Microsoft Surface Tablet: 10 Coolest Features

informationweek ^ | 06/22/2012 | Jeff Bertolucci

[SmokingJoe]

-------snip-------

Built-In Kickstand:

Microsoft believes a stand should be an integral part of a tablet's design. (Take that, iPad!) The Surface's built-in kickstand is made of the same sturdy VaporMg material--more on this later--that encases the slate. "The hinge design is like that of the finest luxury car," said Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky, sounding a bit like a car salesman. The stand does look ideal for landscape-mode viewing. But how well will it work in portrait mode?

Skinny Genes:

You've gotta be thin to compete with the iPad. The Surface for Windows RT is 9.3 millimeters thick--or "thin," as the marketing folks are fond of saying. That's 0.1 millimeters thinner than the new iPad, not that you'll notice the difference. The Surface's edges are beveled back at 22 degrees, making the slate appear even slimmer than its specs might suggest. Surface is the first PC with a full magnesium case, making it light yet rigid, Redmond says.

Cover + Keyboard: The Surface's coolest feature isn't its 10.6-inch display or ultra-thin design, but rather the clever Touch Cover that's both a screen protector and a multi-touch keyboard. Just 3 millimeters thick--the Surface with Touch Cover attached measures a still-svelte 12 millimeters--the cover has a magnetic connector that secures it to the tablet.

The keyboard doubles as a track pad with left and right buttons, and has special keys for Windows 8's Metro interface. "On average, typing is twice as efficient as typing on glass," said Sinofsky. True? We'll have to wait a bit longer to find out.

[SmokingJoe]

The rest at the link

[chrisser]

These “list” articles where you have to click a new page for every item are getting tiresome.

I hope Information Week recorded that I hit the first page and then left the site.

I don’t mind a few ads, but lately it’s getting ridiculous. Perhaps those paying for their ads on pages 2-10 will reconsider their buys.

[Slump Tester]

"Consumers aren't used to thinking about chipsets."

I liked that. As a whole, consumers are pretty stupid and will just shop price. (Remember back in the day when Cyrix sold souped up 386 CPUs and called them 486DLCs?)

[null and void]

Thanks chrisser for the warning.

Perhaps someone with more patience than I will summarize the list?

[Blennos]

I agree. I gave up trying to read the article. I’m weary of playing these multi-page games.

[Hodar]

Part of the function of any tablet, is it’s portablility. These are primarily LEISURE devices, like reading a book on a plane, train, in bed - where you neither have space, nor a flat surface. When deployed, the Surface takes up about the same real estate as a laptop.

It seems like MSFT is again attemptiong a “1-size fits all” solution. And as such, I do not predict a succesful launch. The “Pro” version utilizes a 140 watta chipset - and with the form factor, this will be a screaming machine - for about 20 minutes. It has top venting (hint: you do not want excess heat in a highly mobile device).

There is a reason they did not release resolution and/or battery life - these are not strong selling points.

Part of any wise professional’s skill set is knowing when to use the right tool for the right job. Laptops/Netbooks/Ultrabooks are great productivity tools - they are not the same thing as conventional Tablet. Tablets are handy LEISURE tools, they are great for movies, music, games, books - in bed, on vacation, on a plane/train - and with ~10-100+ hr battery life (iPad, Kindle etc) they work very well for this purpose.

[Edward Teach]

Ads? What ads? I read the whole thing and didn’t get hit with a single ad. Of course I’m running Noscript and Adblocker.

[lormand]

I’m this close to never clicking on a Breitbart page again because of the ads that take over your page with no option to skip until the full ad is done. I kill the page completely when those ads take over the page and never go back to read the story.

[aft_lizard]

It doesn’t take up anymore space than the iPad, that keyboard is the cover so it can be configured to be out of the way, it’s a 10” tablet the RT version is thinner and weighs roughly the same as the iPad.

The Pro version does not use a 140 watt chipset. In fact the i5 being used draws less than 17 watts. Built around the ultrabook platform which draws very little power.

Where are you getting your FUD?

[Hodar]

The i7 chipset I got from a tech review; which seemed outrageous amounts of power for a portable device. This site is claiming 42 Watts; which is still incredably high.

[BubbaJunebug]

Make sure when you buy one....buy a back up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-pMZd1fupw

[longtermmemmory]

$1000 !!!!

then it is dead before it gets here.

does anyone have verification of the prices?

[kevkrom]

Those prices match up with the earlier PR. The RT version is designed/priced to compete with tablets and the Pro version is designed/priced to compete with ultrabooks.

[Goldsborough]

My favorite feature Sinofsky demonstrated live on stage was that when Surface RT hard freezes, you just run to the kiosk and grab another one and hope that one works.

BTW, how can vaporware have "10 favorite features?"

[aft_lizard]

Not that bad and is in line with most ultrabooks, even better than most actually. BTW the iPad 3 is 42.5 watt hour. However as I am sure you know when you list watts you use the maximum consumption, the real consumption tends to be far less.For instance the innards for the RT version are inline with the Transformer Prime which has about 10 hours of life while watching video. If the pro uses a 6-cell battery(with it’s added weight I think it will) it can go 9 hours.

On an added note, MS hasn’t listed prices on these devices and I doubt they will price themselves so high.

[aft_lizard]

I know..I mean Apple never has any issues..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znxQOPFg2mo

[Magnatron]

This unit looks pretty cool - and I’m an iPad addict. That said, I would definitely consider switching platforms if Microsoft announced that they would manufacture these things somewhere other than a slave labor camp like Foxconn. Better yet, they should make them right here in America.

[smith288]

[dayglored]

Just a comment... I know how excited you are about Surface. And you're entirely free to post as much of this advertising as you wish. But, as someone who is interested in Surface, and who is completely overwhelmed by a week's worth of repetition of the few bits of information about the proposed product, I'd like to point out that:

• A product that does not exist cannot have "cool features". Vaporware can have "proposed features" and "specifications" and many other things, but talking about the device as though it exists and has actual features is hype. Advertisers do it all the time, because they love wanking about vaporware, but the rest of the world doesn't believe it until the product is real.

• In order to exist as a real product, a device must a) have a price, and b) be available for purchase. Otherwise, it's just talk. This is true for all such "pre-announcements" whether done by Microsoft, Apple, Tesla autos, Cold-Fusion reactor companies, or anyone else.

• FR's Microsoft fanboys have lost all credibility regarding complaints about the advertisement threads posted by the Apple fanboys. :)

• It's going to be difficult to keep up this rate of advertising hype for the next 3-6 months until Surface actually surfaces. If you plan to do so, I offer the observation that the only people still reading the advertising hype will be the Microsoft fanboys. All the rest of us -- including those like myself who started out interested -- will be long since bored silly with hype about Surface, being thoroughly inundated with redundant stories about vaporware.

Meanwhile, post all the advertising you want.

There's an old joke about a woman who was married three times and was still a virgin. When a friend asked her how this could be, she explained:
  "My first husband was injured in an accident on our wedding day, and unfortunately he was unable to perform.
  "My second husband turned out to be gay.
  "And my third husband was a salesman."
The friend asked, "What was the problem with him?"
The woman answered, "He never actually did it. He just sat on the edge of the bed every night, telling me over and over in detail how good it was going to be."

Just sayin'... :)

[aimhigh]

Vaporware? What is the screen resolution? There is too much missing info to take the product seriously yet.