
Microsoft announces the Surface Pro 3 - sz4kerto
http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/20/5734102/surface-pro-3-features-pricing-announcement
======
ggreer
That's a really nice piece of hardware. I've used MacBook Airs since 2010, but
the Surface 3 looks to be strictly dominating in the hardware department.

Unfortunately, I don't think Microsoft will convert many OS X devs unless they
make some changes to their software. One of the advantages of OS X is that
it's a Unix, and lots of Unix software runs on it. It's not hard to compile
tools such as nmap, Vim, or steam locomotive.

It would be _very_ interesting if Microsoft made Windows a Unix. They could
bundle bash or zsh, add the typical BSD tools, and (most importantly) build a
cc front-end for the Visual Studio compiler. They'd also have to ship a libc
of their own. To save effort, they could base it on BSD's libc. It'd be like
Cygwin, but installed by default and officially supported and maintained.

With such a set-up, you'd be able to run your unix tools alongside Adobe CS
and Outlook. You wouldn't have to worry about driver support, since Microsoft
made the hardware and the OS (just like Apple). The only thing missing would
be the ability to dual-boot OS X (to test on Safari or other OS X stuff).

~~~
paperwork
I'm rooting for MS. My (not so serious) test for windows is simple: the day I
can resize dos command prompt as easily as terminal windows on linux/osx is
the day Microsoft I need to seriously consider going back to windows :)

~~~
bratsche
I know you're not being serious, but there are some other terminal apps that
are better than the basic DOS prompt. Check out ConEmu, for example.

Now, once you've got ConEmu or something like it that will resize nicely and
do other things, you'll still be stuck on the crappy DOS-style prompt though.
:)

~~~
bcbrown
I feel similarly, and seriously. It's not so much just the usability of the
command prompt, but that it would be a symbol of a change in priorities
towards adding functionality for developers, and welcoming non-Windows
technical audiences.

If I'm using a non-built-in terminal, and a non-built-in Unix compatibility
layer, why am I using Windows?

~~~
vertex-four
Why are you using Windows if you want it to behave like Unix?

~~~
bcbrown
I'm not, in that at work I use a Mac. I write Java server code for web servers
and batch data-analysis, deployed on Linux boxes. A significant portion of my
time is spent either ssh'ed into a Linux machine, or using the various Unix
utilities as well as git and mvn in the terminal.

My point, perhaps poorly stated, was this: I prefer a terminal-heavy
development environment because that is the most efficient way of interacting
with remote servers for the work that I do. I can't consider using Windows
without a sense that they've made it a priority to address my use cases and
scenarios, and the single lowest hanging fruit possible in that regard is to
spend half a dev team (2-3 devs) on modernizing the terminal to the point
where when I'm at home and want to check something on a server, I use my
Windows desktop instead of switching to my Mac laptop. Even better would be
dedicating one or two dev teams to supporting a Unix environment natively, so
Cygwin isn't necessary.

For what it's worth, I much prefer the Windows GUI to either Mac or Linux. I
was a test developer at Microsoft for Windows 7 and part of 8, and I wrote
this comment on my home PC running Win7. I would like to be able to use
Windows for the UI and the familiarity I have with it, but those two things, a
good terminal and a Unix-like environment, are requirements for my job. And I
know from experience that this scenario is absolutely the furthest thing from
the minds of the people working on Windows.

------
bane
I'm starting to see more and more Surface devices in my area. It seems to be
getting popular with the Starbuck's salesguy crowd who need something as
compact as a tablet, but they can use real applications on. I know that's kind
of cliche, but you don't really "get" that meaning until you walk into a
coffee shop and see 2 or 3 people sitting around with tablets sticking up on
the tables. The Android and iPad guys are usually surfing the web while the
Surface guy is editing a spreadsheet or doing something in Powerpoint.

Actually a great network effect is getting a presentation of some business
proposal off of a Surface. Everybody who see the presentation usually asks
what kind of Android tablet it is, and it suddenly turns every real-estate
sales guy in the area into an impromptu Microsoft sales guy, extolling the
virtues of the device and OS.

They're still too pricey by my estimation. You should be able to get one of
these (maybe a low-ebd 32GB model) with keyboard for $799. I don't get why the
keyboard/cover is an optional buy.

