[hospadam]

Here's the thing... every item on your list is laptop specific. I just don't see how it being on the Surface Pro does you any good? Ultimately - you're paying $900-$1000 - and (from what you've written) you're going to use it exactly like a laptop. At that point... aren't there better laptops for your money?

[nilkn]

I've had a Macbook Air for a while now and my problem with the Surface is simply that I've never once desired to have a touchscreen on my little laptop. The large trackpad and keyboard are superior to a touch interface in almost every way for me.

I have an iPad that my parents got for me, and I struggle to force myself to use it because the entire touch interface seems inferior. Every time I lay down in bed with my iPad, I end up regretting it as soon as I have to type anything or use a website that doesn't have a really well-engineered mobile version or iPad app.

The touch interface seems ideal on much smaller devices, like phones, where it's not even remotely feasible to have a keyboard and a trackpad. I personally don't understand the desire to transfer it to larger devices, though.

The one major saving grace of touch-centric devices like the iPad, IMHO, is that it has made computing and the internet more accessible to people who otherwise wouldn't have learned to use traditional interfaces for whatever reason.

[fumar]

I used to agree with you. Never did I wish to have a touchscreen on my Macbook. In my head it manifested a cumbersome scenario. Then, my lady bought a Surface RT. I use it as a laptop often, and find that having a touchscreen is great. I often find myself trying to touch the screen of my iMac or Macbook, after using Surface RT.

I hooked up the Surface to a 21 inch Samsung tv through the microHDMI. It is a great way to watch a movie and surf the web, all from the little guy. I have cranked out serious work through the Surface Type Keyboard as well. The best part is the tablet can live without being a parasite to my main computers.

It would be great if every device had many types of inputs, touch, voice, or gesture.

[nilkn]

Well, maybe I should just give one a whirl. Maybe I'm missing something.

[WalterBright]

I bought a new Windows 8 laptop specifically because of the touchscreen. A touchscreen makes it usable, for me anyway. In fact, I'd prefer getting rid of the touchpad on the laptop altogether.

[robomartin]

I own six PC laptops. I'd take the SPro to bed, the coffee shop or on a trip to read my books tablet style. On a trip I could even do real work on it --coding, writing, design, whatever-- and have access to, effectively Windows or Linux as required. I could install Dropbox and synchronize my work as required. During the same trip I could hand the sPro to my kids and let them log on to their own restricted account to play games --as a tablet-- without having to fear that they could accidentally destroy my work or email that business contact in Munich some gibberish. I could also hand the SPro around the table at a business meeting with the confidence provided by a restricted purpose-specific throwaway account t I created for that meeting that only provides access to the three documents I want them to see and not my Address-book, Meetup, LinkedIn and Facebook accounts. They also don't need to have access to my Chrome where they could gain entry into plain-text passwords stored in the browser.

Again, I could go on.

For corporate use it is an absolute no-brainier.

[seanmcdirmid]

> I'd take the SPro to bed

If the SPro is anything like the SurfaceRT, its not a bed device; its just way too wide to be used in portrait or landscape while laying down. The non-wide screen iPad works much better in bed than a Surface (my wife and I have both, and we are always fighting over who gets the iPad).

[Scene_Cast2]

I've used a Lenovo X230-T. It's a 12" laptop with a touchscreen, convertible to a tablet. I use it as a workstation laptop (lots of PC-specific apps) quite often, but then it magically doubles as an entertainment device during my 15-minute breaks and after hours. Switching between a laptop and an iPad carries a non-insignificant overhead, I found - I, for one, actually like the laptop/tablet form factor.

[bosie]

which laptop at $1000 can rotate its touchscreen by 90 degrees? only one i can think of right now is the msi slider

[dscrd]

Asus Transformer.

[benaiah]

Runs Android, not a full OS with access to the kind of stuff the surface has access to. He's talking about $1000 laptops running a full-featured OS.

[dscrd]

Asus Transformer running Ubuntu? :) Admittedly, you cannot get that off the shelf...