down consumers throats they just aren't buying it. Wake up and smell the coffee before you spin your company down the bowl, (or not, your choice.)
As stated previously, a product is more than a summation of a spec sheet. Take a look at phones for instance that tout things like display size and camera megapixels. I was at a carnival with my son and was watching a dad trying to take a picture of their child as they were on one of those car carousels. He had a HUGE phone... probably 6" screen size. Aside from the camera app looking almost identical to an iPhone with the same iconography, I watched (because it was the size of a small TV) as he struggled to take a picture. First, the image quality was terrible. Blurry and with glares and lens flares because of the lights and motion. Then when he did press the "facsimile of an iPhone camera button", the camera tried to focus on the subject and finally took the picture about 2-3 seconds after the button was pressed! So here's this guy trying to get a picture of his daughter and keeps missing. Line up the shot, calculate until she was about 2-3 seconds out, press the button... missed. Repeat.
So I'm there with my iPhone 4s in my pocket. I think, "surely my phone isn't that bad". So I pull it out. The preview is excellent (no blur or glare) and I point it at my son and hit the "real" camera button. Bam. One shot. The camera focused in on my son and pulled it out of the rest of the moving background. All this on a 3.5", nearly 3-year old phone! So what's more important to you? The big screen that can't capture magic moments of childhood, or the smaller screen that's still running strong after 3 years and does?
Here's the photo for proof (with a little bit of instagram filters, sorry!)
Apple should make a pocketable Mac (300 to 400 g). Not for heavy work, but the best Keynote and PowerPoint presentation tool, fully compatible with Mac. No, the iOS (iPad) is not compatible with the Mac.
it is pretty simple - if you know how to draw or edit in photoshop, get a surface pro (or a convertible with Wacom or Ntrig built in) if you do not get the Air. It is just amazing that you can finally walk around with a full drawing platform
First of all the Macbook Air doesn't need a touch screen because it's not a tablet. It is not trying to fake to be a tablet unlike the Surface which is trying to fake to be a laptop. The Macbook Air is a full computer that is as portable as any can be. The keyboard is included with the Macbook Air. It costs an extra $150 to get that keyboard for the Surface. With the Macbook Air can add external drives, DVD player, hook it up to your Big screen High definition display. Try that with your Surface, oh there are no ports for that, to bad. And the Surface fails with Windows 8.1. From there the failures stack up. Viruses, spyware, malware, DNS attacks, hacked. Keyboard that falls apart in a month.
With the Macbook Air can add external drives, DVD player, hook it up to your Big screen High definition display. Try that with your Surface, oh there are no ports for that, to bad.
To be fair the Surface 3 does have USB 3.0 and Mini Display Port so in regard to external devices and monitors it has pretty much the same capabilities as a MBA.
So, I did a little research cost-wise between the current MacBook Air (MBA) and Surface Pro 3 (SP3). Here's what I found:
The base model SP3, costing $799, features an Intel Core i3 processor with 64GB of storage. Unfortunately, that doesn't even match the base model MBA.
The second tier SP3, costing $999, features an Intel Core i5 processor with 128GB of storage. The 13-inch MBA can be found for that same price, but with OS X, a full, real, metal keyboard and glass trackpad. And you can put it in your lap.
The third tier SP3, costing $1,299 (which begins reaching into MacBook Pro territory), features the i5 with 256GB of storage. The 13-inch MBA i5 with the same storage amount cost $100 less.
Now, could Microsoft care to explain why the Surface Pro 3 costs as much or more than a MacBook Air?
The MacBook 11" Air costs $899.00 - 9 hour battery life The MacBook 13" Air costs $999.00 - 12 hour battery life
The Surface 3 12" costs $1299.00 with a keyboard 129.99 => 1429.00 Guess the battery life?
ONLY 8 HOURS
It seems Microsoft has turned into the old Apple only this time it has a garbage spec as well as much higher price
TOTAL FAIL
with that close to $1500 one could buy a mac book air 11 AND an iPad Mini the iPad mini does fit in my pocket so I can pop down to Starbucks work on a document , have a coffee, go back home and what I just worked on is instantly there on my Mac as well. I do this all the time and it means I don't have to lug around my macbook even.
With the Macbook Air can add external drives, DVD player, hook it up to your Big screen High definition display. Try that with your Surface, oh there are no ports for that, to bad.
