Analysts are often wrong, and they're almost always morons. I get so tired of hearing what "analysts" have to say about stuff.

I'm sure I've heard Woody Allen saying exactly the same thing although he still pays a grand a week to his

Psychotherapy jokes to one side, the comments there on the politics of MS competing directly with their customers on this Win 8 tablet caper and gouging them like crazy on the licensing fees doesn't seem too wide of the mark to me. Pretty much what some folk said in this thread. I thought the whole Zune thing was pretty funny. He obviously wasn't going to waste any time on subtleties, eg damning the thing with faint praise.

I'm really curious to see how tha market will react to the new Windows 8 tablets that are announced to this fall. That said, the license prices didn't stop the major contenders to announce tablet models that will compete directly with Microsoft and the others.
Personally, I would not buy any tablet that would not allow me to run all the apps that I already have running in my computer - and the new Surface Pro, as well as the new announced Lenovo are answering that concern. We'll see what the majority think.

The Lenovo StinkPad looks like a serious product - full Win 8 x86 and 2 GB of RAM etc

http://gadgets.ndtv.com/tablets/news/windows-8-lenovo-thinkp ad2-tablet-details-leaked-250390

http://www.zdnet.com/lenovo-takes-on-the-ipad-with-windows-8 -powered-thinkpad-tablet-2-7000001972/

I'm not sure I get the point of the Surface Pro now, when the Thinkpad will be out in October, and the Surface Pro not until after the 1st of the year. The Thinkpad will be excellent hardware. I suppose if you wanted the cutesy keyboard case.

And that's the thing. I would want the keyboard. I've grown great disdain for touchscreen keyboards over the years from many a crappy pos koisk.

I'm with you there. On a laptop or desktop I am touch typing with my wrists resting in front of the keys and the screen is actually beyond my reach. This is a comfortable distance for me visually. To touch on a screen I need to actually be closer than I want to be - not such a problem for brief periods on a small hand held device like a phone but not so great for any length of time when using full applications. If you are 15 and can focus at 6 inches in front of your nose this mightn't be such an issue.
Last edited by egbert on Fri Aug 03, 2012 7:32 am; edited 1 time in total

Well first, if you just want a keyboard, why bother with a tablet at all? Second, the resistive touchscreen on a kiosk is nothing like a capacitive keyboard on an iPad/Android/Surface tablet.

The Surface will have it's own keyboard, and that's one BIG advantage, IMO. I too desdain touchscreen keyboards. They may work (not well but workable) in smartphones, but that's the best I can get with them.

If you are looking for something like this:



You're better off getting a new laptop.

No, no, the Surface is NOTHING like that. That is a Fankenstein BS. I's neither a Mac nor a tablet.
Surface (and I mean Surface Pro, of course) will run like a tablet, BUT also like a laptop, AND we don't need to carry nothing else with us. The cover doubles as a keyboard, has expansion ports for USB, etc. Not that I think I need that kind of portability, but if I would, THAT would definitely be my choice - something that's not crippled and "kind of" wannabe.

I don't think typing on a keyboard like that is going to be any good.
I also guess you have to carry it on apart if you want to use the touch surface only.
Still, could be a nice touch alternative for x86 stuff, but there is no street pricing for it yet.

That isn't the Surface Pro keyboard - thats the WinRT version keyboard.

Stop guessing. Have you looked to the Surface and Surface Pro? No one have to carry anything else apart - the keyboard is THE COVER of the tablet (I wonder why the design geniuses of Cupertino didn't think abbout that ).
And therefore, you don't need any "street price" for it - it's part of the deal.
And believe me - ANYTHING is better than typing on the tablet.
Last edited by fmr on Sat Aug 04, 2012 2:13 am; edited 1 time in total

This one looks so:



Still waiting for pricing, but I expect they will cost the same if not more than a MacBook Air alike laptop.