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Microsoft To Launch a Line of Lower-Cost Surface Tablets With 10-inch Displays By Second Half of 2018, Report Says (bloomberg.com)
Microsoft plans to launch a line of lower-cost Surface tablets as soon as the second half of 2018, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. These devices should help Microsoft improve its market share in the iPad-led hybrid machines market, the outlet noted. From the report: Microsoft has tried this before. The software giant kicked off its consumer-oriented hardware push in 2012 with the launch of the original Surface RT. At the time, it was priced starting at $499. After the tablets didn't resonate with consumers and product reviewers, Microsoft pivoted to the more-expensive Surface Pro, a line which has gained steam and likely contributed to demand for a pro-oriented iPad, which Apple launched in 2015.
The new tablets will feature 10-inch screens -- around the same size as a standard iPad, but smaller than the 12-inch screens used on the Surface Pro laptop line. The new Surfaces, priced about $400, will have rounded edges like an iPad, differing from the squared off corners of current models. They'll also include USB-C connectivity, a first for Surface tablets, a new charging and syncing standard being used by some of the latest smartphones. The tablets are expected to be about 20 percent lighter than the high-end models, but will have around four hours fewer of battery life. (The current Surface Pro can last 13.5 hours on a single charge.)
The new tablets will feature 10-inch screens -- around the same size as a standard iPad, but smaller than the 12-inch screens used on the Surface Pro laptop line. The new Surfaces, priced about $400, will have rounded edges like an iPad, differing from the squared off corners of current models. They'll also include USB-C connectivity, a first for Surface tablets, a new charging and syncing standard being used by some of the latest smartphones. The tablets are expected to be about 20 percent lighter than the high-end models, but will have around four hours fewer of battery life. (The current Surface Pro can last 13.5 hours on a single charge.)
I am pretty sure this will run Win 10, and nothing else without degraded performance on the system.
The millennial that doesn't like most of the stuff designed for millennials.
bama. Not for the rest of us.
I would have expected Microsoft to pack it in by now. They've been at this mobile Windows thing since the 1990s (in a box somewhere I have a clamshell WinCE HPC running one of the earliest versions of WinCE - nice system actually, but...) and virtually everyone has made a success of it who's tried, except them. Apple (twice!) Google. Palm. Even Atari! (No, seriously, they came up with a pocket PC that was a runaway success, you may remember it from Terminator 2, John Connor uses it briefly to hack an ATM...) ATARI! You know, the company that made one of the first games consoles and then pretty much failed at everything since, but for a brief six month window in the early 1990s they had a hit on their hands which... uh, they fucked up like everything else.
And now they're at it again.
Maybe if they can get Windows 10 to run Android apps, like ChromeOS, they might stand a chance.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
why don't you just say that this poor system will never be able to run well
Assuming* it's using x86 and not ARM, :-P
you could always install Linux on it to have it run well
---
*: and thus UEFI Secure Boot must mandatory enable the end-user to boot into something else than the microsoft-signed windows. (by disable secure boot and/or by enabling the user to add any extra signing key).
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Maybe if they can get Windows 10 to run Android apps, like ChromeOS, they might stand a chance.
Well, that was the whole initial purpose of WSL / BashOnWindows.
Except it's currently still limited to file I/O and some network sockets.
So they pivoted WSL into the current "tool for devs to run and test linux dirsto's userspace", and Windows 10 Mobile is still without any access to the 2 main relevant app ecosystem.
Meaning that due to networking effect, their platform is more or less useless, except for the couple of weird user who are only interested into phone functionality and are happy with the one or two apps that got ported on the platform.
So basically all the former Zune users. All five of them.
So basically they've been getting a taste of their own monopoly/network effect that they've used on the desktop.
Hey Microsoft, how's being on the receiving end of your own bullcrap ?
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Why is the singleness of the charge always noted?
The current Surface Pro can last 40.5 hours on a triple charge.
My biggest problem with Microsoft is their continual efforts in monetizing long term use of Windows 10 products.
They really need to take a look at what is being offered by others (Google & Apple) and explain what is the tangible benefit to a customer of being part of the Microsoft infrastructure and pay for Office 365 and other money grabs, er, value added features.
