Now it's Microsoft's turn

JayMysteri0

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That Surface Pro Studio is sexy!

M$ hinge technology is still the best.

Also that adaptive kit is very cool.
 
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Chew Toy McCoy

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At work I've used Surface tablets and now Dell and the experience has been garbage as far as tablet use. Completely unreliable and clunky.
 

JayMysteri0

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At work I've used Surface tablets and now Dell and the experience has been garbage as far as tablet use. Completely unreliable and clunky.
I've had Surface Pros before, my biggest issue with them was Windows itself not the tablets.

The updates on Windows gets maddening.

A plus though is if one gets Game Pass & the availability of games, as well as access to Steam.


This is a true portable studio that many dream of
Surface_Laptop_Studio___Modes_under_embargo_until_September_22.jpg


If Apple made an iMac Pro that acted like a Microsoft Studio, minds would be blown.


That price tag tho!! 👀
 
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Renzatic

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Wow. That Surface Book looks pretty snazzy. I'll have to go and see what the specs are.
 

Chew Toy McCoy

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I've had Surface Pros before, my biggest issue with them was Windows itself not the tablets.

The updates on Windows gets maddening.

A plus though is if one gets Game Pass & the availability of games, as well as access to Steam.


This is a true portable studio that many dream of
Surface_Laptop_Studio___Modes_under_embargo_until_September_22.jpg


If Apple made an iMac Pro that acted like a Microsoft Studio, minds would be blown.


That price tag tho!! 👀


It may be the software we are using, but my main issue is trying to shoehorn in a touch screen experience on what is largely desktop software. Also the styluses we use are very unreliable, even the ones that are made specifically for the tablets we are using. And for how we are using the tablets, using your finger is not all that practical. Lastly, data entry on the screen keyboards is really hit or miss. There are times when I’ve typed out roughly an entire sentence but when I look at the screen it’s a garbled mess of the few letters it registered me typing.

My roommate has a touch screen Windows laptop and I’d say 95% of the time he’s just using it like a standard laptop. Maybe he does some pinch to zoom on images, but when I see him go to use his finger to scroll a page it doesn’t register his finger movement a lot of the time. Double tap becomes more like quadruple tap. And this laptop is less than a year old.
 

SuperMatt

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It may be the software we are using, but my main issue is trying to shoehorn in a touch screen experience on what is largely desktop software. Also the styluses we use are very unreliable, even the ones that are made specifically for the tablets we are using. And for how we are using the tablets, using your finger is not all that practical. Lastly, data entry on the screen keyboards is really hit or miss. There are times when I’ve typed out roughly an entire sentence but when I look at the screen it’s a garbled mess of the few letters it registered me typing.

My roommate has a touch screen Windows laptop and I’d say 95% of the time he’s just using it like a standard laptop. Maybe he does some pinch to zoom on images, but when I see him go to use his finger to scroll a page it doesn’t register his finger movement a lot of the time. Double tap becomes more like quadruple tap. And this laptop is less than a year old.
This is my experience too. If people ever ask why Apple doesn't just combine Mac OS with iPad OS to make one OS, just show them Windows 10 on one of these "hybrid" devices.

The hardware looks snazzy. The idea of a touch screen seems cool. Having it be "convertible" seems like it solves every possible use case! However, the user experience is bad, and not conducive to getting work done.
 

Renzatic

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The hardware looks snazzy. The idea of a touch screen seems cool. Having it be "convertible" seems like it solves every possible use case! However, the user experience is bad, and not conducive to getting work done.

The way I always described my old Surface Pro 4 was that it was a solid enough laptop, and a janky tablet. With all things considered, it's better just to buy a traditional laptop.
 

JayMysteri0

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It may be the software we are using, but my main issue is trying to shoehorn in a touch screen experience on what is largely desktop software. Also the styluses we use are very unreliable, even the ones that are made specifically for the tablets we are using. And for how we are using the tablets, using your finger is not all that practical. Lastly, data entry on the screen keyboards is really hit or miss. There are times when I’ve typed out roughly an entire sentence but when I look at the screen it’s a garbled mess of the few letters it registered me typing.

My roommate has a touch screen Windows laptop and I’d say 95% of the time he’s just using it like a standard laptop. Maybe he does some pinch to zoom on images, but when I see him go to use his finger to scroll a page it doesn’t register his finger movement a lot of the time. Double tap becomes more like quadruple tap. And this laptop is less than a year old.
I never really had a problem with that, since M$ focused so heavily on their 'tile' presentation / system, I never took it to completely be a touch system. The Surface struck me more as an advertised PC that allowed you to touch it, and they did the basics to accommodate that. The appeal of course was the PC side, where I could use programs that were not available for for IOS at the time. I could also hook up my Surface to my TV ( no goofy black bars imposed ) and play less graphically demanding Steam ( Fire Pro Wrestling being my go to, that I used to play on Nintendo & Dreamcast ) games.

