Why Microsoft's Surface Pro Could Fail

Nerval's Lobster writes "Microsoft's Surface Pro boasts one feature that could rapidly become an Achilles Heel, especially if Microsoft intends for the device to compete against Apple's iPad and a host of lightweight Google Android touch-screens. In a Nov. 29 Tweet to a customer, the official Surface Twitter feed claimed: 'We expect it [Surface Pro] to have approx. half the battery life of Surface with Windows RT.' That means Surface Pro will have roughly four hours of battery life. That's roughly half the battery life (if not less) of Apple's various iPads, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Research In Motion's PlayBook, Hewlett-Packard's now-cancelled TouchPad, and Motorola's all-but-forgotten Xoom. In other words, pretty much every tablet currently on the market. Nor can the Surface Pro compete with other tablets on price. The 64GB version of the device will retail for $899, with the 128GB version coming in a little higher at $999."

Comments

It doesn't compete with tablets

[Guspaz]

It competes with ultrabooks. Unfortunately, it doesn't compare all that favourably to ultrabooks either (about the same price, same weight, smaller screen, no keyboard included), and stealing sales from Wintel ultrabooks doesn't really help Microsoft or Intel.

Re:It doesn't compete with tablets

[Missing.Matter]

Exactly. This is for people like me who bought an iPad hoping it would replace my old Dell Latitude XT tablet i used for note taking in class and as a research notebook. I am sorely disappointed with the iPad's note taking capabilities, but still carry it around with my laptop due to its convenience on planes and while traveling in general. A device like the surface pro is a perfect replacement for my iPad and laptop for the work I do. For $1000 I could buy it, or a tablet + laptop and end up paying more money and carrying two devices.

I didn't buy a surface rt because it doesn't solve my problem any better than the iPad, but the surface pro is actually offers many benefits over the iPad. Battery life is not one, but it's more powerful, has an active digitizer, and can run any windows x86 windows software, so i see it as a worth while tradeoff.

Re:It doesn't compete with tablets

[omnichad]

Novelty.

Re:It doesn't compete with tablets

[mystikkman]

Anyone else tired of the constant negative stream of non-sequitir flamebait summaries and articles on Windows 8 or even Microsoft/Apple on Slashdot and any and all positive or neutral news being totally ignored?

After driving away all the folks with half a clue, even the echochamber seems to be losing interest in constantly talking to itself on Slashdot, with only 33 comments after half an hour of posting inspite of the flamebait title and summary, just hastening the steady descent of Slashdot into irrelevance.

Last one out turn off the lights.

Re:It doesn't compete with tablets

[SomePgmr]

Yeah, people are still emotionally involved in microsoft's failure. It's a hold-over from when they really mattered, and behaved horribly.

Of course that's not so relevant anymore and there's no rational reason to get so worked up over "yet another device" or "yet another windows". I think even microsoft knows that getting traction with a brand new line of tablets with a new tablet-y UI on a new windows, in an already saturated market, is a difficult and risky thing.

We'll see what happens, but I'd guess (only guess) that the surface line will end up being like google's platform references while other companies produce their own, less expensive, more capable tablets with a breadth of options more like we're accustomed to in laptops.

Fire to Nexus to iPad to Surface... it'll be nice to see options filling in the cracks. You'll note the new, larger Nexus and new, smaller iPad. They're each trying to push out from their respective beachheads.

Re:It doesn't compete with tablets

[joh]

It competes with ultrabooks. Unfortunately, it doesn't compare all that favourably to ultrabooks either (about the same price, same weight, smaller screen, no keyboard included), and stealing sales from Wintel ultrabooks doesn't really help Microsoft or Intel.

Yeah, it's a tablet that actually is a laptop that you can't use on your lap and is delivered without a keyboard anyway. Basically it's just an expensive PC that tries hard to look like a tablet. Because tablets are hot right now. So MS thinks that selling a bad tablet that also is a bad ultrabook must sell like hot cakes, because everybody badly wants the "full PC experience" everywhere.

Some people will love that thing, most won't care at all.

I think what MS will never understand is the simple fact that most people just hate PCs.

