MS launches Surface Pro 4, Surface Book and flagship Lumia

Satan

Satan

Adept
Not sure if any of you caught the launch yesterday. Absolutely loved everything they introduced. They seem be back on track with Satya Nadella. Hope this is the first wave of more cool things to come from MS.

If you haven't seen it already

Surface Pro 4

SPECS
128GB 6th Generation Intel Core M3 with 4 GB of RAM - $899

128GB 6th Generation Intel Core i5 with 4 GB of RAM - $999
256GB 6th Generation Intel Core i5 with 8 GB of RAM - $1,299
256GB 6th Generation Intel Core i5 with 16 GB of RAM - $1,499
512GB 6th Generation Intel Core i5 with 16 GB of RAM - $1,899

256GB 6th Generation Intel Core i7 with 8 GB of RAM - $1,599
256GB 6th Generation Intel Core i7 with 16 GB of RAM - $1,799
512GB 6th Generation Intel Core i7 with 16 GB of RAM - $2,199
1024GB 6th Generation Intel Core i7 with 16 GB of RAM - $2,699


Surface Book

SPECS
128GB / Core Intel i5 - 8GB - $1,499
256GB / Core Intel i5 - 8GB - $1,699
256GB / Core Intel i5 - 8GB / dGPU - $1,899

256GB / Core Intel i7 - 8GB / dGPU - $2,099
512GB / Core Intel i7 - 16GB / dGPU - $2,699
 
Last edited:
No love for MS, it seems. These companies should schedule their product launches in such a way that everyone can get their share of limelight. This time, everyone seems to be talking about Google and Apple, while LG and MS have released very good products at good prices too.

On topic, the MS launches were impressive. In addition to the Surface, the new flagships in the Lumia series were also announced - Lumia 950 and 950XL. In addition, the new budget Lumia 550 was also announced.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL at a glance:
  • Windows 10, Windows 10 Continuum supported via a dedicated dock
  • 5.7" Quad HD AMOLED display, 518ppi, Gorilla Glass 3, ClearBlack technology, Glance screen
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset with 2 GHz quad-core Cortex-A57 plus 1.5 GHz quad-core Cortex-A53 processor, Adreno 430 GPU, 3GB RAM
  • 20MP 26mm-equiv. f/1.9 lens PureView camera, ZEISS optics, optical stabilization, triple-LED RGB flash, hardware shutter key
  • 2160p video recording
  • 5MP front selfie camera
  • Iris canner for Windows Hello unlock
  • 32GB of built-in storage, expandable via the microSD card slot by up to 200GB
  • Optional Dual SIM with LTE Cat.4 (up to 150Mbps), Cat. 6 LTE (up to 300Mbps), USB Type C port
  • 3,300 mAh battery, QuickCharge and Qi wireless charging
Microsoft Lumia 950 at a glance:
  • Windows 10, Windows 10 Continuum supported via a dedicated dock
  • 5.2" Quad HD AMOLED display, 564ppi, Gorilla Glass 4, ClearBlack technology, Glance screen
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 chipset with 1.8 GHz dual-core Cortex-A57 plus 1.4 GHz quad-core Cortex-A53 processor, Adreno 418 GPU, 3GB RAM
  • 20MP 26mm-equiv. f/1.9 lens PureView camera, ZEISS optics, optical stabilization, triple-LED RGB flash, hardware shutter key
  • 2160p video recording
  • 5MP front selfie camera
  • Iris scanner for Windows Hello unlock
  • 32GB of built-in storage, expandable via the microSD card slot by up to 200GB
  • Optional Dual SIM with LTE Cat.4 (up to 150Mbps), Cat. 6 LTE (up to 300Mbps), USB Type C port
  • 3,000 mAh battery, QuickCharge and Qi wireless charging
Microsoft Lumia 550 at a glance:
  • Windows 10
  • 4.7" 720p LCD display, 315ppi, Glance screen
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 chipset with 1.1 GHz quad-core Cortex-A7 processor, Adreno 304 GPU, 1GB RAM
  • 5MP main camera, LED flash, 720p video recording
  • 2MP front camera
  • 8GB of built-in storage, expandable via the microSD card slot
  • Optional Dual SIM, LTE Cat.4 (up to 150Mbps)
  • 2,100 mAh battery
Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/microsoft_lumia_event-review-1317.php
Click to expand...

Specs look good, although the Lumia never required top end specs for lag free performance.
950XL will start at 650$; 950 will start at 550$.
 
MS seems to be making some innovative moves, Excellent line up this year when you compare with iCrap & gCrap. No doubt Satya Nadella has a vision & he's working in that direction.

I'm pretty curious to see how windows 10 fairs on mobile phones as well as desktops. Liquid cooling on a Smartphone is first I guess. 950XL just above Rs 40k should be a steal.
 
MS seems to be the really "cool" and "innovative" company as of now, apple seems to be happy with incremental improvements, google is just buying stuff up, and MS is coming out with an untethered VR headset, phones that can double as a desktop PC and pretty much the sexiest laptop on the market - the surface book.

I just loved the pot-shots at apple, the pencil remark, the fridge-toaster in proE etc. :D
 
drkrack said:
MS seems to be making some innovative moves, Excellent line up this year when you compare with iCrap & gCrap. No doubt Satya Nadella has a vision & he's working in that direction.