~~~
IBM
They've kind of killed this whole angle of "Surface is for getting work done"
after they hedged by releasing Office on iPad.

~~~
mhurron
Office isn't the only thing people use to 'get work done.' One of the reasons
I'm planning to get a Surface Pro instead of a Android tablet or a iPad is it
is a full, real windows OS on an intel processor. I can install and run ALL my
existing Windows applications on it.

For me it's more of a light laptop then a limited tablet device.

~~~
robotresearcher
And then there's the ARM version, which manages to not have the single best
feature of Windows: the outstanding backwards compatibility. A very weird
decision. Maybe they'll kill it with the 3rd gen.

~~~
danudey
In a way, the ARM version makes sense; if you're going to buy a bunch of new
apps anyway (iPad or Windows RT), why not get the Windows you're used to? I
mean, if you're going to buy new apps all over again…

The problem with this logic is that if I'm going to buy new apps all over
again, why wouldn't I buy an iPad, which has more apps and an easier interface
than Windows RT, which is essentially nothing like the Windows I'm used to. If
I have to re-learn a new system, why wouldn't I pick the one that everyone
else uses and knows than the new one that no one else really cares about or
understands (and which everyone hated when it came out).

The real key now is Universal apps; if you can build one app that works on
Windows 8, Windows RT, and Windows Pro (and maybe the XBone in some cases),
then we're going to see the potential for a huge increase in apps as people
start realizing they can hit all three markets with 'one' build (and three
UIs).

------
iandanforth
Warning, rant. Why the duck isn't there information on the Surface Pro 3 on
the MS website? Apple has done this so well, for so long, I am pissed-off MS
can't get its act together. You make an announcement, you need _presence_ on
the web. You need to start your customers expectations building, whet their
appetite, and tease them. Their experience starts _now_ and right now that
experience is reading news articles and reading a press release. Pathetic.
Where is the video of the announcement? Where are the beautiful images and
specs. Where are the carefully and lovingly crafted pages that _sell_ this
hardware to me? Tomorrow isn't good enough. Next week is utter failure. You
step off stage, your site is live. Period.

~~~
justin66
> Apple has done this so well, for so long, I am pissed-off MS can't get its
> act together.

Apple doesn't pre-announce products _at all,_ do they?

This was sloppy (Microsoft is going to have something up for preorders
tomorrow, why not just put it up when the speech is finished?) but it's not
something Apple even _does._

~~~
MBCook
As soon as Apple's press event is done, anything they've announced is up on
their site to read about or often buy.

Is MS announces something, you should be able to go to microsoft.com to read
about it.

~~~
justin66
You seem to be deliberately missing the point. Apple doesn't pre-announce
products at all. Criticizing the way Microsoft did it is reasonable. Making a
comparison to Apple while doing so is a little bit nonsensical.

If Apple were to get into the habit of pre-announcing products would they put
detailed product data on the web? Would they allow for preorders, as Microsoft
is apparently going to do tomorrow? Who knows? Not having to make decisions
like that is part of the advantage of not pre-announcing products.

~~~
MBCook
I'm not expecting it to be available for purchase/pre-order (although that's
nice). But if you announce it, the information you announce should be on your
website.

That just seems like common sense.

What if Amazon announced they were going to start selling houses and then
decided not to put any information about it up on their site for a few hours?
Plenty of people would go to Amazon.com to learn about it and they're only
frustrating those people who have already shown themselves interested in the
product.

~~~
justin66
I don't disagree. If it wasn't clear from what I wrote, I just think the
comparison with Apple was gratuitous. Saying Apple gets this right when they
don't do it at all makes no sense to me.

I guess as a consumer I have to ask which I'd prefer: this slightly broken
Microsoft process, or not learning about products at all until they go on
sale. I actually do prefer the Microsoft process.

~~~
MBCook
Ah, that's what's going on. I'm not talking about announcing products before
they ship, that doesn't matter to my point.

When a company makes an announcement, _any announcement_ , they should put the
information on their website. To leave a vacuum when you have that information
ready is odd. I don't understand how a company could, in 2014, announce a
product and not update their website.

Let's pick another company: Tesla. When they announced the model S and the
model X they put the information on the site. The model X _still_ isn't out
(and won't be for what, a year+?) but they put the information they announced
up on their site for interested people to see.

------
mikerg87
Small things continue to kill the surface pro acceptance:

\- The Surface site on the surface site hasn't updated with surface pro 3
info/pricing. The run way for this is long, why isn't the site updated or
ready to go?

\- Accessories are notoriously out of stock. Why are they hard to get? Docking
station, keyboards, mice. Fix that.

\- The dock has 10/100 Ethernet. In 2013-2014? Why?

\- Updates for firmware and drivers assume enterprise infrastructure. Without
the infrastructure you need a manual upgrade using command line tools. The
updates don't come through the normal windows update channel. You have to
discover them on your own.

\- The track pad on the type/touch cover is flaky . Its forever getting stuck
in a fixed place and stuck on gestures you cant turn off or control. You end
up having to disconnect the cover and reconnect. this is stupid for an
elite/pro device.

Despite the gripes these devices continue to show promise and I see them more
and more around airports and coffee shops.