Re:It doesn't compete with tablets

[poity]

GP is right in some respects though. Slashdot will nurture even the shittiest open source projects (Openmoko anyone?), and rarely dare print harsh truths about them. Imagine an article that told us Openmoko was destined to fail as it did. That article would have "called a duck a duck", but I can guarantee it would have been deemed FUD, astroturf, written by someone with a grudge, etc. Some of us have a higher expectation of Slashdot, because nerds are supposed to be more intelligent and thoughtful, and we are disappointed when its behavior doesn't rise above the fray.

Re:It doesn't compete with tablets

[mystikkman]

Anyone else tired of the constant negative stream of non-sequitir flamebait summaries and articles on Windows 8 or even Microsoft/Apple on Slashdot and any and all positive or neutral news being totally ignored?

Let's see...

Monday - Windows 8 PCs Still Throttled By Crapware

Tuesday - Hello, I'm a Mac. And I'm a $248 Win8 PC.

Thursday - NPD Group Analysts Say Windows 8 Sales Sluggish

Friday - Why Microsoft's Surface Pro Could Fail

Also, note how news on Tuesday that Microsoft has sold 40M Windows 8 licenses so far completely missed Slashdot's front page... only to be briefly mentioned two days later in the NPD story summary. But when there was a rumor that Windows 8 sales were below expectations, there it was hanging on the front page.

Also Slashdot totally ignored the following:

The NPD survey didn't include the biggest sales day of the year, Black Friday.

Black Friday boosts Windows 8 net use in US above 2% http://microsoft-news.com/black-friday-boosts-windows-8-net-use-in-us-above-2/
Windows 8 sells 4 million copies in 3 days. 40 million in a month. Some apps get more than 1 million downloads and some apps go over $25K revenue.
Windows 8 overtakes all of Android web traffic in just 10 days http://www.androidauthority.com/windows-8-has-more-web-traffic-129925/

New tagline:

Slashdot, Fox News for tech zealots, Stuff that doesn't matter.

Re:It doesn't compete with tablets

[rtfa-troll]

Have you used Windows 8 for more than 30 seconds in a store? I'm using it right now on a 6-year-old laptop. Windows 8 is just fine. It's certainly superior to IOS in every imaginable way.

I'm guessing you haven't used it much on a tablet Have a look at what the usability testers have to say ("modern UI is a new codeword for Microsoft's Metro interface

The available advice on designing for the "modern UI style" seems to guide designers to create applications with extraordinarily low information density. See, for example

The tablet version of Windows 8 introduces a bunch of complicated gestures that are easy to get wrong and thus dramatically reduce the UI's learnability.

Oh no.. that's not what I was looking for. I guess the visual design must be better than iOS:

The Windows 8 UI is completely flat in what used to be called the "Metro" style and is now called the "Modern UI." There's no pseudo-3D or lighting model to cast subtle shadows that indicate what's clickable

Maybe it's the new powerful features they added over Windows 7?

One of the worst aspects of Windows 8 for power users is that the product's very name has become a misnomer. "Windows" no longer supports multiple windows on the screen

Maybe the sacrifice is worth it because it improves the desktop version?

. On a regular PC, Windows 8 is Mr. Hyde: a monster that terrorizes poor office workers and strangles their productivity.

My only disappointment with the Surface is its low resolution. I've been rocking 1920x1200 for 6 years, and just got 2560x1440 on the desktop. I don't want to go backwards.

For most people it seems that the main disappointment is the low quality of the apps, even where there are any available, and the lack of responsiveness of those apps compared to the swishy interface. Given this, the only thing surface is really good for is acting as a video player. In that role, the low resolution screen is probably less important than in other roles.

Re:It doesn't compete with tablets

[0123456]

If I wanted to type in application names to run programs, I'd still be using DOS.

If your GUI requires you to type application names to start them, you've just shown that it's a lousy GUI.

Re:It doesn't compete with tablets

[cbhacking]

Pen and also touch. A relatively low battery life for a tablet, but it *is* a tablet; it can run tablet-designed software, it can be operated with your fingers and thumbs while on the bus or the toilet, etc.

