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Microsoft threw one hell of a party tonight; its pair of Microsoft Surface devices could be one of the biggest jumps forward in product design in recent memory. Could, because there’s still so much we don’t know. And Microsoft’s not sharing.
Is Surface a revolutionary tablet/laptop/wunderkind? We won’t know for sure until we get answers to these five unfinished pieces of business.
One point that went glaringly omitted during tonight’s presentation: data. Specifically, will either the RT or Intel version of Microsoft Surface come in a 4G edition? Wi-Fi is fine for most, but if you’re pushing the business angle—which Microsoft very vocally was—online anywhere becomes incredibly important.
Storage is one thing. RAM, processor speed, and battery life are entirely another. Those are the things that most affect your computing experience. How well does it multitask? How fast does it run? How long will it last? Microsoft didn’t include any of those three in its spec sheet, and declined to answer when asked directly. That’s not a good sign.
Microsoft execs hinted at the prices of both the RT and Intel models of Surface, saying that they would be “competitive” with the market. Let’s assume that “the market” means “the iPad,” which puts the ARM-based surface at around £500. But the x86 Surface doesn’t really have a clear correlation, other than maybe the MacBook Air and other Core i5 ultrabooks, which puts it anywhere from £800 on up.
So why not just say that? Because Surface isn’t coming out for months and months. Announcing a price now would leave Apple and the rest of the tablet hardware makers plenty of time to undercut.
We know that the ARM version of Surface will touch down concurrently with Windows 8, and that the Intel version will follow three thereafter. Which would be incredibly helpful if we knew when Windows 8 is launching. It’s certainly close enough to finished, but all indications have pointed to October for final release. Which is (see above!) a long, long way away, in tech years.
Then there’s maybe the most disconcerting open question: does this thing work? Sure the display looks great and the demos were mostly smooth, but in hands on sessions immediately following the event that super-futuristic, ultraflat keyboard case was strictly look, don’t type. That’s going to be Surface’s biggest selling point, and it’s clearly not ready yet for primetime. Will it ever be?
The one thing we do know is that Surface has a boatload of promise. It’s exciting, it’s the future, and unlike previous Microsoft tablet promises, it’s got enough muscle behind it to avoid the vaporware pile. But that’s a far cry from living up to expectations. And the sooner we fill in these blanks, the sooner we’ll be able set ours.
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All valid question, but some are more important than others, and battery life is another question we need answering.
I would also like to know if there will be a docking station for the pro version, so I can use it like a normal desktop PC in the office, and then undock it and use it as a tablet on the road. If that’s correct, it might be interesting for me.
The other article says it’s got a full-size USB port, and an HDMI port, so that’s pretty much all the docking station connectivity you could need right there.
Because it’s Windows, you’ll probably even be able to use USB ethernet adapters with it.
Yeah, I suppose you are right, I would still like to see a proper docking station, where I could leave all my stuff connected and press a single button to disconnect.
Got to say that this is the first tablet that I’m expected about, it finaly sounds like more than a gaint phone. I hope I’m not expecting too much from it.
I suspect that this was a rushed out announcement as Microsoft are aware at the very least of the “Nexus tablet to be launched at Google I/O” and may actually have insider information. So, rather like Google’s rushed “Google Maps is really great and here’s some new stuff we are doing” announcement just before Apple announced that they were releasing their own maps client, this may be Microsoft’s “Hold on a while, we have some neat stuff that isn’t quite ready yet, but don’t go buying an iPad/Android tablet just yet” announcement.
I have a horrible feeling this may become a trend, with each tech company having “pre-emptive” announcements any time their competitors are about to do so.
RIP Android tablets.
I honestly dont care about the specs on this one, it seems to me as theyre pushing the form factor and build quality over anything else. If I play with one and love it I’ll buy it regardless of how much RAM etc it’s got which is very unlike me but if you look at Windows Phone they’ve optimized the shit out of some very average hardware there and it keeps up with the best multi core androids.
My guess is that a lot like Apple stuff the specs wont sound amazing but it’ll ‘just work’ and very well at that.
Providing the keyboard case thing works and performance is comparable to their competitors who needs an ultrabook?
Congrats Microsoft, you may actually make tablets relevant and viable for me and a lot of others.