Surface Pro was presented physically at CES. Comments, anyone?

[BMoore]

Question:

Can Surface Pro apps also be opened in a Windows 7 or 8 PC or they will only run in Surface Pro?

The "Pro" means that it's full blown Windows, so yes, the apps are the same as on your regular Windows computer/laptop.
The "RT" versions are in it's own eco system, and works only on "RT".

[Kalamata Kid]

Thanks BMoore,

Glad that MS did not put any limits to the apps so that they can only be used in the Surface Pro and would need another license to run them on a Windows 7/8 laptop or desktop.

Since there are so few music apps available for Windows touch screen it would be great if we can have a wrapper to be able to use iPad apps in the Windows 7 and 8.

[BMoore]

Thanks BMoore,

Glad that MS did not put any limits to the apps so that they can only be used in the Surface Pro and would need another license to run them on a Windows 7/8 laptop or desktop.

Since there are so few music apps available for Windows touch screen it would be great if we can have a wrapper to be able to use iPad apps in the Windows 7 and 8.

Well. Licensing is a whole different sphere.
All this means, is that every file and program you can run on your regular laptop/desktop, runs on Surface Pro. Not that you are licensed to use the programs on both.

[mkdr]

We have a Win8 laptop at work with a quad i7 and a touchscreen. My iPad4 is a joke compared to it. It's a monster, with heaps of ram and a 256gig dual raid ssd built in. iPad4 with half the storage space, quarter of the memory and maybe ten percent of the processing power is 930 euros. The laptop was 999 euros.
Toys are toys. Real machines are real machines.

Definitely agree, and the laptop you described seems like a dream machine. Which size is the screen? The price (999 euros) seems ridiculously cheap for something with those specs.

It's an Acer Aspire S7 Ultrabook 11.6", full HD
Intel Core i7-3537U 2.0 GHz, 4Gb Ram
Weight 1,04kg

Is this a custom made one?
I can't find an Aspire S7 with those specs. Not the 11", and not at that price.

Not custom. Regular config in Finland. Could be different in other regions.
I did notice though that the price is now higher than 2-3 weeks ago when we bought it.
Might need to check if it was on sale or something.. But the specs and price were definitely correct.

[mbncp]

Thanks BMoore,

Glad that MS did not put any limits to the apps so that they can only be used in the Surface Pro and would need another license to run them on a Windows 7/8 laptop or desktop.

Since there are so few music apps available for Windows touch screen it would be great if we can have a wrapper to be able to use iPad apps in the Windows 7 and 8.

Apps that you get from the store require win8 (afaik). Most/all of them are compiled to work on x86/x64 and arm processors.
You can install them on 5 pcs.
Currently I see little interest to run standalone apps, like the ones we have on iPad, on my win tablets, my goal was to use and tweak my vst plugs on something smaller than a laptop, no mouse, no keyboard. The very last thing I want is audiobus for pc.
Now I wouldn't mind that vst plugs become a little more tablet friendly, although most of them work pretty well.
To run apps like lemur, touchOsc,.. the iPad or even a mini is your best choice. I use animoog a lot to play my plugs on the surface, actually, an iPad and a tablet pc is a pretty nice combo.

[BMoore]

We have a Win8 laptop at work with a quad i7 and a touchscreen. My iPad4 is a joke compared to it. It's a monster, with heaps of ram and a 256gig dual raid ssd built in. iPad4 with half the storage space, quarter of the memory and maybe ten percent of the processing power is 930 euros. The laptop was 999 euros.
Toys are toys. Real machines are real machines.

Definitely agree, and the laptop you described seems like a dream machine. Which size is the screen? The price (999 euros) seems ridiculously cheap for something with those specs.

It's an Acer Aspire S7 Ultrabook 11.6", full HD
Intel Core i7-3537U 2.0 GHz, 4Gb Ram
Weight 1,04kg

Is this a custom made one?
I can't find an Aspire S7 with those specs. Not the 11", and not at that price.

Not custom. Regular config in Finland. Could be different in other regions.
I did notice though that the price is now higher than 2-3 weeks ago when we bought it.
Might need to check if it was on sale or something.. But the specs and price were definitely correct.

Yeah. No. I don't think so.

[fmr]

We have a Win8 laptop at work with a quad i7 and a touchscreen. My iPad4 is a joke compared to it. It's a monster, with heaps of ram and a 256gig dual raid ssd built in. iPad4 with half the storage space, quarter of the memory and maybe ten percent of the processing power is 930 euros. The laptop was 999 euros.
Toys are toys. Real machines are real machines.

Definitely agree, and the laptop you described seems like a dream machine. Which size is the screen? The price (999 euros) seems ridiculously cheap for something with those specs.

It's an Acer Aspire S7 Ultrabook 11.6", full HD
Intel Core i7-3537U 2.0 GHz, 4Gb Ram
Weight 1,04kg

Is this a custom made one?
I can't find an Aspire S7 with those specs. Not the 11", and not at that price.

Not custom. Regular config in Finland. Could be different in other regions.
I did notice though that the price is now higher than 2-3 weeks ago when we bought it.
Might need to check if it was on sale or something.. But the specs and price were definitely correct.

Seems like it's not available in Portugal

[Kalamata Kid]

Thanks BMoore,

Glad that MS did not put any limits to the apps so that they can only be used in the Surface Pro and would need another license to run them on a Windows 7/8 laptop or desktop.