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
I suspect that this will be yet another half-arsed compromise â" neither a good tablet nor a good laptop PC.
While much of Windows supports touch, even five years since Windows 8, many tasks in the operating system still require a precise pointing device such as a mouse, touch-pad or stylus. For instance, try selecting and copying more than one file at once! Sorry, can't do. Your fingers are too fat!
I also suspect that the mentioned USB-C port is going to be the only port on the device, like on most 8-inch and 10-inch Windows tablets today ... so you can't connect that mouse without an adaptor.
And as usual with Windows, you won't be able to use that port for file transfer to/from a real PC either as you would with a real tablet running Android or iOS.
"We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
While the article points out the Surface RT and its failure it neglects to mention the Surface 3. It was a smaller and cheaper Surface Pro with an Intel Core m chip and a max 4GB of RAM. The digitizer wasn't as good as the Pro but wasn't bad.
They were decent Windows laptops (with the keyboard cover) but shitty tablets. Far too heavy to use comfortably in a tablet form factor for long periods. The battery life under Windows 8 was good but under 10 really sucked.
Unless this new tablet is literally the size and weight of an iPad Pro there's no way for them to really compete as a Tablet. They'll make ok Windows laptops that can occasionally be used without a keyboard. Windows 10 also needs to suck way less on low powered machines, maybe even changing it back to an operating system from an ad delivery platform.
I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.
I got one of the original Surface Pro. In fact, I pre-ordered it since, at the time, it was the first real product that allowed me to take my note on a laptop while I was at the university.
Sadly, it's not the case anymore.
My Surface Pro is getting old and I'll probably replace it soon. Right now, I have my eye on the Dell XPS 15 2-in-1. Compared to the Surface pro, the XPS :
- Look sharp and got a real work potential (I always hated the Type Cover of Surface Pro and it's a mediocre laptop at best)
- Got some real CPU/GPU power
- USB-C Port, and there's 4 of them
- It's a good laptop first. I don't care about the tablet mode except when I'm writing on One Note.
So unless there's some major changes on this new line of Surface Tablet, I'm going to pass.
Elok
Low cost... $499. For real?
Really? You have an interesting definition of success. Apple's Newton was definitely a failure. Palm succeeded for a while but rested on their laurels. Ditto for Blackberry (does anyone even remember the Playbook?). Was the Atari Portfolio any more successful than the Toshiba Libretto? Sharp Zaurus? HP TouchPad? Casio? Psion? Nokia? ZEOS? OmniGo? Poqet? This market segment is littered with failures. The only 2 companies to consistently succeed (Apple and Google), do so only by pouring trainloads of R&D money into it. Google even developed 2 separate OSes (Chrome and Android) just so they'd be covered no matter which direction the market moved.
Support Right To Repair Legislation.
"Microsoft to try to convince people that their half-assed piece of shit Windows tablets are somehow better than an iPad"
..and I don't even own any Apple products nor do I care to.
While the article points out the Surface RT and its failure it neglects to mention the Surface 3
Yup, the Surface 3 was excellent; I have one, and I'm using it every day for lighter stuff (for example, this post). Very light, good build, battery life good enough for my needs. Add full Windows and a pretty good keyboard, and it's pretty much replaced my phone for generic e-mail/web browsing.
I particularly like the screen size; for me, it strikes the perfect balance between usability and portability - the Surface 3 fits snugly in my coat oversize pocket. I was annoyed when MS discontinued the smaller screen size product lines in favor of the larger Surface Pro, so having a 10" alternative sounds quite interesting.
I don't see how a 10 inch screen on a system that will cost $520, when you add in the cost of the keyboard, will be desired by many people. Windows 10 for consumers is a mess that's getting messier, as Microsoft continues to not run full QA on it, making consumers their final line of quality assurance when failures are noticed every month now. Eventually, Windows will be used only in large corporations as consumers continue to move to smartphones and Chromebooks. Mac market share has doubled since Windows 8 came out, where Windows 10 didn't slow it down at all. Microsoft just doesn't care about consumers at all anymore.
