back to article Sinofsky: Surface 'best tablet, best laptop' he's ever used

After a brief pause for recuperation after the Windows 8 launch, Microsoft's Windows supremo Steven Sinofsky went straight out and started on Surface and how it measures up to competition. "It's not just a tablet. It's actually the best tablet that I've ever used," he said. "It's also not just a laptop, but it's the best …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. toadwarrior

    Of course he would say that and the skateboard thing isn't impressive. You can stand on an empty soda can without crushing it if you balance yourself right.

    1. RICHTO
      Mushroom

      Try doing that with an iPad though. All crapple stuff breaks when dropped.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    In 12 months time

    I suspect that Windows, iOS and Android tablets will still be battling it out, because each offers something different that appeals to different people. There is plenty of room for everyone.

    1. MIc

      Re: In 12 months time

      Probably one of the most reasonable comments leveled against the surface to date on the reg forums.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: In 12 months time

      I'll be able to buy a Surface for a song, and install a decent OS on it.

    3. NomNomNom

      In 12 months time

      we will be shambling around the desolate ruins of our once glorious cities looking for whatever scraps of food remain and an old man is there, face to the sky screaming WHY???? WHYYYYYYYY!!!!!!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        OK, maybe that too.

      2. hplasm
        Devil

        Re: In 12 months time

        "Damn you, Windows 8!! You blew it all to hell!!"

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    And in other news....

    "Romney best candidate" - Republican Party

    "GM Cars safest, fastest" - GM CEO

    "Obama best candidate" - Democratic Party

    "Ford Cars safest, fastest" - Ford CEO

    "Gnome 3 best yet" - Gnome devel team

    "This post most insightful ever" - me.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: And in other news....

      To be fair, he's probably right, it looks like an excellent tablet. The 'best laptop ever' claim is a bit more doubtful, but even that may be true --- it's just sadly covered by Metro crapola.

      1. Euripides Pants
        Windows

        Re: 'best laptop ever'

        Actually, Steve Sinofsky said the Surface was the best tablet and the best laptop he'd ever used.

        Mr. Sinofsky needs to get out more.

  4. Notas Badoff
    Unhappy

    We'd all be rail thin if...

    PR people wrote everything we could read.

    "The 10.6 inch Gorilla 2.0 glass is designed to be the perfect size to display the Windows OS ..."

    How many times does someone have to practice saying things like this, before they can repress the urge to throw up?

    This is almost as bad as Samsung's "made for humans". (Of course, what's the down-side? - I bought an S3 anyway)

    1. John Smith 19 Gold badge
      Joke

      Re: We'd all be rail thin if...

      "How many times does someone have to practice saying things like this, before they can repress the urge to throw up?"

      Simple. There's an app for that.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Red ring of death RED RING OF DEATH!

    Enjoy your release day aids!

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    He would say that./

    Bet he didn't point out that Surface tablets have an even crappier DPI than even the iPad Mini, and you need a second mortgage to get even the really rubbish one, let alone the not as rubbish one...

    1. RICHTO
      Mushroom

      Re: He would say that./

      The Surface screen is higher quality with lower reflectivity, deeper blacks, and the resolution is enhanced by Clear Type, so there is little to choose between them in terms of the display. Plus all iPad applications actually run at 1024x768 anyway so that they can support the older iPads and the iPad mini.

      1. GrantB
        Flame

        Re: He would say that./

        "...all iPad applications actually run at 1024x768 anyway"

        So confidently stated and yet so wrong:

        http://appadvice.com/applists/show/apps-that-show-off-ipad-retina-display

        But being a troll for MS, you wouldn't know about apps would you?

        And as for ClearType magically giving the equivalent of 4x more pixels, you might want to look again:

        http://www.osnews.com/story/25710/ClearType_dialled_back_in_Windows_8_s_Metro

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: He would say that./

        "enhanced by Clear Type"

        Drink the marketing coolaid much?

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Shame

    10.6 inch screen and a poor resolution compared to full size iPad. The bar has been set high by apple when it comes to screens and android tablets are finally stepping up to the plate but this Microsoft effort is still born.

    It looks better than an iPad and it has some great built in features like the kick stand but their target market should have been people who didn't want the apple walled garden

    Instead all they've done with RT is given them a different walled garden

    1. RICHTO
      Mushroom

      Re: Shame

      Erm - plus the Surface has support for 420 milion hardware devices at launch via USB, it runs MS Office, has a memory slot, has a 3mm thick keyboard cover, has faster performance than the iPad 3, has much higher build quality and doesnt break as easily, uses better case material, and it costs less for the equivalent memory spec. iPad 3 model....