~~~
TheAnimus
>The run way for this is long, why isn't the site updated or ready to go?

I don't think that's a big problem.

> The dock has 10/100 Ethernet. In 2013-2014? Why?

Dog slow as well, I suspect it's USB!

> Updates for firmware and drivers assume enterprise infrastructure.

Not my experience at all, windows update did all my driver updates and at
least one firmware update too.

> The track pad on the type/touch cover is flaky

They claim to have addressed this (which you know, because you read the
article right?)

~~~
slantyyz
>> The dock has 10/100 Ethernet. In 2013-2014? Why? > Dog slow as well, I
suspect it's USB!

The weird thing is that the dock has USB 3 ports, which can easily support a
GB LAN connection. I was going to buy one for my Surface Pro (gen1) until I
saw that it was 10/100\. You're better off buying something like a Plugable
(plugable.com) USB 3 dock.

------
ldd-
As a proud Gen 1 Surface Pro owner, this looks spectacular.

My Surface replaced my laptop, and while I definitely had my issues with the
transition (trackpad sucks so often use external mouse, aspect ratio is
inconvenient for Office, display angle is limiting, and no built-in LTE), I've
ultimately come to enjoy using it.

I've almost always got it with me, and I've found I've become nearly as
productive on it as I was with my laptop. I've been willing to make the
"nearly" tradeoff since I have it on me more often, so more opportunity to be
productive, and I do use it as a tablet in ways that I obviously couldn't with
my laptop.

The updates in the Gen 3 address nearly all of my gripes (why can't they
integrate LTE??). I'm not sure if I'll pick up a 3, but only because my Gen 1
is less than 2 years old and still under warranty. If not a Gen 3, then a Gen
4 will definitely be on my shopping list.

I can't imagine I'll go back to a normal laptop. I guess I'm exactly who they
are targeting.

~~~
codeulike
Yeah I have a Surface Pro 1 and I now use it for everything - development,
taking notes, writing apps, playing minecraft, scribbling on PDFs. The
direction they're taking the Pro 3 seems to be a good clear message at last
'the tablet that can replace your laptop'
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t7rSZT_77E](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t7rSZT_77E)
The bigger screen is a good move I think.

I've started using the ArcTouch mouse with my surface when I'm out and about,
rather than the touchpad on the cover. Works pretty nicely and folds flat. But
then I've always preferred a proper mouse to a touchpad.

~~~
mcintyre1994
Just out of interest, are you developing on Windows? Do you have any
experience running Linux on them or know if that's pretty much a no go?

~~~
kayoone
For my case, windows runs vagrant pretty well, so i have no problems
developing web apps on windows as i have used vagrant on OSX before anyway.

------
josefresco
Microsoft needs to keep at it. While this iteration is great, the platform
will not flourish if they falter or take a release cycle off. Consistent
upgrades to the Surface hardware, and support of the developer community is
key to winning the overall tablet war for MS.

~~~
astrodust
While it's great to see Microsoft innovating like this and pushing their
product aggressively forward, it must really chafe with their OEM community.
Why would you buy some clunky classic notebook when you can get a Surface 3
for virtually the same price?

It's basically impossible for OEMs to compete when Microsoft can include
Windows for free and they have to pay a premium to bundle it.

~~~
mikerg87
I really haven't seen the surface pro compete on price. Similar Lenovo
offerings for 256GB and 512GB SSD ultra books have similar pricing. I honestly
think MS shopped around the concept of surface to OEMS and I think the OEMs
said "Pass. No Thanks. we'll stick with our incremental and existing form
factors".

