Earlier today, we reported that Microsoft’s Surface Pro tablet is now available in the United States and Canada. Now a few hours later, reports are rolling in showing that the 128GB model is out of stock at many retailers, including Microsoft’s online store in the US. Staples and Best Buy are also reported as having no 128GB model stock left.
Although we don’t know how many devices each store had in stock, that all of them are sold out still shows an impressive demand for the oft-criticized device. Those who want a Surface Pro can still order the 64GB version, which consumers are less enthused about due to its lower actual available storage space. A microSD slot is available for storage expansion, however.
Unlike the previously released and moderately received Surface RT, which runs Windows RT, the Surface Pro is made with Intel hardware and runs the Windows 8 operating system. As such, users can run their favorite programs on the hybrid device and use it as they would any other laptop. Users can expect somewhere between 4 and 6 hours of battery life, depending on activity, something many feel is too low.
Following this release, the Surface RT version will be released in 13 additional countries throughout Europe on February 14, comprised of: Belgium, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and Sweden. You can check out our full review of the Surface Pro here, and of the Surface RT here.
This week we’re hearing quite a few responses from the public on their surprise at the amount of actual usable hard drive space on the new Microsoft Surface Pro. While the standard ways to free up the space taken up by apps, photos, and videos that you don’t necessarily need, there’s also a slightly more dangerous route you might take. One of the largest space-users on the Microsoft Surface Pro (see our full review here) is the Windows 8 on-board recovery partition.
If you’re going to be wanting to delete this bit of code, you should know right away: if you do delete it and your computer crashes (in any of a variety of different ways), you could potentially have a completely bricked machine. The nice thing about Windows 8 is that you’re free to create a backup bootable USB stick with great ease. Once you’ve got a recovery USB stick, you’ve only to start your machine up holding down the volume button to boot into advanced options and recover from there.
Creating a bootable recovery USB stick is easy in Windows 8: you’ll first need a USB stick that’s at least 256 MB in size. After you’ve inserted that USB into your Surface Pro, you’ll want to press your Windows Key and your “R” key at the same time, then type RecoveryDrive.exe – you could also open your Control Panel and click or tap on the “Recovery” icon, from there you’ll see an option to Create a Recovery Drive. If at this point you’re prompted by UAC, you’ll want to click or tap on “Yes.”
From that point on, creating a USB recovery drive is self-explanatory : the guide screens will make it quite simple for you. The one other thing you’ll want to make sure you’ve done before a final push to the USB stick is to empty out the USB stick itself – if you’ve got anything on there you want to keep, of course.
The actual deleting of the partition that takes up a chunk of your internal storage for recovery is extremely similar to what you’d have done in previous versions of Windows. You’ll find Computer Management under settings, click or tap Control Panel, System and Security, Administrative Tools, and finally “Computer Management.” You may have to type in your administrator password at this point if you have one.
After that you’ll go to Storage (in the left pane) and click Disk Management. This screen is where you’ll be doing the most damage if you’ve not already created a USB recovery partition. If you delete the partition reserved for recovery at this point and lose your USB stick, you may very well be up a river without a paddle should your Surface Pro catch a bad bit of crash action.
Basically what we’re saying here is that you’re better off working with alternate storage options while this bit of space continues to be taken up by the Microsoft-added recovery. It’s there for a reason, and that reason is a good one. Stay safe!
After over three months, Windows Phone finally has a Spotify app again. The app just went up in the Store, and is rolling out as a beta. You might have to wait a bit for it to show up. More »
High-speed, high-resolution scanner from Canon – the CanoScan 9000F Mark II Color Image Scanner (6218B002). Professional film scanning quality, with 9600 x 9600 maximum color dpi, it produces extremely fine detail in both documents and photographs. Photos, negatives, even 35mm film can be high-speed scanned. 48-bit color depth yields 281 trillion colors. It features Canon’s “Super Toric Lens”, delivering pin-sharp scans from edge-to-edge and bright, low-noise images. …
Still settling into Windows 8? Well, it appears that Microsoft’s preparing for a sea change, codenamed “Blue,” that will alter how it approaches cross-platform updates. According to ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley, an inside source at Redmond has indicated the company’s desire to house all Windows Phone, Windows Services, Windows 8 and Windows RT updates under the Blue umbrella, though that won’t necessarily indicate simultaneous releases. Far from it, actually, as the current plan is simply to schedule these updates on a yearly basis. Foley also goes on to note that for Win8, MS could ditch RTM releases altogether, in favor of feeding updates direct to the Windows Store and mentions that Windows 9 is still on track. What’s not yet known is precisely what features this Blue crush of updates will entail. We’ll keep you updated should this rumor prove to hold its water.