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Shame

        It might be faster than the iPad 3 but that's old hat now and no longer even available for sale. It's the iPad with Retina Display (aka iPad 4) that Surface will need to compete with and it's highly unlikely that it's faster than that.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Shame

        Erm - plus the Surface has support for 420 milion hardware devices at launch via USB, it runs MS Office

        I could be wrong but all I see at launch is the windows RT version which I don't think will support 420 million hardware devices via USB.....

        As for office well it runs a flavour of office but do you really think they'll give you all the candy on a machine like this?

        All it will take is for google to release a version of that office suite they bought that works offline - quick office?! For android and then Microsoft have lost their USP

        At launch all I see is a metro only RT device which is no better than the iPad for content creation despite the inclusion of office

        1. Christian Briddon

          Re: Shame

          The Windows RT device does indeed support most USB devices. Just plug them in and off you go.

          Also, Office isn't a 'flavour' of Office, it's a pretty much full version of Office 2013 written for ARM.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Shame

          Windows comes with loads of drivers, all Microsoft need to do for ARM is just recompile the drivers for ARM.

          Third party drivers are a different matter, but then this is a new version of Windows so you would expect some devices to not be supported for a small while.

      3. hplasm
        Coat

        Re: Erm - plus the Surface has support for 420 milion hardware devices at launch via USB

        That's a lot of chargers- is the battery life that bad?

        Or else the USB hub to plug them all into must be massive!

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Erm - plus the Surface has support for 420 milion hardware devices at launch via USB

          Erm, don't you remember recently how HP said they alone have 200 different laser printer models?

          So it's not hard to imagine that many of those drivers are printers.

          Apple managed to slim down their OS by a huge amount by downloading the printer drivers on demand, instead of bundling them.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Shame

      I agree a 1080p screen (or better) for Surface RT is desirable but realistically Tegra 3 isn't up to the job and Microsoft so far don't control the SoC so they had little choice for an October release. Apple have now played their A6 hole card early to regain a clear performance advantage but we can expect to see more Cortex-A15 announcements at CES January making 2013 an interesting year for Windows RT/Android/iOS competition on price and performance.

  8. Nanners
    Trollface

    Great

    A mere 500 to hang on facebook.

  9. Fred Flintstone Gold badge

    Great..

    .. so usable it needs training wheels..

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Business

    The more I examine the varying decent in-depth reviews on windows8 (specifically winRT) and surface, the more it becomes clear that Microsoft is very much targeting the business market.

    The iPad, despite being adopted by business to a degree, is more of an entertainment/consumption device.

    Ditto for Android tablets such as the Nexus.

    What Microsoft appear to aiming to do, is to bridge the gap between productivity and tablet devices.

    Yes, we've joked that the surface is a confused device - "look, it's a notebook!" - "no, it's a tablet!" - but perhaps that's the right direction for Microsoft.

    If the surface is a success, it will be in the Office and it will be "Office" that drives that success.

    A device which can double up as both presentation - in boardrooms - and productivity - on the road - will appeal to businesses far more than one that is mostly presentation based.

    I can't see the surface making much of an impact in the consumer market - not at it's price point and not with the iPad (at the same price point) so entrenched. Also, with a plethora of cheap and excellent Android tablets available, which are perfectly capable of filling the consumer middle-ground, Microsoft have to take the battle elsewhere.

    I think they have. The reviews are mostly favourable. The OS gets a thumbs up, albeit with the caveat of a steep learning curve. The surface gets mixed reviews, but by all accounts is manages to hit the productivity sweet spot decently.

    I hope it's a success. Although I use Linux and MacOS, I also use windows and I can see myself at work in a few years using Windows 8, possibly on a touch device.

  11. DF118
    Trollface

    Meanwhile, over at the Graun....

    Their coverage of the event was pure snark. Seems the Koolaid was completely the wrong colour for their tech "journalist".

    Told them as much in the comments (in a jokey innocuous fashion) but they didn't like the criticism and nixed it within 20 minutes. Up until that point I had only been half serious about the Koolaid.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Is it magical though?

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Captain of the fail boat

    Actual quote: "In creating Windows 8 we shunned the incremental". Whoops someone forgot to tell him Windows 8 is v6.2 and 7 is 6.1 and Vista 6.0

    1. hplasm
      Windows

      Re: Captain of the fail boat

      But the excremental is never overlooked...

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    When (not if) the Surface and the entire Windows 8 'ecosystem' flops...

    Ballmer and/or Sinofsky will be out of a job at Microsoft.

    The Surface will end up just like the Zune.

  15. jb99

    Interesting

    I was all prepared to really hate these.

    However the more I see of them the more I'm finding myself thinking hmm maybe I ought to get one.

    Or do I wait for a x86 one to run "real" windows.....

    I dont know why but they are actually looking far better than I expected,

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like