I think MS was forced into a corner and concluded they needed to go it on
their own.

~~~
JimmaDaRustla
Kind of like how Razer built their own laptop - the OEMs have stagnated and
their hardware isn't competing on an innovation front.

------
skrebbel
Just when I was "boohoo"-ing over Sony Vaios entirely leaving (WORLD &
~JAPAN), MS does this. Awesome. I would probably buy one if I didn't just buy
a new laptop 2 months ago.

The slightly bigger screen also makes this a worthy competitor to "real"
laptops (as in, 13" and up) - a first for the Surface IMO.

------
sz4kerto
3:2 screen ratio is a killer feature. The size (800g, 9.1 mm) is quite
unbelievable as well.

~~~
higherpurpose
Except there's not much point to a 12" portrait tablet. How often do you think
you'd be using such a tablet in portrait mode?

~~~
rayiner
12" portrait is the right size for working with Word documents and PDFs.

~~~
dragonwriter
Well, 14" would be _better_ for letter-sized documents, but 12" is tolerably
close to right.

~~~
sliverstorm
Do you print your letters on US Legal or something like that?

~~~
dragonwriter
> Do you print your letters on US Legal or something like that?

No, "letter size" was a reference to US Letter, which is 8.5"x11", which has a
13.9" diagonal, so a 14" screen would be about right (a little small for a
100% display if it is 3:2, because US Letter has a 1.29:1 aspect ratio rather
than 1.5:1.)

US Legal is 8.5"x14" which is closer to 3:2 (1.65:1) but also 16.4" diagonal.

~~~
sliverstorm
Whoops, forgot about the difference was of measuring screens & paper...

------
tompagenet2
Really impressed by this, especially the 3:2 ratio screen which will be great
for writing and for browsing, and amazing for photos. The pen looks great.
I've recently been given an iPad by work as part of a trial. It's great for
quick e-mails, but really seems hard for me to get 'proper' work done. This
might be the thing - shame I have to pay for it.

~~~
thrownaway2424
It's really irritating that Lenovo won't source these for the X-series
laptops.

------
JimmaDaRustla
Looks awesome.

I always say I won't buy a tablet until it is as useful as my laptop - this is
a great step in that direction with the multi position stand, 12" screen, core
i7, thin and light...Will I actually enter the tablet world?

------
yulaow
Did I miss that or they said nothing about the battery duration? For me that's
a very important information. For the rest is a really great piece of hw

edit:

Yep I missed: "Over ~20% more battery life than any product Surface has
shipped before"

and: " battery life is up to 9 hours on the Surface Pro 3."

~~~
msh
The anandtech live blog says it's 20% better than surface pro 2.

~~~
tdicola
What version are they testing though, the Core i3? What is the Core i7 battery
life I wonder...

~~~
MikusR
Idle power consumption of Cores is about the same.

~~~
tdicola
I really hope a real world battery test isn't just checking stuff at idle.

------
bcoates
I was holding out for this announcement to upgrade my Surface Pro, which I've
been happily using as a main work PC for more than a year now. I'm not big on
the size/aspect ratio change--I don't carry a bag around, and the current
surface is about as large as I'd want to handle. A bigger, presumably floppier
keyboard isn't too enticing either.

3:2 makes the portrait mode go from silly to potentially useable, except for
the part where almost no Windows programs are actually usable in portrait
mode, and of course the keyboard requires landscape mode anyway.

With no interesting spec upgrades over the Pro 2 (I was hoping for LTE, or
more ports) I think I'll get one of those instead.

~~~
nlawalker
3:2 is the feature that makes me actually want one of these now. I find that
16:9 on a screen the size of the Surface's is okay for watching video and not
much else. I have the original "RT" Surface and my biggest complaint, even
over the awful performance, is the aspect ratio. It's not comfortable to hold
in your hands in either orientation and it isn't helpful for most
productivity-related stuff.

Portrait orientation is important to me, but there are very few applications
that I actually use in it, the top one being a browser. With a keyboard
attached in landscape, the extra screen area will be extremely welcome.

------
rbanffy
Looks good, but I was expecting a screen with the same specs as Google's
Chromebook Pixel. I understand that, beyond a certain point, pixel density
ceases to be relevant, but the different numbers mean this is a different
part.

Now, I wonder how good would Linux support be.

Also, weighting a keyboardless tablet with a MacBook air is disingenuous at
best.

~~~
JimmaDaRustla
They put the typecover on - stills weigh less.

~~~
rbanffy
Is that a mechanical backlit keyboard? Are we comparing apples to apples (no
pun intended)?