As for the keyboard, the Touch Cover and Type Cover both include keyboard and trackpad. The Type Cover is actually a quite nice ultra-thin keyboard. The Touch Cover takes a few minutes to get used to, but works fine. Combined with the Surface's built-in kickstand, they make a decent ultra-portable pseudo-laptop. The covers are stiff enough to be used on your lap, incidentally.

Stupid

[Anonymous Coward]

Only a stupid person would think this. It is by FAR the most powerful tablet on the market, so obviously the battery life will suffer. To run full x86 applications will drain battery - its the best that it could be at 4 hours without being financially unviable. It's the same amount of battery life that laptop/tablet hybrids that already exist have.

The iPad may have more battery life, but it can't replace a laptop. Pro Surface can, and that is it's killer feature. Battery life at 4 hours is fine (plus, since it supports USB 3.0, how long until someone makes a USB charging block that gives you a full charge that you can carry around with you? Not long is the answer)

Re:Stupid

[alexhs]

It is by FAR the most powerful tablet on the market, so obviously the battery life will suffer.

Which means that it will run hot. Will it be possible to fry eggs on it ? Because it has the possibility to become the best kitchen tool EVER !

Re:Stupid

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

On the other hand, the Surface Pro has little to offer over an ultrabook - it includes a touchscreen. An ultrabook will have better battery life, and an increasing number are becoming available with touchscreens as well. All within the same price target as the Surface Pro. THis is a product looking for a market.

Oh, and ultrabooks all have keyboards - no extra charge.

Re:Stupid

[Missing.Matter]

The difference for people interested in the surface is that it can become laptop-like, while a laptop cannot become tablet-like. They have some that do: convertibles. But they never lose the bulk of their keyboards is tablet form. So there's a continuum here.... for people who want more tablet than laptop there's the surface. For people who want more laptop than tablet there's convertibles all the way to full laptops. No reason to knock the surface because it doesn't fit into the category you prefer; there are options for you and this is not one. Doesn't mean it won't sell to those who want this option.

Re:Stupid

[thetoadwarrior]

My 2 year old 13 inch MacBook Pro is intel based and gets 8 to 10 hrs on the battery easily. There is no excuse for surface getting only 4 hours unless windows just runs that poorly.

*facepalm*

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a full-blown Windows 8 laptop in a tablet form factor, stop comparing it to the iPad, the Galaxy Tab, the Playbook, the TouchPad, the Xoom, the Transformer Prime, etc....

Re:*facepalm*

[marcosdumay]

Ok, so let's compare it with full-blown laptops, that are both more powerfull and cheaper.

Forget battery life - price is way too high

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

Forget battery life - price is way too high.

I'd love to have a 7-8 inch Surface...if the price was around $250-280 and it included Microsoft Office. Instead, I'm moving my wife and kids Nexus 7s ($200/pop) and hooking them up to Google Docs. I've even abandoned my iPad/iPod infrastructure at this point - tablets are way too fragile (and easily stolen) to be paying $400+ for each one.

Re:Forget battery life - price is way too high

[ischorr]

Then this is clearly the wrong device for your needs, and it's not intended to be. The Surface RT would be a device aimed closer at you, though it'd be too expensive as well per your criteria.

Re:Forget battery life - price is way too high

[raftpeople]

"I'd love to have a 7-8 inch Surface" - Most people would but you just need to be happy with what God gave you

Re:Forget battery life - price is way too high

[phantomfive]

Then who is the device intended to be sold to? The same people who've been buying Windows tablets for the last ten years, and were unpopular?

Re:Forget battery life - price is way too high

[thesandtiger]

I'm on the opposite end - my use case recently changed and I needed a more powerful tablet (I was using an iPad2 for walkaround site visits), so I grabbed a ThinkPad X230T. With decent factory specs and some upgrades bought from Newegg (ssd, more RAM) it ran me $1030, and I get a battery life of 9.5-11 hours with the extended battery.

Surface Pro just seems like a product stuck in the not-so-sweet spot. People who need just a tablet can go with any number of choices (iPad, Galaxy, whatever) and people who need a tablet+, which is what the Pro seems to be going for, can just get a much better device for around the same price.

Too expensive!

[kencurry]

It's just too expensive; only clueless, rich snobs with more money than brains can afford it!

