Pre-Order Cancelled. No GPS. Again!

[Fred_S]

Had a pre-order in for the 1TB Surface Book. Then I remembered, MS has never put a real GPS in their Surface devices. Checked, and sure enough, the $3200 "Ultimate Laptop" doesn't have a friggin sub-$5 GPS chip.

Pre-Order Cancelled.

:angry:

 

[Devhux]

What laptop has a GPS chip in it?

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[Fred_S]

What laptop has a GPS chip in it?

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

Don't think laptop. Think tablet. You know, like when you remove the tablet screen from the keyboard.

 

[ttsoldier]

Huh? What do you guys mean by GPS?

Do you mean like opening the maps app and pinpointing your location via your surface? are you saying this is not possible? :/

 

[michail71]

You sure? My Surface 3 has a GPS chip in it. But that might be because it's got built in LTE.

 

[JaimitoFrog]

Sounds like an impulse buyer. I preordered the 1TB after reading all the specs. Since the 1TB version was not available for preorder on day one, OP had plenty of chance to look at the specs.

GPS is better suited for a phone, when you use it to walk around or for car navigation. Perfectly fine to not include it. Debating on USB type c might be a better argument, but I don't even have one device that has one.

 

[michail71]

aGPS will usually work quite well. My old desktop seems to know exactly where it is even if I move it. But someone doing feild work in remote locations may benefit from having GPS.

 

[anon(5383410)]

The lines between phone, phablet, tablet and laptop blurring before our eyes...

 

[runamuck83]

So you're navigating the streets with a 13" monster tablet? C'mon dude... Pick the right tool for the job

 

[bhatech]

Not sure if serious?

 

[Devhux]

Don't think laptop. Think tablet. You know, like when you remove the tablet screen from the keyboard.

That's "Clipboard."

If Microsoft were marketing this as the Ultimate Tablet, then sure; I could see no GPS possibly being surprising. Since they are calling it the Ultimate Laptop, however, the lack of something pretty much no other laptop has shouldn't be a shock.

Expecting one when no spec sheet or hands-on review even hinted at one was foolish.

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[Fred_S]

So you're navigating the streets with a 13" monster tablet? C'mon dude... Pick the right tool for the job

No, When I'm navigating the streets I have a Nav Unit built into the dash of my Jeep. But when I'm in the N.GA mountains and need something with a larger screen and something with more offroad info, a tablet in the hands of the passenger is a must. No wireless hot spots out there to triangulate off. It's true GPS or nothing.

TI GPS chips were $5 in 2007. MS, in their infinite wisdom, have consistently refused to offer them in Surface devices, relying instead on (inaccurate) urban hotspots. Maybe it was wishful thinking. Maybe I just forgot how stupid MS is on this issue. But as I was reading some of the feedback of others I realized I had forgotten to check.

On the bright side, it just saved me a boatload of money. Guess I'll just keep using my $400 two-year old Asus.

 

[runamuck83]

No, When I'm navigating the streets I have a Nav Unit built into the dash of my Jeep. But when I'm in the N.GA mountains and need something with a larger screen and something with more offroad info, a tablet in the hands of the passenger is a must. No wireless hot spots out there to triangulate off. It's true GPS or nothing.

TI GPS chips were $5 in 2007. MS, in their infinite wisdom, have consistently refused to offer them in Surface devices, relying instead on (inaccurate) urban hotspots. Maybe it was wishful thinking. Maybe I just forgot how stupid MS is on this issue. But as I was reading some of the feedback of others I realized I had forgotten to check.

On the bright side, it just saved me a boatload of money. Guess I'll just keep using my $400 two-year old Asus.

This is such a "niche" use-case, they probably save themselves thousands upon thousands of dollars not including this $5 chip - for the one out of 10,000 people that may want to do what you're talking about.

 

[michail71]

Not an elegant solution but there are USB GPS receivers that run about $40. Some are basically dongles.

If a Surface Book with LTE comes out it should have GPS.

 

[Fred_S]

This is such a "niche" use-case, they probably save themselves thousands upon thousands of dollars not including this $5 chip - for the one out of 10,000 people that may want to do what you're talking about.

Field work outside of a urban/city area is a "niche" use-case? This may surprise you, but some of us use laptops for more than sitting in the LaziBoy surfing.

 

[Fred_S]

Not an elegant solution but there are USB GPS receivers that run about $40. Some are basically dongles.

If a Surface Book with LTE comes out it should have GPS.

LTE triangulation is not GPS. And once you get outside the population centers and away from the highways, cell signals get spotty at best.

 

[worwig]

I travel the North Georgia mountains all of the time. I use my phone GPS and software. I even have a bracket to hold my phone on my motorcycle handlebars.
I got a USB GPS dongle for my Surface Pro. I tried it a couple of times to prove it out, but I never used it, since my phone is more convenient anyway.
One day, I may plug that GPS into my Surface Book, just to show that it can be done. Then I will go back to using my phone, which is much more suited to that task, IMHO.

I think you will find that the number of people that even think about having a GPS in a laptop is pretty low. Though more and more people are getting where that do expect them.

 

[ytrewq]

I, too, am extremely upset with my Surface Book based on things that Microsoft didn't specifically say it didn't have, but that I would have really liked in the ultimate laptop. For example, for $2200, you would think they could have included a number of highly useful items, none of which would have cost more than $5:

*. A cup holder
*. A cigarette lighter
*. A box of M&Ms
*. Porn
*. A .wav file of Barak Obama saying, "I'm Barak Obama, and I approved this Surface Book."
*. A magnifying glass (sometimes the text on a 3000x2000 display is really small)
*. A five-dollar hooker

Yeah, these things would have been very useful to me, and Microsoft never said they weren't included. Shame on MS.

 

[Yonic Boom]

Keep us posted.

 

[ctk4949]

How many laptops come with builtin GPS??