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Microsoft reportedly working on $400 Surface tablets to compete with the iPad
Microsoft is working on a new line of budget Surface tablets to better compete with Apple's low-cost iPad options, according to a report from Bloomberg.
According to the report, the new Surface tablets won't just be smaller, cheaper Surface Pros. Rather, Microsoft is said to be completely redesigning the devices, with 10-inch screens instead of the 12-inch size currently found on the Surface Pro, rounded corners that more resemble an iPad than the more rectangular Surface design, and USB-C for charging. Most importantly, priced at $400, they will be more in line with Apple's cheaper tablets, too.
Google also recently introduced an education-oriented ChromeOS tablet to compete with Apple's iPad.
Also at Laptop Magazine.
Related: Microsoft to Challenge Education-Oriented Chromebooks With Windows 10 Laptops Priced From $189
Apple Expected to Compete Against Chromebooks With Cheaper Education-Focused iPads
ChromeOS Gains the Ability to Run Linux Applications
(Score: 3, Touché) by takyon on Thursday May 17 2018, @03:39PM (3 children)
Ironically, given that the solar irradiance on Mars is about 43% of Earth's [nasa.gov], you won't even need your sunlight readable display!
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(Score: 2) by Immerman on Thursday May 17 2018, @11:39PM (2 children)
Nah, you still would. 43% of direct sunlight is still an awful lot.
Something like 1000W/m^2 of sunlight reaches the Earth's surface, and about 42% of that is in the visible spectrum. That means on Earth, a single 1m^2 window facing directly at the sun allows in around 420W of visible light. Convert that to "incandescent equivalent watts", at an average of 2.2% visible light, and you're talking about a "19,000W equivalent" light source, or 190 100W incandescent bulbs. From a single 1m^2 window. That's INSANELY brighter than your average interior room is lit, which is why turning on the lights in a room with sun shining straight in the windows makes almost no difference. It only seems like less because our eyes brightness response is logarithmic rather than linear. Unfortunately that doesn't help much when looking at a backlit screen that's being front-lit by a far brighter source - the reflected ambient light is so much brighter than the emitted light that you're pushing the limits of detection to see the difference.
Cut that to 43%, and it will STILL be insanely brighter than any normal electrically-lit interior space. And of course, it's far brighter outside, where even on Mars you're not limited to a single "8,000W equivalent" light source lighting a whole room, but instead get a an effectively infinite-plane light source at 8,000W/m^2 (equivalent).
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday May 17 2018, @11:48PM (1 child)
On Mars you can read outside during a dust storm.
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(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday May 18 2018, @02:18AM
AND shit on your potatoes!
:)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---