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posted by LaminatorX on Friday August 22 2014, @03:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the WinCE dept.

The Register has a nice review for the new Microsoft surface 3 fondleslab.

From TFA:

Review Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3.0 tablet sees its UK release on 28 August. But why is the Surface fondleslab called Surface?

Microsoft hijacked the name from one of its own existing products, the niche tabletop display now called PixelSense, but a remark by vice president Panos Panay at the October 2012 launch of the first Surface tablet shows why the team liked the name.

“We talk about it as a stage for Windows 8,” he said. “To work with the hardware and software teams together, to pull out everything that Windows is bringing to the surface of Surface.”

In other words, Surface was designed to show off Windows 8, which back then meant TIFKAM (The Interface Formerly Known As Metro), Windows Store apps, and multi-tasking with a split screen.

“The 10.6-inch screen is the perfect expression of Windows,” said Panay.

Customers did not buy it though: neither Surface RT, which was the subject of a $900m write-down in July 2013, nor Windows 8 in general. At least not if they could help it. Look for a business laptop today, and “Windows 7 preloaded” is the constant refrain. Further, the dismal selection of apps in the Windows Store means that even those who do have Windows 8 tend to use it in desktop mode most of the time.

Fast-forward to May 2014 and the press event for Surface Pro 3.0. “This is the tablet that can replace your laptop,” says Panay, explaining that the larger 12-inch screen is necessary for a device on which you can do all your work. There is a new focus on desktop applications. Whereas the competitive target of the original Surface was Apple’s iPad, Surface 3 is aimed at the MacBook Air.

Seems to me a nice, if expensive, machine; I just wonder how fast I could get Linux installed on it .

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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by tftp on Friday August 22 2014, @03:23AM

    by tftp (806) on Friday August 22 2014, @03:23AM (#84210) Homepage

    This innovation is lacking one final detail to become truly revolutionary. That would be a hinge between the tablet and the keyboard. Such a new combination would be very popular among all kinds of computer users. Otherwise it's too awkward to carry two halves separately; and any serious computer user needs the real keyboard anyway.

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Friday August 22 2014, @03:36AM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 22 2014, @03:36AM (#84213) Journal

      and any serious computer user needs the real keyboard anyway.

      You kidding, right? Right?! Please tell me you aren't serious [theonion.com].

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    • (Score: 3, Informative) by frojack on Friday August 22 2014, @05:15AM

      by frojack (1554) on Friday August 22 2014, @05:15AM (#84226) Journal

      Why do you think you have to carry the two halves separately? Why do you think there isn't a hinge?

      http://core5.staticworld.net/images/article/2014/05/surfacepro3_8-100269427-large.jpg [staticworld.net]

      There is Another Review here. [pcworld.com]

      Personally I think its a tad spendy, but it looks like a great machine if you need windows.
      I have a Surface Pro, (first edition) and I run VMware on it with Linux inside, and its no slouch.
      (Day job purchased it for me. I thought it was too expensive too, but over time I have changed my mind, based on how it beats the living pants off my Android tablet).

      --
      No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Hairyfeet on Friday August 22 2014, @09:29AM

    by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Friday August 22 2014, @09:29AM (#84286) Journal

    The problem with these is that tablets are for passive consumption, laptops for getting stuff done and frankly you could buy a decent tablet AND a decent laptop for less than the S3.

     

    The thing myself and the other VARs and retailers I've been talking to haven't been buzzed about a new Surface, its those sub $200 Windows laptops HP is coming out with. If the rumors are true that they are gonna have an Atom quad for $99? With Windows? Me and every other retailer will be scrambling like mad to snatch 'em up. The press was full of shit about netbooks dying, MSFT and Intel priced them out of the market. When I was getting Atom and Bobcat netbooks in the $200-$299 range? Couldn't keep 'em, folks gobbled them up. By the end the Bobcat Asus EEE was going for $449! and the Atom for nearly $375? when you could buy a 15 inch laptop for $299, fucking stupid. At the $200-$299 price point you just couldn't get enough, they were cheap, light, and great for web and basic office tasks. Hell I still have my Bobcat EEE, plays games and does 1080P over HDMI,just perfect for taking out on housecalls.

    So I hope MSFT didn't make a lot of these because I have a feeling the hot thing is gonna be those new netbooks NOT an overpriced fondleslab as the reg calls 'em.

    --
    ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by WillAdams on Friday August 22 2014, @09:50AM

      by WillAdams (1424) on Friday August 22 2014, @09:50AM (#84293)

      I actually prefer a tablet for media _creation_ --- writing this up on a ThinkPad x61t now.