Sincerely,
Apple User

Re:But oh so much more power...

[93 Escort Wagon]

Decent CPU, memory and hi-res display. Four-to-five hours is good commuting/coffee shop time, so while its a not a perma-road-warrior machine, its not horrible.

http://www.cmswire.com/cms/customer-experience/microsoft-takes-the-wraps-off-surface-pro-tablets-018506.php

And we saw how well this model worked for them the last time around...

Basically this is pretty much the same tablet paradigm they offered a decade ago.

Can they do anything right?

[Luveno]

Reflecting back, it is sort of amazing how far Microsoft has fallen. From being nearly synonymous with everything computer related to now being the last one you think of when it comes to the technology that is nearest to us (our cell phones and tablets), it is stunning. And everything they make now looks like a desperate me-too move. Even more broadly, just a few years ago I was working in all Microsoft platforms from server and web development to desktop and office automation. Now, with the exception of Exchange, I don't even see Microsoft products. Amazing.

I have a x86 tablet

[nebular]

I have an ExoPC. It gets about 4 hours of battery life. With current x86 mobile chips, that's about all you're going to get without killing the performance

The surface pro isn't competing with the ipad or the android tablets. It's targeted to those who need to be able to run existing windows applications, but want the convenience of a touchscreen tablet. That's what I wanted when I bought the Exo and it's why I'm interested in the surface pro. I didn't expect as long battery life.

If Microsoft knows anything they aren't expecting huge surface pro sales.

WHY COULD IT FAIL?

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

HOW COULD IT NOT?

1) 900 Dollars
2) Hot, Power Sucking Intel Chip
3) Boots desktop OS with a BIOS
4) Consumes 32+ GB of storage with system binaries
5) The frequently-discussed "Win8 trainwreck" UI
6) Needs Forefront/Essentials/McAfee/Symantec-Norton/etc..
7) Steve Ballmer

Re:WHY COULD IT FAIL?

[rgbatduke]

I was in our local supermall yesterday. They had an interior kiosk set up to sell Surfaces, manned by an easy half dozen earnest young salespeople hired for the season. They didn't have a single customer in view -- not one in all the times I walked by it. Everybody standing around looking bored.

The Apple store about fifty meters away, on the other had was absolutely packed, as it always is, with customers waiting in line. It wasn't even a busy night at the mall -- parking was actually pretty easy for the season.

The really interesting question is -- can Microsoft compete ANYWHERE on a level playing field? If they didn't have the world's computer retailers in a ball-lock with their pricing formula, would they even exist? The answer is not so clear. I've watched student PC and laptop ownership transition from nearly all WinXX PCs to nearly all Apple products in only five years. iPhone, iPad, iPod, thinline apple laptop -- standard operating equipment for current college students. A smattering of Droid tabs and phones in there -- it is the nerd product and also pretty cool. Even linux-based systems -- the choice of the ubergeek -- are starting to compete with Windows systems for a whole generation of kids.

If Valve/Steam works out and games move over the Linux big time, Windows could actually experience the start of its long awaited death spiral.

rgb

Re:WHY COULD IT FAIL?

[mystikkman]

Can the iPad or a Android Transformer or Nexus do any of the following?

1) It has a fully powered USB 3.0 port, connect any and all your devices you want to, even simultaneously with a powered hub
2) You can connect a Nexus tablet or phone and develop and test Android applications on it with Eclipse.
3) Has an active real digitizer and comes with Pen input, great for classroom and meeting use, especially combined with One Note
4) Can run the real Photoshop and not the lite crippled touch based stuff available for the iPad
5) Can run touch apps and browsing for couch use, although an additional cheap 7" tablet might be good for couch, bed and bathroom use.
6) Does not consume 32GB+, perhaps around 15-20GB.
7) Put in or swap through one or multiple 32GB/64GB/128GB SDXC cards. Upgrade to higher capacity or more in the future as prices come down.
8) Use real touch optimized apps and games on it, like Fruit Ninja. The Macbook Air fails at this.
9) Comes with builtin Defender(MSE) that's barely noticeable in daily use. Disable it if you're a capable geek trying to optimize the system.
10) Comes with a 1080p touch screen and a mini display port supporting a monitor upto 2560x1644 resolution
11) Alleged trainwreck UI is specially optimized for a device like the Surface.
12) Does not come with a BIOS. Comes with UEFI which has many more features but boots very very fast, like in 7 or 8 seconds. Update your hate machine.
13) Steve Ballmer? Ok you got me, Surface sucks if you're attracted to Steve Ballmer who you seem unhealthily obsessed with. Stay away. If not, there's some cool hardware and software in there.

