Microsoft Surface

[leemajors]

[Venti Quattro]

Microsoft sets Oct. 26 as Windows 8 launch date

Windows 8 will launch Oct. 26, Microsoft announced Wednesday afternoon.

The upcoming operating system will indeed meet the October launch date many observers had been expecting for quite some time.

"Mark your calendar: Windows 8 will be available on October 26th, 2012," the company's @Windows account tweeted.

Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky, president of Windows, announced the news at the company's annual sales meeting. Earlier this month, the company had confirmed Windows 8 would launch in October but it had yet to give a solid date.

Windows 8 will work with touch-screen devices, mice, keyboard and styluses too.

The company has also said the Microsoft Surface table that was announced last month is supposed to launch in conjunction with Windows 8, but Microsoft did not mention it in a blog posted Wednesday.

The company has also said Windows Phone 8 will launch some time this fall, so on or around Oct. 26 is looking like a likely launch time for the mobile operating system.

[leemajors]

lol Courier

[vander]

table? or tablet? I thought the table came out a long time ago

[jacobdrj]

Quad HD has literally 4 times the resolution of 1080p hd (the current full hd standard:

2160p is the shorthand name for Quad Full High Definition (QFHD), a video mode planned to appear in future HDTV products.[1] It has a resolution of 3840×2160 (8.3 megapixels in the 16:9 aspect ratio) and is one of the levels of 4K resolution.[2][3][4] The number 2160 stands for 2,160 lines of vertical display resolution, while the letter p stands for progressive scan or non-interlaced. In a progressive image, the lines of resolution of the image go from the top of the screen to the bottom.

2160p is also called "Quad HD" since it displays four times the number of pixels of the highest HDTV standard resolution, 1080p (a standard which is also known as "Full HD"). The only planned higher definition format for television is Ultra High Definition Television.

[Venti Quattro]

Isn't that only for 100' TVs

[DarrinS]

Why Microsoft's Surface Tablet Shames the PC Industry

http://www.businessweek.com/articles...he-pc-industry

[DarrinS]

Seriously? It's a quad core I5 Ivy Bridge in a relatively tiny form factor. Performance wise this will eat the iPad ALIVE. The pro version shouldn't even be compared to tablets, because it's a full PC. The ARM based version will be very interesting to see.

This.



Also, it cracks me up when people complain about $1000, when I paid $2500 back in the early 90's for something that could only be used as a boat anchor these days.

[TeyshaBlue]

This.



Also, it cracks me up when people complain about $1000, when I paid $2500 back in the early 90's for something that could only be used as a boat anchor these days.

You don't want to know what I paid for an Apple IIe with dual disk drive and a monochorme monitor!

[DarrinS]

You don't want to know what I paid for an Apple IIe with dual disk drive and a monochorme monitor!

I can only imagine. Used one of those in a high school class, if memory serves. Or was it a IIc? it -- I'm too old to remember.

[leemajors]

Acer's CEO talks more about Surface:

http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/07/a...about-surface/

Acer executives have criticized Microsoft's decision to build its own tablet in the past, but now the firm's CEO has offered Redmond a more direct warning. "We have said [to Microsoft] think it over," Acer CEO JT Wang told the Financial Times. "Think Twice. It will create a huge negative impact for the ecosystem and other brands may take a negative reaction." Microsoft has acknowledged Surface's potential to frustrate its OEM partners, telling the Security and Exchange Commission that competing directly with manufactures might "affect their commitment" to the firm's platform. Not only does Wang agree with this admission, he seems worried that Microsoft will cause this damage for nothing. "It is not something you are good at," he continued, "so please think twice." Polite, but a bit bold. Then again, Acer has never been shy about telling Microsoft exactly what it thinks.

[jacobdrj]

I am sorry, but if any of the suppliers would do it right they wouldn't have done this...

[leemajors]

No they tried to cut OEM partners off at the knees, when it is the strength of their business.