~~~
JimmaDaRustla
The point of the comparison isn't to compare the two products against each
other, but rather to suggest that the Surface is more power/technology for
less weight as a portable device.

~~~
dublinben
Putting two objects on a scale is pretty much the most literal way to compare
them. You're being far too generous in your interpretation here.

~~~
JimmaDaRustla
No, I'm not. I was watching the live feeds - they even put both iPad plus
MacBook Air on the scale versus the Surface Pro with the pure intention that
one would carry both laptop and tablet on a daily basis, and that they are
aiming to have the Surface be a full solution in a single, smaller form
factor. Again, it is pretty clear that the intent wasn't to present the weight
of product A vs product B, but rather the weight of one solution versus
others.

Edit: Otherwise, the comparison is completely redundant - different form
factors, different materials, difference screen sizes, etc.

Even the whole theme of the event was that the want the Surface to replace
laptops. "You've been told to buy a tablet, but you know you need a laptop.
Today we're going to focus on that, and only on that, taking that conflict
away."

------
themodelplumber
I look at the environment in which the product was presented and it's just one
no-no after another. Check out this photo:

[http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2014/05/20/microsoft-
unveils...](http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2014/05/20/microsoft-unveils-new-
touch-cover-surface-pro-3-68-larger-trackpad-magnetic-sealing-mode/)

They've picked some awful desaturated blue/green wallpaper image that clashes
with the tiles that are supposed to be so great in Windows. Then the tiles
themselves have this weird whitespace issue that creates an imbalanced
appearance and even allows some tiles to use a right-aligned symbol rather
than the default center.

To say nothing of the shirt Panay is wearing. Nice and shiny, I'll give it
that.

Then I watch the MS dubstep ad for this product and it's just a bunch of
meaningless flash. You don't even get to see people smiling, just music and
lights (dah dah-dah). Oh and a pen writing on the screen, as if that's some
miracle of modern technology. You can take notes with pictures in them, too.

This is a step up from most Windows laptops, I'm sure, but the presentation
really needs improvement. There is amateur work that is so much better than
this. Example:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugmR9nq3Yiw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugmR9nq3Yiw)
\-- Wacom review done by an Australian cartoonist.

~~~
rdrdss23
I have a similar issue with the Metro color scheme. It's incredibly
overstimulating. Each time I open the start menu, I feel like I just walked in
to a kindergarten. I wish there was a way to make it black and white b.c
applications icons are generally colored as it is (but get washed out by the
tsunami of color coming at you)

------
tdicola
Really akward that they made a point of saying the device is 'fanless' when it
clearly has a fan and vents around the side. Sure it might be a very nice and
quiet fan, but it sounds disingenuous to be saying there isn't one.

~~~
vxNsr
Yeah I watched the event and I didn't understand that part, he first called it
fanless and then waxed poetic about how nice and hidden the vent is and how
thin the _fan_ is. Maybe marketing told him that it was okay?

------
iaskwhy
For reference:

Surface Pro 3: 12" @ 2160x1440 => 216 PPI

MacBook Air 11": 11.6" @ 1366x768 => 135 PPI

MacBook Air 13": 13.3" @ 1440x900 => 128 PPI

MacBook Pro 13" (Retina): 13.3" @ 2560x1600 => 227 PPI

(Rumor) MacBook Air 12" (Retina): 12" @ 2304x1440 => 226 PPI

~~~
dgarrett
Don't forget the horrors of Windows high DPI scaling.

Poor, blurry Google Chrome.

Edit: I was inspired to look into it a little more, and it looks like Chrome
does have high-DPI support:
[https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!topic/chrom...](https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!topic/chromium-
dev/U_K1NHuMLic)

It has to be enabled by a registry key and seems to break Chrome's
notification tray icon.

~~~
teamonkey
Win8 desktop is definitely better than Win7. The worst thing is that the
scaling (and touch) breaks all the non-standard GUI kits.

XMind, for example, has icons that you can hardly see on my Pro2.

Unity3D's GUI scales up correctly but there are a whole load of fixed-sized
panels that become too large to be useful.

Chrome's font rendering is _still_ screwed even on low DPI windows machines,
especially if Google Web Fonts are used.

------
evanmoran
Notice in the video he didn't weigh an iPad, he weighed the MacBook Air.
Microsoft is going after laptops – not tablets – with the Surface. This makes
sense to me because when I'm working I need a keyboard (typing is just too
important). When I'm in a meeting I want to jot notes down with a stylus
(feels more personal then typing). This is a pretty impressive bridge between
these ideals.

