Microsoft Surface

RequiemDK

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Can you recommend some of the oem models? I'm definitely not going for Microsoft product anymore.

Check out the Lenovo Miix series or their Thinkpad Tablet 2. To be honest, I find that Lenovo is the only OEM whose quality measures up to the Surface line.
 

bedlamite

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SP3 is a premium product and priced as such. If all you want is a cheap Windows 8.1 laptop there're hundreds of choices out there, I see no reason to badger MS about Surface pricing. Look at the build quality, the kickstand, the screen, etc. If you think you're getting all that for a thousand bucks you're delusional.
 

whatme

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Asus t100 keyboard feels a little films and bulky. I hope the other competitor can come out with similar like type cover 2
 

xiaosinsinful

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LOL SP3 ...
base model i3,64gb $1108?? without type cover $183 yet?
mba base model i5 128gb $1188 similar speced sp3 cost $1348 w/o type cover???

sp3 top of the line model is super OP when compared to mba max out model too ...
 

Aisyoz

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Check out the Lenovo Miix series or their Thinkpad Tablet 2. To be honest, I find that Lenovo is the only OEM whose quality measures up to the Surface line.

My Lenovo always hangs and after I exchange for surface
I am a happy man
 

RequiemDK

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LOL SP3 ...
base model i3,64gb $1108?? without type cover $183 yet?
mba base model i5 128gb $1188 similar speced sp3 cost $1348 w/o type cover???

sp3 top of the line model is super OP when compared to mba max out model too ...

I suppose the SP3's active digitizer and weight and IPS screen and high resolution display are all meant to be freebies.........
 

xiaosinsinful

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I suppose the SP3's active digitizer and weight and IPS screen and high resolution display are all meant to be freebies.........

i dont know what sp3 is to you but to me its a tablet. according to what you're saying then ipad air has a better weight , ips screen , higher res display and cheaper . to me sp3 is just trying to be the jack of all trades and master of none
 

RequiemDK

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i dont know what sp3 is to you but to me its a tablet. according to what you're saying then ipad air has a better weight , ips screen , higher res display and cheaper . to me sp3 is just trying to be the jack of all trades and master of none

Are you sure that the iPad has a higher resolution screen?

In any case, no you are not part of the market for the surface pros if you are even considering an iPad as an alternative.

And this is why I hate the iPad. Not the device. The device is awesome. But what it has done to people. Years ago there were things called tablet pcs which were needed for specialized work. Sure they were flawed as mainstream consumer products. Heck, the Fujitsu stylistic tablet pcs used to cost 6k a piece. Now everyone and their mother thinks that all tablets should be like the iPad, great to f*** around with, useless for anything that we ever needed for our work.

In short, leave the surface pro and similar products alone. It will never be meant for you.

Luckily for MS, there are many people for whom it is meant for. These people generally do not post much on forums.
 

Vincent_G

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Here my point of view since we are talking about SP 2 I think u can forget it, they are already on schedule
to release here in SG end of August for SP 3 . Further more that pricing list is totally outrageous if I
want to compare with other brands , if MS wants to get back it market share not only have to fight with
Apple.
First thing is the price must be lower if u going to fight with Android tablets. That SP 3 price is more aims
at business class level or enterprises companies willing to pay that kind of price. Than comes to
consumers buying level would anyone willing to spend that kind of money, hey my Samsung Note 10.1
also can do office work so what the whole point of buying this kind of $$$$..crazy.
How can you compare full laptop to Android or iPad tablet? You should compare Surface 2 to other tablets.

I found surface 3 pro pricing is comparable to other new form laptop like Yoga, etc.
 

xiaosinsinful

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Are you sure that the iPad has a higher resolution screen?

In any case, no you are not part of the market for the surface pros if you are even considering an iPad as an alternative.

