This Surface Laptop is the First Overpriced Device With a Surface Branding

Chintan Gohel

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Anyone who has ever spent 1.3 seconds on a college campus knows that Macbook Air ($1000) and Macbook Pro ($1400) dominate the scene... They are everywhere!

Will the Surface Laptop bite into that market? Maybe...

This made me laugh

Spent 5 years in college, saw about that number of apple devices and 1000 times that number of windows laptops
 

Tsang Fai

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Anyone who has ever spent 1.3 seconds on a college campus knows that Macbook Air ($1000) and Macbook Pro ($1400) dominate the scene... They are everywhere!

Will the Surface Laptop bite into that market? Maybe...


It is hard for Apple users to switch to Windows. I think Surface Laptop is targeted at those potential buyers of a laptop.

Surface Laptop (starting $999) vs. MacbookPro (starting $1499). If one wants a sexy laptop but has no absolute preference on Macs, Surface Laptop is indeed an inexpensive choice.
 

Tsang Fai

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Spent 5 years in college, saw about that number of apple devices and 1000 times that number of windows laptops

Macbooks are very popular among US colleges and some Asian colleges. Those users just trust Apple more than Microsoft, and of course appreciate the build quality of Macbooks.

Tbh, Windows devices did not look appealing until Surface was released, and that had bad image on Windows and Microsoft. I fully understand why people choose Macbooks over Windows laptops.
 

Tsang Fai

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everything you'd do with it (in a Laptop form-factor) can be easily and ergonomically accomplished with a proper trackpad and trackpad gestures, making it unnecessary in a Laptop-only form.

I do not agree to this, after using Surface for years. Touch is just intuitive, and in most cases, faster than using mouse/trackpad. My school has students equipped with Lenovo & Surface 2-in-1s - they enjoy using the touch screen. Some students with Macbooks, however, feel embarrassed when their classmates are working with the touchscreen efficiently.

While touch is not necessary for an all-in-one PC, it is absolutely convenient for a laptop where your fingers can always reach the screen so easily and directly. You may survive without a touch screen but it is absolutely a big plus.

And don't forget people nowadays have get used to touch with their phones and tablets. It is so natural to use this in a laptop.
 

MrElectrifyer

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I do not agree to this, after using Surface for years. Touch is just intuitive, and in most cases, faster than using mouse/trackpad. My school has students equipped with Lenovo & Surface 2-in-1s - they enjoy using the touch screen. Some students with Macbooks, however, feel embarrassed when their classmates are working with the touchscreen efficiently.

While touch is not necessary for an all-in-one PC, it is absolutely convenient for a laptop where your fingers can always reach the screen so easily and directly. You may survive without a touch screen but it is absolutely a big plus.

And don't forget people nowadays have get used to touch with their phones and tablets. It is so natural to use this in a laptop.

I'll admit, even with my Surface Pro 2 in Laptop form, I still occasionally reach out to the screen to scroll, select something, zoom in/out, quickly reposition the cursor, etc. However, those are all just quick use of a touch screen. When you try to have a continuous and fully interactive touch experience (which has loads more productive applications) while in Laptop form, that's where the limitations of the form-factor stick out like a sore thumb. It may be handy for occasional quick shortcuts, but you simply can't get anywhere near the full use of a touchscreen in a Laptop form-factor...
 

anthonyng

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Touch on laptop is pretty good aid for collaboration over the same screen, no worries about someone managing the mouse to do/show something, just do it, right on the screen
 

Srb01

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So if i want a proper 2017 specs surface laptop i have to pay 1300$. Same as 12" already old Macbook that was already forward thinking with usb-c. i think the new comer will have also tb3 support and that already will have an even bigger deal since the macbook has only iGPU so leave rom for easy to setup eGPU.
Alcantara,it will come off after 1 year of use, and without a cutout in base to open the lid i think the alcantara will wear from the metal chassis in the spot where you open the lid. Touchscreen was embarrassing even on the presentation event...
They try too much to copy Apple, but not 100% so they have a lot more compromises. 14 hours,right with the first gen of optimisation with 10s we will be getting around 11-12 hours..but that is with 10s. With 10 pro we already talk about under 10 hours. They should let the keyboard with the same travel but instead of alcantara to copy and be also metal.They should go with usb-c or even better, with usb-a and usb-c and remove the display port.They should let windows 10s to the other OEM for proper cheaper products, and this should be a normal laptop with win10 pro and test the battery better. "surface pro will replace your laptop", after years "we create the ultimate laptop" and now "the normal laptop"...so too much confusion in Microsoft head,they try to compete instead to focus on their logic and products..
 

