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Microsoft Surface, Meet Apple iSurface

Posted by Unknown on from the apple-sues-ms-for-pre-infringement dept.

theodp writes "Responding to Microsoft's Windows 8 efforts, Apple CEO Tim Cook insisted in late April that combining a tablet and a notebook would be like converging a toaster and a refrigerator. But a patent application submitted by Apple last year — and made public Tuesday morning — proposes marrying a tablet and a keyboard to create 'a true laptop alternative,' which GeekWire notes looks a lot like Microsoft Surface (comparison pic). In its patent filing, Apple describes various ways that a tablet's cover could be used as an I-O device — as a tactile-feedback keyboard ('word processing and email become much more efficient'), to display additional output, as a touchpad replacement, and even to receive stylus input. 'The experience,' claims Apple, 'is even better in some ways than the laptop experience.'"

16 of 201 comments (clear)

  1. It's a screen with a keyboard... by Lord+Lode · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Nothing new here. Move along.

    1. Re:It's a screen with a keyboard... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Are you kidding? You've never been in a room full of hipster Apple fanboys have you? Try hanging out in a coffee shop in Williamsburg Brooklyn. You'll want to kill yourself.

    2. Re:It's a screen with a keyboard... by Nerdfest · · Score: 5, Insightful

      People hate Apple for a lot of very good reasons. Abuse of the legal and patent systems, pretending to be police, locked systems and markets, proprietary connectors, proprietary protocols, greed, and general corporate dickishness. The blind followers tend to be fairly annoying, as well as those who recognize most of these points, but still buy their products, ignoring that in the long run the direction that Apple is taking is bad for everyone but Apple. I wish more people 'hated' Apple; they might take notice and change their ways.

    3. Re:It's a screen with a keyboard... by ozmanjusri · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If you take that as criteria, there aren't a lot companies that 'innovate' anymore.

      So why are we discussing Apple and Microsoft's "tablet with detachable keyboard" instead of Asus Padfone or Ubuntu for Android, both of which are genuinely innovative?

      --
      "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
    4. Re:It's a screen with a keyboard... by Kwpolska · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I don't see a lot of normal people talking in such terms.

    5. Re:It's a screen with a keyboard... by SuricouRaven · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I just wish there was another laptop manufacturer around that actually cared about screen resolution. I keep finding things with terabyte hard drives, quad-core processors... and 768 vertical pixels. If you want high resolution portables, Apple is really your only option.

    6. Re:It's a screen with a keyboard... by SilenceBE · · Score: 3, Insightful

      because I hear that kind of shit all the fucking time out of retards

      Then you should do something about your social situations. Again I never hear "normal" people - and maybe I'm lucky - talk in that way. I say "normal" because I never understood why somebody gets so emotional about a brand

      Maybe it is a cultural thing but I really what do you want me to say ? I never heard somebody talk in those terms. That they like Apple products and they swear by them yes. But I have also friends that have that feeling about their Android smartphone, hell I swear by Android for my smartphone... .

    7. Re:It's a screen with a keyboard... by lilfields · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You seriously just compared not liking Apple to racism? Well, at least you were an anonymous coward about that.

    8. Re:It's a screen with a keyboard... by jkflying · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You obviously didn't look very hard, I've seen hi-res Thinkpads, Dells and Sonys. Of course, it isn't in the general consumer stuff, but rather in the high end. IMHO 1920x1080 on a 15" screen is dense enough dpi beyond which it doesn't make a difference... and beyond that the graphics power needed to push around all of those extra pixels gets unreasonable for the marginal benefit gained.

      --
      Help I am stuck in a signature factory!
    9. Re:It's a screen with a keyboard... by SilenceBE · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So why are we discussing Apple and Microsoft's "tablet with detachable keyboard" instead of Asus Padfone or Ubuntu for Android, both of which are genuinely innovative?

      Because this is Slashdot where "editors" rather post "news" that give people their daily "ranting" fix and also because it is commercial interesting. As an editor you know that posting this kinda of articles will get your number of page hits to the roof in no time.

      I see it also on other sites where they have a group of followers that have a particularly negative feeling against one of multiple brands and where you can follow some metrics. Post a article of "hated" product X or brand Y and you will see the number of comments come in in a bigger rate then the other articles.

      Pro or contra, we are all getting played for commercial motives.

      If it would be me we would have less Apple articles, less Microsoft articles, less Raspberry pi advertisement, but more stuff for nerds like the Asus padfone or Ubuntu for Android... .

      I don't see a lot of added value of this kind of news where the general discussion that follows how we hate Apple, how we hate Apple users, etc.

    10. Re:It's a screen with a keyboard... by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Man, no offense, but you REALLY need to lay off the Kool-Aid. Steve has been dead for a while. Makes me wonder how long it will take the reality distortion field to finally fade.

      They're a corporation. Their goal is to make money. They're not your friend, nor your daddy. And they are MOST CERTAINLY not a civil rights cause that needs your defense. They make products, not dreams.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    11. Re:It's a screen with a keyboard... by Missing.Matter · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yes, Apple offers a 2880x1800 laptop, but you really gotta pay for that, starting at $2200. If you want anything cheaper, their other offerings have strangely lacking displays in terms of resolution, far below full 1080p even, which I see on some very cheap PC laptops. The 11" Airs have 1366x768 (starting at $999) and the 13" Airs have 1440×900 (starting at $1200). The Macbook Pro 13" has 1280×800 (starting at $1200) and the Macbook Pro 15" has 1440×900 (starting at $1800) and upgradable to 1680×1050 (again, not even full 1080p HD) for $100.

      Compare this to the HP Envy 15 for instance, which has a 15" screen and a 1920x1080 IPS display. It pretty much matches the specs and ammenities of the Macbook Pro 15", but HP is selling it for only $1250. Dell Also sells 1080p laptops in the XPS line, or even cheaper with the 15R and 17R, which both can be customized with a 1080p display. This isn't even mentioning Sony, Lenovo, Asus, etc. who all offer laptops with 1080p displays. Also keep in mind the only laptop Apple offers with a display at or above 1080p is the Macbook Pro Retina. If you want the highest resolution portable, Apple is your only option, but 1080p on a 15" display is pretty damn good pixel density for most people, and you won't find one of those from Apple for under 2 grand.

  2. Re:Copy Sony again? by Joce640k · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Is this another case of Apple copying what Sony is doing,

    Doesn't matter. The only important thing is who bagged the patent.

    --
    No sig today...
  3. Re:Copy Sony again? by MrKaos · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Or the Asus Transformer http://www.asus.com/Eee/Eee_Pad/Eee_Pad_Transformer_TF101/

    Not "Or", I think ASUS are the one's driving innovation in this space. The EEE pc was a game changing concept that was pretty much subverted into something it wasn't. These Eee pads are certainly a refresh of the concept that includes a pad. I've found it to be a flexible design and I don't think Asus get the credit they deserve.

    The concept of a "year of the Linux desktop" is changing to make the desktop irrelevant.

    --
    My ism, it's full of beliefs.
  4. wait a minute... by Cyko_01 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    so basically they took a laptop and switched the positions of the LCD and keyboard? It's a fucking touchscreen laptop! they just moved the heavy stuff to to top!

  5. Re:Copy Sony again? by Nerdfest · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Since when has that mattered to the patent office or Apple?