[Jason]

Engadget and Wired have given the machine quite positive reviews.

[torifile]

Originally Posted by Jason Engadget and Wired have given the machine quite positive reviews.

The Verge gave it a 7.0. The iPad (3), by comparison, got a 9.3.

[Kraetos]

And the N7 got an 8.8.

[chucker]

Their scores are so silly.

The Surface looks and feels pretty good when you're holding it... but it is huge. At 10.81 inches across (in landscape) and 0.37 inches thick, it's not really that comfortable to hold in landscape for extended periods, and in portrait it's laughably tall.

How does that latter part jive with "feels pretty good when you're holding it"? It goes on:

The Surface seems to desperately want to be docked and on a desk or table rather than in your hands or on your lap.

So, in other words, you really wouldn't want to hold this at all. Or, for that matter, use it as a tablet. Except briefly.

Which makes you wonder: why are they even bothering to offer this without a keyboard*? It's clearly primarily a laptop that can have its keyboard docked off.

*) Because low entry price.

[Chinney]

Gizmodo wanted to like it,* but just couldn't in the end:

http://gizmodo.com/surface/

"Technological Heartbreak" indeed.

[*They really wanted to like it. See their fawning pre-review of the Surface quoted on page 2 of this thread]

[torifile]

Originally Posted by chucker Their scores are so silly. How does that latter part jive with "feels pretty good when you're holding it"? It goes on: So, in other words, you really wouldn't want to hold this at all. Or, for that matter, use it as a tablet. Except briefly. Which makes you wonder: why are they even bothering to offer this without a keyboard*? It's clearly primarily a laptop that can have its keyboard docked off. *) Because low entry price.

I think by "feels pretty good..." What they mean is it feels solid and well constructed. Not that it's comfortable to hold.

One thing that I haven't seen mention of is that while the 32 gig version starts at the same price as the 16 gig version of the iPad, it's got roughly equivalent storage space. It's got about 20 gigs left vs around 15 for the iPad. Not exactly the double capacity the numbers would have you believe. Of course the reviewers forget to actually do some reporting and take what's on the spec sheet but whatever... Seems like a new webOS type thing happening - people really want to like it but it's not quite there yet.

[addison]

I checked out the Surface at the Microsoft store around here yesterday. They were doing quite a business. Lots of people in there checking it out. I think it's very nicely built. Doesn't feel overly heavy considering the size either. Some of the apps had a bit of delay starting up but overall I don't mind RT. The touch cover is surprisingly easy to type on. I was expecting it to be kind of crappy. Same for the touchpad. All the gestures worked fine. The type cover is of course easier to type on but it's weird when you fold it around the device feeling all those mushy keys. I think the iPad is kind of silly in portrait so this is worse though like the iPad I doubt anyone will use it that way.

I let the sales guy do his thing. He ran me through all the features. They really like to mention it has Office and they push the covers hard. He showed me how strong the cover attaches by holding it up by it though he made sure the Surface was over the table. He showed me all the gestures and such too which I hadn't been able to use before since I only had Win8 on my mini. Then he insisted I try the Typecover and opened Word to try out. My wife asked him what he liked best about it which caught him off guard for a few seconds and then he talked about the build quality and the OS and the magnetic charger. Something about versatility. It's nice but I can't justify the price. All I do with my iPads is browse the web really so $500 is too much just for that. If you want to try to be productive on it I guess it might make sense.

[Wrao]

I don't fault Microsoft for attempting to popularize convertible tablets (again), they championed the original tablet PCs pretty heavily and with the way technology has evolved, convertibles make more sense than they ever have. Problem is, of course, that they never made a ton of sense to begin. Still, I think we're in a stage of computer tech consumerism where there is a worthwhile niche for just about anything, and Microsoft knows how to push a product pretty well. I doubt this thing will be a failure, especially as more W8 devices roll out and the 'big picture' comes into focus.

[Wrao]

Originally Posted by chucker Their scores are so silly. How does that latter part jive with "feels pretty good when you're holding it"? It goes on: So, in other words, you really wouldn't want to hold this at all. Or, for that matter, use it as a tablet. Except briefly. Which makes you wonder: why are they even bothering to offer this without a keyboard*? It's clearly primarily a laptop that can have its keyboard docked off. *) Because low entry price.

I agree that Verge's scores are a bit silly, they put too much emphasis on trying to boil things down into a single number while generally disregarding any pretense of continuity between one reviewer and the next. Numeric reviews are, I think, only as valuable as the base integrity they are derived from. I think publications kind of have to earn the right to use them effectively but Verge tends to be a bit childish with their ratings, more for drumming up page clicks. Their video reviews and their content reviews overall are solid enough, but their numeric stuff is mostly flame bait.

That being said, it's not really a contradiction to say that something feels good to hold but is uncomfortable to use over time. I can think of plenty of things like that. Hell, even my iPhone 4S, feels great in my hand, but after enough consecutive use my hand fatigues from using it. Xbox 360 controllers as well, easily the most comfortable controller I've ever held, but over time, I find them uncomfortable.

But yeah, convertible tablets have never really made a ton of sense and MS's idea that they can just shoehorn the same interface style on a variety of different devices without really adjusting for different input and usage methods is a little bizarre and contrary to what I think is the more logical way of catering an interface to its input methods. I 'get' that the argument for these style devices is that you have the 'option' to use it one way or the other, but since when has adding in options to interfaces and input devices been anything other than a headache?

[Jason]

Seems like thieves don't even want them for free.

http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/thegu...s-stolen-apple

Microsoft's reputation as the "less cool" rival to Apple appears to have been reinforced, after thieves raided its Silicon Valley offices – but only stole a collection of iPads. The thieves made away with five iPads worth more than $3,000 (£1,865) from Microsoft's research and development centre in Mountain View, California, over Christmas. Microsoft's flagship collection of smartphones and tablet computers remained untouched in the raid, according to Mountain View police who spoke to The Register. Red-faced Microsoft employees were presumably relieved to find their own company's gadgets had been overlooked when they returned to work after the Christmas holidays – but immediately reported the iPad thefts to police. News of the raid came to light after a Palo Alto Daily Post story on 4 January, headed "Microsoft says somebody stole its Apple iPads". The final line of the story included the intriguing nugget: "No Microsoft products were reported stolen." The story prompted a flurry of "too good to be true" claims on technology blogs, but was later confirmed by Palo Alto Daily Post reporter Angela Ruggiero who wrote on Twitter: "So to everyone out there asking, yes the story is very real. Thanks for your interest." The iPads were said to have been taken from an office where Microsoft develops new software for Apple products. No word yet on whether the thieves were only after the unreleased Microsoft apps. Microsoft had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.

[Robo]

That reminds me of when my sister's house was burgled last year. The thief took her HDTV and her PS3, but left the Wii that was sitting between them untouched.