Chintan Gohel

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Macbooks are very popular among US colleges and some Asian colleges. Those users just trust Apple more than Microsoft, and of course appreciate the build quality of Macbooks.

Tbh, Windows devices did not look appealing until Surface was released, and that had bad image on Windows and Microsoft. I fully understand why people choose Macbooks over Windows laptops.

This thing about build quality - what do people generally mean by that - I'm honestly curious

Is it that the device is stronger so it doesn't break easily or is it that it doesn't overheat as much or is it the materials used? And if it's the materials used, isn't that individual preference based?

Or is build quality referring to the software and not the hardware? Or is it to do with how the device looks?
 

mtf1380

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This thing about build quality - what do people generally mean by that - I'm honestly curious

Is it that the device is stronger so it doesn't break easily or is it that it doesn't overheat as much or is it the materials used? And if it's the materials used, isn't that individual preference based?

Or is build quality referring to the software and not the hardware? Or is it to do with how the device looks?
All the above, plus design.
 

AtOmIc031

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I don't think it's overpriced. I guess it depends how you look at it. I think the price is right if we're comparing competing products and having in mind that this should be high end halo device. I think Microsoft is right with the pricing strategy of Surface products. They are just bellow too expensive mark, so that leaves enough room for other OEMs to be competitive with their products.
 

PhantomX20

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I just bought a new Asus laptop. It is light and thin and has similar specs albeit 8 gb of ram over 4. It was priced at $900 CDN but I got IT on sale for $800. I get 9 hours of battery life. There were cheaper laptops with better specs but worse build quality. I feel like this bridges the gap of premium build laptops with midrange specs. Probably could be a little cheaper but with a 14 hour battery what are you complaining about. Also with more centennial apps coming to the store I would be hard pressed to say Windows S is crippled. It seems like all the nay sayers in here are all complaining about a laptop that isn't targeted at them. Plain and simple, if you don't like it don't buy it.
 

Art Gerald Ranque

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I think they're just timing it to the release of Windows 10 S. Imagine the reaction if Microsoft introduced 10 S with the Surface Pro 5. People would go even crazier. I think they really want more people to use 10 S so they targeted university students who use Macbook Pro/Air because they're the ones who won't mind the price that much (and preferably want a great-looking laptop), something that isn't too intimidating (like the Pro or Book), not needing to fiddle around with, and that's okay. And, you know, sometimes, people just want a regular laptop.

PS:
Honestly, I think they couldn't introduce another jaw-dropping-form-factor of a device because I think they've reached the pinnacle. They wouldn't even confirm a Surface Pro 5 because there just isn't much to innovate anymore. And that's okay because the Surface Pro, Surface Studio, and Surface Book are already great devices. And you know, when Windows 10 S matures, they might be using it for the next version of the Pros and Studios and Books. Who knows?

PPS:
I'm also glad they introduced it to a new Surface line. Imagine if it flops, the whole tech media would go even crazier on Microsoft.
 

Kravina

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Software wise it is worse than a Chromebook. What are those specs good for, if the only thing you can run is Edge, mobile office and some games? The Store isn't ready for Windows S. And it won't be till productivity programs aren't there. How hard would it be for Microsoft to make Visual Studio for Store?
 

AndreAC_920

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Its sad but I'll have to agree.
Sure its a beautiful product but on SPECS, specially on the Entry-Level its almost disappoint that Microsoft is charging for 999$ for a 4GB RAM, 128 SSD with ONLY one USB A port
 

NCaffo

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I don't know, I think it's good value. I'd attach a $100 premium to any device with the "solidity" of the surface line, just knowing that there's never going to be driver issues or the like with it is amazing, and worth that extra.

I picked out a Dell for my parents a year back, low to mid range stuff, man, was that an epic mistake. It's got all the hardware, but it just doesn't fit together with the software right. Issues with the touchpad, issues with hibernation, issues with turning it on (seriously). I'd probably never go with a product outside of surface again.
 

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