Surface 3 - New direction, higher prices and crappy i3

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These generally half cocked and generally ill informed "news" features get tiring, especially on an Amiga site.  We get it, MS bashing is the cool thing lately, just like it was 30 years ago, lol.

Anyone that read the stories, or watched the product launch could tell you that this product is geared towards the enterprise market as a laptop alternative, not a competitor to a $100 Android tablet.  They only mentioned it about 150 times in the product launch.

Like any other higher end product, it comes in lower end and ultra high end hardware configs - including an i7, 8 GB and high capacity SSD model.  The base model, like any other base model PC (again, it's being marketed as a laptop alternative, not an ipad replacement - it does have a full OS, after all) comes in cheapie form and price escalates the more you tack onto it, just like any other PC..

Much like you can buy a Mac Air for $900, you can also custom spec a Mac Air to cost you $2000.  Just like the Surface 3.  Neither are kiddie toys, they are being marketed and sold to people looking for something that does more than an iPad.

I had my supper break last night with a few guys that are chomping at the bit to get their hands on a Surface Pro 3.  I'll likely buy one myself once they are in stores for IT work to replace an old Mac Air I have, in fact.

The RT Surface tablets should have never, ever come out.  Just a giant mistake on MS's part.  Says "Windows" on the damned thing and you cannot run any traditional Windows (x86) software on them.  One of the most dead in the water products I've ever seen.

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Apple have offered plenty of machines with i3's.  The fact that they currently don't is more a Haswell refresh issue than i3's simply not being powerful enough.  My father, who works for one of the largest telco companies in Canada recently got his newest laptop for work, and you guessed it, it has an i3 in it and runs just fine for what he needs.  The company chose to spend extra money on SSD's on all these new machines vs. going for the i5 option, just like I would have if I'd been doing it.

I've got one in an older iMac and it's completely adequate for what I need.  If I'd needed more grunt, I could have upgraded to an i5 or i7, just like one can with the Surface 3 devices should they need more power.

By your logic, Apple are a bunch of money grubbing, screwing bastards for offering less powerful options for either the same price or more, similar to the 5c and the new iPad variants, no?

Might be wise to get some therapy for the MS blind sided-ness.  Most people just don't use what they don't like vs. writing up National Enquirer "news" posts interjected with their own opinions and "facts".

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Completely different beast, Iggy.  It's not being made nor marketed for those wanting a $300 laptop, nor is it marketed towards gamers and gaming.

They are going for the enterprise market and driving the Surface 3 machines as laptop replacements to engineers, doctors, IT people, etc.

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http://www.macworld.com/product/586734/21-5-inch-core-i3-imac-3-06ghz.html

Exact model I have, still works just fine for the minimal amount I use it.

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Yes, only 4.6 million people bought Mac's in '13....

@SysAdmin.

RT devices have not been cancelled in any way.  I say that with some disappointment.

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Don't forget the most important revolutionary feature in the new Surface Pro 3. It's as thin as the original 2010 iPad. Also, you don't need features like 4G(LTE) or even 3G, Surface Pro 3 does not have anything like that. Why would it need it when it has classic WiFi. Maybe in 2018 the Surface if it's around will be as thin as the 2014 iPad.

It's also about 50x the machine when purchased in high end format, not to mention a bigger physical device to begin with by a couple inches than the iPad.

The iPad is as thin as it is because it's a consumption device with an ARM processor, and also because it has virtually no connectivity ports other than headphones out and the charging connector, where as the Surface has USB, SD, among others.  You're comparing apples and oranges and failing miserably again.  If you are seriously comparing the iPad, an app centric device against a full fledged PC in the Surface, we're really living on different planets.

Apple's devices would be just as thick if they had an i Series CPU in them, and you know it as well as I do.  In fact, they are!  The Air is actually THICKER than the Surface 3    Heavier too.  Once again, the Surface being marketed as a notebook replacement, it's not really fair to compare "thickness" to a consumption device like an iPad, now is it.

As for 3G or 4G connectivity, MS did the numbers on it and came up with the figure that less than 2% of their customers felt they "needed" built in cell based connectivity.  Which the Air does not come with, either.  The vast majority of iPad's sold are the wifi only models, and same goes for Android devices.  Again, the latter not even being in the same category as the Surface to begin with.

Since the Surface has a USB 3 port, it'd be a very stupid business decision to offer 3G/4G built in for the 2% that might ever want it, especially when a guy can buy a USB 4G stick for $50 on the carrier of their choice, just like they would be forced to do for their Mac Air's and other notebooks, no?

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In comparison to a Surface 3, which can do absolutely everything a Windows desktop machine can do - I do consider an iPad Air a "consumption device", yes.

Until I can do something like plug a printer or a hard drive into my iPad via standards based methods like USB, I'll consider them mainly consumption devices.  MS Office on iOS is not remotely comparable to the full desktop version on Windows.  Not even CLOSE.

I say that as someone that has owned every iPad since the first one, as a user of MS Office for iOS as well.

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Hey, that's super, and far be it from me to dole out advice in regards to what people do in their own beds.  