------
Rudism
I bought a Surface Pro 2 a while back, mostly excited about the digitizer. I
was definitely not disappointed.

From a casual digital artist's perspective (read: I draw a webcomic and
occasionally dabble in hobbyist animation), this is a dream device. The
ability to sit at my desk with the tablet hooked up to KVM via a USB hub,
write and edit my script like on any desktop computer, then simply unplug and
start drawing right on the screen is an amazingly satisfying work-flow. Looks
like the Surface Pro 3 will only make that even better with the larger screen
area.

With the right tools that are touch-enabled for panning, zooming, and
rotating, it's basically the perfect way to work.

------
bch
If this has good support from *BSD (or perhaps, Linux) -- this sounds like it
might be the device that'd tip me from laptop to tablet user as a primary
machine.

------
crayola
$799. Impressive. I think this is a big moment for Microsoft.

~~~
rickyc091
Looks like the specs / pricing might be as follows.

Core i3, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage - $799

Core i5, 4GB RAM, 128GB storage - $999

Core i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB storage - $1,299

Core i7, 8GB RAM, 256GB storage - $1,549

Core i7, 8GB RAM, 512GB storage - $1,949

[http://www.zdnet.com/surface-pro-3-price-and-spec-
leak-70000...](http://www.zdnet.com/surface-pro-3-price-and-spec-
leak-7000029604/)

~~~
chm
Why not let me choose how much of each component I want? I'd be interested in
having 64GB storage, with 8GB+ RAM and at least an i5. I personally don't need
so much disk space on a portable device.

~~~
jitl
Because all the components come soldered to the motherboard out of the
factory, I suspect, the same way Apple has been shipping notebooks recently.

------
err4nt
> According to Microsoft’s Panos Panay, “This is the tablet that can replace
> your tablet.”

Does that man have his doctorate in Tautology, or a PhD in saying the same
things twice?

~~~
sp332
_This_ tablet will replace _your_ tablet (probably an iPad).

------
doczoidberg
This is a notebook killer literally. It is for taking notes as a notebook
should do. Maybe it is a laptop killer for some too.

Comparisons with Ipad and ohter tablets are ridiculous. This is a working
machine.

I think this will be my next machine.

Nobody in the press has mentioned the new power connector by the way. If you
look at the docking station all connections are done by this connector. I hope
there will be a cable based adapter for usb+dp+power too.

------
MikusR
And there goes Samsung Note Pro 12.2. The Surface Pro 3 cost's the same, is
only 1mm thicker and 50g heavier. And runs full Office and Photoshop.

------
pjmlp
The ability to use Visual Studio on the go, while keeping the capabilities of
a tablet is quite nice.

It sure is on my list, in case I need a laptop replacement.

------
nmolo
The only downside to this is the HD 4400 graphics unit. [1] I'm worried about
it running everything smoothly at 2k. The HD 5000 is much better suited to run
at that resolution.

[1] [http://www.microsoft.com/en-
us/news/download/presskits/surfa...](http://www.microsoft.com/en-
us/news/download/presskits/surface/docs/Surface3ProFS.docx)

~~~
tkmcc
My Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus has a HD 4400 graphics unit and runs fine at 3200
x 1800, so you shouldn't have to worry unless you're doing something pretty
graphically intensive.

~~~
Encosia
Same here. I run graphical software like Office and Photoshop on my 3200x1800
ATIV Book 9 Plus and haven't noticed any performance issues.

------
codeulike
Some interesting decisions here. No RT version. Home button on the short edge
not the long edge. Clear marketing message: "The Tablet that Can Replace Your
Laptop"
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t7rSZT_77E](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t7rSZT_77E)
I think they might finally be figuring out what they've got here.

------
vondur
While the device is nice, I still see it as very niche-y item. It's too
expensive once you add in a more reasonable amount of storage and the
keyboard. For those who benefit from the stylus, I can totally see it being a
really useful device. I don't think it will fare any better than the previous
iterations.

------
archagon
I wonder what the battery life and graphics performance are like? If they're
decent (6+ hours of moderate use, plays CS:GO at 60fps), this will be a really
great machine. The latest i7s tend to have pretty good integrated graphics, so
I think at least that won't be an issue.

~~~
kayoone
Looks like HD4400 which is not great, but should run older games on 720p
pretty good.

