“Do you like your MacBook Air? How about your iPad? I ask because Microsoft is gunning for both of these devices with its new Surface Pro 3. Redmond’s idea is that you could replace both your MacBook Air (or other laptop) and your iPad (or other tablet) with this one thing,” Katherine Boehret writes for Re/code. “But I’m having a hard time going along with the plan — even after using the Surface Pro 3 for the past two weeks.”
“The Surface Pro 3 starts at $800. But like its predecessors, this Surface doesn’t ship with a keyboard, so you’ll have to shell out another $130 for its Type Cover keyboard. Grand total: $930,” Boehret writes. “The MacBook Air, which Microsoft insists on comparing to this Surface, starts at $900. It comes with a built-in keyboard that’s much sturdier than the magnetic clip-on accessory for the Surface Pro 3. While the cheapest MacBook Air’s display is 11.6 inches versus the 12-inch Surface display, it comes with 128 gigabytes of storage versus 64GB on the cheapest Surface Pro 3. It also has a faster processor (Intel Core i5 versus i3), and weighs slightly less (2.38 pounds versus 2.41 for the Surface with its keyboard).”
“folding the keyboard over and using this thing as a tablet is not an enjoyable experience. Its honking 12-inch screen feels big and bulky, and with the keyboard, it weighs more than twice as much as the one-pound iPad Air. Take off its keyboard, and the Surface still weighs more, at 1.76 pounds,” Boehret writes. “At its launch event, Microsoft continuously asked people to compare the MacBook Air to this Surface Pro 3. I’m sorry to say that I can’t recommend that comparison, nor can I recommend it as a replacement for your iPad or Android tablet.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If Microsoft’s latest debacle can’t even beat out an Android tablet, it’s as stillborn as its predecessors.
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Beleaguered Microsoft is a total embarrassment – May 21, 2014
Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3: The toaster-fridge makes its formal debut – May 21, 2014
Surface Pro 3: Microsoft seems more confused about the future than ever – May 21, 2014
Microsoft shows 12-inch ‘Surface Pro 3′ tablet, starts at $800 – May 20, 2014
PC Magazine reviews Apple’s $899 MacBook Air: The ultimate in portability; a great travel companion – May 19, 2014
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BGR reviews Apple’s iPad Air: Every new iPad is the best iPad yet, but the iPad Air is something more – December 3, 2013
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Computerworld reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPad Air: The very best large screen tablet experience available – November 20, 2013
PC Advisor reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPad Air: Power, versatility, and transformationally light – November 18, 2013
Wired reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPad Air: An immensely powerful tablet – November 7, 2013
The Verge reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPad Air: The best gets better – November 4, 2013
Ars Technica reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPad Air: Very impressive – November 4, 2013
Bloomberg News reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPad Air: Hands-down the best tablet on the market – October 30, 2013
CNET reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPad Air: The best full-size tablet, Editors’ Choice – October 30, 2013
AnandTech reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPad Air: In a completely different league – October 30, 2013
USA Today’s Baig reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPad Air: Best of breed, superior to each and every rival – October 30, 2013
Mossberg reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPad Air: ‘The best tablet I’ve ever reviewed’ – October 29, 2013
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The Independent reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPad Air: Super-light and most powerful – October 29, 2013
But… but… It’s got a kickstand!
Don’t forget the pretty colored squares on the screen. Now that is innovation.
this is what I believe happened:
several years ago:
Ballmer walks into Msft research lab and see’s software engineer crouched over PC.
Engineer is gleefully playing a game he invented “Coloured Mahjong”.
Ballmer : “Hey Bob, whatya doing?”
Startled and embarrassed he’s wasting company time, Bob mumbles, “….. er, working on new concept for Windows OS… er… it’s called ‘Live Tiles’… ”
Ballmer : “WOW!!!!!!”
the rest is history.
A new improved kickstand to boot. Wow!
You know you’re irrelevant when even Android tablets are more popular than this thing.
You’re an idiot. Android tablets are more popular than ios tablets as well. way to shoot yourself in the foot. Apple is the new Microsoft – boring, stale, assuming it can’t be beaten.
http://www.theverge.com/google/2014/3/3/5467872/android-tablets-outsell-the-ipad-in-2013
‘bojennett,’ a commenter at Re/code, had this nice insight about Microsoft’s positioning of Surface: “They desperately want to kill off the idea of stand alone tablets, because stand alone tablets are slowly killing the PC industry.”
And good luck with that Microsoft! That ship has sailed and you’re screams back at the dock are echoing into nothing and soon, silence.
Hey, thanks for your post yesterday (regarding the question of being inspired to purchase an Apple product based on what was announced at the WWDC), left you a reply and now I’m going to add something amazing. A journalist that is not absolutely gaga over the latest Microsoft Surface Pro 3. Amazing, astonishing, surprising?
No, she’s a woman anyone should have figured that one out.
Off to have more fun.
Figured out you are a bell end pretty quick.
You got that right, call me a dick head any day of the week, sure beats other name calling. Have a good one.
Oh, thanks for the nod to the gentler sex, you know it is always appreciated pure, regardless of the dosage of malarkey. Cheers!
Ah people are people but geek stuff, well you know how the Big Bang theory TV show is all male dominant but sooooo vulnerable to women.
Besides you are one of the few that actually took an interest in who I am. That’s a big thumbs up in my books.
Your personality comes right through your words, I think anyone would notice 😉
It’s nice that we get to watch this happen in slow motion. Apple gets it. The others, they just don’t *get it*.
That’s been true since 1984.