Once again we get back to the intended use/market of the Surface, I guess.  No one is buying one to sit in bed and print out chocolate chip cookie recipes on a printer downstairs.  The people buying them will be enterprise focused, Windows entrenched users that require real enterprise solutions like Active Directory and such.  These will be people coming from a bulky laptop experience that will absolutely need full Windows functionality and support for all their older programs.

A $99 Android tablet is a better solution for the "cookie recipe" types, and that's just fine.  Sure beats paying $700 for an iPad to sit on the crapper playing Candy Crush like a good majority of iPad users do.

HP ePrint works terrible for me on my iPads, I know that much - and corporations still prefer wired over wireless anyways.  I've used the Lantronix solutions with far better success.  AirPlay (AirPrint) is not big in the enterprise by any stretch.

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Why hasn't Windows 8 killed off the other PC makers then?

It could just be that Sony is no longer equipped well enough to do business in the sector - and hey, don't forget!  You can still buy Windows 7 right off a store shelf, not to mention on any PC in the world that you'd ever want.

MS coding an OS didn't kill Sony's PC offerings, Sony did.  I don't see W8 killing Lenovo or Dell, why is that?  Sony is and was over priced, and they got steamrolled.  It's as simple as that, so they sold that arm (Viao) of the company to JIP.  Or perhaps the margins weren't good enough for them, just like how they weren't for IBM who sold out to Lenovo.  Lenovo, who are making money hand over fist in the exact same sector.

Sony is more than capable of making hardware that comes standard with Win 7, aren't they?  Sure they are.  It's the same hardware.  I can buy a PC from Sony with either W7 or W8 on it right now, the OS is up to me.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2095180/sony-sheds-vaio-pc-business-turns-tv-unit-into-subsidiary.html

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I had zero problems simply selecting W7 vs. W8 on the system builder tool they offer 10 minutes ago.  That being said, that may differ in the US store, I'm in Canada.

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MS can believe what they like about their iOS offerings.  With the exception of Skype and OneNote, they are all absolutely awful and gimped (and horribly cloud centric, which many people still dislike) in comparison to their full fledged counterparts, which one can run just fine on, you guessed it - the x86 Surface machines  You find me someone that can say Office for iOS is as every bit as usable as Office for Mac or PC and I'll eat my hat.  You can call a Yugo a Ferrari, and even put Ferrari stickers on said Yugo - but that doesn't make it a Ferrari. It makes it a turd plated in fools gold.  iWork is free and is far better, even the press are lambasting Office for iOS, and rightly so - it costs you $100 a year to own virtually nothing.  Office is a "free" program that requires a hundred bucks a year in cloud services fees to really do anything other than be a doc reader.  It's as useful as a polished turd without Office 365 subs.  Again, iWork is free, works well, and is nice and quick.  Office for iOS is horribly slow, just awful.  Advertising the "ribbon" interface wasn't something MS should have ever plugged as a perk, either, lol.

I quit using all MS (and Google) cloud services after the Snowden NSA fiasco.  I trust neither with any of my personal data when it's pretty glaring that the NSA has keys to the backdoor.

http://macdailynews.com/2014/03/27/microsoft-releases-hobbled-office-for-ipad-requires-100year-subscription-to-createedit-documents/

And they wonder why the take up rate on it sucks so bad when iWork is free, not only free - but a lot nicer to use.

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No self respecting hardcore gamer would use an i5 machine

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There's a big difference in a casual gamer and a hardcore gamer.

If you wish to class yourself a hardcore gamer, that's by your standards and that's good by me.  Doesn't matter much to me how one brands themselves as long as they have fun.  My apologies if I offended anyone.

That being said, my PERSONAL idea of a hardcore gamer is a guy constantly trying to push the newest games at the highest resolutions and highest settings.  That guy doesn't have even a vague interest in mid range hardware, in general.

Myself, I've been fiddling around with 4k gaming lately - and sorry, your i5 with 4 GB of RAM and a low end card isn't going to get a guy anywhere with that  

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You being sensitive is on you, Iggy.  If you're getting upset about another internet forums user not deeming you a "hardcore gamer" by their own admitted solely personal standards, all the power to you.  If you're feeling offended over semantics and terms like "hardcore gamer" and my definition perhaps being different than yours, that's on you, too.  I didn't insult anyones mother or blaspheme the Lord Jesus here, lol.  

If you are unable to see the differences visually between high end and low end, I'd eat my hat.

As would I if you were not to recognize the differences required in the hardware required between running a game on high settings at 1024x768 vs running a game at 4k (3840x2160) with all settings maxxed, that's just fine too.  You can buy 4k monitors off the shelf these days, and I did - and I love it, but it's not for everyone.

It's all about how you prefer to experience things, and what you find suitable.  You don't have to spend $5000 to enjoy a game, but there are people that do because they want what they consider the "best of the best" experience for themselves, and because they enjoy tinkering with the powerful hardware along the way.  For the next guy down the road, a far lesser machine may keep him completely happy, and that's great - and it's also why the market has a low / mid / high end product for everyone to slide into based on their budget.

Me, I like my gaming experience like this - you may differ.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUd9o81rdUA

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Didn't say it couldn't pack a lot of punch, and I'm sure such a system is great for the vast, vast majority of people.

For what I require out of a gaming PC, it wouldn't cut the mustard by a long shot, is all.