Since there are so few music apps available for Windows touch screen it would be great if we can have a wrapper to be able to use iPad apps in the Windows 7 and 8.

Apps that you get from the store require win8 (afaik). Most/all of them are compiled to work on x86/x64 and arm processors.
You can install them on 5 pcs.
Currently I see little interest to run standalone apps, like the ones we have on iPad, on my win tablets, my goal was to use and tweak my vst plugs on something smaller than a laptop, no mouse, no keyboard. The very last thing I want is audiobus for pc.
Now I wouldn't mind that vst plugs become a little more tablet friendly, although most of them work pretty well.
To run apps like lemur, touchOsc,.. the iPad or even a mini is your best choice. I use animoog a lot to play my plugs on the surface, actually, an iPad and a tablet pc is a pretty nice combo.

I believe I did not truly understand your position on being able to run iPad apps on a Windows 7/8 PC.

I am a PC Windows 7 studio musician. I have several DAW's including Cubase 7. For me it would be great to run Cubase on a 40" screen and have a touch screen midi controller such as enChord on the screen so I can play it. Now as I stated earlier so few music apps are made for Windows 7/8 that it would be nice if one could wrap an iPad app and run it in the PC. Not sure what your objection is or did I misread your comments?

[Loki Fuego]

Now as I stated earlier so few music apps are made for Windows 7/8 that it would be nice if one could wrap an iPad app and run it in the PC.

I suggest you to abandon that thought, as it won't happen due to plenty of reasons.

[fmr]

I believe I did not truly understand your position on being able to run iPad apps on a Windows 7/8 PC.

I am a PC Windows 7 studio musician. I have several DAW's including Cubase 7. For me it would be great to run Cubase on a 40" screen and have a touch screen midi controller such as enChord on the screen so I can play it. Now as I stated earlier so few music apps are made for Windows 7/8 that it would be nice if one could wrap an iPad app and run it in the PC. Not sure what your objection is or did I misread your comments?

The advantage of Surface Pro (or any kind of touch PC) is the ability to run a complete OS and real applications. I don't see anything in the iApp world that isn't replaceable (with advantage) in the real applications world. So, why would you want a wrapper to run short coming cutted out Apps when you can have real applications running?

[Kalamata Kid]

I believe I did not truly understand your position on being able to run iPad apps on a Windows 7/8 PC.

I am a PC Windows 7 studio musician. I have several DAW's including Cubase 7. For me it would be great to run Cubase on a 40" screen and have a touch screen midi controller such as enChord on the screen so I can play it. Now as I stated earlier so few music apps are made for Windows 7/8 that it would be nice if one could wrap an iPad app and run it in the PC. Not sure what your objection is or did I misread your comments?

The advantage of Surface Pro (or any kind of touch PC) is the ability to run a complete OS and real applications. I don't see anything in the iApp world that isn't replaceable (with advantage) in the real applications world. So, why would you want a wrapper to run short coming cutted out Apps when you can have real applications running?

Yes, I would prefer that the iPad app developers also make their apps available for Windows 7/8 and Surface Pro. This hasn't happened so in my estimation for what it is worth a very efficient wrapper would be a good compromise.

[Kalamata Kid]

I believe I did not truly understand your position on being able to run iPad apps on a Windows 7/8 PC.

I am a PC Windows 7 studio musician. I have several DAW's including Cubase 7. For me it would be great to run Cubase on a 40" screen and have a touch screen midi controller such as enChord on the screen so I can play it. Now as I stated earlier so few music apps are made for Windows 7/8 that it would be nice if one could wrap an iPad app and run it in the PC. Not sure what your objection is or did I misread your comments?

The advantage of Surface Pro (or any kind of touch PC) is the ability to run a complete OS and real applications. I don't see anything in the iApp world that isn't replaceable (with advantage) in the real applications world. So, why would you want a wrapper to run short coming cutted out Apps when you can have real applications running?

I may have misunderstood your comment and my previous attempt to reply was probably flawed.

Ok I see your point more clearly now. Some apps are really nice and no comparable VST or VSTi exists. One in mind is enChord http://www.avantgardesound.com/ and their upcoming version 2. BTW this app is a midi controller.

[mbncp]

You could always try to ask samsung to make an ios emulator for win7, as they already have the lawyers...

Joke aside I agree that they aren't a lot of applications that are touch screen friendly for pc. This will probably change as tablets will replace laptops at some point, but this will take time. Until then, if you really need ipad apps, get an ipad.

[Gonga]

Spectrasonics makes great little controller apps for iPad and iPod, but they've shied away from Android for reasons well known to developers. Now I suspect they are developing for Windows 8 and preparing to go with Windows touch controllers for Windows 8 touch devices.

I think 2014 will be the year that touch for Windows will really take off for music applications. Now that you can get a quality touch screen monitor for a reasonable price, all we need is touch-centric software. I've been saying for a couple years that developers need to move away from mouse-centric to touch-centric design (tabs & sliders), but unfortunately it's not happening much yet. We're still seeing developers release new interfaces with tiny knobs and tiny scrolling menus, etc. The hardware and software have to evolve together in this case. Musicians would be wise to consider that in a few years time, all studios will have multiple touch-monitors, one for tracks, one for console, one for synth, one for effects, etc. We will need multiple gpu outputs.

PCs will still rule the studio!