Now that the Surface Pro is a fait accompli, there’s more than a few questions circulating from prospective buyers. The project’s Panos Panay and his team have stepped up to answer them on Reddit, and they’ve shed some light on just about everything, including later plans. The Pro-specific connectors at the bottom? They’re for “future peripherals” that may require more power than the pogo pins do. The short battery life and limited free storage were also purposeful (if difficult) choices, Microsoft says. The company wanted to maximize performance while keeping the tablet reasonably slim, so it couldn’t rely on a big battery; it included the space-chewing recovery partition as it wanted to offer the “confidence” of a failsafe rather than leave customers to fend for themselves. While the answers won’t appease everyone, they at least put the design decisions in context. Hit the source link to sate your curiosity in full, or at least as far as an Ask Me Anything session allows.
The temptation to draw parallels between Michael Dell and Apple’s Steve Jobs is a compelling one. Both founded technology companies that went on to great success; both left their position at the helm for some time, and then returned with great fanfare. However, Dell is not Jobs, and while the Apple CEO died leaving a vastly successful, hugely grown, and even fashionable company, Dell has struggled to do the same. Now, with Dell – along with a little financial help from some friends – wrenching back control of his eponymous company, the question remains: how much is righting the Dell ship with good business strategy, and how much is preserving the legacy of the business he gave his name.
That Dell and Apple’s paths – and Michael Dell and Steve Jobs – paths have diverged is arguably not surprising. Apple’s position in the market is very different to that of Dell, with the Mac and iOS ecosystems both paragons of control and self-determination; in contrast, Dell’s business is far more reliant on other pieces of the computing puzzle – Microsoft and its Windows OS being a significant component of that – and buffeted by other big names in the PC industry, like HP.
It’s easy to say that Dell’s strategy fell between the cracks between shifting with the marketplace and short-term investor demand. Certainly, the company’s lackluster attempts at the smartphone and tablet segments would seem to show signs of that; it takes time, effort, and investment, and even then you’re not guaranteed of success (look at HP’s webOS attempts for evidence of that). That’s not a juggling act that works well when you have shareholders watching over your shoulders, baying for profit, but it’s also something that’s incredibly necessary if you want to be successful in today’s market.
Dell’s original disruptive strategy in the PC business – back when we all had towers on our desktops, not laptops on our laps – was to make the computer ordering process a smorgasbord. Now, with spec flexibility less fashionable, and simplicity of range more prized by consumers and manufacturers alike, the time is ripe for another disruption in Dell’s business.
That disruption may not be so publicly visible, but it’s no less important. Wresting back control and taking Dell private means Michael Dell and his new business partners can play the long game that the consumer tech industry has become. There’s plenty to be said for a supply-chain that can shave margins to a minimum, and – as Windows Phone, Surface RT, and Surface Pro have begun to demonstrate – there are areas in which Microsoft’s platforms have potential as part of a joined-up ecosystem.
For Michael Dell, though, there’s much to be said for casting off the shackles of the peanut gallery. Steve Jobs had shareholders, but their demands were met with stoney resolution in the face of his unflinching vision for Apple. If Dell has a similarly sweeping vision for the company that bears his name, it’s been mired in board squabbles and the demand to answer the call for “more money now!” and to swiftly scythe away at anything that looks remotely like bad business.
That may well go hand in hand with a refreshed legacy: ending his tenure on a high point would be a fitting way to close out Dell’s position at the helm, something – despite the extra financial involvement – every party involved must at least be considering now. Still, raising capital is the easy part. Dell, both man and company, has a limited window for recreation, lest it go out with a whimper not a bang.
The Microsoft Surface was the biggest new tech of 2012. Its first iteration—Surface RT, a confusingly named and marketed tablet-with-a-keyboard—bombed. Pretty hard. So why believe in the full-powered Surface Pro? Simple. It’s a braver and more divergent take on the laptop-tablet convergence than anyone else has risked so far. More »
Microsoft met some resistance with its first Surface tablet, but that isn’t stopping the company from making a second attempt, this time with a full copy of Windows 8. Where the Surface RT left would-be tableteers confused with its partial app support, the Surface Pro is Windows on far more familiar territory: Intel silicon inside, and the full flexibility of a regular PC, simply with a touchscreen up-front. Of course, that also brings with it the same issues that have always plagued Windows-based tablets: battery life, weight, heat, and software usability. Does Microsoft’s own-brand slate finally put those criticisms to rest, and is this the tablet you should have in your bag? Read on for our full review.
