Howdy, I'm MG Siegler. I’m a general partner at Google Ventures and a columnist for TechCrunch. This is where I collect things.
Some selected works. Some haikus. Some investments. Ask away.
Showing 10 posts tagged surface pro
“Ratings have been disabled for this video.”
Because people don’t get it? Because the Apple fanboys are out in full force? Because it’s a bad ad?
Or because the “Surface Pro sells out” reports are likely because many outlets only received one or two units?
Microsoft is trying to portray this as a serious machine for business users right? Nothing says “business” like grownups acting like total assclowns for no apparent reason.
*Anywhere from a few dozen to a few hundred were made and sold. Still counts. Sell out. Boom.
I’ve finally read through most of the Surface Pro reviews — not surprisingly, Microsoft did not send me one (though I did briefly play with a couple last week). What’s hilarious — and already pointed out by John Gruber — is that nearly every single review goes on and on about how the Surface Pro is a product full of frustrating compromises. This is in stark contrast to Microsoft’s statements while building Windows 8 that it would be all about “no compromises”.
I mean, just read Joanna Stern’s ABC News title for chrissakes: Microsoft Surface Pro Review: A Tablet/Laptop Hybrid With Compromises.
It’s almost as if Microsoft time traveled a few months ago to read today’s reviews for the Surface Pro, then went back to try to brainwash everyone with the opposite rhetoric — only to have it backfire miserably. I mean, it’s really amazing how nearly every reviewer came to exact opposite conclusion of Steven Sinofsky’s “no compromises”.
“In my testing, the $999 128 GB model had 89.7 GB of free space after a clean install, up significantly from the 83 GB that was incorrectly confirmed by last week’s statement.”
Ed Bott, on his Apple malware blog where he occasionally discusses Microsoft products.
6.7 extra gigabytes after a consumer-friendly clean install! Run, don’t walk to those Microsoft Stores you can’t find, people.
Defragging only makes sense with those spinning drives (remember them?). If parts of files are dispersed among the disk, read/write performance suffers because the write head has to move quite a bit to read the entire file. Flash memory won't get faster when you defrag because there is no physical write head; defragging an SSD on a regular basis would merely decrease its lifetime.
Asked by Anonymous
Are you telling me the Surface Pro doesn’t have a floppy drive? Pro my ass. Total non-starter.
(I was kidding. Sort of.)
In response to that Surface Pro post - the Pro can run all apps, right? Then surely you could just use disk management (or a 3rd party tool) and delete the recovery partition? Just a thought..
Asked by Anonymous
Disk management? Recovery partition? That’s the sound of a million consumers’ hearts fluttering.
God, I hope you really have to defrag your Surface Pro from time to time. That would be just so perfect.
Yeah but, I wonder how much storage space will this thing will have after iOS 6 is installed…
…oh, about 120GB.
Tom Warren for The Verge:
Microsoft’s Surface Pro tablet, due on February 9th, will have a smaller amount of storage space than expected. A company spokesperson has confirmed to The Verge that the 64GB edition of Surface Pro will have 23GB of free storage out of the box. The 128GB model will have 83GB of free storage. It appears that the Windows 8 install, built-in apps, and a recovery partition will make up the 41GB total on the base Surface Pro model.
Hope you like Windows on your Surface Pro tablet, because that’s basically all you can get on it.
So, I can buy an ENTRY LEVEL Microsoft Surface Pro ($899) with a Type Cover or Touch Cover ($130 or $120) for $1029, or, I can save $30 and get a MacBook Air instead? Does Microsoft even care anymore?
Asked by legalwave
Yeah, I really don’t understand that pricing. Not sure anyone does.
Tom Warren of The Verge got an early look at Microsoft’s Surface Pro. His immediate reaction:
Like the Surface RT before it, the Surface Pro isn’t the perfect notebook or the perfect tablet. It’s still difficult to use this device on your lap and the screen angle isn’t adjustable. It’s also a 16:9 tablet so using this device in portrait is comical. You could say these are obvious flaws in the product, but if you’re willing to forgive both of them for a portable power house with beautifully engineered hardware then the Surface Pro isn’t going to disappoint. The question of battery life remains, and it’s an important one, but Microsoft has set up Windows 8 with some great hardware here. All that remains is more touch-friendly apps to take advantage of the focus on a new UI in Windows 8.
The regular Surface was a big fail for a number of reasons — and it was hardly just a lack of apps. It sounds like the Pro version is significantly faster, but that means a huge hit in battery life, a not-insignificant increase in thickness, and more weight. Oh, and let’s not forget, this thing is also going to cost a whole hell of a lot more.
So remind me again by this will be a success where the regular Surface wasn’t? Because the kickstand improves the viewing angle by four degrees? Because it has a stylus? I mean, it actually comes with a stylus!
Warren’s conclusion seems close. This isn’t a tablet. It’s much more of a notebook, but it’s an expensive one (by PC standards) that you can’t actually use in your lap. So what is it? I don’t think anyone knows. Including people inside Microsoft. And ultimately, most importantly, consumers.