The Surface pen at the time wasn't my favorite, but that had more to how the screen is attached on the Surface Pro, so it seems like there is a glass between your pen & Surface which I found distracting. I can only imagine for my uses the Surface as a device was fine, but Windows intrusive updating policy made just picking up & using it a crap shoot without putting it down due to delay frustrations.

This is my experience too. If people ever ask why Apple doesn't just combine Mac OS with iPad OS to make one OS, just show them Windows 10 on one of these "hybrid" devices.

The hardware looks snazzy. The idea of a touch screen seems cool. Having it be "convertible" seems like it solves every possible use case! However, the user experience is bad, and not conducive to getting work done.
For the people that want a Mac OS experience on the iPad, it's usually because they want a Mac experience on anything or it isn't worthy of their time. When I read what they want to do, it's basically use their Mac, and complain how they can't understand why anyone doesn't want to use ANY device in the same fashion they do. "Edit a video on an iPad?!!! Why?!! My Mac can..." "So can my iPad, now go kick rocks while I use an Apple Pencil or my finger to scrub instead of a touchpad."

Just Windows itself needs to be less intrusive to the user, or make the updates more accommodating to the user.
 

thekev

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It may be the software we are using, but my main issue is trying to shoehorn in a touch screen experience on what is largely desktop software. Also the styluses we use are very unreliable, even the ones that are made specifically for the tablets we are using. And for how we are using the tablets, using your finger is not all that practical. Lastly, data entry on the screen keyboards is really hit or miss. There are times when I’ve typed out roughly an entire sentence but when I look at the screen it’s a garbled mess of the few letters it registered me typing.

My roommate has a touch screen Windows laptop and I’d say 95% of the time he’s just using it like a standard laptop. Maybe he does some pinch to zoom on images, but when I see him go to use his finger to scroll a page it doesn’t register his finger movement a lot of the time. Double tap becomes more like quadruple tap. And this laptop is less than a year old.

For anything requiring significant typing, I don't see these screens ever being a superior option when compared to a well-designed keyboard. They don't provide any real range of motion to the fingers. Any kind of path forward would require minimizing the use of the onscreen keyboard or just making actual keyboards increasingly terrible to use, thus marginalizing the difference. Laptop keyboards are already pretty horrendous compared to something like a mechanical keyboard, where you don't need to fully depress keys. Without people already being accustomed to terrible, I think they would hate these far more.
 

Eric

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My PC is a Surface Pro. I actually prefer the keyboard to anything Apple. Apple Pencil wins though.
I have two of these that I use for work and they're not bad laptops but they run really hot, In fact I had to send one back because it got so hot it warped the chassis. Granted I have to run a lot of apps but I have to keep a small fan running right on it when I'm working now.

For me, there's no comparison to the MBP M1, the backlit magic keyboard is smoother and as much as it's ripped on, I love the touch bar and it's much more able to handle a heavy workload, it rarely even gets warm.
 
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Alli

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I have two of these that I use for work and they're not bad laptops but they run really hot, In fact I had to send one back because it got so hot it warped the chassis. Granted I have to run a lot of apps but I have to keep a small fan running right on it when I'm working now.

For me, there's no comparison to the MBP M1, the backlit magic keyboard is smoother and as much as it's ripped on, I love the touch bar and it's much more able to handle a heavy workload, it rarely even gets warm.
Honestly, I wouldn’t even compare it to my MBP, only my iPad.
 

Renzatic

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Honestly, I wouldn’t even compare it to my MBP, only my iPad.

I wonder how you'd all take to the Surface Books. They've always struck me as being solid, well designed, no muss, no fuss laptops.
 

tobefirst

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The Surface Duo intrigues me more than the laptop/tablets do. I owned a Surface Pro 4 for awhile, but couldn't get used to Windows, I guess. That, and like most said, it's not a great tablet experience.

But, I could see myself using Android, and I like the chances that Microsoft (and Samsung) is taking with foldables. They seem like very fun devices, though I'm more of a fan of the Z Flip idea – a normal-sized phone that folds down to half its size.
 

Herdfan

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It may be the software we are using, but my main issue is trying to shoehorn in a touch screen experience on what is largely desktop software.

I am wondering if that will change with Windows 11. I need a new laptop and the two I am have are running XP (only thing the software for programming my remote will work on) and Win 7. So I will be getting a Win 11 laptop when they are released.
 

DT

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I'm waiting to see what Apple does with the new MBPs before deciding which way I am going.

I'm expecting blazingly fast performance (CPU and GPU) + incredible battery life, and if the M1 machines are any indication, the price will actually be pretty stellar given the performance-to-battery ratio.

Likely new display tech, with more optimized screen real estate vs. the physical size (aka, smaller bezels), probably some port gyrations, maybe a new gen MagSafe, I guess my perspective is, more of the same, but significant improvements - so if you dig on MacOS, it'll be amazing, but in terms of some kind of breakthrough new interaction paradigm, it's going to be a Macbook.

I don't mind mentioning - yet again - I'm super excited about the possibility of an M1X/M2/M<something> Mac Mini with stout GPU performance.
 
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