Re:WHY COULD IT FAIL?

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Look.

I'm not a fanboi. I do have a long history with Apple - an Apple ][ in 79-81. I loved, and could never touch, the NeXT in its heyday. I wrangled lab work to get to the NeXT and Indigos....

At that time - Mac II FX & ci - I hated Apple. OS 6,7 made me laugh.

Despite being NeXTophile, I thought Apple passing Be for NeXT was a mistake. I got that one wrong...

It took a couple of revs on OSX before I was more than just curious. By the first Aluminum PowerBook? I was at least a partial user.

I'd rather be running Linux. Most of the time, I do. But I have a MountainLion setup that, after hours of tweak, matches most of my Mint/Ubuntu/Elementary setup. (Hit F12, and console visor drops, with multiple tabs. Full toolchain and POSIX/GNU essentials)

So, I am prepared to say that the Retina MacBookPro is - by far - the best computer I have ever used in my life. If Sony or Dell came up with something equal, I'd have no qualms - but I don't hold my breath. This thing is so fast and responsive, I run a fullscreen Quetzal VM instead of a 2010 Latitude.

This is not a fluke - but apparent to anyone who's had the opportunity to evaluate a daily experience between the me-too PCs and the Apple package.

Re:WHY COULD IT FAIL?

[spire3661]

15-20 GB out of 64GB(pre-formatted size) is UNACCEPTABLE. how do you defend that? the 64 GB model should not even exist at those price points and shows MS' desperation in keeping costs down.

Re:WHY COULD IT FAIL?

[thoth]

Yes, the Surface is more powerful than other tablets.
But "the market" has shown that the people buying these things DON'T want that stuff.
This is the downfall of the device, it straddles two worlds and is compromised.

I actually tried a Surface out, at the local Microsoft store. Honestly, I didn't think it was bad. I got used to the touch cover after ~10 mins, it seemed OK. I'd get one just because I like gizmos, but it would need to be about 50% of the current price for me to do it. That's the Windows RT version, I wouldn't mind a device with limited software and basically use browsers and so on. But not for $600. And no way for $900 or $1000. For that I'd either get a tablet for cheaper, or a notebook for a little more.

Granted, I'm just one data point. We shall see how well this Christmas season treats Windows 8 and these Surface devices. I have a feeling it is going to be very ugly for Microsoft, just based on software availability (RT and app store), UI issues (not talking just getting used to Metro, I mean the confusion people are going to have when they can't find their files because of Metro app sandboxing), cost, and the sheer momentum of the other mobile ecosystems.

I mean seriously, just to pick from your spin list. #3 - active digitizer. Hasn't that failed to be a selling point for 15+ years? And #4 - photoshop. Of course the ipad version is "crippled for touch" - running photoshop full blast means a real keyboard/mouse not the touch cover implementation (keyboard and touchpad is OK, not a heavy use replacement for the real things). Kinda defeats the purpose at that point. #2 - dev system for other mobile devices. Seriously, who the heck is that a major use scenario for?

Sorry but that list is something only a Microsoft product group manager would come up with, which is "how can we make a mobile device that leverage Windows" and not the other way around which is "what do normal people do with mobile devices?"

Thanks for telling us why NOT to buy a Surface Pro

[Rob Y.]

5) Can run touch apps and browsing for couch use, although an additional cheap 7" tablet might be good for couch, bed and bathroom use.

That pretty much sums it up. The Surface Pro is usable as a tablet, but not really handy as one. Why not just buy a cheap laptop. It would be as powerful as the Surface, have much more storage, and the savings would pay for the Nexus 7 you admit you really ought to have for the times you really want a tablet.