Tablets I/O-Wise Are a Bit of a Con?

[Bazzer]

Looking at what you get for your $£ today we are being Rip off.
Looking back at my Acer Laptop 2004 ten years ago. Runs windows 8.1 now and still running.
It had Pentium 4 3.4g 2gb memory. 17inch screen.
DVD writer.
3 speakers inc sub bass.

But its the I\O ports that are to die for:-
Type II (PCMCIA and Card bus)
RJ11 Modem Jack
RJ45 network Jack.
DC Jack.
Parallel Port (Remember them)
Ext Monitor port.
2 IEEE 1394 ports.
PS/2 port.
4 USB 2 ports. (Four why not more on Surface 3?)
Fire wire. (Apple invention to take on USB at the time)
Bluetooth.

Had big Li-ion battery pack good for 4 hours.
Weight wise was a 7.1 kg.
Cost new then £650.

Just saying love my Surface but they could give use more USB 3 ports and I would love a Surface with slim DVD recorder player.

 

[leeshor]

Such is the market these days. Microsoft is (reliably) rumored to be losing money on every SP2 they have sold. In the past, anything that was newer/smaller was at least initially more expensive even if not more feature rich or faster.

 

[kevinlevrone]

Looking at what you get for your $£ today we are being Rip off.
Looking back at my Acer Laptop 2004 ten years ago. Runs windows 8.1 now and still running.
It had Pentium 4 3.4g 2gb memory. 17inch screen.
DVD writer.
3 speakers inc sub bass.

But its the I\O ports that are to die for:-
Type II (PCMCIA and Card bus)
RJ11 Modem Jack
RJ45 network Jack.
DC Jack.
Parallel Port (Remember them)
Ext Monitor port.
2 IEEE 1394 ports.
PS/2 port.
4 USB 2 ports. (Four why not more on Surface 3?)
Fire wire. (Apple invention to take on USB at the time)
Bluetooth.

Had big Li-ion battery pack good for 4 hours.
Weight wise was a 7.1 kg.
Cost new then £650.

Just saying love my Surface but they could give use more USB 3 ports and I would love a Surface with slim DVD recorder player.

How many times have you really used those ports ? Even 5 years ago I wouldn't have any use for those ports (except the USB and Ethernet ports).

If the Surface Pro N would have one more USB port it would be perfect.

 

[mohcho]

Had big Li-ion battery pack good for 4 hours.

Weight wise was a 7.1 kg.

I highlighted a few points from your comments.

Battery life: Acer vs the SP2 (and presumably SP3). SP2 is EASILY 8 hours (I've run mine for that and still had 32% left) Battery technology hasn't advanced as fast as other technology but it's getting there slowly.

Weight: 7.1kg is massive. That's over 15.6 lbs. There's no way I'd want to lug around 15lbs of stuff, regardless of what it is. The SP3 is slated to be 800 GRAMS. Even with the type cover it will still be little over 1kg. You cannot have many ports without adding weight. Albeit, one port is a minimal, but you plug in a USB3.0 hub and your options for peripherals are almost limitless. Weight is a huge selling factor now and there's no way they are going to increase the size of the screen without trying to reduce the weight. That alone would kill the product, make it bigger and heavier? Have you ever watched an Apple keynote? Their focus on thin and light is palpable.

 

[CrippsCorner]

How many times have you really used those ports ? Even 5 years ago I wouldn't have any use for those ports (except the USB and Ethernet ports).

If the Surface Pro N would have one more USB port it would be perfect.

This is it really, I have the Mini DisplayPort running to HDMI for my external monitor, and the power plugged in, that's it on my Surface I use the USB about once a month to transfer files on to a stick. For my use case personally, I don't need anything more.

 

[WillysJeepMan]

This is it really, I have the Mini DisplayPort running to HDMI for my external monitor, and the power plugged in, that's it on my Surface I use the USB about once a month to transfer files on to a stick. For my use case personally, I don't need anything more.

