back to article Microsoft: Brits, grab our Surface Pro ten-incher for satisfaction in May

Microsoft's Intel-powered Windows 8 Surface Pro laptop-tablet-thing will arrive in the UK within the next six weeks. But while Brits will be able to order the 10.6" touchscreen-keyboard hybrid direct from the software giant, companies in the IT distribution chain are unlikely to get their hands on pallets of the Pro until …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Shagbag

    "One of our biggest challenges has been keeping 128GB Surface Pro in stock," Hall said.

    Does he really expect anyone to believe that?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "One of our biggest challenges has been keeping 128GB Surface Pro in stock," Hall said.

      Yes, I certainly do. Rumour has it they've had massive difficulty renting additional warehouse capacity fast enough to take the shipments coming in, because they're going into stock and not leaving.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Dear Microsoft

    You can stick the surface where the sun don't shine.

  3. Hooksie
    FAIL

    Weird

    I can only assume that Microsoft don't really care that much about the Surface but insist on talking a good game over it. I really like the Surface, a few people at work have them, but it is too heavy and I have no idea why it's not a 1080p screen at least. The Surface Pro is heavier again but more powerful though battery life is supposed to be utterly pish. The concept is great, it looks and works brilliantly but the marketing of Surface and the international release and information has been ridiculous and almost arrogantly derogatory.

    Maybe it's deliberate, maybe it's to assuage the concerns of the other OEMs and give them a chance to step up but so far none of them have. The Acer W700 is weird, the Samsung Ativan PC Pro is lame and plasticky and the Asus Transformer Book seems to only exist in their website and some YouTube videos. The current crop of laptops and tablets for Windows just aren't good enough and in my opinion they are the reason that PC sales have dropped, not Windows 8 itself. We are already in a post PC era since the vast majority of people, present company definitely excluded, have realised thanks to Apple that they don't NEED a PC, they need something to watch videos, play games, check their emails and browse the Internet on. Surface and Surface Pro do that with the Pro being able to do all the other things like video processing etc too.

    I warned the Surface Pro when I first heard of it but now I'm just going to wait for Surface 2 which will be Haswell, lighter, running Windows Blue and last for 15 hours on a single charge. Why waste the £900 now when 4 months from now you'll regret it majorly.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      IT Angle

      Re: Weird

      "I have no idea why it's not a 1080p screen at least" - at work, really? Unless you are a graphics / media pro then 1080p in your work on a tablet thinggy is really not esssential.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Usual Microsoft spin.

    to try and sell something nobody wants. Tell everyone that you can't sell them fast enough, and idiotic consumers will rush out and buy one.

    Consumer: STOP FOR A MOMENT AND THINK....

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

    3. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      Re: Usual Microsoft spin.

      "idiotic cosumers" "nobody wants" - really?!

      You must have been born yesterday and missed the last 30 years. People bought MS because it worked better for them than the other options, and at the right price, as presented to them - rightly or wrongly.

      People are generally not too stupid, if they don't like or want something, then they generally will not buy it....but if your argument is indeed correct, why did so many people buy iPhones? Is it because "idiotic consumers will rush out and buy one" ?!

      QED, you are are a knob.

      1. Snapper
        FAIL

        Re: Usual Microsoft spin.

        @Frank 14

        Is 14 your physical or mental age?

        It's one thing to argue a point, another to start labeling everyone you disagree with as a derogatory name.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Usual Microsoft spin.

        . People bought MS because it worked better for them than the other options, and at the right price,

        Actually people bought MS because of the lock in. Many years ago yes Microsoft was the best at software, windows was easy to use and idiot proof while Linux was confusing to all but the most adept sysadmins and Mac was used for specialized tasks rather than general use.

        After that people bought what they were familiar with. If you've always bought ford, and you've always thought ford were reliable why would you look at a pergeot? Sure you've heard they're more comfy, cheaper and look better, but you're comfortable with what you've got, so you stick with it.

        But now microsoft are shaking the boat, the people who stuck with it for comfort are abandoning ship and heading to the lifeboats, that's why they're now losing your average user.

        As for business it's much the same, they've stuck with XP because it works for them, now XP is at the end of it's rope many companies are looking at the alternatives, the only thing keeping them on windows is software lock-in. Yes there are replacements out there that can do the same jobs as well or better than MS only software, but the problem is migrating thei backend to these new systems.