I am not a fan a Surface 3 and I would not buy it, but a Surface3 has USB3 ports and a mini display port so one can connect an exta drive or a big screen to it. So next time check the facts before you post.
it is pretty simple - if you know how to draw or edit in photoshop, get a surface pro (or a convertible with Wacom or Ntrig built in) if you do not get the Air. It is just amazing that you can finally walk around with a full drawing platform
I was walking around with a full drawing platform since Windows 95 with Pen Extensions and a Tablet PC with digitizer.
But if it helps your narrative to paint this as "new" and "finally", please ignore the failed history of Windows for Pen Computing and the Tablet PC.
First of all the Macbook Air doesn't need a touch screen because it's not a tablet. It is not trying to fake to be a tablet unlike the Surface which is trying to fake to be a laptop. The Macbook Air is a full computer that is as portable as any can be. The keyboard is included with the Macbook Air. It costs an extra $150 to get that keyboard for the Surface. With the Macbook Air can add external drives, DVD player, hook it up to your Big screen High definition display. Try that with your Surface, oh there are no ports for that, to bad.
And the Surface fails with Windows 8.1. From there the failures stack up.
Viruses, spyware, malware, DNS attacks, hacked. Keyboard that falls apart in a month.
While I have my qualms with the Surface (lacking keyboard, not lappable, Windows vulnerability, etc)... it DOES have a USB port and DisplayPort that, just like the Macbook Air, can connect to a TV, monitor, etc.
The Macbook Air keyboard and trackpad are top notch and are much better than touching the screen all the time and cleaning the smudges off of it. It just fails as a tablet and a laptop in my opinion. But it DOES have ports for expandability.
Yep. And it's a rather lame argument really. A lot of what they are saying as advantages of the Surface are because its a tablet. If you put it up against the iPad, many of the arguments like the touchscreen and the pen drop away. Even the keyboard does since there are keyboards for the iPad if one chooses to use it.
They have no choice but to compare the Surface to the MacBook Air. They can't compare it to a Dell or HP computer because then they would be upset at Microsoft.
They sometimes compare a dell/Hp to an IPad. One thing though they will never do is compare to a Samsung/ etc. that is android/chrome OS, that would be worthwhile yet still not happening.
Apple should make a pocketable Mac (300 to 400 g). Not for heavy work, but the best Keynote and PowerPoint presentation tool, fully compatible with Mac. No, the iOS (iPad) is not compatible with the Mac.
In your dreams, iPads best option for you, and it does work with Mac.
Comments
Uhhhhhh...
Microsoft has been pushing the convertible "laptop tablet" (unsuccessfully) as long as I can remember (back into the 90's?) Apple came out and showed then how to build a proper tablet and they are still too stupid (bullheaded) to get it.
OK MS: no matter how hard (nor hw many times) you attempt to cram your crappy "unified windows PC" nonsense down consumers throats they just aren't buying it. Wake up and smell the coffee before you spin your company down the bowl, (or not, your choice.)
As stated previously, a product is more than a summation of a spec sheet. Take a look at phones for instance that tout things like display size and camera megapixels. I was at a carnival with my son and was watching a dad trying to take a picture of their child as they were on one of those car carousels. He had a HUGE phone... probably 6" screen size. Aside from the camera app looking almost identical to an iPhone with the same iconography, I watched (because it was the size of a small TV) as he struggled to take a picture. First, the image quality was terrible. Blurry and with glares and lens flares because of the lights and motion. Then when he did press the "facsimile of an iPhone camera button", the camera tried to focus on the subject and finally took the picture about 2-3 seconds after the button was pressed! So here's this guy trying to get a picture of his daughter and keeps missing. Line up the shot, calculate until she was about 2-3 seconds out, press the button... missed. Repeat.
So I'm there with my iPhone 4s in my pocket. I think, "surely my phone isn't that bad". So I pull it out. The preview is excellent (no blur or glare) and I point it at my son and hit the "real" camera button. Bam. One shot. The camera focused in on my son and pulled it out of the rest of the moving background. All this on a 3.5", nearly 3-year old phone! So what's more important to you? The big screen that can't capture magic moments of childhood, or the smaller screen that's still running strong after 3 years and does?
Here's the photo for proof (with a little bit of instagram filters, sorry!)
Apple should make a pocketable Mac (300 to 400 g). Not for heavy work, but the best Keynote and PowerPoint presentation tool, fully compatible with Mac. No, the iOS (iPad) is not compatible with the Mac.