I have absolutely no complaints with the ports Microsoft has chosen to include on the Surface line of tablets.

I have used both mini-DisplayPort-to-VGA and HDMI cables on my Surface 2 to drive external monitors, I use the USB regularly to attach a high quality microphone, usb thumbdrive, usb passport harddrive, and Targus presentation remote. Seriously the Surface is world-class when it comes to connectivity.

 

[malberttoo]

DVD writer.
But its the I\O ports that are to die for:-
Type II (PCMCIA and Card bus)
RJ11 Modem Jack
RJ45 network Jack.
DC Jack.
Parallel Port (Remember them)
Ext Monitor port.
2 IEEE 1394 ports.
PS/2 port.
4 USB 2 ports. (Four why not more on Surface 3?)
Fire wire. (Apple invention to take on USB at the time)
Bluetooth.

Had big Li-ion battery pack good for 4 hours.
Weight wise was a 7.1 kg.

Yes your old laptop is awesome because it has all those interfaces... but that machine was made in a time when USB was really just coming into its own. Now everything is converging on USB and wireless, just look at the few devices out lately that don't even include an Ethernet jack.

My Thinkpad tablet does not have an optical drive. I bought a $30 USB one from WalMart. I use it so infrequently that I have to hunt for it every time I need it.

So to answer your statement, no we are not being ripped off because our devices don't come with 15 different ways to interface. It's simply the way of progress, getting more and more functionality out of fewer and fewer protocols.

 

[malberttoo]

I highlighted a few points from your comments.

Battery life: Acer vs the SP2 (and presumably SP3). SP2 is EASILY 8 hours (I've run mine for that and still had 32% left) Battery technology hasn't advanced as fast as other technology but it's getting there slowly.

Weight: 7.1kg is massive. That's over 15.6 lbs. There's no way I'd want to lug around 15lbs of stuff, regardless of what it is. The SP3 is slated to be 800 GRAMS. Even with the type cover it will still be little over 1kg. You cannot have many ports without adding weight. Albeit, one port is a minimal, but you plug in a USB3.0 hub and your options for peripherals are almost limitless. Weight is a huge selling factor now and there's no way they are going to increase the size of the screen without trying to reduce the weight. That alone would kill the product, make it bigger and heavier? Have you ever watched an Apple keynote? Their focus on thin and light is palpable.

Completely agree. When I handle the newest, lightest stuff that's out there these days, even my slightly-less-than 3 lb Thinkpad feels hefty by comparison. I'm going to LOVE the SP3.

Our marketing person insisted that she HAD to have a 17" laptop, and I tried to talk her out of it. She travels a lot, and new she regrets it terribly. Most of the time it is too bulky to even get out of the bag and onto the tray table when she's flying. No way would I ever consider something that large for traveling.

 

[mohcho]

Our marketing person insisted that she HAD to have a 17" laptop, and I tried to talk her out of it. She travels a lot, and new she regrets it terribly. Most of the time it is too bulky to even get out of the bag and onto the tray table when she's flying. No way would I ever consider something that large for traveling.

One of our directors in the company wanted a 17" laptop and it was massive. She wanted the big screen but realized that it was unbearable to transport so it never left the desk. Suffice it to say, she got a desktop when she was due for an upgrade.

 

[Bazzer]

The cost was higher 10 years ago to assemble a PC. A Tablet if broken down is just a signal double sided printed circuit board with a small screen. and a small casing. No DVD, No keyboard. I think the Surface RT is priced at correct level. Pro 3 is 25% overpriced.

 

[mohcho]

The amount of R&D to make capacitive screens, the software behind it all is well worth the cost of the technology. We are so used to technology being so thin, light, powerful and we expect it to be cheap as well. Back in the day, things cost a whole lot more because it was new tech. I remember saving up all my money and spending $200 on a Sound Blaster 8 bit audio card. Yes, I'm that old.

 

[revmike]

Every surface that's been released there is always someone claiming that it's over priced. So what don't buy it, simple as that.