50 replies to this topic

[keithp]

Microsoft announced their own "Ipad killer" today. Could be interesting, but I bet they price it pretty high.

I do like the smart cover with the keyboard built-in though.

Thoughts?

[Calinks]

Well it looks cool. Been very happy with my Motorlla Xoom tablet for over year now though. Love the thing. Probably wont get a new tablet until the next major hardware leap.

[Habbler]

If the Windows 8 Pro Surface with the Intel i5 can run Diablo 3 count me in. I sold my Asus Transformer TF101 recently with the intentions of getting a Tegra 3 tablet, but not I am curious to see what Windows 8 tablets will do.

[panzerfaust]

Touch screen Diablo 3...ehh count me out. Can't do Inferno on that.

Tablet looks nice, though.

[bordjon]

real excited to get real world reviews of the pen input - could be nice.

[Habbler]

Touch screen Diablo 3...ehh count me out. Can't do Inferno on that.

Tablet looks nice, though.

It's got a USB port so mouse support maybe and the flap can be used as a keyboard.

[keithp]

It's got a USB port so mouse support maybe and the flap can be used as a keyboard.

Also has a touchpad built in which you can just barely see below the keyboard. I have to say I think that blue is hideous, as are most of the colors they showed. I'd probably just get a black one.

[Clak]

I still hate Metro, and full Windows OS tablets have always been horrible, don't see how having 8 would make the Pro version any better. I'd just get an ultrabook.

[dmaul1114]

16x9 screen kills it for me. I do a ton of reading (PDFs, books, newspapers, magazines etc.) on my iPad and much prefer at 4x3 screen for that.

16x9 screens are just two narrow in portrait. Particularly for letter sized documents.

[Clak]

Dynamic document formats Are the answer to that. Just as with most modern web pages, they can resize to fit whatever you're using. Unfortunately most documents aren't dynamic. I remember trying to read a college text book on my Nook Color, it was a PDF. Of course the book was at least letter sized, so that was a bit difficult. Hopefully that will change in the coming years, so it will be easier to read things across different devices.

[eLefAdEr]

"iPad killer?" They're a few years too late to be claiming that already. I won't lie, it does look very nice. But this is typical Microsoft -- wait a few years after another company innovates, then imitate with a few extra features to claim originality.

[dmaul1114]

Dynamic document formats Are the answer to that. Just as with most modern web pages, they can resize to fit whatever you're using. Unfortunately most documents aren't dynamic. I remember trying to read a college text book on my Nook Color, it was a PDF. Of course the book was at least letter sized, so that was a bit difficult. Hopefully that will change in the coming years, so it will be easier to read things across different devices.

Yep. A lot of what I'm reading on my iPad are PDFs of scholarly journal articles which aren't dynamic/reflowabe. Even if they were, that doesn't really work for research articles due to the tables and figures needing to be preserved and readable.

Even without such problems, I just find it weird reading on a narrow 16x9 screen in portrait even when it's say a Kindle book that can be reflowed with no problems. Just odd after being used to books and documents that are closer to 4:3 in ratio.

[Anexanhume]

It's actually two tablets. One with an ARM processor that runs a slimmer version of windows 8 (windows RT) and comes in 32GB and 64GB sizes. The other has an intel processor, is a little heavier, thicker and runs full windows 8. Comes in 64GB and 128GB. They've said they're committed to pricing them competitively with ARM based tablets and ultrabooks, respectively. Expect $500-$600 for the RT tablet and probably $800-$1000 for the 8 Pro tablet.

Both designs look great to me. They have a slight industrial edge to them like the Zune HD had while being incredibly sleek, well-designed and pushing technical boundaries. It looks like the kick in the ass the tablet market needed. Microsoft is making full-featured PCs in a tablet package and price structure.

[62t]

With HDMI and USB support, I could see using it to replace a tablet, laptop, and a desktop. Right now I need to see the price and battery life.

[Thekrakrabbit]

It will probably just end up being a passable laptop but little more. I doubt it is going to be regarded as a super tablet for most people because with its keyboard and backstand it turns too far into the "laptop" area of things.

[Anexanhume]

It will probably just end up being a passable laptop but little more. I doubt it is going to be regarded as a super tablet for most people because with its keyboard and backstand it turns too far into the "laptop" area of things.

But the keyboard/cover isn't required and the kickstand is transparent if you don't need it.

[Thekrakrabbit]

But the keyboard/cover isn't required and the kickstand is transparent if you don't need it.

It just doesn't strike me as a full fledged tablet, personally, like the Ipad clearly is. We'll see what it ends up being and how people primarily use it when it comes out though.

[keithp]

I'm most interested in seeing what the graphics performance and battery life is like. Hopefully neither one sucks too bad, although I'd gladly sacrifice some battery for better graphics capability. If these can really replace even a moderate laptop and have a decent battery life I may seriously consider one.

It'll also be interesting to see what other PC vendors come up with as a counter response.

By the way, in the press showing yesterday the demonstration Surface tablet they were using crashed, and they had to quickly swap it out for another one!

