1961

Sounds about right (though some people have reported it happening even without a touch screen). I think the right people are already looking into it.

1962

Even though Windows Experience Index was taken out of Windows 8/8.1, the side panel for it is still present in the Games folder. Clicking “Learn more” takes you to a Help file with “This content is no longer available.”

1963

There shouldn’t be a games folder in win8. Not sure why you still have one.

1964

I did a clean install of 8.1 and it’s still there.

Ah, that’s right–these are supposed to be hidden/obsolete. I’m using Stardock Start8–that’s what’s exposing this menu.

1965

Using my new Transformer T100, and Stusser was right. Bay Trail is frigging amazing, GREAT performance and truly 8+ hours of battery life, all with full x86 compatibility.

Definitely makes SurfaceRT and even Surface 2 look like bad ideas. Particularly since Tegra 4 offers noticeably worse perf than Bay Trail.

The perf difference between this T100 and the Surface Pro is there but it is not stark.

If Intel wants to hurt ARM they need to keep going in this excellent direction.

1966

Well I imagine performance is comparable in the metro environment, but the surface pro should be noticeably faster doing higher-end desktop stuff. The bay trail atom is roughly equivalent to a core2duo mobile CPU from like 2007.

I fully get why MS chose to release the surface RT; they knew it was a stinker but they had no choice, x86 wasn’t ready, and they had to get their foot in the door or give up another year to apple and android. I just can’t for the life of me figure out why they released the surface 2.

1967

It’s a far more limited ecosystem, and they want the control it offers?

1968

Microsoft has it backwards. The Surface RT should have been the only Surface, a fully touch-native device, without even the vestigial desktop. The Surface Pro just broadcasts to the world that, yet again, MS thinks the way to make a tablet is to slap Windows on it. We’ve all seen how well that’s worked in the past, and history is showing every sign of preparing to repeat itself.

1969

Oh, I’m not so sure microsoft’s strategy was wrong. It certainly sounded like a bad idea 18 months ago, but with the first bay trail atom tablets coming out, they may have been ahead of their time.

1970

The word/rumor seems to be that RT and Windows Phone OS will be merged in the next couple of years.

1971

People keep yammering on about new processors this and that without ever seeming to grasp that they’re ultimately irrelevant, because no matter how fast and energy-efficient Surface tablets get, they’re still stuck running Windows 8, the Frankenstein’s monster OS. If Windows 8 was actually good, people would be rushing to buy Surface tablets in spite of the performance issues.

1972

Have you tried any games on it? I’m curious to know how games like Spelunky, Terraria, and Rogue Legacy run. 2D games, but beautiful high-quality 2D games.

1973

The win8 touch experience is great on a tablet, it just doesn’t have the long tail app library yet. That will come. The idea of a 1.5lb tablet with 11 hours of battery life that can run every windows program for the past 30 years is pretty neat.

1974

No it isn’t neat, because you’re running them on a tablet. The only way to practically use them is to hook up a keyboard and a mouse, at which point you don’t have a tablet, you have a wannabe laptop. This is part of why the Surface’s marketing message is so hopelessly muddled. Much like Windows 8 can’t decide if it’s a touch or desktop OS, the Surface can’t decide whether it’s a tablet or a laptop.

How do you think things will play out when the “mini” Surface arrives? At that small screen size, most desktop software will be flat-out unusable.

1975

Optimus Prime isn’t conflicted over whether he’s a robot or a truck. He switches as needs arise.

If it does both things well, there’s no need to “decide” anything. You need touch stuff, you’re all set. You need to run desktop software, you plug in a keyboard cover and do that instead. You can do both.

1976

Dude have you even seen how many people carry around an ipad with a keyboard attachment?

I see several every time I fly anywhere, at the airport and on the plane. That and phablets are every god damn where.

So this idea that a tablet with a keyboard is somehow broken or wrong is just bullshit. And the mouse doesnt hurt you at all, just ignore it until you need or want it.

1977

My iPad is attached to a keyboard case 95% of the time. Because even if I don’t need a keyboard, I need a stand. And if I’m traveling, as I am now, I need a case that will protect the iPad reasonably well. Further, if I’m going to type much, I’d rather have a real keyboard. The virtual keyboard works, but it deals with numbers and most punctuation beyond commas and periods poorly. Typing brackets [] for BBS stuff requires two extra presses to get down to where they’re hidden.

Yet, I bought a Windows 8 laptop with a touch screen, and the experience hasn’t been like my iPad at all. Mostly it’s that most apps don’t deal with touch controls well, and things that are mildly annoying on the iPad like text selection are a huge pain in the ass or nigh impossible on the laptop, but it’s also been weight. A 2lb iPad + keyboard combination is very different proposition for casual use than a 5lb laptop. Or even a 4lb laptop.

1978

Most touch enabled ultrabooks are around 3 pounds, and surface pro is 2 pounds without the type cover.

If you want a tablet with integrated keyboard, Windows 8.1 is absolutely as good as it gets. Ipad keyboards work, sort of, but they are tacked on to the extreme and virtually everything you take for granted with a keyboard barely works on ipad. Example: selecting text, nope, using arrow keys to move around on the home screen, fuck no, keyboard shortcut for switching apps, hell no.

Thats why it is a colossal fuckup that Microsoft isnt bundling at least the touch cover with every Surface they sell, at least the damn Pro models.

1979

My primary point was to agree with you that an attached keyboard doesn’t make a tablet a failure as a tablet.

I don’t think Windows 8.1 is “as good as it gets” for tablets. Better keyboard support or not, the touch support sucks, and that’s been a much bigger issue than some keyboard support that I don’t ever use. I don’t want to use arrow keys to move around on the home screen or a keyboard shortcut for switching apps.

I’m aware that there are lighter weight laptops. I seriously thought about buying a Sony Pro 13 because it’s 2.4 lbs, but backed off because if I was going to have a Windows laptop, I wanted one that could run real games. In hindsight, of “lightweight, plays games, has a touch screen” I should have sacrificed “has a touch screen” rather than “lightweight.” I hadn’t really appreciated how important it was to my iPad experience that everything assumes touch controls, whereas that’s pretty rare for Windows software, and Window 8.1 isn’t very good at working around that.

It’s weird to be defending an Apple product, since I despise Apple and I’ve been a long time Windows user. Still, my experience with my HP Envy 15 is that if you’re running Windows software rather than those annoying “Modern UI” apps, you want a mouse. Unless you’re happy with trackpads, which I find barely tolerable. The touch screen has added nothing, since once I start using the mouse, it’s faster to point and click than to take my hand off the mouse to touch the screen.

1980

Win8.1 isn’t a great tablet experience, but that’s largely due to the poor app selection. The metro UI works great.

Obviously the desktop UI isn’t great with touch navigation, but it’s not supposed to be.