      It's far easier and faster to draw and take notes and make annotations w/ a stylus.

      • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Hairyfeet on Friday August 22 2014, @10:01AM

        by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Friday August 22 2014, @10:01AM (#84295) Journal

        I bet you have good handwriting...most don't. Time and time again I've seen people try to take notes on a tablet and it comes out looking like a drunk tried to write his order at 3AM on a napkin.

        So I'm glad that works for you, but most folks today can't write more than their name by hand, too much time on PCs. FD that includes me, been on PCs so long I can no longer write cursive, just print.

        --
        ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
        • (Score: 1) by WillAdams on Friday August 22 2014, @10:51AM

          by WillAdams (1424) on Friday August 22 2014, @10:51AM (#84304)

          It was miserable back when teachers were trying to teach me how to write w/ a ball point --- switching to a fountain pen helped a lot --- here's a sample from a couple of years ago:

          http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/17769-sheaffer-agio-08mm-italic-nib/ [fountainpennetwork.com]

          • (Score: 1, Offtopic) by Hairyfeet on Saturday August 23 2014, @05:09AM

            by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Saturday August 23 2014, @05:09AM (#84596) Journal

            While I appreciate you trying to help and all? When I was 15 I hit a dog on a bike doing over 50MPH while wearing nothing but a pair of PE shorts...long story short while I didn't lost any parts (took about 9 hours to sew me back together though) my hands took a hell of a beating and trying to hold a pen for any length of time feels like having my fingers stuck in an industrial press.

            And honestly? Nobody writes anymore, they just don't. There was a recent article about schools talking about phasing out handwriting classes because nobody uses it outside of class for anything other than signing your name and I have to say I haven't written anything other than my name in like 20 years. Nowadays its really not needed, better to be computer literate than have great penmanship, which is ironic because with such lousy HWR on tablets you better write with perfect penmanship if you don't want to spend more time correcting than you do writing.

            --
            ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
            • (Score: 2, Interesting) by WillAdams on Saturday August 23 2014, @02:13PM

              by WillAdams (1424) on Saturday August 23 2014, @02:13PM (#84658)

              I'm saddened to hear about your accident and resultant disability, but that doesn't justify your arguing for a lowest-common-denominator input experience.

              I find handwriting as an input system to work well --- advantages:

                - quiet
                - doesn't raise a screen wall between me and anyone else
                - accurate enough (as I noted, it did decline somewhat w/ Vista, and I've actually been considering trying one of the 3rd party recognizers)
                - allows easy switching when inputting math equations, diagrams, flowcharts, &c.

              It also allows for an instant switch to drawing, sketching, annotating, note-taking, &c. I'm not demanding that all systems have stylus input, just that I be able to make that choice and discuss it w/o censorship.

              Let's turn it around. I need a machine which supports:

                - taking notes
                - writing up math equations
                - annotating documents to indicate possible changes which need to be discussed later
                - drawing (including font editing)
                - sketching

              What do you suggest? Or are these not valid things to do? Is this new century to be one in which all human content creation is limited to that which is suitable for creation w/ a keyboard? Are we to only use OpenSCAD for 3D modeling, METAFONT for font design, (La)TeX for graphic design? (I use all of them when appropriate, but don't want to be limited to only using them.)

              I also use one of my machines (w/ a daylight viewable display) as a map reader when traveling.

              I think the Surface Pro 3 would work well for this, except for the lack of a daylight viewable display (from which lack my ThinkPad also suffers) --- so I still use a Fujitsu Stylistics ST-4121 for a lot of things.

              • (Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Saturday August 23 2014, @03:21PM

                by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Saturday August 23 2014, @03:21PM (#84678) Journal

                While I appreciate that in your particular niche good penmanship may be required at the end of the day its just that...a niche. And frankly a laptop with a Wacom would be a thousand times better for 3D modeling or....well pretty much anything other than just taking notes, thanks to the 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity and increased accuracy. Lets face it unless you are spending an assload of money the tablets just aren't very precise, they are fine for poking things but most just aren't sensitive enough to do anything fine grained.

                But at the end of the day its all gonna come down to what happens with the masses and as you can see here [nj.com] the future is gonna be cursive replaced by computer classes, like it or not the cursive writing is going the way of the sliderule and if you think about it its easy to see why, mail has been replaced by email, filling in forms has been replaced with either online forms or "type and print out" PDF files, there just isn't hardly any places that Joe and Jane average are gonna use cursive anymore.