Hardware and Design
You could easily mistake the Surface Pro for the ARM-based Surface at first glance, given how aesthetically similar each tablet is. Look a little closer, though, and the key differences become apparent. Microsoft has used the same VaporMg treated magnesium alloy for the casing, and it still feels great in the hand: smooth and easy to hold, but still sturdy and scratch-resistant.
Surface Pro is a little bigger than the original Surface: at 10.81 x 6.81 x 0.53 inches, it’s slightly taller and noticeably thicker, a side-effect of accommodating PC-class components and a bigger capacity battery. That makes it heavier, too, a smudge under 2lbs versus the 1.5lbs of Surface. It’s still comfortable to hold, but for single-handed use we found ourselves cradling the slate in the crook of our arm, rather than gripping it by the bezel as we might do with an iPad. The fact that Windows still prefers landscape to portrait orientation emphasizes that too.
Microsoft’s approach to cooling is an interesting one. Rather than a patch of obvious grills for ventilation, there’s a slot that runs all the way around the edge of the Surface Pro, and from which warm air is pushed out while cool air is pulled in. Two fans, rather than one, have been used to dynamically adjust the airflow depending on what’s hottest and how you’re holding the tablet. Altogether, the design makes it difficult to figure out where, exactly, the tablet is venting from; plus, it helps mask the noise of the fans. In regular use, the Surface Pro is near silent, in fact.
On the back, there’s a kickstand to prop the Surface Pro up on your desk. It actually snaps out to a slightly different angle – a little further reclined – than the stand on the Surface RT, though whether you’ll notice the difference in day-to-day use is questionable. More interestingly, there’s a change in the selection of ports Microsoft spreads around the slate: you now get a full-sized USB 3.0, rather than USB 2.0, as well as a Mini DisplayPort instead of the Surface RT’s HD video output. Otherwise, there’s still a headphone jack and a microSDXC card slot, along with a magnetic cover port for attaching the same Touch Cover or Type Cover keyboard accessories as we’ve seen before.
Specifications
Where the Surface RT ran its pared-back Windows on NVIDIA’s Tegra 3, the Surface Pro has far more familiar fare inside. An Intel Core i5 3rd-gen processor is the tablet’s beating heart, with Intel HD Graphics 4000 driving the 10.6-inch display (more on which later). Memory is doubled, to 4GB, while two storage versions are offered: 64GB and 128GB.
Here, though, is the first of the issues the Surface Pro runs into. Windows is a notorious drive hog, and when coupled with the default applications and the mandatory recovery partition – provided in-lieu of recovery discs or, as Apple includes with its recent driveless notebooks, a USB stick with the OS – there’s a surprisingly small amount of space left for users themselves. On the 64GB version, in fact, only around 23GB of space is actually available, while the 128GB model does a little better with 83GB free.
Microsoft points out that owners wanting more capacity can throw in a memory card – a 64GB microSDXC can be had for around sixty bucks – but it’s still likely to be a surprise for those expecting closer to the number printed on the box. There’s also cloud storage, such as Microsoft’s own SkyDrive, which could help fill in the gaps, though without an integrated cellular modem you’d need to be within range of a WiFi network in order to actually access it. It’s possible to create your own bootable USB drive, and then delete the recovery partition manually, but we can’t help wishing Microsoft had done this for us.
In addition to the USB 3.0 port, the Surface Pro has WiFi a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0. Inside, there’s an ambient light sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, and a digital compass, though no hardware GPS. Microsoft has found space for stereo speakers, as per the Surface RT, but only a single microphone against the RT version’s dual mic array. The pair of 720p HD cameras – one on the front, one on the back – remain.
Pen and Display
Microsoft had high hopes for its ClearType-blessed display on the original Surface, but we found the 1366 x 768 resolution to be underwhelming in comparison to better-than-HD panels on the iPad and Nexus 10. Happily, the Surface Pro brings with it a far better screen: still 10.6-inches and 16:9 widescreen, but running at 1920 x 1080 Full HD.
The difference is vast. Where once we had slightly fuzzy text, everything is now crisp. Viewing angles seem better too, and we’re impressed by the richness of the colors. It might not be the Retina-level resolution of the latest iPad, but it’s far more in keeping with what, at upwards of $899, is most definitely a premium tablet.