My surface pro 4 lasts a few hours at most just doing light browsing. if I turn off all networking/blue tooth and turn down the screen brightness I can get a little more reading .cbr comic archives. (primary purpose of tablet purchase). I wish it had a good battery life, I could use it at work for meeting notes and diagramming but it doesn't and I don't.
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Unless they're committing to include Office or at least part of it, this will just be another Microsoft device with no good tablet apps. The reason their phone's went nowhere is because they were years late to the app stores and still are so far behind Apple and Google, they will not get much developer interest.
With the limited storage space, and probably an under-powered CPU for real work, it's probably targeted for media consumption mostly and for that an iPad or Samsung Galaxy S3 or S2 tablet will work much better for people.
I too have a Surface 3, love the hardware but can't stand Windows. Every time I think "it won't be so bad" it ends up worse than I expected. The Surfaces are also a complete pain in the ass to get Linux on and running reliably. These unfeatures combined for me to just get an iPad Pro (10").
I want a tablet that wakes and sleeps instantly and works well primarily in tablet mode. The Surface 3 sort of sleeps and wakes reliably but far less so than the iPad. The on-screen keyboard is terrible which necessitates a hardware keyboard of some sort. The keyboard cover makes for a terrible hardware keyboard since it sits at an angle and isn't very sturdy.
So good luck Microsoft, maybe a fourth time is a charm. I'm not holding my breath.
I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.
Read that maybe a Intel m3 will power them but then you might have to buy a keyboard/cover? Apple dropped the 11 inch Macbook Air because I think 11 inches was small. But then again many Chromebooks are 11 inches so maybe Microsoft is targeting education at a high school or college level with these?
In any case there are plenty of these sort of smaller cheaper 2 in 1 types around. Why is Microsoft even trying to market in this area?
I like having a laptop because, in an emergency, I can unplug and go and might be able to get a few things done remotely though the single 17" screen is very limiting. It is annoying that mine only supports one external display. I could like to use four and with 1920x1080 42" screens available for under $200, I could easily afford it, but the wireless tech hasn't been developed for some reason though easily doable. I don't play games and everything I do looks fine over remote desktop links.
If they want to go this small, they should start thinking of headless, keyboardless form factors that utilize ultra high res AR goggles via some sort of high speed RF or through the air optical link to provide displays of whatever size and placement the user desires. It would be great if this just fit in a waist bag or even a harness that placed it in the small of the back and never had to come out.
But this silliness of squinting at tiny displays should stop.
The median age in the US is 38 years. The median age of those who could be customers for a laptop is probably about 45. Presbyopia generally starts between 40 and 50. Half the potential market for laptops is in an age range that usually needs reading glasses. We are looking forward to the approaching day of unconstrained virtual displays.
Microsoft, like many vendors, needs to open their eyes to the fact that there is a much bigger market out there than just the 20-somethings they seem to always target. We don't buy much because there isn't much to buy. Nothing serves our needs. I've known good programmers to leave the business just because the eyestrain has become too much, and they don't need the money enough to continue the struggle.
I used to work with as many as 16 displays (developing simulators). Now, it is difficult to fit that many around me of the size I need. I want A/R!
Remember when Slashdot wasn't a Microsoft press release feed? Pepperidge Farm remembers.
And put out their own version of Linux to run on things like that.
Just last week I bought a $250 Chuwi Hi12 tablet: 12 inch with some underpowered atom processor. Makes for a great e-book reader. I installed kubuntu 18.04 on it, replacing win10 and android 5.1 it came with. There were about 10 partitions on it, don't know why.
Touch and wifi worked out of the box. Instant on (aka suspend) is of course much slower. Haven't tried to get sound to work, since I don't need it. I use "onboard" for on screen keyboard (also features a right click).
I don't see how microsoft can compete with that. But best of luck to them.
reason defies logic
ms-microsoft-shill-mash
Yes, says the AC poster.
If USD$499 is Microsoft's definition of "low cost", they're trying too hard to copy Apple.
... like any other hardware they have put out the last decade
Running Android? If not then no deal.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
Moron. SE Asia and parts of China are 20+ years into the future
UEFI secure boot might be locked liked the the RTs also the I have a baytrail, Linux support for them are not great even after 5 years.
Needs to run 5 different Linux distros to be interesting to me.