MS Surface -big fail or serious competitor?

[rc211]

What do you guys think?

 

[anon(847090)]

big fail.

 

[JustinMueller8810]

the MS Surface will not be a WINDOWS MACHINE. It will ONLY have apps form the MIcrosoft app store, which you can imagine how that is like as of right now.

 

[thundersome]

I think it's going to be a flop especially considering the price. I don't see why anyone who is going to spend $500+ on a tablet would get the surface or any RT tablet over an ipad unless they dislike apple. I don't think they've sold consumers on why the surface (or any RT tablet) is superior to android/apple tablets. Their only edge seems to be office and build quality (for the surface). I don't think that's enough.

 

[GMJeff]

Calling it a failure is too soon.

The product hasn't even reached market and it is already a fail? I guess Microsoft should just close their doors and go home with forecasts like that.

The device has some loyal followers which sold out the pre orders from MS. That is not a taking over the tablet market moment, but it shows promise for the newcomer.

Microsoft also has not said that it is a ipad killer, but rather a alternative choice to the ipad and android tablets.

If their marketing strategy works as they want, the tablet will be a vital part of their new ecosystem of windows 8 hardware that includes PCs, Xbox and Windows Phone.

Let's also not forget that they are not launching the pro version of the tablets for a few more months. Those are going to be the choice of business with the full Windows 8, Office 2013 and all of the tablet goodies as well.

So, to call it a fail at this early of a time is ridiculous. Microsoft has already said it will be in this for the long haul, just like their uphill battle against the vastly superior Playstation from Sony. Who rules that roost now?

They have the time and resources (read money) to see their plans through.



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Android Central Forums

 

[MJKearney]

I think it will do pretty well, along with the other Windows 8/RT tablets coming out. There's an awful lot of powerful and consolidated marketing behind it. I don't see it as an Android competitor. I see it having more productivity functionality, while Android focuses on consumption, so many people might buy both. Of course, I have absolutely no clue or real insight into this, just like the rest of you, so who knows?! :thumbup::thumbdown:

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

 

[DannyDefinit]

The reviews on Engadget, The Verge, and PC World for the Surface RT were quite favorable. They all mentioned it has potential, especially for work & enterprise. Just curious as to why there's no 3G/4G versions. I personally rather have just WiFi and simply tether it to my phone, but having a dedicated data connection on the device is big in the enterprise world. And c'mon, even the iPad Mini is available with 4G LTE, and it's safe to say that nobody is going to get any "real work" done on an iPad Mini.

But for your average consumer, it's $499 price (without either keyboard covers) is a major disadvantage. There's no compelling reason for your average Joe to pick up a Surface RT over the similarly priced 16GB iPad WiFi, except for maybe that it has 32GB of storage-- but I hate when manufacturers try to make additional on-board storage a value-add. And the Surface RT w/ keyboard cover priced at $599-$699 starts to cross into cheap to mid-range (and more capable) laptop territory. Good thing tablets are all the rage nowadays, and laptops are rather passe-- unless of course it's ultra thin, made of aluminum, and has a fruit logo on it.

Sent from my Sprint Galaxy S III using Tapatalk 2.

 

[blitzen89]

Idk how I feel about the RT version, but the Pro seems like a capable device... I know that my company as well as alot of our partners and reps are looking forward to being able to get actual work done on their tablets... (don't get me wrong, on a personal level I'll still be an Android user, but MS/Office is essential to work)

 

[dmmarck]

The reviews on Engadget, The Verge, and PC World for the Surface RT were quite favorable. They all mentioned it has potential, especially for work & enterprise. Just curious as to why there's no 3G/4G versions. I personally rather have just WiFi and simply tether it to my phone, but having a dedicated data connection on the device is big in the enterprise world. And c'mon, even the iPad Mini is available with 4G LTE, and it's safe to say that nobody is going to get any "real work" done on an iPad Mini.

