4 GB RAM and just one sensor. Why?

[techiez]

I know it's a "laptop", but then why the high price tag?

Because they are not looking to sell those 10s and 1000s, they will never want to compete with Dells and Lenovos.
Its just for those who want this product at whatever price.

 

[kaktus1389]

Have a look at the other Surface devices

It's true that other Surface devices have more sensors, but I can't really see why would a laptop have a gyroscope (I doubt it that people would rotate the laptop around while using it) or accelerometer. Maybe I could understand if you would want to have a magnetometer, but that's it.

 

[chain13]

4 GB RAM comes with the base model of the Surface Laptop. My current laptop running a third generation i5 has the same thing. Now, with all specs being high this could be defended and some might even say it is 10S so it'll run fine.

1) What if you upgrade to Win 10 Pro?
2) Why is there only one sensor for that pricing?

I know it's a "laptop", but then why the high price tag?

Maybe we should look from chromebook's perspective. 4GB of ram in chrome world is considered as high end, since it's only running 10S. HP's chromebook 13 priced at $950 with 4GB of ram, intel pentium, and intel hd 515. Compared to that, $999 surface laptop is much better by the margin (4GB, i5, intel hd 620). Also compatible with existing accessoris by microsoft, touchscreen, and ability to upgrade to 10 pro are huge bonus. So it's double win.

I would appreciate more if only they add a fingerprint sensor on it. Anything else (gyro, accelerometer) doesn't important in laptop form factor.

 

[ttsoldier]

I think it boils down to the user and his/her needs

Windows 10s +4gb ram is good. Example, if I give my mom a surface laptop with windows 10s and 4gb ram, she will be content, none the wiser and safe.

 

[nate0]

It was targeted to 10s users (Companies deploying maybe, Schools obviously, college kids, other orgs needing it). So barebones on 10s is optimized for 4gb and whatever CPU I am assuming. I liked a post above, where they mentioned why a laptop would need anything more than an ambient light sensor. I think the fact a laptop has a sensor onboard like that one is awesome. My last owned laptop was an HP Elitebook 850, and had 16GB of RAM.

I would love to get one of these, and I am banking they release an upgraded model...why is the RAM not upgradeable or expandable? Onboard RAM? I have no idea what this laptop is and only know of the backend story about 10s and Chromebook battle, sorry :0. Also sorry for the edit/spelling corrects...

Edit: Also why would windows 10 pro 32 bit need more than 4gb?

 

[nate0]

It was targeted to 10s users (Companies deploying maybe, Schools obviously, college kids, other orgs needing it). So barebones on 10s is optimized for 4gb and whatever CPU I am assuming. I liked a post above, where they mentioned why a laptop would need anything more than an ambient light sensor. I think the fact a laptop has a sensor onboard like that one is awesome. My last owned laptop was an HP Elitebook 850, and had 16GB of RAM.

I would love to get one of these, and I am banking they release an upgraded model...why is the RAM not upgradeable or expandable? Onboard RAM? I have no idea what this laptop is and only know of the backend story about 10s and Chromebook battle, sorry :0. Also sorry for the edit/spelling corrects...

Edit: Also why would windows 10 pro 32 bit need more than 4gb?

I am just now looking at the store online, and you can configure the i5 at 8gb, so is Win 10s 32 or 64bit by default? I think I see the discussion now, and the price point being the focus...lol

 

[ttsoldier]

I am just now looking at the store online, and you can configure the i5 at 8gb, so is Win 10s 32 or 64bit by default? I think I see the discussion now, and the price point being the focus...lol

I'm pretty sure it will be 64bit. Don't see why it would be 32bit; You would lose on a lot of ram.

 

[nate0]

I'm pretty sure it will be 64bit. Don't see why it would be 32bit; You would lose on a lot of ram.

Was thinking why even offer a 4GB model unless that one is 32bit only.

 

[Photonsym]

Well yea it's not the best value thing on the market rn but it's not supposed to be. If you could'nt care less about the design of the surface laptop or that its made by microsoft then your better off with something like an xps 13 which is more of a practical device and offers higher specs for the same price.

 

[SpaciousZebra]

The pricing is certainly off-putting to many potential buyers. I'm already looking forward to the second gen laptop here: depending on the reaction/payoff Microsoft encounters from it's release and long-term sales, they could make significant adjustments to pricing, or give you more for the same price without Windows 10 S.

10 S is going to be a tough sell to college students - buy a Macbook, which upwards of 75% of college students own and use now, get a seamless, restriction free experience. Buy a Surface Laptop, still expensive, and it comes with a bunch of "Can'ts". Students are sometimes asked to download programs for their classes by their professors for projects, for example. What happens when they need to download one that isn't 10 S compatible? They'll either upgrade to pro or just use a school computer, but that's a big problem for 10 S because it just inconvenienced its user.

 

[luisftw]

this is to maybe keep it simple overall it is a device for students

 

[kaktus1389]

The pricing is certainly off-putting to many potential buyers.

Perhaps it is but the potential buyers should know that Surface Products are premium, made of premium materials, individually calibrated and often include innovative stuff like thinnest LCD panels, the new speaker system etc. However those products are not priced high only because of that but also because MS doesn't want to compete directly with their OEMs like Dell, HP, Lenovo, Asus and others.

They are competing to Apple directly, which means the potential buyers are likely to be those who can afford that if they can afford MacBooks and iPhones.

 

[digitaldd]

I'm hoping that Microsoft might let one of the other browsers into the store by allowing Chromium/Webkit based web rendering in the store that would allow either Chrome, Opera or Brave to make a UWP browser for Windows S. An alternate browser is a must even if you are an Edge user if only for the occasional web site that wont render on one browser you need a second option.

 

[ttsoldier]

Was thinking why even offer a 4GB model unless that one is 32bit only.

That will probably be 64bit as well.

 

[Rainar Angelo]

The upgrade to pro will be 32 bit?

 

[xandros9]

The upgrade to pro will be 32 bit?

I'll bet you $32 that it'll be 64. With a minimum of 4 I can't see it shipping with anything else.

 

[Lych]

Look at the Ultrabook category. Pricing is typically higher for thin client laptops. Upgrading to Windows 10 Pro can still work with the amount of RAM you have, but it'll be dependent on what you use it for. 8GB would be the minimum I would suggest for the upgrade to Pro.

I would like to disagree. Windows 10 pro (the current stable build) runs without any issues whatsoever on a system with 4 gigs of ram and a 2,8ghz dual-core processor. I upgraded it out of curiosity and it's smooth for day-to-day tasks. Not that I don't support having 8 gigabytes of RAM, but it's definitely not a must.

 

[nate0]

I would like to disagree. Windows 10 pro (the current stable build) runs without any issues whatsoever on a system with 4 gigs of ram and a 2,8ghz dual-core processor. I upgraded it out of curiosity and it's smooth for day-to-day tasks. Not that I don't support having 8 gigabytes of RAM, but it's definitely not a must.

Nice. Well, Microsoft of all companies would know best...is this a Surface laptop or a different personal device you upgraded.

 

[k1s23]

What other sensors should there be?

hey i was thinking the same thing. not like i need a gyroscope in my laptop!