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Microsoft Unveils the Surface Laptop, a Traditional Notebook That Is 'Better' Than MacBook Pro (engadget.com)
On the sidelines of Windows 10 S and affordable Chromebook-like laptops announcements, Microsoft also announced the newest addition to its Surface computing lineup. Dubbed the Surface Laptop, the laptop starts at $999, and is for everyone, the company claims, though the focus is on students and professionals. From a report: The Surface Laptop includes a 13.5-inch PixelSense display (Microsoft's branding for its unique screen technology) and a keyboard draped in Alcantara, a smooth cloth-like material. It's powered by Intel's most recent Core i5 and Core i7 CPUs, and it can pack in an SSD up to 1TB (that's notably integrated directly onto the motherboard). Performance-wise, Microsoft's Surface head, Panos Panay, claims the Laptop is 50 percent faster than the Core i7 MacBook Air while also being lighter. (Editor's note: Panos added that the Surface Laptop also outpaces the MacBook Pro on performance.) You can also expect up to 14.5 hours of battery life, thanks to Windows 10 S's battery savings and more efficient hardware. One thing you won't see on the Surface Laptop: Speaker holes or grills. Microsoft managed to fit the speakers behind the keys, which Panay claims delivers a more enveloping sound. Microsoft says it has also improved the standby time -- so much so that "you could go away on spring break and still have the same battery life when you returned."
>> laptop starts at $999
Seems like it's priced about $700 too high. About three years ago, I was happy to shell out about $300 for a Windows 8 tablet with Office preinstalled and a bluetooth keyboard. It was just fast enough to run Civ5 in tile mode through Steam.
For dev machines I can build my own laptop (with RAM + SSD) for cheaper than $1K too, and $1K should be mostly graphics cards if it's invested in a desktop. And educational institutions on budgets are already using "disposable" Chromebooks and Android tablets that can be had for a hundred bucks so it seems unlikely Microsoft has a viable product for K-12. So again...what do you get for a $1K Surface?
Touch screens on laptops and desktops are terrible. Plus some people do real work and not just consume content.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
I have no problem with a touchscreen on a laptop as long as I'm not forced to use it.
And if it adds any cost to the laptop, I'm likely to pick up the cheaper version without it.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Alcantara Keyboard... yuk!
And that is a selling point?
RAM? Discrete graphics? Oh wait, it comes with Windows 10S... the rebranding of RT. Nevermind. It's worthless.
And leave a smear on your screen. My eyelid twitches when people touch my screen to point at stuff.
A $1000 laptop that can only run Windows Store apps? Somebody at MS is getting fired.
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A MacBook doesn't need to be connected to the Internet to work, I get 30 days of standby/suspend/sleep time on battery, and MacBook Pros and Airs already are i5 or i7. They say it's faster, but only because of cloud computing: the destroyer of open source. Also, good luck getting any work done without the internet and enjoy having no control over your software and Window$ spyware. There's also no way you'll be able to install Linux on it either. If I have $999 to blow on a laptop, I'll get a System76 or a Thinkpad off of Amazon. Hell, I might just buy a bunch of Raspberry Pi's and put them together.
...is here. Honestly, I can't see the point of putting an i7 in these. If you're doing anything that's pushing all the cores, the heat generated will force it to throttle down, unless the newest chips have become way more efficient than previous gens. Would be interesting to see a shoot-out between the i5 and i7 models.
Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
Why didn't MS just call Windows 10 S Windows RT? Sounds to me that's what it is. This OS can only run APPs from the Microsoft Store, which makes it a non general use OS. So I smell a failure in process?
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell
Gets worse... not only is it underspec'd, but there's no info on durability (or more importantly, even the potential thereof).
I've got a 4-year-old MacBook Pro that still performs just as well as most latest/greatest mid/high-end laptops, and I abuse the crap out of it. I wiped the disk and reinstalled exactly once - when I upgraded the disk from platter to SSD. Nothing (and I mean *nothing*) has ever given me cause to doubt the quality of the product, let alone its durability. Odds are nearly perfect I will keep it another year (maybe two?) before refreshing it. I also know that my particular scenario is quite typical among folks who own similar MacBook Pro laptops.
So... can Microsoft credibly make the same claim?
(There's also that stupid Spyware-by-default called Windows 10 on these new Surface laptops, but we won't go into that at the moment.)
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
It's even worse than that, they say it runs W10 "S" which is locked down to only** be able to install software from the MS app store.
** With MS's security history, anyone want to take bets on how long before this is blown wide open so you can install normal programs from anywhere?
To err is human; effective mayhem requires the root password!
This infomercial is a frickin joke. 999$ USD for an entry level Core i5 laptop with Windows on it is an insult to our intelligence.
Only if you compare it to the end-of-isle specials at Walmart.
How much does a 14mm thick laptop with 14 hour battery life and a bit of style cost at Walmart? Oh, that's right, they don't even sell them!
This is way cheaper than a similar size Macbook and better specced. Those Macbooks sell by the million. You can complain about a lot of things but the price isn't one of them. Not really.
(and anybody who'd buy something with an Alcantara keyboard certainly won't be complaining about that)
No sig today...