                --
                ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
        • (Score: 1) by Gertlex on Friday August 22 2014, @03:16PM

          by Gertlex (3966) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 22 2014, @03:16PM (#84364)

          I won't argue the handwriting part (ok, so maybe... seemed all my peers did fine with hand-written notes in classes, as of a few years ago).

          I have a Surface Pro, and the reason I have it is because there was finally a product that did digital writing correctly. Microsoft focused on minimizing input lag, along with good quality input hardware (i.e. wacom), so that you don't automatically end up with 5x worse or slower handwriting just because it's digital (a la iPad).

          And I'll fully admit, the Surface Pro is my secondary "computer"; in practice it's my $1000 pad of infinite paper...

          • (Score: 2, Insightful) by tftp on Friday August 22 2014, @04:13PM

            by tftp (806) on Friday August 22 2014, @04:13PM (#84381) Homepage

            And I'll fully admit, the Surface Pro is my secondary "computer"; in practice it's my $1000 pad of infinite paper...

            I have a paper-based, spiral-bound notebook on my desk. It was like $2 new, but I got it for free on some fire sale. It's 30% full after several years of use by me. I am not sure why would I want a notepad for $1,000 that I need to keep charged and worry about dropping it? The paper is not concerned with any of that.

            I do have a 7" Samsung tablet. But I read books on it, in bed. It would be a pain to keep my notes on it, since they are mostly graphics. I have good handwriting skills and still enjoy a good pen.

          • (Score: 3, Insightful) by frojack on Friday August 22 2014, @07:37PM

            by frojack (1554) on Friday August 22 2014, @07:37PM (#84451) Journal

            Really? you think they did it right?

            I spend more time correcting the handwriting guesswork that comes on my Surface Pro than it would take to type four times the content on the keyboard. If you have perfect penmanship it almost works for printing, but cursive is pretty hopeless.

            If you just want to record the strokes using the stylus and retain it in a graphic format, its ok. (just ok), but if you expect it to render text, forget about it, and just type it out.

            --
            No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
            • (Score: 1) by WillAdams on Saturday August 23 2014, @03:41AM

              by WillAdams (1424) on Saturday August 23 2014, @03:41AM (#84580)

              HWR has worked well for me since the days of Newton --- w/ a consistent improvement all the way up to XP --- there was something of a downturn in Windows Vista (currently running SP2 on the ThinkPad), and if it's gotten worse in 7 and still worse in 8, then I can certainly understand your reservations.

              Have you tried a third party recognizer?

            • (Score: 1, Troll) by Hairyfeet on Saturday August 23 2014, @04:40AM

              by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Saturday August 23 2014, @04:40AM (#84590) Journal

              And that is EXACTLY what my customers have experienced, to the point you end up hearing some 67 year old lady saying something like "quit you stupid POS that is NOT what I was writing, STOP FILLING THINGS IN!" because between the autocorrect and the lousy handwriting recognition its like trying to explain something to a drunk who only speaks your language as a third, maybe fourth language...at 3 in the morning after a binge.

              For those that say "oh it isn't that bad?" I can show you that YES, yes it is. Simply have somebody print a two paragraph post from any website, hell print this one if you want, and then you try to input it using HWR while a friend tries inputting it into any laptop with the document format of your choice, be it LO or Word or whatever. Full Disclosure thanks to a bike wreck when I was 15 while I can kick ass on the bass I can NOT type for shit thanks to having two fingers "stuck" in a semi-closed position...and I have royally smoked everybody who has attempted this at the shop and I'm a two finger typist!

              This is why me and many of the other shop guys are seriously pumped at the idea of sub $200 HP netbooks, because frankly we really REALLY could move the hell out of 'em! Even the teeny tiny 7 inchers were a hell of a lot faster at writing an email than dealing with shitty HWR and with a good design, like the Asus EEE had, anything above 9 inches was just fine and dandy. You will get my 12 inch AMD Bobcat EEE when you pry my cold dead fingers from it because it is just about the most perfect portable you could have, its small, less than 3 pounds, does 1080P over HDMI, GREAT for typing, and even after nearly 5 years it still get over 3 hours on a battery...oh and did I mention it only cost me $300 with an upgrade to 8GB of RAM?