And by "Killed the iPad", you actually mean, "got killed by the iPad", right? And now they're running away to the MacBook to see if you can beat that.
And the Surface fails with Windows 8.1. From there the failures stack up.
Viruses, spyware, malware, DNS attacks, hacked. Keyboard that falls apart in a month.
With the Macbook Air can add external drives, DVD player, hook it up to your Big screen High definition display. Try that with your Surface, oh there are no ports for that, to bad.
To be fair the Surface 3 does have USB 3.0 and Mini Display Port so in regard to external devices and monitors it has pretty much the same capabilities as a MBA.
So, I did a little research cost-wise between the current MacBook Air (MBA) and Surface Pro 3 (SP3). Here's what I found:
The base model SP3, costing $799, features an Intel Core i3 processor with 64GB of storage. Unfortunately, that doesn't even match the base model MBA.
The second tier SP3, costing $999, features an Intel Core i5 processor with 128GB of storage. The 13-inch MBA can be found for that same price, but with OS X, a full, real, metal keyboard and glass trackpad. And you can put it in your lap.
The third tier SP3, costing $1,299 (which begins reaching into MacBook Pro territory), features the i5 with 256GB of storage. The 13-inch MBA i5 with the same storage amount cost $100 less.
Now, could Microsoft care to explain why the Surface Pro 3 costs as much or more than a MacBook Air?
The MacBook 13" Air costs $999.00 - 12 hour battery life
The Surface 3 12" costs $1299.00 with a keyboard 129.99 => 1429.00
Guess the battery life?
ONLY 8 HOURS
It seems Microsoft has turned into the old Apple only this time it has a garbage spec as well as much higher price
TOTAL FAIL
with that close to $1500 one could buy a mac book air 11 AND an iPad Mini
the iPad mini does fit in my pocket so I can pop down to Starbucks work on a document , have a coffee, go back home and what I just worked on is instantly there on my Mac as well. I do this all the time and it means I don't have to lug around my macbook even.
They still haven't figured out how to run Cyanogemod on this?
With the Macbook Air can add external drives, DVD player, hook it up to your Big screen High definition display. Try that with your Surface, oh there are no ports for that, to bad.
I am not a fan a Surface 3 and I would not buy it, but a Surface3 has USB3 ports and a mini display port so one can connect an exta drive or a big screen to it. So next time check the facts before you post.
I was walking around with a full drawing platform since Windows 95 with Pen Extensions and a Tablet PC with digitizer.
But if it helps your narrative to paint this as "new" and "finally", please ignore the failed history of Windows for Pen Computing and the Tablet PC.
Wait… the keyboard isn't included?
First of all the Macbook Air doesn't need a touch screen because it's not a tablet. It is not trying to fake to be a tablet unlike the Surface which is trying to fake to be a laptop. The Macbook Air is a full computer that is as portable as any can be. The keyboard is included with the Macbook Air. It costs an extra $150 to get that keyboard for the Surface. With the Macbook Air can add external drives, DVD player, hook it up to your Big screen High definition display. Try that with your Surface, oh there are no ports for that, to bad.
And the Surface fails with Windows 8.1. From there the failures stack up.
Viruses, spyware, malware, DNS attacks, hacked. Keyboard that falls apart in a month.
While I have my qualms with the Surface (lacking keyboard, not lappable, Windows vulnerability, etc)... it DOES have a USB port and DisplayPort that, just like the Macbook Air, can connect to a TV, monitor, etc.
The Macbook Air keyboard and trackpad are top notch and are much better than touching the screen all the time and cleaning the smudges off of it. It just fails as a tablet and a laptop in my opinion. But it DOES have ports for expandability.
Seems like Microsoft is doubling-down on its Windows Tablet PC strategy. Again. For the fifth time since 1993. Hoping this will be the year.
Exactly!
Who was it that said "the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result"?
Oh yeah... it was Einstein.
$1.1 billion in loses and counting
Yep. And it's a rather lame argument really. A lot of what they are saying as advantages of the Surface are because its a tablet. If you put it up against the iPad, many of the arguments like the touchscreen and the pen drop away. Even the keyboard does since there are keyboards for the iPad if one chooses to use it.
Yep, thanks to Microsoft.
You know: MBA can run Windows 8 too...
Yep, thanks to Microsoft. That's a positive for MS and Windows.
Think you mean either IPad or MacBook Air as iPhone air does not exsist as well does not contribute to this.
In your dreams, iPads best option for you, and it does work with Mac.