[rbn]

I've only played around with the surface in the stores.

To me this is the first iteration of a brand new form factor. Of course it has problems. But the great thing is that the other companies like Lenovo, ASUS,HP..ect will look at this and hopefully see its problems and iterate on it. Also the new intel CPU is aimed at this form factor, which is suppose to cut heat and battery use to "near" ARM levels.

For me it will be amazing to have 1 product for everything. Ubuntu on my tablet? sure! hook up to external monitor, write on it, type on the screen, type on the mini keyboard, type on a full keyboard? all possible.

[bruceboughton]

When was the last time Lenovo, Asus or HP innovated on anything? They can knock out solid PCs but they are not innovators in PC hardware (any more).

[scholia]

So you don't think the Asus Transformer represented any sort of hardware innovation? The Asus Padphone? The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon? The TouchSmart 9300 Elite? Really?

[bruceboughton]

Asus Transformer & PadFone - perhaps. I'm far from convinced though.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon - what is the innovation? Carbon Fiber?

TouchSmart 9300 Elite - an iMac clone with an external power brick?

[scholia]

You need to do more product research. What's the point of claiming a "lack of innovation" if you don't actually have a clue what innovations these products offer?

[bruceboughton]

Please educate me then. What are the innovations? Because the product pages do an incredibly poor job of showing me.

[bjustin]

>To me this is the first iteration of a brand new form factor.

Yes! It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

The first Macbook Air significantly compromised to achieve its form factor, and now the Surface is doing the same. If Microsoft can fix the compromises in two years like Apple did with the MBA, they could have a real winner.