But for your average consumer, it's $499 price (without either keyboard covers) is a major disadvantage. There's no compelling reason for your average Joe to pick up a Surface RT over the similarly priced 16GB iPad WiFi, except for maybe that it has 32GB of storage-- but I hate when manufacturers try to make additional on-board storage a value-add. And the Surface RT w/ keyboard cover priced at $599-$699 starts to cross into cheap to mid-range (and more capable) laptop territory. Good thing tablets are all the rage nowadays, and laptops are rather passe-- unless of course it's ultra thin, made of aluminum, and has a fruit logo on it.

Sent from my Sprint Galaxy S III using Tapatalk 2.

The Verge review seemed somewhat disappointed in it, and a 7.X is a fairly low score for them. Gizmodo, like anything not-Apple, killed it though.

I sort of agree with one thing in the Giz article, the Pro is becoming more and more like vaporware.

 

[Unicorn Rancher]

It's too large and way too heavy to compete with the Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD, Galaxy Tab2 7.0, and other 7" tablets. It's also too expensive.

Based on the size and price, the MS Surface is really competing with the full size iPad.

 

[natehoy]

What do you guys think?

None of the above, if you're asking for my opinion vis-a-vis the Nexus 7.

One runs a stripped-down Windows (or for the Pro version, full-on Windows). It's specifically designed as a desktop/laptop replacement grade machine running software that your company is almost certainly going to be running. It'll be code-compatible with most of the desktop and laptop machines out there. Even a cheap one is almost certainly going to go for at least 500 clams, and to get into a solidly productive one you'll almost certainly be looking at 800 to a grand.

The other is a $200 tablet, designed for portable use and mostly media consumption with a little portable productivity thrown in. You'll buy this for yourself, and probably carry it around to hold documentation and keep meeting notes if you get one for work. But generally you'll buy it for home.

Both will sell well to their intended customers - and there's little "hard overlap" between the markets. In other words, a lot of people will buy both, but very few will actually be deciding between them. If you've got a disposable thousand dollars to buy a full-on Surface Pro, you can afford the chump change to toss in a Nexus 7 as a toy. If you're struggling to afford a $200 Nexus 7, even the basic Surface isn't on your radar screen.

You'll buy your own Nexus. You'll be asking your boss about a Surface instead of a ThinkPad at the next hardware refresh.

 

[bawboh86]

I think it will do better than some people give it credit, but not as well as some of us would like. The RT tablet will be a great competitor, I think, with the current crop of tablets, especially once MS gets more developers on board. Of course, until they do, it's not as strong of a competitor, especially at its current pricing scheme. It has some big names behind it (Netflix, Pandora, Box.net, Amazon, to name a few), but not enough.

The Pro tablet, on the other hand, should blow them out of the way for people trying to be productive. The Pro tablet will not only be for consumption, and I think that's a strong selling point. I have, for years, wished I could use my tablet to write apps so that I don't have to bring a big laptop everywhere with me just to crank out some code. There are some Java IDEs for Android that are finally cropping up, but for most of my business software, I'm writing in .NET, which requires Windows. And, because it'll run all the same apps as the RT version, it will still have its consumption capabilities (ereading, movies, etc). Corporations and enterprises will also have a good reason to start using them for when employees go on business trips in order to keep all documents synced with the office AND seamlessly work with all Microsoft services they already have in place, like Sharepoint and Outlook servers.

I just can't figure out why they aren't releasing the Surface Pro with the RT?

(seriously, I'm not trying to anger anyone, these are really my views, coming from an Android user/developer since the OG Droid was released)

 

[Shilohcane]

The Surface with it's ARM CPU that runs only Windows RT will be a big FAIL. The Surface Pro with it's Intel CPU that runs all Windows Application that comes out in early 2013 will be why this first Surface with an ARM CPU is a FAIL. The current Surface can't even run Microsoft Outlook onboard.

