I look forward to a full, careful, impartial comparison of this to the 2018 iPad Gen6 -- one that doesn't give emphasis to those features the iPad excels at. Fully spec's out they are equivalent in price with the edge going to the Apple product (WHAT?)
It seems to me that any fair comparison would end up a tie -- with the actual answer being: "Which is better depends on your needs and what you use it for". Because, each will have its own strengths and weaknesses.
The iPad G6 will have:
- access to the app store
- great gaming
- best at drawing and art work
- access to the Apple ecosystem (private, secure, reliable, insuring that it "just works")
- a better, faster processor
The Surface Go (fully spec'd out) will have: - access to Win 10 Pro which is familiar to users and IT support staff and has a superior file system - access to a full version of MS Office -- the best in the world
- a cursor and touchpad
- a great laptop replacement that incorporates ALL of the key features of a laptop.
A comparison should be very, very interesting -- particularly if it is themed after Apple's contention that the iPad is a laptop replacement.
This Surface Cheap device is trying to slide into a very narrow but already overcrowded price-performance niche between Chromebooks and low end (cheap) Windows laptops from the likes of Acer, HP, Asus, Dell, etc. It's trying to do this without a keyboard, which anyone who's ever tried to use a Windows device without a keyboard knows is a suboptimal user experience at best. No Windows or Android device sold as a tablet comes close to providing the user experience or selection of tablet optimized apps that the iPad delivers. Sure, the Surface Cheap will run the full desktop version of Office but that's going to set you back hundreds more one time or an ongoing cable bill like subscription.
Who is the Surface Cheap device for? If you already have an Office license or subscription that you can plop on this thing and you need a lightweight companion device for a desktop PC or a heavy laptop that runs a necessary Windows app then I guess this device might float your boat. However, if you've had such a boat floating need for any length of time the lower end of the current Surface products, e.g., Surface Less Cheap and Surface Expensive, already fill those needs for a couple or few hundred bucks more. If the need is real, i.e., critical to your well being or business success, you would have already bitten the bullet and overcome your penny wise but pound foolishness.
If Samsung, Dell, HP, Acer, Asus, etc., had released an identical product to the Microsoft Surface Cheap device we wouldn't even be talking about it. It's nostalgic to reminisce about the Apple vs Microsoft battles of days gone by as if they still matter. They don't. Those days are over. Microsoft won most of the early battles but Apple ultimately won the war. Microsoft is now competing primarily against its former hardware/system partners while Apple's only direct competition in this space is the untempered expectations of industry analysts who constantly expect Apple's products to walk on water with each new or upgraded product announcement.
According to geek bench, the single thread performance of the 6th gen iPad is 1.7 times the performance of the Pentium Gold ("it's gold, Jerry, gold!") they are using here.
Seems like another Microsoft attempt to be all things to all people, but that will probably ultimately fail to deliver the goods. A new, stripped-down windows machine with suboptimal processing power that is nonetheless promoted as being able to run full Windows applications like Office seems like a recipe for disappointment, if not immediately, way too soon in the life of the device. A two-year old version of this thing will be running four-year-old Intel chips, choking on Windows bloatware that’s supposed to function on everything from this to the newest, specced out desktop machine at the time. It is extremely difficult to span those sort of gaps effectively.
I'm a long time Windows User with a Custom built Windows 10 Desktop at home. Never have owned a Mac. But I love my iPhone and iPad. Unlike a Windows computer, which includes this new cheaper Surface, I don't need a Firewall, Anti-Virus Software, Anti-Malware software, Spyware software, etc on my iPad. I don't have to reinstall the OS every once in a while as the OS gets screwed up.
This is yet another Microsoft Commerical that's misleading. They show the Keyboard and Pen like it's a part of it. Yet it's not, it's an extra cost.
I love browsing through AI when a new product is released by a competitor. Objectively the Surface Go this is a great proposition when you consider that it has:
Kickstand built in
Quality keyboard that acts as a cover too (although it is pricey but acceptable if you consider 1) and 2) together.
SD card slot
Windows hello
MS is leading the way when it comes to product design with its Surface range.
Best of all, the $400 Surface runs Visual Studio so professional software developers can use it. Try running Xcode on an iPad "Pro".
As a professional enterprise software developer who uses VS daily, I have zero desire to try to do so on a small tablet. Too many windows, panels, applications, etc (all of which would zap the battery on this thing). I prefer my 27" displays and on the rare occasions when I'm not sitting in front of a workstation, then a real laptop. They're simply different use cases...