That’s why Apple has 7.38% market share on computers vs Microsoft measly 89.97%. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems
Looking foreword to seeing the losses from this failed tablet of empty promises 😍😍 iPad is the King of tablets, period 👍👍
Well I like that ‘failed tablet of empty promises’, poetic Snoop Dogg
Our IT department is buying Surface Pro’s instead of the usual ThinkPads. Each one comes with a Logitech wireless mouse that uses a dongle as well as that silly keyboard. What a pile of crap.
Have you ever tried mentioning the “App Gap” that Windows tablets suffer compared to iPad and even Android to your IT department? If you let them know that iPad has more productivity apps than Windows 8 tablets, then maybe they can reconsider, and switch over to iPad. I know many small business that work by iPad, and they all have successful enterprises. I have yet to see a business run by Windows Surface.
Also, because it’s the Surface Pro instead of the regular one that runs RT, it can use the existing Windows applications.
You say that like it’s a good thing.
The ability to use millions of programs made for PC… Yes I call that a good thing.
Grey/Sloan Memorial in Seattle? Oh wait, that’s right near Redmond and also a fictional universe.
Microsoft makes me appreciate the genius of Steve Jobs because they have nothing like him to guide their corporation (despite all the money and talent in the world). But Microsoft makes me fear Apple’s loss of SJ and the inevitable degradation that is sure to follow.
Potentially it could be set free as SJ for all his genius was somewhat one eyed yes usually to advantage but on occasion made him miss boats that Apple should have commandeered at the very least. Only time will tell which way it goes.
Last week’s blow to Surface Pro 3’s dignity:
Buy the MacBook Air Instead of the Surface Pro 3: 10 Reasons Why
– Type Cover Doesn’t Turn the Surface Pro 3 Into a Notebook
– OS X Is Superior.
– Windows 8.1 Is a Mess.
– The add-ons that go with the Surface Pro 3 are shockingly expensive.
– Pricing is a massive issue for Microsoft.
– Microsoft has awful timing. The company unveiled the Surface Pro 3 just weeks after Apple updated the MacBook Air and dropped its starting price to $900.
– The Surface Pro 3 notebook experience just can’t match notebooks. And that’s a problem.
– The Mobility Gains Aren’t Great.
– Apple Wins on Design.
– Consumers Don’t Want It Both Ways.
Who would spend that much for MS Shite? Fools and idiots.
$930 Surface vs $900 MBAir:
A Zebra is a horse designed by a committee, a really big committee, but it is visually interesting …
A Giraffe is a horse designed by a committy.
A Zebra is a horse with a bitchin’ paint job.
It’s ‘A camel is a horse designed by committee.’ At least, that’s the way I’ve always heard and used it.
Apple has staked out a clear position. A desktop OS and a mobile OS, linked by the cloud. iOS 8 and OSX 10.10 makes this even more clear and show how this concept is maturing.
Microsoft want’s “One OS to in the darkness bind them”. Bind them, that is, to the aging Windows monopoly. They are willing to seriously compromise their supposed flagship device for that goal, because—-and I know this is a shock—the make a fortune by perpetuating the status quo.
But what you get is a device that (1) is too heavy to be a good tablet, (2) has a bad keyboard so it isn’t a good laptop, (3) compromised battery life and a fan, (4) uses a kickstand and poorly stabilized removable keyboard to substitute for that wonderful thing we call “a hinge” on a laptop. They’re so thrilled with the latest tweak of that abomination that they specifically call this out as “Lapability”. Now, there’s innovation, eh?
And that’s only the hardware issues. The software is a bizarre pastiche of a multitouch system and a keyboard/trackpad. Really, do we need to say much more than this is a system with a keyboard, mouse, trackpad, touchscreen and pen for one system?
It is indeed the convergence of a refrigerator and a toaster oven.
The odd thing is that as I recall, IOS and OSX are both Darwin under the hood. It is only the UI that differs. Of course, there will be minor driver issues etc. It would appear that Apple can make them as unified as they want. If there were a market, I would bet that they could easily produce a notelet or tabbook or whatever cute phrase describes a convertible. IF it made sense from a user standpoint to do so.
There’s much more to the differences between iOS and OS X than the UI. First and foremost, iOS is designed for ARM processors and OS X for Intel chips. That’s a big difference that is not easily merged.
The reality is that a laptop and tablet are simply used for very different purposes. Merging the two does no real service to anyone and results in a Frankenstein’s monster: A lappet that works but can’t walk well, talk well, and which everyone ends up hating.
And fits Gates vision (or lack of) perfectly as a result.
Who would say, Microsoft also have a reallyty distortion field… But in a very, huge, wrong way.
“I’m sorry to say that I can’t recommend that comparison, nor can I recommend it as a replacement for your iPad or Android tablet.”
Why is she sorry to say that? If the product sucks, then it fails in its purpose and should be stated loudly and clearly as a failure. No need apologize; that’s Microsoft’s job.
Ballmer is rumoured to be investing in a Toaster Fridge company.
“Think about it, when I stand there at the open fridge door snacking I can toast my bread at the same time”.
Funny how the surface 3 lovers seem to think that having two devices are silly to owe and carry around. Personally, I always like to use runners to run in and shoes to go to work. Maybe, I should simplify my life by having only one pair – call it a Shunner 3 . That sounds perfect!
Does anyone remember the NEC convertibles? The one with the hinge..flip it around and it’s now a tablet?
Microsoft should look at history to see how successful convertibles have been.
I would much rather buy an iPad AND a MBA. Not a single surface.
In our tool shop, we want the right tool specific for the job, not a convertible tool that is clunky. We’re not all MacGyver.
I still believe the tablet PC quest is Billy Gates’ idea and MS is determined to give him what he wants. Even to the point of their own demise.