<p>This model is aimed at professionals and you can do real development or other work with it so I don’t think that price is that big a deal. The 128 GB models were selling out first - on consumer products, the cheap models sell out first. My first choice for a laptop replacement at the moment would be a Retina MacBook Pro which would probably cost around $2,400. I don’t need a new laptop though as my 2008 MacBook Pro works just fine. The Surface Pro would be nice to travel with when I don’t have a car (My MacBook Pro weighs about 8 pounds). I’d be interested in a Surface Pro with Clover Trail (Intel’s Atom processor which would get battery life similar to ARM chips). Microsoft should just ditch Windows RT but that would be admitting that they made a mistake.</p>
<p>I’ve read that the plastic keyboards are awful. The Touch KB is truly awful and the Type KB is less awful. I suppose that I can live with that at 2 pounds. Perhaps there will be some third-party keyboards.</p>
<p>It is an innovative device and I think that it will be well-received but I expect a fair number of improvements in the second generation. I hope that Microsoft doesn’t take forever to switch to Intel’s new chips when they come out. Haswell should be out in about three months (they’re probably shipping them now) so it’s not a long wait.</p>
<p>Thing is I’m not sure how many people in the market want a not particularly good laptop coupled with a heavy and compromised tablet. I’m not thinking about how things might change in the future because we don’t know. We all presume there will be some sort of convergence of tablet and laptop. Maybe. Maybe not. It sometimes seems people are more interested in what they can use to get by and that means phones and lighter and even smaller tablets. It may be that chasing this convergence generates a niche market but not a huge one. It may also be that people are thinking Office continues ad infinitum when it seems it’s being eroded by the cloud - witness MS’s Office cloud strategy. </p>
<p>So for example I am more interested in a retina iPad mini than another MacBook because that would free me even more. The very last thing I want is a heavier tablet with less battery life. But I’m just an anecdote, not the market. A mini with 4G becomes ever more useful as the 4G coverage becomes more robust and widespread. I never carry my laptop anymore. It has become a thing I move around my house.</p>
<p>They could solve the weight problem with Clover Trail but performance wouldn’t be as good. The Core i5 in the Surface Pro has four times the performance of the ARM and Clover Trail chips so you can actually do some serious work on it but you pay for it in weight. I’m hoping that Haswell goes a long way in solving that problem.</p>
<p>There were surveys done with IT professionals and the surveys were very positive.</p>
<p>It actually is a good laptop on specs. The weak part is the keyboard. I don’t think that it replaces a full-sized laptop but it’s something that you could grab on the go to do some work or to go out on a service call with.</p>
<p>Friends ask me to help them out with their systems from time to time and I always bring a laptop with me along with tools, flashlight, knife and a wireless hotspot so that I can look stuff up on the web while their computer/internet/network is down. It would be nice to have something smaller and lighter than my old laptop. It wouldn’t replace my old laptop; it would just be an option when I don’t need a full-size but it would be nice to have something usable.</p>
<p>On the tablet side - one thing that you get with the Surface Pro that you don’t get with the iPad, or Android tablets (with current OS) is the ability to watch Flash Videos. The CW Network is an example of a TV site that provides support for iOS in HTML5 but only provides support for Flash on Android tablets. Flash isn’t supported for current versions of Android so you can either hack (and it may or may not work) or you can’t use the site. Hulu allows free access to television shows and movies via Flash on PCs but charges for iOS or Android access.</p>
<p>There are still websites around that still require Internet Explorer (we have some of these at work) and this device would do that as a tablet or a PC.</p>
<p>So I don’t see the Surface Pro as a broad consumer device - but it is attractive to IT professionals, particularly those that have to work away from their desks.</p>
<p>Lergnom hit on some interesting points in the Apple vs. Samsung scenario. The more we read about Samsung, the more we learn that it is a secretive company whose owners (the family) are always squabbling and their quarrels impact upon company policy.</p>
<p>As for the Surface, it doesn’t interest me, mostly because of the price. Windows 7 on my relatively new desktop will be my last Microsoft upgrade. I don’t even yearn for a windows laptop anymore. My Android ICS tablet complements my desktop and smartphone. But yeah, the Flash Video problem for Android is mildly annoying.</p>