        Even on embedded systems or other hardware based systems there's windows lockin. Where I work we have to make use of a lot of motor libraries, these libraries only exist for windows (since they were made back in teh 90s half of them) technically moving our system to embedded linux would prove more secure, faster, and more accurate. But we can't, for the simple reason that the libraries don't exist for linux.

        Yes some use windows because the like it, but a lot use it either because they're forced to by lock-in and many others are just there because they're comfortable.

        Also you're using QED wrong.

        Idiot.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Usual Microsoft spin.

        " People bought MS because it worked better for them than the other options"

        Times have changed, there are now far better options for less (or for free).

        Why use Microsoft Office, when LibreOffice/OpenOffice/GoogleDocs all do 99% of the functionality for free?

        Why use a PC, when a £50 supermarket Android tablet is a perfectly fine media consumption device?

        Why buy a £1000 Surface Pro, when a £50 supermarket Android tablet is a perfectly fine media consumption device?

        Why buy and Xbox, when the PS3 is not only cheaper to buy, has better games, better hardware and no recurring charges.

        etc etc etc...

  5. YARR
    Windows

    MS Surface strategy was wrong

    Marketing's not my field, but IMO MS got the order of the slate / RT devices wrong. They should have released the full x86 Win 8 devices first. Even if there is a dearth of touch based apps initially, people would buy them because they are also fully working PCs. Then after a year or so, once the app store is established, release the cut-price RT devices to attract the lower end of the market to the platform - similar to the smaller cheaper IPad mini and 7" Android tablets.

    By releasing the RT devices first with few apps available and costing more than non-RT equivalents, there was little incentive for anyone to buy them. MS might be able to recover from this if they stick with it for the long term, but personally I don't want Office on a tiny tablet so I wouldn't pay a premium for it.

    1. Don Jefe
      Happy

      Re: MS Surface strategy was wrong

      I agree with you. Additionally they are far too expensive (they're in the iPad range and you're not going to dislodge too many iFans who have already mentally committed to the brand & willing/able to spend). I also think they've done a miserable job of differentiating the product. WTF is is? They say it's a tablet but is always displayed as a notebook. The POS displays don't tell you anything about it or differences between RT: To the average shopper the only visible difference is a keyboard & several hundred dollars higher price tag.

      There was absolutely no (apparent) target market for any model of Surface. Even fucking dish soap has good differentiation and obvious market targets. You'd think MS could do better...

    2. YARR
      Facepalm

      ... and also

      .. the default Windows 8 tiles colour scheme is just painful on the eyes. Bright green next to flourescent orange and purple - what were they thinking? Design and colourisation ain't my thing but whoever they paid to conceptualise the design must have been colour blind - or overruled. When the Apple design team first saw Windows 8 they must have had a quiet chuckle to themselves. Pastel shades perhaps, or different shades of the same colour, but more than two contrasting colours in close proximity is a recipe for a UI that will make you want to avert your gaze.

      I'm sure you can customise it, but changing settings is beyond some users, may be locked down on controlled devices or just takes time people don't have. They should have picked a default scheme with universal appeal.

    3. Richard Plinston

      Re: MS Surface strategy was wrong

      > They should have released the full x86 Win 8 devices first.

      MS needed to wait until suitable chips were available from Intel. Without those the processor power would be inadequate and/or the battery life too short. Of course they could have simply delayed RT until later this year but were already 2 years late with decent tablets.

      Windows on ARM always seemed to me to be a club to bludgeon the OEMs with rather than being aimed at customers. The OEM agreements seem to say that to earn loyalty discounts all machines that are capable of running Windows should be sold with that (with some exceptions probably). With HP working on ARM tablets and Dell on ARM servers it was essential for MS to have something to threaten them with. RT is the result. Not good enough to use, but it Killed WebOS, so !result!.

  6. MigMig

    Free Microsoft hate

    I noticed the Reg had something to say about Microsoft so I couldn't resist the temptation to come here and share some hate to feel better about myself, because like you guys, Microsoft has also been responsible for all of my life problems. O.K. here is my contribution:

    Microsoft sucks!

    Wow, that actually got me aroused. I think I'll just call it a day here, grab some baby oil and spend some alone time with my iPhone.

    1. hplasm
      Gimp

      Re: Free Microsoft hate

      This, just this <==

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like