I love browsing through AI when a new product is released by a competitor. Objectively the Surface Go this is a great proposition when you consider that it has:
Kickstand built in
Quality keyboard that acts as a cover too (although it is pricey but acceptable if you consider 1) and 2) together.
SD card slot
Windows hello
MS is leading the way when it comes to product design with its Surface range.
Hey look! Satya Nadella signed up on AI to plug his little computer with a kickstand! And it's built-in!
Unapologetic Mac user, but my wife needs Win for work and is just used to the ecosystem, so I got her an original Surface back when they were reasonably priced, like this one will be. Honestly, it running Win 10 is the most responsive and intuitive way of using Windows Ive experienced, then they somehow priced Surface devices out of this world. This should sell well, and if I was told I had to work in Win for something, I'd rather have this than most of the laptops I've been through.
I love browsing through AI when a new product is released by a competitor. Objectively the Surface Go this is a great proposition when you consider that it has:
Kickstand built in
Quality keyboard that acts as a cover too (although it is pricey but acceptable if you consider 1) and 2) together.
SD card slot
Windows hello
MS is leading the way when it comes to product design with its Surface range.
You signed up just to advertise … a kickstand?
Hilarious that you put it at the top of the list. I was just thinking that someone should put this shocking omission to Jony Ive. The man needs to explain himself. ———————————— Blogger: “So many believe that the inevitable failure of the iPad experiment will be because you didn’t build in a kickstand. How do you respond to that?”
Jony: “Well I can’t really respond because mooning in public is a serious criminal offence.”
Blogger: “Right, so will you be adding a kickstand in the future?”
This article recommending the Surface Pro bundle puts an interesting spin on it:
Comparing the spec'd out Surface Go at $650 to the Surface Pro currently sold as a bundle:
"Microsoft's Surface Pro typically costs $799 on the low end without a
keyboard, but the company is currently selling a bundle deal Surface
Pro with an Intel Core i5 processor, 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage with a keyboard
for $799. That bundle typically costs $1,159, so it's a pretty solid
deal. The Core i5 chip is much more powerful than the Intel Pentium Gold
in the Surface Go, too, which means you can run more powerful software,
including power-hungry apps like Adobe Photoshop.
The trade-off is
portability, since the Surface Go is smaller, but even the 12.3-inch
Surface Pro is a really good on-the-go computer."
I love browsing through AI when a new product is released by a competitor. Objectively the Surface Go this is a great proposition when you consider that it has:
Kickstand built in
Quality keyboard that acts as a cover too (although it is pricey but acceptable if you consider 1) and 2) together.
SD card slot
Windows hello
MS is leading the way when it comes to product design with its Surface range.
You signed up just to advertise … a kickstand?
Hilarious that you put it at the top of the list. I was just thinking that someone should put this shocking omission to Jony Ive. The man needs to explain himself. ———————————— Blogger: “So many believe that the inevitable failure of the iPad experiment will be because you didn’t build in a kickstand. How do you respond to that?”
Jony: “Well I can’t really respond because mooning in public is a serious criminal offence.”
Blogger: “Right, so will you be adding a kickstand in the future?”
Jony: “No.”
Blogger: “Why not?”
Jony: “Because it’s an iPad, not a moPed.”
Blogger: “I just about see what you did there …”
I suppose you haven't had enough time to work with a Surface Pro to see the benefits of the kickstand. I have a SP4, and the kickstand is excellent, and it's better than what the Smart Keyboard does. But, I suppose that in your opinion, what Apple offers with the Smart Keyboard stand is a better option, even though it works in only one position, right? Do you think that Apple does better in the other three points?
I love browsing through AI when a new product is released by a competitor. Objectively the Surface Go this is a great proposition when you consider that it has:
Kickstand built in
Quality keyboard that acts as a cover too (although it is pricey but acceptable if you consider 1) and 2) together.
SD card slot
Windows hello
MS is leading the way when it comes to product design with its Surface range.
Hey look! Satya Nadella signed up on AI to plug his little computer with a kickstand! And it's built-in!
Do you think that Apple Smart Keyboard does better, even though it works only in one position?
