[mandony]

RIMM (BB WORLD Orland) demonstrated the PB using business class programs using a mouse and hard Keyboard. The Playbook/keyboard combo with folding case is already available (though, in short supply). All needed now are dev's to implement the software.
What is RIMM doing? They are building a system approach to built the uses for a 'tablet'.

MS this week announced another approach. They are going to release a 'tablet'/keyboard combo with folding case, with PC functions, that connects with a hard keyboard. It seems to be an approach to miniaturize a 'netbook'.

Which way will the target user go? Who knows.
Personally, I feel a tablet is not an operational substitute for a netbook.

[howarmat]

RIMM (BB WORLD Orland) demonstrated the PB using business class programs using a mouse and hard Keyboard. The Playbook/keyboard combo with folding case is already available (though, in short supply). All needed now are dev's to implement the software.
What is RIMM doing? They are building a system approach to built the uses for a 'tablet'.

MS this week announced another approach. They are going to release a 'tablet'/keyboard combo with folding case, with PC functions, that connects with a hard keyboard. It seems to be an approach to miniaturize a 'netbook'.

Which way will the target user go? Who knows.
Personally, I feel a tablet is not an operational substitute for a netbook.

what benefit does a netbook have over the Surface pro?

[pacoman03]

what benefit does a netbook have over the Surface pro?

They're available right now, and I suspect are considerably cheaper than the Surface Pro will be.

[mandony]

what benefit does a netbook have over the Surface pro?

Good question. It is hard to say how MS will build their tablet. Is their OS a stripped down netbook version? If so, MS will likely build Office apps scaled to the OS. Likely yes, so as to build a business market.

If the MS device is more 'tablet' then 'netbook', will it follow the model of the iPad, and somewhat the PB? Those target applications are (limited scale) 'apps' [tablet] not (full blown) 'programs' [netbook].

[howarmat]

surface pro will run full blown windows 8 with an intel processor. Nothing stripped down about it. The other surface version will be an arm processor and that will be slightly stripped down from what i can tell

[mandony]

They're available right now, and I suspect are considerably cheaper than the Surface Pro will be.

MS announced that their device will be 'comparable' priced to other tablets. This means they will set their prices to iPad by GB. MS will not try to compete with RIMM's PB or Android

[mandony]

surface pro will run full blown windows 8 with an intel processor. Nothing stripped down about it.

Humm. So, you feel it is going to be a 'netbook' with a disconnected KB?
How will that workout with battery life? MS will have to build hardware with an adequate sized battery to drive powerful chips.

I don't think you can have it both ways. Is it a (compact) tablet (like PB) or a (built-up) netbook (like many)?

[howarmat]

this will be more like an ultrabook, not a netbook imo. As for the rest we dont know that much and will have to wait and see

[madman0141]

I like the information so far on Surface PRO but let me point out that PlayBook is smaller and easy to carry as well as priced a lot better. I look at MSSP as a risk this late in the game of developing a tablet or whatever it is being called. Last time MS did this they got ZUNE. They sold what like 50?

[app_Developer]

How will that workout with battery life? MS will have to build hardware with an adequate sized battery to drive powerful chips.

That's the interesting thing we're all eager to see. My wife has an 11" MacBook Air that she uses for presentations and such, and she really only gets about 3-4 hours of real world use out of it. Not even close to an iPad, and I think being able to go 8-10 hours in real life is one of the reasons the iPad was so well received compared to earlier tablet attempts. For me, for example, I really only have to remember to charge my iPad every 2 or 3 days. It can certainly make it through a weekend trip.

The Surface pro specs are roughly like an 11" MBA, except maybe with less RAM. So it will be interesting to see how much battery life it will get.

[mandony]

The Surface pro specs are roughly like an 11" MBA, except maybe with less RAM. So it will be interesting to see how much battery life it will get.

Let's face it, all the makers are developing products, in the near term, with state of the art hardware. The battery hogs are fast chips, bright displays, driving high speed WIFI and wireless networks. They have to make a balance with what they will have available. I can't see any supper batteries, low power consuming chips and displays, and other tricks coming soon enough. I doubt MS has the miracle components hiding in the wings.

[erhan8]

It looks like the Surface and Surface PRO are going to be a disappointment. The price point of the pro is rumored to be close to $1,000. The battery life will be less than that of the iPad and both will release as wifi only because MS rushed it out to release before Google conference, otherwise it would be subject to months of certification by FCC and carriers. Outlook will not be included either, from what I have heard. One Engadget writer compared it to the PlayBook. Hmm... I would rather spend my hard earned money elsewhere. I'm a little disappointed because I was considering purchasing one. This device will probably die at the hands of the media.

Not as portable, not as powerful, not a Playbook.

[VerryBestr]

what benefit does a netbook have over the Surface pro?

Like other laptops, you can balance it on your lap or knees and use the physical keyboard ... on the commuter train, on a park bench, in the passenger seat of a car.

In such situations it sounds like the Surface is purely a tablet. The physical keyboard becomes useful only if you set it on a desk or table.

People are excited about being able to run "full" versions of Office and other applications on the Surface, rather than the "cut-down" versions available for tablets. Tablet apps are "cut-down" for good reasons -- CPU use (and thus battery life), memory use (on devices that don't have paged memory and where the energy budget of more memory is important).

It remains to be seen how "full" versions of applications will impact battery life and how much memory will be necessary to support them well. Chips are getting better, and batteries are slowly improving. But are these improvements enough to support this vision?