~~~
archagon
Ah, that's too bad. I was hoping for Iris graphics. (CS:GO at 60 might still
be doable, though.)

------
ChuckMcM
I would love to see Microsoft come out with Windows/Developer which targeted
people who were creating applications rather take existing Windows, which
focusses on the big market of App users, and bolting on some developerness.

I could imagine something like CTRL-Alt-F4 on Linux where you press the key
combo and the Windows/Apps view is replaced with the Windows/Develop view.
Easy access to terminal screens, build tools, layout creators, etc.

~~~
bigdubs
Win+D is the desktop shortcut. I know you were talking more about a general OS
paradigm but you can get pretty close.

------
dudus
I don't see GPS anywhere mentioned in the article or the specs on Microsoft
site[1]. Is this taken for granted or did they really not included a GPS
sensor with this?

It even mentions the digital compass and gyroscope sensors. I'm having a bad
feeling about this.

[1] [http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/products/surface-
pro-...](http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/products/surface-pro-3)

------
tdicola
Was anyone else really uncomfortable with Panos singling out Joanna Stern
during the event? I don't know if he was trying to praise or berate her, but
it just looked terrible and made me feel uncomfortable about the whole thing.
Really weird why they would do that--I have no idea what message they were
trying to send but it doesn't seem like a good one.

------
listic
Which CPUs are there in Surface Pro 3?

I was sure the Broadwell Microsoft won't release them for another half a year,
because Broadwell CPUs are not announced yet and are expected early next year,
or for Christmas season at best.

I wonder whether they are the same Haswell CPUs as in SP2, or did MS get a
very special treatment from Intel for Broadwell CPUs?

------
interpol_p
Does anyone know how the N-Trig digitiser compares with Wacom? I'm interested
in this as a Cintiq replacement.

------
bratsche
One thing that Microsoft could learn from Apple is to have their online store
ready _immediately_.

Sure, you can't always buy Apple stuff immediately when it's announced (see
Mac Pro), but you can always go onto the online store and 'window shop'.

------
sswezey
Unrelated to the actual article content, but what kind of website autoplays
two videos when loading the page?! One is annoying enough, but to have two
videos start simultaneous doesn't even make sense. That is a terrible user
experience.

------
shawn-butler
Does anyone have any actual working experience with the new pen/stylus
capabilities?

The only interesting part of the surface pro was the Wacom digitizer and they
are ditching it.

Pricepoint is more attractive, that is for certain.

------
mung
How can it be 3:2 aspect and HD at the same time? It's one or the other or it
has rectangle pixels.

Edit: nevermind... comes in 3:2 AND HD display. This is what happens when you
read while doing something else.

------
garg
Quite a lot of digital artists were using the surface pro 2 instead of buying
the Wacom companion. I think the n-trig stylus will scare a lot of them away
from the surface pro 3.

------
c0ldfusion
No wonder it's cheaper - N-trig instead of Wacom. (I'm not commenting on the
technical merits of either choice, just that one tends to be cheaper than the
other.)

~~~
slantyyz
The parallax and purported improvements in accuracy are a big deal though.
Even with a >100 point calibration, the stylus on my Surface Pro gets weird
tracking on the screen's edges or when the pen is held at off angles.

I was sold once Panay clicked the Stylus and popped up OneNote instantly.
There's a lot of value in that for people like me who still prefer to use a
pen to take notes.

~~~
c0ldfusion
Yes, N-trig's edge performance is better. But Wacom is better supported in
terms of software, has more granular pressure sensitivity and the pen does not
require a battery.

------
olegkikin
What strange pricing.

    
    
        i7/256GB = $1,549
        i7/512GB = $1,949
    

That's a lot of money for a slightly larger SSD.

------
codeulike
Any word on the batter life, what with it being thinner and lighter the
previous models?

------
bitwize
Awwww, man. N-Trig pen.

------
sadris
Is this an x86 or ARM cpu?

~~~
Aldo_MX
x86

------
borgchick
Anyone else felt like the presentation was done by the Shamwow guy?

------
higherpurpose
Figured that Tom Warren would write the most hyped-up sensationalist Microsoft
PR-fed headline for this.

------
ihsw
Price is too high, it'll never sell in the volume they expect to get (unless
their expectations are quite low).

