This is why MS will fail with Surface

[mmoran27]

Have had my surface pro since launch.
I like the form factor but it has problems.

1) Battery life sucks. Yea I knew before buying, but can live with it I guess.
2) Driver issues - Still having wifi issues / Bluetooth issues. MS chose a sucky WIFI / Bluetooth controller. Wifi does not work on first boot. Have to disconnect / reconnect before it works. Seriously? Even the 8.1 preview still has these problems.
3) There are many better alternatives.

 

[pierre118]

Have had my surface pro since launch.
I like the form factor but it has problems.

1) Battery life sucks. Yea I knew before buying, but can live with it I guess.
2) Driver issues - Still having wifi issues / Bluetooth issues. MS chose a sucky WIFI / Bluetooth controller. Wifi does not work on first boot. Have to disconnect / reconnect before it works. Seriously? Even the 8.1 preview still has these problems.
3) There are many better alternatives.

1) Battery life, I can live with it too. Maybe Microsoft will come with a battery powered keyboard, that would be nice.
2) Agree with that. Last week I bought a Bluetooth Microsoft Sculpt Comfort Mouse, and at several moments the mouse cursor freezes for a few seconds. Very irritating, and in games not usable. I disabled the internal BT device, and plugged in a USB external Bluetooth adapter, and the mouse works without any freezes.
3) Yes, there are. But like the SP, all have their ups and downs. This is very personal, I think. You can read the reviews, some like the SP, some don't.

 

[Buelligan]

Have had my surface pro since launch.
I like the form factor but it has problems.

1) Battery life sucks. Yea I knew before buying, but can live with it I guess.
2) Driver issues - Still having wifi issues / Bluetooth issues. MS chose a sucky WIFI / Bluetooth controller. Wifi does not work on first boot. Have to disconnect / reconnect before it works. Seriously? Even the 8.1 preview still has these problems.
3) There are many better alternatives.

1) Battery life is on par with similar spec "ultrabooks". For the weight and form factor, battery is "ok" by the available standards of it's release.
2) Not sure where the problem lies there, my WiFi seems to connect almost instantly anywhere I go. Sometimes it surprises me and connects to networks I forgot I had even entered a key for. Either way it ALWAYS seems to work. Even tethers to my cell phone as soon as I turn on sharing! Haven't tried the Bluetooth yet.
3) While there are alternatives - none of them quite fit this setup. Either bigger, heavier or just not the Tablet form factor. I agree w/ Pierre118. "Better" is VERY subjective. Nothing yet compares for me for this price.

 

[mitchellvii]

Compare the SP with all the similar devices which came out at the same time. Right, they are all pretty much crapfests. Even early adopters think the first SP was a bit soon to jump in with both feet. So, yeah there are MUCH better devices coming out, even i7 touch Full HD ultrabooks with discrete graphics coming in for less than the SP. But when the SP was released there was none of that. It was the best athlete available at the time.

Don't think there will be a Surface Pro II, market doesn't need it and has already told us the form factor is a fail for the broader population. Surface (RT) II does make sense at the right price point.

 

[demandarin]

There will be a surface pro 2. Microsoft is in it for the long haul. Especially with RT. But the Pro was always raved about and accepted. Its the RT that got the bad rep. Its the RT that has the excess inventory. Pro models "supposedly" still sell out. So the pro model was a hit. Only drawback being battery life. But compared to others at that time, its price and battery life on par with other ultrabooks. Since this is basically an ultrabook minus the built in keyboard.

The pro still holds it own. Power and design wise. It made others step their game up. We should welcome competition.

 

[slvrdrgn123]

1) Battery life doesn't bother me too much. I keep it plugged in 95% of the time and when it's not, I don't need to use it for more than 2-3 hours anyways.

2) My wifi has not had any problems. It connects right away on start and never disconnects or loses connection. Bluetooth works great too. I use a BT mouse and keyboard with it and both connect and download drivers automatically. They never lose connection and I can plays games (FPS) with it consistently. My only problem is the mouse lags when sending large files through wifi, but from what I know, it's a problem with the mouse and not the SP. Other users with the same mouse experience the same thing on their laptops/computers.

3) Personal preference I guess.

 

[demandarin]

1) Battery life doesn't bother me too much. I keep it plugged in 95% of the time and when it's not, I don't need to use it for more than 2-3 hours anyways.

2) My wifi has not had any problems. It connects right away on start and never disconnects or loses connection. Bluetooth works great too. I use a BT mouse and keyboard with it and both connect and download drivers automatically. They never lose connection and I can plays games (FPS) with it consistently. My only problem is the mouse lags when sending large files through wifi, but from what I know, it's a problem with the mouse and not the SP. Other users with the same mouse experience the same thing on their laptops/computers.

3) Personal preference I guess.

