Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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.'"

12 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 FSWKU · · Score: 5, Funny

      Nothing new here. Move along.

      But...but...it's an APPLE screen with a keyboard! That mean's it's magical, revolutionary, innovative, wonderful, stunning, and powerful! Why do you hate magic?

      --
      "So after all this, you make my case for me. To end this stalemate, you must die..."
    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 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.

    5. Re:It's a screen with a keyboard... by AngryDeuce · · Score: 5, Funny

      The only ones that talk constant about "magical", "revolutionary", "innovative", ... - with the exception of a marketing movie when a new product has introduced - are people that are riding the iHate wave. I don't see a lot of normal people talking in such terms.

      Then you either live in a small pocket of technological illiterati, are legally deaf, or deliberately ignoring it, because I hear that kind of shit all the fucking time out of retards that honestly believe Steve Jobs invented the modern era single-handedly.

      How long before this becomes reality?

    6. 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!
    7. 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.
    8. 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. Copy Sony again? by F'Nok · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Is this another case of Apple copying what Sony is doing, but publicising it better?

    http://www.xperiablog.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Xperia-Tablet_13.jpg

  3. toaster?? by mnemotronic · · Score: 5, Funny

    Somebody please converge my microwave with my refrigerator/freezer. Put a keyboard on it and a handy "sue everyone" button and its an iAppliance (c).

    --
    The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
  4. Payback - you Apple bullies! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... are people that are riding the iHate wave

    It's payback for all the abuse over the years that us Microsoft lovers had to put up with from the Apple Fanbois ...

    Microsoft has a monopoly! The courts said so!

    Microsoft controls the PC market and Apple can't get a break!

    Microsoft is keeping us down!

    Microsoft has cornered the market on clothes forcing us to wear black fake turtle necks!

    Microsoft is hurting Jobs!

    Microsoft stole everything from Apple!

    Microsoft does this!

    Microsoft does that!

    Microsoft! Microsoft! Microsoft! Microsoft!

    Do you know what kind of emotional scaring I have suffered from with all this Microsoft! Hate!! And you have the nerve - the audacity - to complain about Apple Hate?!?

    I still cry myself to sleep on occasion after reading Slashdot on my Windows PC! And when I go to get my Windows 8 machine, I'll wear sunglasses, trench coat, and I'll have to fork Firefox so that it always reports that I'm using some sort of Apple OS! Do you realize that?!

    Posting as AC because I can't deal with you Apple bullies!

    *storms off sobbing*