I love browsing through AI when a new product is released by a competitor. Objectively the Surface Go this is a great proposition when you consider that it has:
Kickstand built in
Quality keyboard that acts as a cover too (although it is pricey but acceptable if you consider 1) and 2) together.
SD card slot
Windows hello
MS is leading the way when it comes to product design with its Surface range.
Hey look! Satya Nadella signed up on AI to plug his little computer with a kickstand! And it's built-in!
Do you think that Apple Smart Keyboard does better, even though it works only in one position?
I suppose the fact that I’ve never even considered the question before you asked it is evidence that I haven’t been somehow bothered by a lack of a multi-position kickstand on my iPad Pro. So #1 is nope. I’ve got a nice keyboard that works as a cover, (and fills the role of the kickstand), so #2 is nope. I have no need for an SD card slot. My iPad has ample built-in storage. Also, my fancy camera has an app and a WiFi interface that not only lets me save photos from the camera to my iPad, it also lets me control the camera from my iPad, so no to #3. Of course, #4 is just funny.
P.S. The fact that the “Surface Go” advertises a mouse as an optional peripheral speaks volumes about the failure of Windows as a touchscreen UI. Their approach is to be a ‘Jack of All Trades, but Master of None.”
Comments
The iPad G6 will have:
- access to Win 10 Pro which is familiar to users and IT support staff and has a superior file system
- access to a full version of MS Office -- the best in the world
Who is the Surface Cheap device for? If you already have an Office license or subscription that you can plop on this thing and you need a lightweight companion device for a desktop PC or a heavy laptop that runs a necessary Windows app then I guess this device might float your boat. However, if you've had such a boat floating need for any length of time the lower end of the current Surface products, e.g., Surface Less Cheap and Surface Expensive, already fill those needs for a couple or few hundred bucks more. If the need is real, i.e., critical to your well being or business success, you would have already bitten the bullet and overcome your penny wise but pound foolishness.
If Samsung, Dell, HP, Acer, Asus, etc., had released an identical product to the Microsoft Surface Cheap device we wouldn't even be talking about it. It's nostalgic to reminisce about the Apple vs Microsoft battles of days gone by as if they still matter. They don't. Those days are over. Microsoft won most of the early battles but Apple ultimately won the war. Microsoft is now competing primarily against its former hardware/system partners while Apple's only direct competition in this space is the untempered expectations of industry analysts who constantly expect Apple's products to walk on water with each new or upgraded product announcement.
I'm curious to see browser and GPU benchmarks...
This is a failed product before it even launches. Sure it fills the niche for die hard anti-apple fans, but that's not enough to make it profitable.
Too many companies playing defense against Apple, and none of it ever works.
The Surface RT didn't sell. And regular Surface models aren't selling that well either (a few million a year).
This is yet another Microsoft Commerical that's misleading. They show the Keyboard and Pen like it's a part of it. Yet it's not, it's an extra cost.
- Kickstand built in
- Quality keyboard that acts as a cover too (although it is pricey but acceptable if you consider 1) and 2) together.
- SD card slot
- Windows hello
MS is leading the way when it comes to product design with its Surface range.No device will be all things to all people.
Hilarious that you put it at the top of the list. I was just thinking that someone should put this shocking omission to Jony Ive. The man needs to explain himself.
————————————
Blogger: “So many believe that the inevitable failure of the iPad experiment will be because you didn’t build in a kickstand. How do you respond to that?”
Jony: “Well I can’t really respond because mooning in public is a serious criminal offence.”
Blogger: “Right, so will you be adding a kickstand in the future?”
Jony: “No.”
Blogger: “Why not?”
Jony: “Because it’s an iPad, not a moPed.”
Blogger: “I just about see what you did there …”
"Microsoft's Surface Pro typically costs $799 on the low end without a keyboard, but the company is currently selling a bundle deal Surface Pro with an Intel Core i5 processor, 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage with a keyboard for $799. That bundle typically costs $1,159, so it's a pretty solid deal. The Core i5 chip is much more powerful than the Intel Pentium Gold in the Surface Go, too, which means you can run more powerful software, including power-hungry apps like Adobe Photoshop.
The trade-off is portability, since the Surface Go is smaller, but even the 12.3-inch Surface Pro is a really good on-the-go computer."P.S. The fact that the “Surface Go” advertises a mouse as an optional peripheral speaks volumes about the failure of Windows as a touchscreen UI. Their approach is to be a ‘Jack of All Trades, but Master of None.”