Has Microsoft finally got the design and innovation part right with the Surface Pro 3

[paritosh sahu]

Microsoft has showcased some breathtaking design and engineering with the Surface Pro 3. Packing in a Core i7 in a 9.1 mm chassis and keeping the weight down to 800 gms is no joke!!! They have introduced some never seen before design technologies in the hardware including a new "Fanless" technology. Radiating that amount of heat from that chip without a physical fan is going to be very difficult. just hope they have done some serious innovation there!!!

 

[Moiz Mian]

Microsoft has showcased some breathtaking design and engineering with the Surface Pro 3. Packing in a Core i7 in a 9.1 mm chassis and keeping the weight down to 800 gms is no joke!!! They have introduced some never seen before design technologies in the hardware including a new "Fanless" technology. Radiating that amount of heat from that chip without a physical fan is going to be very difficult. just hope they have done some serious innovation there!!!

I believe it does have a redesigned fan, but if anything, that's better because they can use a proper haswell chip instead of the low-powered fanless ones!!

 

[paritosh sahu]

According to MS, it actually uses the air vents on the sides of the device to radiate out the air...but its done in a way that the user wont feel the air..so they have actually removed the noise of the fan and have given another way to radiate out the air without compromising on the efficiency..they did actually mention about it during the event!!!

 

[Markham Ranja]

I'm desperately trying to find out how much it costs (not that it matters, I'm getting this). Anyone?

 

[bilzkh]

Yeah but execution is still shaky, they used N-Trig over Wacom, and that isn't going to go well with prospective creative pros. N-Trig is fine for the general pen user, e.g. lawyer, student, business pro, etc, but Microsoft needs to nail the creative pro user down. A Surface Pro 3 variant with Wacom would be a good idea.

 

[WillysJeepMan]

According to MS, it actually uses the air vents on the sides of the device to radiate out the air...but its done in a way that the user wont feel the air..so they have actually removed the noise of the fan and have given another way to radiate out the air without compromising on the efficiency..they did actually mention about it during the event!!!

They were very obtuse about it. They said basically, "there's no sound, there's no feel of exhaust air, it's thin..." but never came out and said it still has a fan. They should've just been upfront about that.

 

[neonspark]

basically it does have a fan but it is virtually fan-less in MS head...weird. I guess wait for broadwell?

 

[MetaG85]

I'm desperately trying to find out how much it costs (not that it matters, I'm getting this). Anyone?

?Intel Core i3 / 64 GB / 4GB of RAM / $799
?Intel Core i5 / 128 GB / 4GB of RAM / $999
?Intel Core i5 / 256 GB / 8GB of RAM / $1299
?Intel Core i7 / 256 GB / 8GB of RAM / $1549
?Intel Core i7 / 512 GB / 8GB of RAM / $1949

 

[OldAndBusted]

Sorry to disagree, but I heard nothing that I would consider "breathtaking".

The Surface does nothing for me. I don't want a hybrid. I know that others disagree and like this approach. My question is does this have to be the only solution from Microsoft? Can't they also sell a real laptop and tablet. I love the iPad Air hardware. I just want it to run Windows. Why won't Microsoft build this dedicated tablet?
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[OldAndBusted]

As Steve Jobs during the iPad introduction... If you need a stylus, you've failed (paraphrasing because I can't remember the exact quote). I feel the same way about the Surface Pro. If you see exhaust vents, you've failed. I wish they'd built an ARM version as well. Same 12" display, but half as thin. Half as light. No need to vent for heat.

 

[paritosh sahu]

Now we don't know if it has a fan or not...so have to wait for some hands on experience to clarify that

 

[paritosh sahu]

The controversy over Wacom and N-trig isn't clear yet..have to wait for official confirmation

 

[paritosh sahu]

Maybe MS thinks ARM isn't capable enough to run Windows 8.1...but the design with that Intel chips in there...its quite good

 

[paritosh sahu]

The Ipad uses Qualcomm chips..i guess..so they haven't been tested with Windows 8.1 yet...but its difficult to run Windows on the Qualcomm chips as they are specifically designed for a different purpose.

 

[lovenokia]

Now we don't know if it has a fan or not...so have to wait for some hands on experience to clarify that

It does have a fan.

 

[lovenokia]

The controversy over Wacom and N-trig isn't clear yet..have to wait for official confirmation

It only has 256 levels of sensitivity while the previous had 1024 levels of sensitivity. That is the huge dilemma and this is seen as a downgrade.

 

[lovenokia]

Maybe MS thinks ARM isn't capable enough to run Windows 8.1...but the design with that Intel chips in there...its quite good

Surface 2 uses NVIDIA soc and Nokia Lumia 2520 uses Qualcomm 800 sock. There is windows rt for windows on arm. Windows rt is designed for arm processors.

 

[lovenokia]

The Ipad uses Qualcomm chips..i guess..so they haven't been tested with Windows 8.1 yet...but its difficult to run Windows on the Qualcomm chips as they are specifically designed for a different purpose.

The ipad uses a custom apple sock, nothing related to Qualcomm. See the post for the second explanation.

 

[blehblehbleh]

As Steve Jobs during the iPad introduction... If you need a stylus, you've failed (paraphrasing because I can't remember the exact quote). I feel the same way about the Surface Pro. If you see exhaust vents, you've failed. I wish they'd built an ARM version as well. Same 12" display, but half as thin. Half as light. No need to vent for heat.

Then the heat would dissipate into the chassis. Would anyone really want to hold a hot device? Those full fledge CPUs don't just give off a trivial amount of heat. ARM would've been nice, but come on it's still a pretty cool technological feat with what they did.

 

[Wall iPhone]

They were very obtuse about it. They said basically, "there's no sound, there's no feel of exhaust air, it's thin..." but never came out and said it still has a fan. They should've just been upfront about that.

You missed how Panos explained how they together with intel have reinvented the fan, how the fan actually cools, and how they reinvented the fans "fins".
They were very obtuse about it being battery driven or not, they should have been more upfront about that.