              I've got to mess with more tablets than most here have ever seen, big ones and small ones and fast ones and slow ones and in ALL of the cases they really are consumption devices...eBooks? Great, watching a flick or YouTube? Just fine, listening to music? Okay but most run down quickly on music for some reason, but for things where you do more than just passively sit there? SSSSUUUUCCCCCKKKKKSSSSS! And please don't start trotting out BT keyboards and crap because at that point? all you have is a badly designed laptop that is more unwieldy, more of a PITA, and less useful than those $175 Atom netbooks I was getting back in 07.

              Don't get me wrong, tablets have their niches, I've just been seeing a lot more folks finding tablets wanting and desiring something like the netbook, simple, light, cheap, good battery life, the kind of thing you can just throw in a bag and go with. And with sales of the once mighty iPad going down I really don't see MSFT carving out a decent market with something that costs even more than an iPad but which has less touch apps.

              --
              ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by RaffArundel on Friday August 22 2014, @02:45PM

      by RaffArundel (3108) on Friday August 22 2014, @02:45PM (#84351) Homepage

      The problem with these is that tablets are for passive consumption, laptops for getting stuff done and frankly you could buy a decent tablet AND a decent laptop for less than the S3.

      Conversely, the problem with that is carrying two devices and all the attachments/power/dongle/whatnot. That's the typical trade-off between pretty much any all-in-one vs. tailored devices.

      I have a Surface Pro 2 with the type cover. I'm actually surprised how much I like it, but definitely not for everyone. One issue is it doesn't really know what it wants to be and the second issue is the lack of apps. The latter is an issue because Metro actually works on the device - my first gen iPad (the only tablet I have) would get thrown in the closet if there was a decent IMDB app in the Windows store. Since Eclipse and OpenOffice run fine in the desktop mode and the keyboard is tolerable (actually feels good for the size), it has replaced my junky laptop when hitting the pub. I'm surprised how good the digitizer is, but I have little use for it (my handwriting is abysmal and I am not an artist) but my gf likes the stylus feel.

      I'm not interested in the SP3 so I don't know about whatever improvements (size? better specs?) that they are pushing. Maybe my opinion will change if I ever play with it (did for the SP2) but it would be a drop-in replacement for that device - probably not a replacement for either my tablet or (work issued) laptop. For that matter, my phone, console or any of my desktops - I'm awash with devices at all points in the spectrum, so pretty much everything I buy would replace something else at this point.

      I can say that I wouldn't purchase a netbook. I'm not that price-sensitive, so I would rather get a nice Android tablet to do everything I'd use a netbook for. Especially if that Atom netbook is RT - stupidest idea ever to confuse customers like that. The other netbook turn off is the form-factor, if I have to deal with that, I'd rather get a good ultralight laptop. Out of curiosity, who was buying the $200 netbooks? Specifically, was price the driver, or was it the actual functionality was sufficient for their needs?

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by strattitarius on Friday August 22 2014, @03:53PM

      by strattitarius (3191) on Friday August 22 2014, @03:53PM (#84373) Journal
      I agree completely. Bought a netbook from ASUS (not sure which) and used the crap out of it. To the point I wore out the hinges and the things was just beat up (I was hard on it). When I went to replace it all the netbooks, the real netbooks were gone. Now they cost $300+, some even $400+! So I bought a crappy 15" laptop on sale for $249. Really, really liked the netbook for that purpose (around the house and porch media consuption, plus some typing at times).

      Now, I find that a tablet (Dell Venue isn't too bad for under $200, Samsung also good) combined with a bluetooth keyboard and case pretty much works like the netbooks did there for a year or two.
      --
      Slashdot Beta Sucks. Soylent Alpha Rules. News at 11.
  • (Score: 2) by PizzaRollPlinkett on Friday August 22 2014, @11:16AM

    by PizzaRollPlinkett (4512) on Friday August 22 2014, @11:16AM (#84307)

    What is Fondles Lab?

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    (E-mail me if you want a pizza roll!)
    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by wantkitteh on Friday August 22 2014, @12:06PM

      by wantkitteh (3362) on Friday August 22 2014, @12:06PM (#84310) Homepage Journal

      It's The Reg being purile and immature. Some people like it and find it amusing, I can't stand them for it - their headlines are almost impossible to read sometimes.

    • (Score: 2) by EQ on Friday August 22 2014, @03:07PM

      by EQ (1716) on Friday August 22 2014, @03:07PM (#84358)

      Fondle Slab = Register-ese for tablet

  • (Score: 1) by hendrikboom on Friday August 22 2014, @01:13PM

    by hendrikboom (1125) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 22 2014, @01:13PM (#84322) Homepage Journal

    Still waiting for a decent ARM laptop for Linux.