And this is why I hate the iPad. Not the device. The device is awesome. But what it has done to people. Years ago there were things called tablet pcs which were needed for specialized work. Sure they were flawed as mainstream consumer products. Heck, the Fujitsu stylistic tablet pcs used to cost 6k a piece. Now everyone and their mother thinks that all tablets should be like the iPad, great to f*** around with, useless for anything that we ever needed for our work.

In short, leave the surface pro and similar products alone. It will never be meant for you.

Luckily for MS, there are many people for whom it is meant for. These people generally do not post much on forums.

yep not for me thats for sure , im sure many people will love this tablet and it should be out of stocks soon . well good for them and you?
 

E_T

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I'm commenting this as a sold customer of Surface Pro 3. I have an iPad & a Galaxy Tab 3 but those are only used to pacify the kids. Can't really use those for work. You can say I'm justifying the need for a Surface Pro 3 or any Windows tablet for that matter. I'm currently using a Dell Venue 8 Pro because my old Fujitsu TabletPC battery is almost dead & Surface Pro 2 will never be launched in Singapore & delivery of SP3 is in August at the earliest.

To put it bluntly, iPad is a toy that can do some work. Yes, Office (Word/Excel/Powerpoint) is on iPad, I have it + I've Office 365 license. Can't do much with it coz not much features compared to PC (to be unfair). Still can't print to an office MFC printer. Want to do anything need to search App Store first & install app. One fine day, dev quit, app become useless when Apple upgrade iOS & it get unpublished & become abandonware.

At my company, there're many people who rely on their 3 yo iPad for work but now have to buy a new iPad because older gen don't support iOS 7 & our company app requires iOS 7. I wonder if my iPad 2 can be upgraded to iOS 8...

We also have to provide common PCs for iPad users because they can't print to the office printers or access corporate resources that are stored on LAN. Even our corporate website isn't 100% compatible with Safari so for certain functions, they have to fall back on those PCs that's been working fine for 5-8 years. And yes, still running XP with no plans to upgrade.

Global sales of tablets has also slowed down drastically as people realized tablets aren't very productive devices after all. They're great as consumption & gaming devices but as more people move to smartphones above 5", they're realizing that having a bigger smartphone-like device just doesn't make a lot of sense.

Lastly, support for iPad for corporate environment from Apple is virtually zero because these support can only happen in-house due to custom requirements & software. iPad is only starting to come into the Enterprise environment as a secondary device with most people still relying on their PC/laptop. Imagine for a minute these people only need to carry 1 device around with them & they don't play games on Line or FB because it already exist on their iPhone 5S or Note 3. Why do they need an iPad then?

Sorry to burst bubbles & make some people angry (that's NOT my intention) but in the real corporate world, few companies will buy Apple products for the Enterprise/Corporate environment especially if it's an MNC. Small shops where they can go fully Apple is fine, IF they're willing to pay the 20-30% premium over a similar spec PC but for larger department, no one will approve that kind of premium. You can even buy a second hand PC/laptop from Sim Lim Square with intact Windows License for $200-300 depending on specs & condition.

Having said that, Surface Pro 3 isn't for everyone as well. In corporate environment, many people are still familiar with a laptop & are resistant to change to a tablet. Many are ok with Hybrids (they will still use like a normal laptop) but these are generally not for the average worker. It all depends on how aggressive the vendor quote for the contract vs the perceived benefits.

But at least all runs Windows & it's possible to install & run 10 years old accounting software like MYOB on Win7 without upgrading to the latest version & spend another $1000 per license.

The Microsoft Surface Pro was created to evolve the whole PC environment to be mobile. It was created to compete with the iPad 3 years ago but its role today is probably to upgrade current laptop users to Windows 8.1 at a faster rate. This to ensure Windows & Office still has relevance in a world dominated by Apple & Google.
 

tspurs

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I hope SP3 becomes the model for adoption in schools. With the active digitizer, good sized screen at 3x2 aspect, light weight for its size, it is an excellent replacement for textbooks and notebooks, while doubling as a laptop.

It also makes a lot of sense for enterprises that are keen to use both laptop and tablet features but want just one device.