[jacobdrj]

No they tried to cut OEM partners off at the knees, when it is the strength of their business.

Suppliers have had many chances to make great products on their own on a number of different occasions without reference designs.

Maybe maybe MS should have done what Intel did with Ultrabooks, but it is blatantly obvious, based on MS' history that they don't want to make hardware long term. This was their attempt to show the suppliers up when they have been horribly lacking in innovation and design. If their feelings are hurt, they can just stop producing WinTel systems and get over it...

[leemajors]

Suppliers have had many chances to make great products on their own on a number of different occasions without reference designs.

Maybe maybe MS should have done what Intel did with Ultrabooks, but it is blatantly obvious, based on MS' history that they don't want to make hardware long term. This was their attempt to show the suppliers up when they have been horribly lacking in innovation and design. If their feelings are hurt, they can just stop producing WinTel systems and get over it...

If OEM manufacturers quit making Windows machines the platform would shrivel up and die. Do you think Windows is popular because it is awesome? No, it's bundled with almost every PC out there. This is MS ting on the people that got them to the top. The manufacturers make some great products that sell well despite software like ME and Vista.

[jacobdrj]

If OEM manufacturers quit making Windows machines the platform would shrivel up and die. Do you think Windows is popular because it is awesome? No, it's bundled with almost every PC out there. This is MS ting on the people that got them to the top. The manufacturers make some great products that sell well despite software like ME and Vista.

If those OEMs gave 5 minutes of actual testing time to some of those 'Vista Capable' pieces of trash they tried peddling to customers, much of the backlash would have been abated. Microsoft is not without blame for even CLAIMING that Vista could have run on those systems (it clearly couldn't have). But ethical and smart OEMs would have refused the moniker altogether.

Vista sucked, but so did XP... Windows 2000 was the last great OS from MS until Windows 7 IMHO... It may take 2 or 3 new OS releases before another great OS.

And the reason people use Windows isn't because it is bundled. It is because they are forced to for software compatibility, and choose to when given the choice of Linux (look at the return numbers for netbooks pre-loaded with Linux early on, they are craptastic). I wish it were not that way. I wish we had some of the simplicity of Mac OSX available for all. I wish we had some of the configurability of Linux and the stability too. But we don't. We are stuck with MS. And the least they can do is give us a reference design so we don't have another 'Vista Capable' disaster.

Besides, all MS did here was swap the thick part of the laptop for the thin part to make a tablet... Tablets are for consumption. Computers are for creation. This product won't catch on, as it will have a terrible time coming up with software compatibility.

[leemajors]

Looks like it doesn't bother Lenovo:

http://goo.gl/9L2D8

Dumped Android for think pad tablet 2

Good points about software/compatability

[leemajors]

$499, $599 with keyboard case:

http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/16/3...g-availability

[CuckingFunt]

Price isn't low enough to justify an impulsive pre-order, but I'm definitely intrigued. Be nice to get my hands on it.

[Drachen]

too much for the RT. I will watch and see how it develops.

[DJ Mbenga]

I wanted 350 with cover its 499 without. Gonna wait now.

[leemajors]

too much for the RT. I will watch and see how it develops.

Yeah that was my thought, who knows how expensive the intel ones will be

[DJ Mbenga]

I wondered why they didn't make a 16gb one. Now I know why. On reddit they said with apps the os and office installed it takes up 12 gigs.

[mingus]

I will wait for the 128 gb Surface that has normal Windows, not Windows RT. It will be way over priced probably, but if it is $1500 or less I am willing to pay for it. The 64 gb and 32 gb aren't not be enough to handle all the music and movies I will put on it.

[leemajors]

I will wait for the 128 gb Surface that has normal Windows, not Windows RT. It will be way over priced probably, but if it is $1500 or less I am willing to pay for it. The 64 gb and 32 gb aren't not be enough to handle all the music and movies I will put on it.

why would you buy a surface at that price point when you could just get a nice laptop with a much bigger hdd?