Windows Surface

[Ankur]

Hey guys will windows surface having 8, support programming, I will mostly do Visual studio programming and probably scripting too. So any idea whether it will work nicely on it? as I see it will have an IVB processor with good RAM and a nice little keyboard for extra help.
Netbook isn't an option as they are small and slow and don't last long?

 

[strollin]

Why wouldn't it? Since the MS Surface comes with Windows 8 and Win 8 supports Visual Studio, it will certainly work for programming. Compile times for large projects may be best done on a dedicated build box but for small projects it will work fine.

 

[Ankur]

Why wouldn't it? Since the MS Surface comes with Windows 8 and Win 8 supports Visual Studio, it will certainly work for programming. Compile times for large projects may be best done on a dedicated build box but for small projects it will work fine.

Yea I am going to compile small projects in it too, but VS shakes a bit in my laptop, won't it be a bit slow in the tablet, or decrease it's battery very fast? I hope it has a pointer too to attach a mouse

 

[samir.dambhe]

i guess its better to have tablet for fun...for programming we have laptop.. sometime its better to take break..

 

[Ankur]

Take break?
I actually need a tablet to take notes in class also, and program when I am travelling, sounds funny, but I am going to try surface.

 

[lucasbytegenius]

If you're programming I'd stick with a laptop or a desktop. That tablet most likely isn't going to be good for much at all, and programming might be hell.

 

[Ankur]

If you're programming I'd stick with a laptop or a desktop. That tablet most likely isn't going to be good for much at all, and programming might be hell.

Aren't these specs good?
Processor: Intel Core i5 (Ivy Bridge)
Weight: 903 grams
Thickness: 13.5 millimeters
Display: 10.6-inch ClearType Full HD (1080p) capactive touchpanel
Battery: 42Wh
I/O: microSDXC, USB 3.0, Mini DisplayPort, 2x2 MIMO antennae
Software: Windows 8 Pro
Accessories: Touch Cover, Type Cover, VaporMg Case & Stand, Pen with Palm Block
Capacity: 64GB / 128GB

And the awesome keyboard

That would help me at work at any place in the world, without much transport overhead.

 

[voyagerfan99]

I'll believe Surface runs good once I get to try it. Until then, it's just a other tablet.

 

[lucasbytegenius]

All we know about it is that it has a Core i5 and it's possibly got 2 GB of RAM. No CPU speeds, GPU specs, and no for-certain measurement of the RAM.

Besides that, Windows 8 is most likely going to be worst than Vista in pretty much everything.

The transport overhead is attractive though, but I'd still go for a good laptop.

 

[Ankur]

I have liked the windows 8 demo version in my friends laptop. Well seeing it, looks like its an all round OS, not only for tablets, but also for desktops. Mostly I'll pick up a tab rather than a smartphone. I already have a Notebook.
Just realized it has a mini display port too, good for presentation purpose on a projector

 

[lucasbytegenius]

I have liked the windows 8 demo version in my friends laptop. Well seeing it, looks like its an all round OS, not only for tablets, but also for desktops. Mostly I'll pick up a tab rather than a smartphone. I already have a Notebook.

That's the problem: Windows 8 is a badly-made sandwich of the traditional desktop and Windows Phone. That's why it's so awful, and they don't give you any options to go back to.

 

[strollin]

You don't need a quad core processor and oodles of memory to be able to write code. I wrote lots of C and assembler code on a computer with an 8Mhz 8088 CPU, 256K RAM and 2 360K floppy drives.

Memory & a fast processor will help compile times for sure but, for just writing code, the Surface tablet will be fine.

That's not to say that a laptop or dekstop wouldn't do it better.

 

[speedyink]

How could the surface not be as good as a laptop of similar specs? I saw a samsung tablet yesterday in a store running windows 7. It had an i5, loads of ram (2 - 4 gigs, can't remember), intel HD graphics (expected), and it was just slightly thicker than the android tablets. I'm pretty sure the surface won't be lack luster at all. I don't mind windows 8, but I don't see why you couldn't install windows 7 on it if you prefer to.

 

[lucasbytegenius]

You don't need a quad core processor and oodles of memory to be able to write code. I wrote lots of C and assembler code on a computer with an 8Mhz 8088 CPU, 256K RAM and 2 360K floppy drives.

Memory & a fast processor will help compile times for sure but, for just writing code, the Surface tablet will be fine.

That's not to say that a laptop or dekstop wouldn't do it better.

What about compiling in Visual Studio?

How could the surface not be as good as a laptop of similar specs? I saw a samsung tablet yesterday in a store running windows 7. It had an i5, loads of ram (2 - 4 gigs, can't remember), intel HD graphics (expected), and it was just slightly thicker than the android tablets. I'm pretty sure the surface won't be lack luster at all. I don't mind windows 8, but I don't see why you couldn't install windows 7 on it if you prefer to.

It could be as good, but battery life is most likely not going to be very good. And as for putting 7 on that, it's iffy because of some dark lock I heard MS was putting on their hardware to keep other operating systems from being installed.

 

[voyagerfan99]

What about compiling in Visual Studio?


It could be as good, but battery life is most likely not going to be very good. And as for putting 7 on that, it's iffy because of some dark lock I heard MS was putting on their hardware to keep other operating systems from being installed.

We all know someone will crack that eventually.

 

[lucasbytegenius]

We all know someone will crack that eventually.

Of course.

 

[strollin]

What about compiling in Visual Studio?

Shouldn't be a problem. I have VS 2010 installed on this laptop that I'm posting from, it has a Core 2 Duo processor running @ 2.66Ghz and 4G of RAM and compiles just fine. The Surface has better specs than this laptop.

I've also used VS Studio 2012 on Win 8 in a VM, not sure exactly what hardware it was emulating but similar to laptop above and compiles were fine.

Again, you wouldn't want to use a tablet as the build machine for a large project with lots of components but for a developer working on his separate code it wouldn't be a problem.

 

[lucasbytegenius]

Shouldn't be a problem. I have VS 2010 installed on this laptop that I'm posting from, it has a Core 2 Duo processor running @ 2.66Ghz and 4G of RAM and compiles just fine. The Surface has better specs than this laptop.

I've also used VS Studio 2012 on Win 8 in a VM, not sure exactly what hardware it was emulating but similar to laptop above and compiles were fine.

Again, you wouldn't want to use a tablet as the build machine for a large project with lots of components but for a developer working on his separate code it wouldn't be a problem.

The thing is you don't know what the processor speed is of the Surface, so how can you say it has better specs? For all we know it could be running at 1.5 GHz or something.

 

[strollin]

The thing is you don't know what the processor speed is of the Surface, so how can you say it has better specs? For all we know it could be running at 1.5 GHz or something.

The Windows Pro model has an i5 (unknown clock speed) so I'm pretty confident it will spec out better. Regardless, it doesn't change the fact that it will still be able to manage to run Visual Studio.

 

[lucasbytegenius]

The Windows Pro model has an i5 (unknown clock speed) so I'm pretty confident it will spec out better. Regardless, it doesn't change the fact that it will still be able to manage to run Visual Studio.

Typing on that keyboard might be tough

Sorry, I'm just not a fan of any Windows 8 devices right now, and I don't expect the Surface to be that good either. We'll see.