The Surface Pro’s talents don’t end at a great display, though. In addition to 10-finger multitouch – double what the Surface RT can recognize – there’s also pen support. Not the fake-finger capacitive styli offered for the iPad and other tablets, but a special pen that works with an active digitizer embedded in the screen.
Usually, the pen clings to the right side of the tablet, magnetically attached. It’s a firm grip – Microsoft says it purposefully increased the magnet strength from what holds the keyboard on – and should keep it in place even if you drop the whole thing into your bag. As the nib gets within a few millimeters of the display, the usual capacitive touch is shut off and everything is controlled via the pen instead: you can wave it above the surface of the screen to move the mouse pointer, and then tap to mimic a left mouse click. A button on the side does right mouse click duty.
On the opposite end to the nib is an “eraser” which, as long as the app recognizes it, allows you to rub out mistakes. Just as you’d expect, there’s palm-rejection that means you can lean your hand on the screen and not have it skew your digital ink. The pen is battery-free, too, getting its power from the digitizer layer in the Surface Pro itself.
Microsoft obviously intends for the pen to play a big role in the Surface Pro experience: it’s included as standard in the box, whereas the Touch Cover and Type Cover are both optional extras. Windows tablets aren’t exactly unfamiliar with stylus control, but in the early years of the iPad modern tablet use got associated with finger control, and the technology fell from favor. Since then Samsung has restarted interest in what can be done with a digital pen, with the Galaxy Note series, and the Surface Pro can wear its stylus with pride.
Windows 8
Special screen and VaporMg chassis aside, the Surface Pro is basically just another Windows PC. We’ve already comprehensively reviewed Windows 8, though it’s worth noting that the tile-based UI makes far more sense when you’re swiping and tapping through it with your fingers than it does when navigated using a mouse.
As you’d hope from a Core i5 processor and 4GB of memory, there are no noticeable slow-downs and the Surface Pro handled any app we threw at it. Capacity concerns aside, Microsoft’s use of flash storage also lends a welcome boost to software load times, while multitasking is instantaneous, flipping between apps without delay.
Slot on a Touch Cover or Type Cover, meanwhile – the same accessories for the Surface RT will work with the Pro – and you’ve got a workable ultrabook alternative. We still prefer the Type Cover for anything more than the basics of text-entry, mind; the zero-profile keys of the Touch Cover, while an improvement over on-screen typing, nonetheless lack the responsiveness that makes extended use comfortable.
An alternative to both is using the Surface as the hub of a desktop setup, something that’s easy to achieve if you opt for a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. The Surface Pro is more than capable of powering a large display over Mini DisplayPort, leaving the USB 3.0 port free for hooking up an external drive or other peripherals. Since this is full-fat Windows, there’s no making sure that your accessory of choice is on Microsoft’s “approved” list, as is the case with Windows RT.
When the Surface Pro really comes into its own is when the pen gets involved. Frustratingly, Microsoft hasn’t really done everything it can to demonstrate what benefits a stylus brings: the obvious showcase app would be OneNote, which was offering Evernote-style digital notetaking functionality long before Evernote sprouted in the cloud, but Surface Pro buyers will need to cough up $69.99 for a copy (or get it as part of Office 2013 or an Office 365 subscription).
It’s worth it, though, as is trying out a digital art app, such as the copies of Autodesk SketchBook Express Microsoft and Fresh Paint Microsoft had loaded onto our review device. The Wacom stylus can differentiate between 1024 different levels of pressure, automatically adjusting the thickness of the on-screen ink depending on how hard you press, for instance, and it’s a far more user-friendly way to sketch out ideas (even if your art skills fall short). Surface Pro also supports being turned into a graphics tablet of sorts: hook up an external display and you can tell Windows 8 to map your pen movements on the tablet to the external screen by default, mimicking a standalone Wacom tablet.
More patchy are plain Windows apps, which lack distinct touchscreen support and, as a result, can be a little more difficult to control with your fingers. Browsers are a good example: Microsoft’s own Internet Explorer gives the best touch experience, while others – Firefox, Chrome, Safari, etc. – generally expect you to be using a mouse, and hence navigate by using the scroll bars on the side of the screen rather than flicking and pinch-zooming. In the traditional Windows desktop you can optionally enlarge the scroll bars to give yourself a bigger target, but it still lacks the immediacy of, say, the iPad’s Safari browser.