------
agscala
This sure is a bummer for people who recently bought a Surface Pro 2 (like
me). It's unreal that a 6-month old $1200 machine already is outdated

~~~
maguirre
I wanted to buy a Surface Pro 2 but the model I wanted has been out of stock
at the Microsoft Store for a few weeks now.

~~~
steele
You may be in luck then as early adopters dump their 256Gb models on
craigslist and ebay.

------
jarnix
Anyone tried the keyboard on this model ? It's unusable, it's too soft. Did
someone try another keyboard for the Surface ?

------
rubiquity
> _When you write notes using OneNote you can then click the top of the stylus
> again, just like an ordinary pen, and it will sync those notes up to the
> cloud instantly so they 're available elsewhere._

Elsewhere -- as in the laptop you will inevitably go crawling back to when
it's time to get real work done. It's always humorous when an article about a
device that is supposed to kill the laptop ends on a note like that.

~~~
Deinos
Yeah, he could not have possibly meant your phone, work issued pc/laptop,
etc...

~~~
rubiquity
Why differentiate between a personally owned and work issued desktop/laptop?

~~~
dragonwriter
Because on of them I'm making the purchase decision for and one of them
someone else is. So if I work at a place that isn't BYOD friendly, and have to
do certain things on my work-issued desktop, its very good if I can easily
access the notes from my personal tablet convertible that I'd prefer to take
to meetings when I am using that desktop.

------
ssdfsdf
Why are they still trying to turn a tablet into a desktop? They are different
things, with different purposes - not everything needs to be the same thing.

Tablet All The Things!!

~~~
pedalpete
Try looking at it another way. I have my laptop plugged into my monitor 90% of
the time, and I use it with a keyboard and mouse attached. So, I rarely touch
the hardware.

When I do, use my laptop, I'm using it for the same type of things I would use
a tablet for 70% of the time. Rarely am I actually doing any coding on it, but
when I need to, I need to.

Therefore, I can add a 3rd device, a tablet, into the mix, but why bother? One
well built device now handles 100% of my use cases.

I suspect many people don't use the surface as a tablet most of the time, but
when you want to, it's nice to have that capability.

------
jlockfre
It's nice but it must suck when faced by the behemoth that is the iPad.

~~~
watty
The differentiator is the OS. One of them is for play, the other is for
productivity. Comparing full Windows 8.1 to iOS is Apples to Oranges.

~~~
integraton
Keep telling yourself that. Meanwhile, back here in reality, iOS dominates the
enterprise:

[http://media.www1.good.com/documents/rpt-mobility-
index-q413...](http://media.www1.good.com/documents/rpt-mobility-
index-q413.pdf)

~~~
watty
iOS is great for certain tasks but comparing it to OSX or Windows for
productivity is silly. I have 3 iOS devices in my household, we love them.
None of us use it for work though, they're leisure devices. No one at my
company uses iOS for work, they use Windows and OSX. Also, your link is
showing smart phones and tablets used at work, which certainly favor iOS. What
does this have to do with the Microsoft Surface?

~~~
integraton
I agree, what does anything have to do with the Microsoft Surface? As I can
tell, it has virtually no traction for "work," which makes it entirely
irrelevant outside of the flood of fanboys in announcement discussions on the
internet.

------
aw3c2
Anyone wanna sponsor a broke but aspiring student (me!) with one? :)

------
pling
I still can't get my head round paying for one of these at £1000+ when it's
effectively disposable if anything goes wrong. I bought a used i7 Lenovo T410
a couple of weeks back for £150. Totally serviceable and the battery it came
with lasts 6 hours. This will be my workstation for a couple of years, plus if
its like my T400 it lives in the back of the sofa and takes a beating every
day. I'd kill a surface in about two days.

~~~
watty
You bought a used laptop which is slower, no touch screen, digitizer, pen,
Windows 8, SSD, etc. That's like comparing an old Blackberry to the iPhone 5.
There's really no reason to try and compare them.

~~~
pling
I don't use a touch screen or a pen. It's fully supported on windows 8 and I
stuck my Samsung 840 Pro in it.

It does however have a decent keyboard, a trackpoint, 3G card, a service
reputation and a bomb proof chassis. All of which reduce the ownership risk
and make my day slightly better.

~~~
slantyyz
>> I don't use a touch screen or a pen.

Simply put, the Surface Pro isn't designed for people with your use case. And
more likely than not, your laptop isn't useful for the people MS had in mind
for the Surface Pro.