[Clak]

Yep. A lot of what I'm reading on my iPad are PDFs of scholarly journal articles which aren't dynamic/reflowabe. Even if they were, that doesn't really work for research articles due to the tables and figures needing to be preserved and readable.

Even without such problems, I just find it weird reading on a narrow 16x9 screen in portrait even when it's say a Kindle book that can be reflowed with no problems. Just odd after being used to books and documents that are closer to 4:3 in ratio.

I think I've said this before, but it's not as awkward with a something the 7 inch size. The Nook Color/Tablet, Kindle Fire, etc. are all 16:9 and 7 inches, which ends up about the size of a paperback. Though that does no good for articles and everything.

[Clak]

Just looking around a little, seems to me that MS hasn't made it easy for anyone to port their stuff over to the Metro UI. If they've made it such a pain for developers they may have limited support for the RT version of this.

[dothog]

Everyone's talking how slick the ad is, but I don't understand why they bothered if they weren't going to immediately start selling these. Do they honestly think the announcement itself will cut into iPad sales? Or do they just want to reassure people that there will be at least one device on the market that takes Win 8 seriously?

I'm not saying that you have to do it like Apple and keep everything hush-hush before announcing a product and then dumping a shitload of that product on people on the same day. But the way they're doing it now pretty much assures that 50-60% of the people who hear about it are going to forget it sometime between now and whenever the hell it comes out.

I'm still stumped by the idea of a tablet itself, and I don't think I'm the only one. MS had a chance to clarify the tablet market, and define it for consumers who didn't identify with the Apple upper crust or the Android geeks. Instead they go for some slick ad that announces a product people can't buy at a price they don't know.

[shrike4242]

The price would have been nice to been revealed with the product, as well as the CPU choice on the Windows 8 tablet.

[Sir_Fragalot]

It's pretty slick to have the keyboard built into the case and I really like the design.

I just think, this will fall to the iPad because the iPad owns all in the tablet market. Sure some google tablets are making at least a small dent, but I don't think this Windows Tablet will be the iPad killer.

Although I do love the design of it a lot.

[KaneRobot]

Never been interested in a tablet until now. As long as it isn't completely worthless for games, I may give in and get one.

[Chase]

Hats off to Microsoft for cramming high-end tech into a tablet—but I'm not interested in a tablet that can run Diablo 3 at the expense of battery life. I have a laptop and PC for gaming. Even my netbook (newer model Aspire 722), after a few upgrades, runs a nice looking Civ 5. Furthermore, I have nothing but hate for Windows 8. It's cumbersome and clunky, and Windows Me: The Sequel.

I have the latest ASUS Transformer. (Chose it over the latest iPad.) I'm a fan and will continue to support ASUS going into the future (unless they adopt Windows 8). Flash support had a sizable influence in my decision. Yeah, HTML5 is the better format, but Flash is far more prevalent—and no stream website uses HTML5.

In general, the iPad 3 has a better, higher-resolution screen and a stronger marketplace, but the Transformer Prime is a more complete package with a stronger graphics processor and CPU while weighing less and being thinner.

(Can you tell I pieced together this post on my iPhone over the span of the last couple hours? )

But yeah, woo-hoo, more competition for Apple. Competition is usually good for the consumer.

[Clak]

I was afraid that the Metro UI wold be forced on Windows 8 users at first, but it seems that MS did the sensible thing and is not forcing it onto the desktop. On one of these tablets I'd say it's fine, a mobile OS works better, but there's no reason to need it on a desktop or even laptop.

[dmaul1114]

I think I've said this before, but it's not as awkward with a something the 7 inch size. The Nook Color/Tablet, Kindle Fire, etc. are all 16:9 and 7 inches, which ends up about the size of a paperback. Though that does no good for articles and everything.

Yeah, I've read some on a friends Kindle Fire. Still found it a bit narrow relative to my Kindle 3 or iPad 2.

That's just me though. I hate 16x9 screens for anything other than TVs and monitors. I don't have any interest in watching video on a tiny tablet screen when I have a 50" TV, so 16x9 tablets just hold no appeal to me.

[Anexanhume]

The price would have been nice to been revealed with the product, as well as the CPU choice on the Windows 8 tablet.

It's an ivy bridge part. Most certainly one of their ULV parts. http://www.anandtech...ltrabook-review

If you were referring to the RT tablet, they said "Nvidia ARM" which almost certainly means the Tegra 3. Tegra 4 isn't due out until next year, months and months after RTM for windows 8/RT.

Edited by Anexanhume, 20 June 2012 - 10:53 PM.

[xycury]

The price would have been nice to been revealed with the product, as well as the CPU choice on the Windows 8 tablet.

they said i5... being that though, probably nothing on the market now, probably some ULV version that can scale very slow to very fast.

It will only have Intel HD 3000 graphics, so all gamers can pass, unless you're playing Angry birds or flash.

There won't be any other options.

I'm curious if maybe AMD could somehow squeeze in one of their processors... at least you'd be able to play D3 on those.

[Anexanhume]

All Ivy Bridge family processors have HD 4000, which is a significant improvement over 3000.