[rmrfrmrf]

I don't get it, really. They designed a tablet whose primary use-case is in laptop mode? Why not just buy a better-spec'd laptop for the same price? And why does Surface have a mission-critical piece of hardware (the keyboard) missing from it? Sorry, but at a whopping $1050 after purchasing this critical component, I'd rather just buy a 11in Macbook air for cheaper.

[hosay123]

Windows has supported gestures and handwriting recognition for years, and the Pro comes with a stylus. To say a keyboard is critical seems a gross overstatement.

As for use cases, how about: it's a tablet, without the regular complexities of 'tablet mode'. It runs the same stuff as your desktop, acts, smells, barks and looks just like your desktop, and if you want to use it like a crippled toy in the style of an iPad, you're free to use the metro apps.

Let us also not be too quick to forget that Microsoft were the first to seriously meld the desktop and tablet experience. They're the only company (out of two runners, really) with a serious story in this department. Waiting with bated breath to see if Apple wholesale copies the Microsoft approach, toy-apps-as-start-button works wonderfully.

[rimantas]

You put a lot of effort to get it backwards.

  > it's a tablet, without the regular complexities
  > of 'tablet mode'

No, it is a table with added complexities of desktop mode.

  > It runs the same stuff as your desktop, acts, smells, barks and looks just like your desktop

Except your desktop expects you to interact with keyboard and pointer device not with you touch. And there it all fails apart.

  > if you want to use it like a crippled toy in the style of an iPad

The words you were looking for are "use it optimised for touch, as iPad".

  > Microsoft were the first to seriously meld the desktop and tablet experience

And were seriously unsuccessful at it.

  > Waiting with bated breath to see if Apple wholesale copies the Microsoft approach,
  > toy-apps-as-start-button works wonderfully.

What's the logic behind that? Microsoft "seriously meld the desktop and tablet experience" and it fails. Apple launches iPad with "crippled toy style" and it is wildly successful. No somehow Apple should copy Microsoft's approach which failed?

[hosay123]

A desktop expects input devices, yes, but also there has been a wonderful need to accommodate disabled people for decades prior to the whole tablet thing, and so all modern desktops have great support for auxiliary input devices, and in the case of business software some of it is even legally mandated in order to sell to government. Microsoft has had a great built-in framework for touch/stylus driven input since Windows XP (2001).

The end result is that an on-screen keyboard or gesture input is just as capable of driving desktop software, and it's been that way for a very long time. If any aspect of the experience is suboptimal, it would be tiny widget sizes that are unaccommodating to thumb-sized input. But that's covered by inclusion of a stylus.

[debacle]

I think a better question might be "Why buy a tablet that is also a laptop when laptops that are also tablets have been around for years?"

Asus has touchscreen laptops for less than half of the price, and convertible laptops have been around for at least a decade.

[potatolicious]

Try using a Surface - it really is nothing like the old tablets of yesteryears.

Convertible laptops were 5lb monstrosities that were nearly impossible to hand hold, emitted tremendous amounts of heat, had incredibly poor battery life, and infamous reliability issues that came from a mechanically complex transformation mechanism. They also used resistive touch screens that were easy to damage, required frequent recalibration when heavily used, and were difficult to use with fingers (making the devices almost exclusively stylus-based devices).

So no, the modern incarnation of the tablet (in the way that iPad has defined it) is nothing like the tablet of old. In fact, if you look at the new convertible tablets coming out of OEMs, they've come pretty far too: capacitive screens, solid construction, hugely reduced weight, unbelievably lower heat output, and battery life that actually matters. We're also seeing novel new ways of building convertibles (e.g., separating keyboard from screen entirely) that make the devices far more realistic for handheld use.

The big secret to tablets that Apple realized, and other companies are slowly picking up on is the importance of the screen. Old convertible laptops used the absolute worst screens that had limited viewing angles, demonstrated ugly moire and discoloration on taps/presses, along with a slew of heat output and power consumption problems. Compare with the calibrated, accurate, brilliant IPS panels that now inhabit tablets (both Surface and iPad have IPS panels), they are worlds apart. When you're putting together a mobile device that is going to be oriented this way and that in someone's hands, a shitty LCD panel really doesn't cut it.

And the problem with Asus and their "half price" touchscreen laptops is all in the screen.

[debacle]

I guess I should state that I plan on buying a Surface when it comes out (not RT). I'm pointing out more from the business standpoint that people are going to be comparing these devices to other devices that look the same, not other devices that are equally as powerful or as well-made.

MS is going to have to work really hard to convince people that the surface is worth $900, at least in my opinion.

[cooldeal]

>Asus has touchscreen laptops for less than half of the price

Are they full HD resolution? Do they have an active digitizer? Core i5 ?

[facorreia]

I see it as an answer to this question: when I leave home, should I bring my MacBook Air, my iPad, or both? None, take the Surface.

[rayiner]

So you have something that's not good at any of the use cases involved?

[WrkInProgress]

I'm curious as to how this isn't as good (on paper) as something like a Macbook Air or a PC Ultrabook ?

[seunosewa]

- A crappier keyboard. - A rigid display whose viewing angles can't be adjusted. - The keyboard doesn't work very well when you use it on your lap. You have to place it on a table. - It's more fragile, especially in tablet mode.

[JuDue]

And portrait mode that has a bad aspect ratio. It's a fundamental mistake for a tablet.

People thought the RT was slightly heavy to hold as a tablet. Will be interested to see their opinions of this.