Where the Surface Pro’s internet experience does pull ahead is in speed. We expected strong browser performance from the grown-up processor and full OS, and sure enough the SunSpider results – the test of JavaScript performance, where faster results are better – delivered. In IE, the test was complete in 144ms, while Safari and Chrome took a little longer, at over 240ms apiece. Contrast all three results, though, with the 4th-gen iPad with Retina display, which took 879ms to complete the same test.
The Surface Pro’s integrated graphics – rather than a discrete GPU – preclude any serious gaming or video editing, unfortunately. Still, we were able to load up Photoshop and complete some of the more day-to-day tasks without the tablet stumbling to a halt.
It’s in day-to-day use that the Surface Pro arguably shows its full hand. The combination of the kickstand and the broad display viewing angles meant the tablet generally followed us around the home, stood up on whatever surface was nearby. The kitchen counter was a particular favorite, at which point the Windows 8 Live Tiles showed their merit. Surface Pro sits quietly updating, flagging up new messages and the like; however, it’s also a great at what we’d call “natural discovery,” where content you might have forgotten about or overlooked is brought to the fore.
A good example of that is the photo integration. Windows 8′s abilities to bring online galleries through to the Live Tiles and cycle through photos meant we rediscovered whole folders-worth of images, including those shared by friends. It’s an engaging way to interact with the Surface Pro, and helped by the fact that software in the Metro-style interface co-exists neatly with what’s running on the traditional desktop. So, we could have the full Spotify app playing music in the background, while using the more finger-friendly UI to browse the web and flick through galleries.
Battery
To say Microsoft is shy on making battery life predictions is an understatement: beyond the confirmation that it’s a 42Wh pack inside the Surface Pro – up from the 31.5Wh of the Surface RT – there’s little indication of what sort of runtime owners might expect. Still, with specifications akin to a mainstream ultrabook, it comes as little surprise that the Surface Pro manages roughly ultrabook-length longevity.
In a test with the display permanently on, and playing streaming media constantly, the Surface Pro lasted for between 4.5 and 5 hours. In a slightly more mixed test, with a combination of web browsing while listening to Spotify, as well as streaming via Netflix and YouTube, that rose to six hours.
Both of those scenarios are probably some of the biggest battery challenges the Surface Pro might be expected to take on. More typical daily use, then, could see the tablet run for a few hours more, especially if you’re predominantly web browsing, emailing, and using art apps.
Wrap-up
With a new 128GB iPad with Retina display on the scene, it’s easy to make comparisons between Apple’s tablet and the Surface Pro. In practice, however, they’re very different beasts. The iPad is focused resolutely on the mass market, and if you want one you have to be willing to concede to Apple’s Way: their decision about what apps are worthy of the App Store, their decision about what accessories can be used, their decision about what, exactly, you can do with the tablet you just spent more than a few hundred dollars on. In contrast, the Surface Pro is a paragon of freedom. If you have unusual requests of it, you can probably find the software and/or hardware to achieve them. It is, after all, a touchscreen ultrabook wearing a different costume.
If you actually need a full Windows PC that you can strum with your fingers is the question. Not being limited to pared-down versions of apps is a big bonus if there’s particular software you need access to; however, that flexibility comes with its fair share of compromises, such as the limitations on battery life compared to ARM-based slates, the increase in bulk, and the higher price.
The Surface Pro is slickly designed, its digital pen a joy to use – if you have the need of it – and it comes without the software niggles that dampened our enthusiasm about the Surface RT last year. Think of it as a touchscreen notebook with an optional keyboard and it makes the most sense. That may be semantics, but it also means the Surface Pro is more likely to cannibalize ultrabook sales than eat into Apple’s iPad market. Whether that’s the market Microsoft was aiming for, we’re not sure, but the Surface Pro makes considerable sense for the prosumer.
Bitcasa made some serious waves when it hit the scene in December, offering bottomless cloud storage for $10 per-month or $99 for a full year. The service is now leaving beta, with the promised Mac and iOS apps in tow. And, just as icing on the cake, a Linux client is also on the way (and already available in alpha form). While going gold isn’t going to change a lot about Bitcasa in the short term, at least the company knows how to celebrate right — with steep discounts! Sign up for the service during the month of February and you’ll get a full year of Infinite Drive for $60 $69. You can sign up at the source and peruse the PR after the break. We’re already busy backing up our My Bloody Valentine bootlegs.
Update: As some of you have noticed, the price being advertised on the Bitcasa site is $69 for the year, not $59 as the press release states. We’ve updated the post to reflect the advertised cost and asked for a clarification.
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