




I. SUR40 Hardware and Software



Surface, standing




II. Target Audience



Surface Garage

The device is available for preorder in:




The ship date was not announced by Microsoft.


Sources: Microsoft [blog], Samsung [specs]

Comments     Threshold


RE: So disappointed.
By Dr of crap on 11/17/2011 12:23:52 PM , Rating: 2
Because the ones that will buy this are not to know or think about such things. How can you sell more, if the consumer keeps your old model to long?
And how do you know the display won't carp out early and you'll need to get a new one - again more money to be made by having it not last too long!

RE: So disappointed.
By AE8994 on 11/17/2011 5:09:21 PM , Rating: 1
Ok, so this is supposed to be an "appliance" and you just replace rather than upgrade, correct? Let me see. I upgrade my CPU about 3 times for every monitor. I have a 6 year old monitor and a 2 year old CPU. Also, $8000 is a high end "appliance". The last refrigerator I bought was $1200, granted it was pretty plain. The last television I bought was about $600, also fairly generic. If I remember correctly, the display on this is basically a high end LED display with Gorilla glass. It should last a pretty long time, while the CPU and storage will be outdated in say 2-3 years. I don't see the disposiblity of a $8000 "appliance". The GPU is fairly high end now but will be antique in 4 years, so I'm stuck with that for 8-10 years? Still disappointed.

RE: So disappointed.
By Fritzr on 11/17/2011 10:00:08 PM , Rating: 2
As noted in the article, this version is not yet a household appliance. Businesses can & do consider things like this to be disposable. Those and early adopters with money to burn will be financing the next iteration of the Surface computer.

I too will wait until I can buy a 40" multi-touch monitor disguised as a coffee table that uses short range wireless for the video connection to a nearby computer containing my preference in hardware. Just need a little more patience.

Hopefully the price will drop as well. Given the hardware indicated, that monitor with it's coffee table case is $7500-$8000. Somewhere closer to $1000-$2000 mark (for just the monitor) will make it a lot more popular with ordinary consumers.

RE: So disappointed.
By mcnabney on 11/18/2011 10:37:31 AM , Rating: 1
Yeah, the price is way to high.

$400 monitor
$400 computer
$200 touchscreen layer on the monitor
$7400 profit, split between Samsung and MS

I also think the resolution is pathetically low for something people will be closely interacting with.

A 1080p 40" display has a DPI of about 42 and will be used at distances only slightly greater than an iPad which has a DPI of 132. It might be 'neat' to use a giant touchscreen, but the display is anything but sharp.

Now, if they had a 4k/QuadHD display in there it would make more sense and perhaps justify the high sales price for what is really just old technology put to a new use.

RE: So disappointed.
By GuinnessKMF on 11/18/2011 11:38:39 AM , Rating: 3
"Touchscreen layer on the monitor"? ...

Each pixel on the monitor is composed of four elements, the regular RGB, but also an infrared sensor, effectively a 1 pixel infrared camera in each pixel.

The idea behind this is collaborative multi-touch, working with multiple people on the same surface. These aren't aimed at home consumers (yet), these are high profile tech demonstration devices, for hotels, restaurants, doctors offices. MSNBC used Surface 1.0 during the 2008 elections.

These are not high volume products yet, so that extra cost is going into the R&D, which was huge. This "Old technology" has never been in another product, and it's not even trying to sell to regular consumers yet.

RE: So disappointed.
By Black1969ta on 11/17/2011 10:25:32 PM , Rating: 2
The CPU and GPU is pretty much already outdated, to get the power to track that many people in the demo I would bet that it will require more horsepower and graphics, of course upgrading would be insignificant compared to the initial price.

RE: So disappointed.
By TakinYourPoints on 11/17/2011 10:58:46 PM , Rating: 2
Not necessarily. If hardware/software is purpose build for that specific task then they can optimize it much better than a general use PC. There are many cases where limited horsepower can still go a long way if the device is made for that specific purpose. Look at turnkey editing or compositing systems from ten years ago, the hardware is ancient but they are still totally useful and viable today because the hardware and software were made for that purpose. Consoles are another obvious example, something like the PS2 cranked out visuals in 2007 that a 1999 PC would choke on. Again, optimized and targeted platform.

A general use platform like the PC where the OS isn't being optimized towards very specific hardware and is running all kinds of background processes that aren't necessarily in use benefits from more horsepower. The Surface is made specifically for what was in the demo, so you can bet that all the processing power is geared towards that.

RE: So disappointed.
By mcnabney on 11/18/2011 10:43:01 AM , Rating: 1
But it isn't.

They just took the guts out of a laptop, plugged in a big display, and loaded the Surface UI layer just like Metro will be sitting on top of Win8. I imagine the Win7 install is otherwise completely stock, meaning that all of the usual Windows overhead is going on behind Surface. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see the little popup notifiers interupting Surface when Windows updates are being offered.

RE: So disappointed.
By Silver2k7 on 11/23/2011 5:05:58 AM , Rating: 2
A Surface table may be $8000 right now just like a CD-burner (1x speed) was something like $10.000 at the beginning.

Im fairly sure that the first 1080p screens was also over $10.000 at first.. look at prices today.

It will take a few years, but im sure this tech will be in the home eventually.