I like it, and will probably get it to replace my 5yo HP tablet PC. Just deciding whether to wait for the August launch for freebies, or to pre-order.
 

vesfreq

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But at least all runs Windows & it's possible to install & run 10 years old accounting software like MYOB on Win7 without upgrading to the latest version & spend another $1000 per license.

The Microsoft Surface Pro was created to evolve the whole PC environment to be mobile. It was created to compete with the iPad 3 years ago but its role today is probably to upgrade current laptop users to Windows 8.1 at a faster rate. This to ensure Windows & Office still has relevance in a world dominated by Apple & Google.

Damn.... you still using 10 year old MYOB? lol. If I'm a biz owner, I would do the same too. Why buy a new license when the old still works? In terms of cost, its definitely more savings. Better still, just use the 2003 Excel to maintain accounting data. Save more.

No amount of PIC can create the same savings as using the same 10 yr old MYOB license. That's a reality. :s13:

Also to share. One day a friend hammered me for using SP1 and even buying a Vivotab note 8. He asked me "why don't you buy a mac book air or ipad lah?" Win 8.1 has cloud and the new Office supports cloud. And, its easier to share files with most people who are staunch Windows Pc supporters.

In the case of my training work, its much easier to ask the trainees to refer to the files in Ms Office on the windows PC, rather than asking them to refer to the Office on their Mac.

Mac still appeals to certain crowd. There is a product for everyone and whatever works for one must be a good product. If it saves money and is cost effective, its a lagi good product.

The one thing I dislike about my SP1 is that the Onenote 2013 occasionally goes cranky and stops responding. But, that's once in long while... thankfully.
 

E_T

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Many of my clients are using the same thing for donkey years. Their businesses never change & changing things just means a drop in productivity. That's why you see people run Windows 7 with NO theme so it looks like Windows 98. Duh!!!

The problem with Excel (except the 64-bit one which you have to specifically buy & install), there's a 64k entry limit to so most shops have to use MYOB or something similar.

For small businesses, all the new stuff like cloud or iPad doesn't help their business or staff so why bother. Even for MNC, many are going platform agnostic by going HTML5/Javascript. BUT, a 5 yo PC running Win7/8 can run these websites just as well or even better than iPad, so why bother again. This is reason why Chromebooks are the next thing for Microsoft to worry about hence Windows 8 license is free for devices below 9".

For OneNote, always remember to SYNC first! Unless you're just adding to Quick Note because if it's not sync properly, it can go hay-wire. A new version that's shown in yesterday SP3 launch should solve this problem.
 
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aural

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Anyone familiar with buying from USA in stores?
I am going over but will be back before the USA "ship before" date of 20th June.

Possibility to get it before the ship before date of US preorder?
 

E_T

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I hope SP3 becomes the model for adoption in schools. With the active digitizer, good sized screen at 3x2 aspect, light weight for its size, it is an excellent replacement for textbooks and notebooks, while doubling as a laptop.

It also makes a lot of sense for enterprises that are keen to use both laptop and tablet features but want just one device.

I like it, and will probably get it to replace my 5yo HP tablet PC. Just deciding whether to wait for the August launch for freebies, or to pre-order.

Research has shown that using pencil on paper book makes you learn a lot better compared to using iBook & digital ink. (you should be able to google that article. It was published a few months back.) So I don't encourage young learners to use a tablet as a textbook.

For Poly/Uni, it's different but I heard many students prefer to use a tablet with a Wacom digitizer like the Surface/Surface Pro/Asus Vivotab/Fujitsu Q-series, etc. Not sure how well the Wacom Intuos stylus work on the iPad though. Don't know anyone using it.
 

trickle_on

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Anyone familiar with buying from USA in stores?
I am going over but will be back before the USA "ship before" date of 20th June.

Possibility to get it before the ship before date of US preorder?

this really depends on how strict some stores are with their release date and how "close" you are to the release date.

Personally, the bigger chains (Best Buy,etc) will stick to the date so it's gonna be tough.
 
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