I keep mines plugged in majority of time also. because I like to put powermode on Performance. where it seems to run at over 2.2Ghz the majority of the time. goes even higher.

I do wish I would've got the surface pro when it first released. ive had my 128gb for around 2 weeks or so now. I absolutely love it. it was an expensive purchase. when I went to get it, I was undecided. it cost so much and i know i wanted it but wasn't sure of spending all that on it. so i bought the new nexus 7 instead. got home and used it. all i kept thinking about was the surface pro. i was using the N7 to still research and watch vids on the pro. like an hour or 2 passed and i took that new nexus 7 right back and returned it to bestbuy. then i got the pro along with type cover. i got type cover on a deal since it was a display model one. saved $30 on that. went home and ive been more than impressed with my device ever since.

i will admit seeing negative posts or ones about newer more powerful ones or better deals gets me thinking. but i looked at tons of reviews and videos on competing devices with similar form factor. yeah some may be more powerful, the i7 config like in helix, but overall the Surface Pro still shines. that Helix one is nice and all but its a lot heavier. plus that docking mechanism is atrocious. i do like it has a battery in the dock along with 2 3.0 usb ports. buts it way to expensive. the i7 config is a lil more than double the price of the pro. not worth it in my opinion. the tablet itself still gets same battery life as the pro.

A good review site i like to look at is mobile tech review. this lady is unbiased and does full detailed reviews and smackdown comparisons on youtube. ive seen several of the surface pro vs. some other competitor. in the end the surface pro still wins out. most of the other competition has a larger screen and a lot heavier. making the surface pro more portable.

like previous poster said, its personal preference. i have no regrets on my purchase. still learning new things about my device daily. i love the pro design. its very unique and high quality parts used. when surface pro 2 drops, ill likely get one and possibly give this one to my woman or dad. it needs to have better battery life and a big spec jump. or at least have same battery life with a major spec and possible resolution increase. either way, i have no immediate plans to part from the pro. it more than satisfies my computing needs. a nice surprise for me was how good of a gaming device it is. i never imagined id be playing Batman Arkam city or new Castlevania game on my pro. it plays those high graphic games well. i was use to playing android games..lol so this pc type gaming and the quality of games is on another level compared to android, apple , or even consoles.

id be willing to bet you pull out your surface and itll still impress people. i cant wait to go home this weekend for the holidays and show it off to my father.

 

[drolem]

Have had my surface pro since launch.
I like the form factor but it has problems.

1) Battery life sucks. Yea I knew before buying, but can live with it I guess.

Processing power and battery life are usually inversely proportional. If you need a long battery life, there is RT.

In any case, the next version should have a somewhat better battery life. And contrary to different claims, there will be a next version....

2) Driver issues - Still having wifi issues / Bluetooth issues. MS chose a sucky WIFI / Bluetooth controller. Wifi does not work on first boot. Have to disconnect / reconnect before it works. Seriously? Even the 8.1 preview still has these problems.

You may have a valid point there -- I've also experienced connectivity issues.

3) There are many better alternatives.

Then by all means, buy something else....

 

[revmike]

This argument is like a dog returning to his vomit. It's been eaten and spit out time and time again.

 

[mitchellvii]

This argument is like a dog returning to his vomit. It's been eaten and spit out time and time again.

So? This could be said of 90% of all Forum posts worldwide.

Regarding the person who said there would be a Surface Pro II because it was so widely accepted, um, sales SUCKED. So maybe people accepted it but they didn't buy it. Also, MS is making noise about upgraded Surface RT and a 7 inch Surface RT, but nothing about a SP II.

 

[jnjroach]

According AdDuplex (as reported by Paul T. and Mary Jo), the Surface 2 (formally RT) and Surface 2 Pro are showing up in add data as machines accessing content....

http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/surface-stats-and-speculation

 

[demandarin]

You have some good points but, when have we ever seen a premium high end $1000 dollar plus tablet promoted heavily on t.v. or advertisings? No matter who the company is, these high end devices never sell more than the lower priced ones.

As for sales, I meant the surface pro sales compared to RT. Its a growing pain MS is going through but this company is more than big enough to tough it out for the long haul. They have big money like that. Promotion and needing a larger metro app ecosystem with more big name developers is what hurt sales. Not the device itself.

They made a huge mistake. They learned from it. Now they will keep pushing on. They doing like Google is with nexus devices. To where they set the bar on quality of how these devices should be made or what features to include. I doubt they were banking on it selling millions. They took that chance with RT. But in the end, even that loss doesn't really phase a company like Microsoft. They will come back even stronger this next go around.

Regardless, I don't think surface pro or even RT sucks. I'm sick of the me too devices. Get an Ipad if that's what all people care about. Microsoft is leading a new direction in which mobile computing will go.