With all the FUD (Fear - Uncertainty - Doubt) that has been flooding this site I thought it might be a good idea to push back. Here is some of the FUD refuted - feel free to add more:
1) FUD: The resolution on the Surface is too low!.
FACT: Resolution is not the most important factor in a display. So long as it is high enough not to cause jagged fonts or visible pixels (and the Surface resolution is more than high enough) other factors such as color reproduction, touch sensitivity and usability in sunlight are far more important. And from what we know the Surface displays (ClearType HD) score top of the range in all those areas. The binding of the screen layers used is VERY advanced and this is the first time it has been successfully used on something the size of a tablet (HTC used something like it on the One X and Nokia uses something like it on the Lumia 920. The result is superb color fidelity and that effect of the images being right on top of the display instead of back behind glass - it also contributes to being really good in sunlight.
2) FUD: The iPad has a better CPU.
FACT: The iPad has a stronger GPU not CPU. But it also needs that GPU to drive the super dense display being used. The Surface GPU is fully adequate to both drive its display and play pretty much any game out there smoothly. On the CPU front the iPad may be slightly stringer in a single threaded scenario but Surface with its Tegra 3 kills it in multithreaded applications. And in the tablet world (especially with WinRT) multithreaded is where things are going.
3) FUD: Windows RT has no Apps!!!!!
FACT: This is addressed in two spheres. One is that MS has made porting apps from iOS/Android to WinRT crazy easy with the new Visual Studio (and the Express versions are free so no cost barrier to entry).
The other is a bit more subtle but VERY effective when you show it to people. Windows RT does WAY more "out of the box" than iOS or Android do. A lot of the social experiences that those OSes need Apps to do are baked into the Windows OS. And those experiences feel much more "holistic" in Windows than in the others where the Apps are silos that cannot interoperate.
Another big example is that both iOS and Android are terrible at handling and especially creating/editing content. You have to shell out $$$ to get "office type" apps for those OSes and even then those Apps are not that good. WindowsRT meanwhile has real, full Office baked in. That is huge because it means that unlike the iPad and Android tablets the Surface is a real TOOL not a "toy" - you can do actual productivity work on it.
More to come?
1) FUD: The resolution on the Surface is too low!.
FACT: Resolution is not the most important factor in a display. So long as it is high enough not to cause jagged fonts or visible pixels (and the Surface resolution is more than high enough) other factors such as color reproduction, touch sensitivity and usability in sunlight are far more important. And from what we know the Surface displays (ClearType HD) score top of the range in all those areas. The binding of the screen layers used is VERY advanced and this is the first time it has been successfully used on something the size of a tablet (HTC used something like it on the One X and Nokia uses something like it on the Lumia 920. The result is superb color fidelity and that effect of the images being right on top of the display instead of back behind glass - it also contributes to being really good in sunlight.
2) FUD: The iPad has a better CPU.
FACT: The iPad has a stronger GPU not CPU. But it also needs that GPU to drive the super dense display being used. The Surface GPU is fully adequate to both drive its display and play pretty much any game out there smoothly. On the CPU front the iPad may be slightly stringer in a single threaded scenario but Surface with its Tegra 3 kills it in multithreaded applications. And in the tablet world (especially with WinRT) multithreaded is where things are going.
3) FUD: Windows RT has no Apps!!!!!
FACT: This is addressed in two spheres. One is that MS has made porting apps from iOS/Android to WinRT crazy easy with the new Visual Studio (and the Express versions are free so no cost barrier to entry).
The other is a bit more subtle but VERY effective when you show it to people. Windows RT does WAY more "out of the box" than iOS or Android do. A lot of the social experiences that those OSes need Apps to do are baked into the Windows OS. And those experiences feel much more "holistic" in Windows than in the others where the Apps are silos that cannot interoperate.
Another big example is that both iOS and Android are terrible at handling and especially creating/editing content. You have to shell out $$$ to get "office type" apps for those OSes and even then those Apps are not that good. WindowsRT meanwhile has real, full Office baked in. That is huge because it means that unlike the iPad and Android tablets the Surface is a real TOOL not a "toy" - you can do actual productivity work on it.
More to come?