1643

It’s a really well-made hinge, but we’ve seen that before on 2-in-1 laptops for years. Lenovo Yogas in particular.

1644

Obligatory iFixit teardown.

1645

Yep, Marques Brownlee just did his Fold 2 review. Best folding phone there is, great hardware, and still says don’t buy one.

1646
1647

I tried the Duo at Best Buy. All it took was opening a webpage (NYTimes) and scrolling once to see how unappealing it would be in daily use for anyone accustomed to a high-end phone. Choppy, low refresh rate screen.

1648

I can now run most of the apps I need on this new Surface Pro X, and most run a lot better than they did a year ago. I concluded my review of the original Pro X wishing that it had an Intel chip inside. This year, I’m not so sure it needs an Intel chip anymore.

1649

It’s $1640 (the keyboard is extra) for a poorly performing laptop with shitty battery life. 8 hours is not good. I remember when the haswell intel CPUs came out and everybody was agog over the Macbook Air getting 12 hours. This was in 2013.

Also he notes that “most apps are 64bit” and “Microsoft says 64bit emulation is coming soon”. Shitty review.

Form factor is nice, though.

1650

Wait, this thing is built on a 32bit ARM platform? In 2020?

1651

No, I believe the issue is Microsoft doesn’t have 64bit intel->arm translation working yet. So only 32bit intel code works.

1652

Ahh, okay. That’s less terrible. Still, though. The whole thing seems like MS still chasing its one-device-to-rule-them-all fever dream decades after the rest of us woke up.

1653

The reviewer just seemed giddy that the 32bit translation was working better, then completely glossed over the fact that most apps don’t work because they’re only available for 64bit intel, and concluded by not addressing the pricepoint which positions the device as something nobody should ever buy.

1654

I don’t think MS views this as a mass consumer device. But they’re developing the backup in case ARM is indeed the future and x86/x64 fades away. Best to do that now rather than have to rush a transition in 10 years.

1655

Last year the previous reviewer at The Verge decided that the Surface Pro X was the best Chromebook he’d ever used (and thought nobody should buy one). As these tech reviewer guys basically do nothing but live in Google Docs, they’re probably the best case user for the Pro X.

But these are tech reviewers. Tech influencers all edit their own videos and are going to hate the Surface Pro X because they live in Adobe Suite products, and Adobe sucks on ARM Windows.

There is a part of me that has a use for it - as a mobile VDI workstation-ish thing. Not enough to get one though. Tethering is ok enough. But i have to use an inverter and a laptop charger in the vehicle to get like more than 30 minutes of use.

1656

If you want an affordable Surface, there are plenty of Intel-based ones to choose from. The Surface Pro X is clearly a niche product just by its pricing, but it’s letting MS dangle its toe in ARM. By releasing it as a product, they’re forced to develop and support it. Plus, they’re getting some real world feedback from users.

MS is also eyeing the ARM roadmap and knowing that more powerful ARM processors are coming, so the hardware will get there.

1657

The Verge is doing their readers a disservice by reviewing this device as anything but a tech prototype, an expensive toy that people definitely shouldn’t buy.

There’s no reason why MS couldn’t make a cheap ARM laptop. There are a shitton of cheap ARM chromebooks.

1658

But why do that if, as you point out, the OS isn’t fully there yet?

It may very well happen once MS gets all its ducks in a row.

1659

If you’re competing with chromebooks, at the same price point, those problems don’t matter.

1660

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for Intel actually having to compete.

1661

I am not sure who is buying the Pro X and the Duo. But their pain may lead to products that are worth considering in the future.

1662

I dont think they want to compete with chromebooks. They want to offer the “full windows experience” on a tablet. Which makes the Pro X a failure, yes. But they don’t want to make something that could succeed by embracing building chromebook-style devices.