I'm pretty curious to see how windows 10 fairs on mobile phones as well as desktops. Liquid cooling on a Smartphone is first I guess. 950XL just above Rs 40k should be a steal.
Click to expand...
Actually, all the lumias announced are carried over from Nokia days. The proper MS designed lumias are expected next year.
 
Anyone planning to get the Surface Pro 4 or Surface Book?
I am in need of a new tablet and this time, it looks worth going for a Windows tablet over an android.
Planning to get the Surface Pro 4 (one of the 512GB models) unless I find something more enticing from Dell or some other brand.
 
^^^

There is no "one of the" 512 GB AFAIK. Only one with i7. 2200 something USD. That's the one I am planning to get.

Is there any other spec with 512GB?
 
^^ There is a i5/16GB/512GB version for $1899.
You need to use the "Customize device" option to get it.

Once the reviews come out, I will decide whether the i7 option is worth the $300 extra and what battery life cost it incurs.
 
Surface Pro 4 coming to India on Jan 7th

http://microsoft-news.com/microsoft-to-launch-surface-pro-4-in-india-on-january-7th/

Prices don't look bad at all. I spent 90k for the i5//8GB/256GB model.
  • 128GB / Intel Core m3 – 4GB RAM – Rs. 67,999
  • 128GB / Intel Core i5 – 4GB RAM – Rs. 74,999
  • 256GB / Intel Core i5 – 8GB RAM – Rs. 95,999
  • 256GB / Intel Core i7 – 8GB RAM – Rs. 1,18,499
  • 256GB / Intel Core i7 – 16GB RAM – Rs. 1,32,999
Prices don't look bad at all. I spent roughly the same amount for i5/8GB/256GB model.
 
Lord Nemesis said:
Surface Pro 4 coming to India on Jan 7th

http://microsoft-news.com/microsoft-to-launch-surface-pro-4-in-india-on-january-7th/

Prices don't look bad at all. I spent 90k for the i5//8GB/256GB model.
  • 128GB / Intel Core m3 – 4GB RAM – Rs. 67,999
  • 128GB / Intel Core i5 – 4GB RAM – Rs. 74,999
  • 256GB / Intel Core i5 – 8GB RAM – Rs. 95,999
  • 256GB / Intel Core i7 – 8GB RAM – Rs. 1,18,499
  • 256GB / Intel Core i7 – 16GB RAM – Rs. 1,32,999
Prices don't look bad at all. I spent roughly the same amount for i5/8GB/256GB model.
Click to expand...
Yeah, 9-12k difference with US is reasonable - even better if the price includes the type cover although I doubt it. Still can't understand Dell's obscene 30-40k diff for XPS 13 laptops.
 
^^ The US prices are excluding the taxes. Mine was bought from Best Buy and I had to pay 10% taxes extra. So the pricing pretty much evens out. So, I would say that these prices are impressive. I was expecting at least a 30k premium compared to US prices.

Type cover is definitely not part of that pricing though

Also, for those who already bought from US, the good news is that their devices would be covered under warranty locally. I just had a talk with MS Support and they confirmed it.
 
Is there any news of Surface book launch ?
@Lord Nemesis Is the int'l warranty valid for all surface pros or the ones with Microsoft Complete plan ? How is your experience with your Sp4 so far ? Planning to get a laptop/hybrid in a few months for browsing and lightroom/Capture one editing. Can't decide between the rMbp 13, SP4 and XPS/Surfacebook although XPS is kinda out because of its ridiculous pricing.
 
Last edited:
Microsoft Complete plan not Required. Mine is a regular store purchase with 1 year warranty. The warranty is based on serial number and he checked and confirmed that warranty will be honored. In fact he was ready to help me claim warranty if I had any issues right now. He also confirmed the Jan 7th launch in India.

With regards to experience, I have no complaints so far except for battery life for continuous use. In the early days, I faced an occasional display driver crash (soft crash) which was associated with all Skylake devices. This is sorted out for me now after a few updates. Battery life is where customers experiences are inconsistent. With heavy use, I get max 5~5.5 hours. With average mixed usage (When its used more like a tablet and less like a laptop) and CPU not being strained too hard, I got about 8~10 hours. In standby, the battery drain for me is 2% per day. After 10 days of 5~10 min use per day, I had 58% battery remaining on the device. Other users have differing results though.

The standby battery life is better than the Android tab and iPad that I have. The usage battery life could have been better. MS should not have compromised on the battery. Charging time is 2 hours odd which is significantly better than iPad, but twice that of my Android tab which has a fast charger.

The CPU (i5 6300U in my case) is fairly powerful and handles most stuff very well. I haven' installed any heavy weight stuff like Visual studio 2015 yet. The Core i5/i7 have fans inside, but I have rarely seen it kick in during normal usage for my unit. It did kick in after a while playing a Open GL Android game via AMI DuOS though.

The main advantage of this device is its versatility. You can use it as an Ultrabook and as a tablet. You have a shit load of existing apps and games. Not everything may be touch optimized, but unless you have a very cramped up UI for the app, touch works out perfectly fine. You can run Android through an emulator like AMI DuOS. You can boot another OS once you enable USB booting (haven't tried it yet). It is a device which can double up as both a tablet and a laptop.

What it's not is a full fledged powerhouse of a laptop. It is more of a competitor for Mac Book Air and other Ultrabooks than something like MBP. Make no mistake there even if MS claimed that its more powerful than MBP.
 
Back
Top