The Surface is not licensed to run MS Word for business and only licensed for personal use. For commercial business MS requires you to pay $24 a month for a high end version of Microsoft 365 service each month to rent a licensed MS Word for business that also gives you MS email account with Outlook that runs in the cloud not on the Surface plus other options.

Who is going to develop Apps for a tablet version of Window's 8 RT that has a ARM cpu that won't even run most games or application that even Window's 7 can now since it doesn't have a Intel or AMD CPU.

 

[1812dave]

Not sure I can predict it will be a "fail", but I CAN predict that I don't want one. I already tried out Win 8 at BB yesterday. Not my cuppa tea. I'm fine with Windows 7 for what I do (Flight Simulator, Lightroom, browsing, Office, etc). Don't need to waste MY time learning Win 8's intricacies and getting around it's limitations. there's no upside for me. oh, and I don't really clamor for a touchscreen laptop. I've got a tablet and phone to touch all I want.

 

[rc211]

Its like a the well made Zune with a cheap screen and expensive keyboard.

It's the price, they should have released this one HP style- lose money on it for a year to get adoption rates up 10-30m sold, then introduce a true ipad competitor with better screen, processor, GPS, etc at an ipad price. This way they have a whole yr to prove out and fix bugs as well as bend over backwards for developers- something like give em 90% revenue for 1 yr.

HP by screwing up and discontinuing, actually could have killed if they would have kept making them in the market place by having a loss leader for $200 then doing the app store route for recouping of tablet costs. MS could have done the same with win RT.

 

[natehoy]

Not sure I can predict it will be a "fail", but I CAN predict that I don't want one. I already tried out Win 8 at BB yesterday. Not my cuppa tea. I'm fine with Windows 7 for what I do (Flight Simulator, Lightroom, browsing, Office, etc). Don't need to waste MY time learning Win 8's intricacies and getting around it's limitations. there's no upside for me. oh, and I don't really clamor for a touchscreen laptop. I've got a tablet and phone to touch all I want.

The only thing that will move me to Windows 8 is pricing. I have to maintain a Windows virtual machine on my home Linux box so I can connect to work for support calls as they use a Windows-only solution. I currently have a license to xp and they will eventually drop support for that. For forty bucks, I can justify a Windows 8 license.

Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt

 

[a1kemist]

I am curious to see where the surface goes. Hard to say right now however their price point is personally too much for me to just "jump on the wagon".

 

[cyanogen-man]

Too early to say I mean some people called android a fail on a tablet with honey comb so yea let's see what Microsoft has to offer

INSPIRE AOKP ICE COLD SANDWICH ROM

 

[thundersome]

Well the thing is the MS has banked almost their whole future on Win8/Rt/Pro which is a large departure from previous versions of Windows. They really can't afford for any of their lines to fail (phone, tablet, os). The next Xbox will do well almost by default. But the win7 phones haven't done much of anything and while I can't see how win8 phones could do worse I don't foresee them doing well enough to eclipse RIM. Win8 os has potential to be a huge PR disaster on the level of Win2k or Vista. And I don't see the tablets even getting close to competing with Apple. It doesn't matter if you think it's a better device or in specs if it's a better device. Apple can release just about anything and it will sell millions upon millions of units. They have successfully brainwashed the masses. Not that their products are crap because they're not. But they are not "the best" and definitely don't have a good cost/benefit ratio imo yet their products are drooled over and treated like a fashion accessory that you need to be cool. This is one reason why android tablets don't even have a chance of reaching the sales numbers apple achieves and why I don't think MS can do much better. The one advantage they have is a unified look. The major disadvantage as I said before is the price.

 

[anon(924308)]

Surface RT is a waste of space, Surface Pro is overpriced for what it is (nice how they squeeze out an extra $100 for that keyboard). A step in the right direction, but not quite there yet.

With a better pricetag and access to Google Play apps, it'd be a nice device. But as of now, I'm sticking with a 7" portable N7, and a laptop for running real programs--not an overpriced hybrid with a limited selection of apps.