MS Surface Mini could be on the way

[shortylickens]

http://www.techradar.com/us/news/mo...ce-mini-release-date-news-and-rumours-1245281


But not until spring 2015 if it comes at all.

 

[Red Storm]

Desktop Windows does not translate well to smaller screens. I feel like the Surface Pro 3 is as small as you can comfortably go for what is ultimately an ultrabook.

 

[shortylickens]

Desktop Windows does not translate well to smaller screens. I feel like the Surface Pro 3 is as small as you can comfortably go for what is ultimately an ultrabook.

I wanted to get an ultra slim Toshiba but settled on a normal laptop. The reason I was researching is I did a study group the other day and everyone else had a Surface. Some were RT's, some were Pro's, but everyone seemed happier than I was.

 

[Ravynmagi]

Desktop Windows does not translate well to smaller screens. I feel like the Surface Pro 3 is as small as you can comfortably go for what is ultimately an ultrabook.

I love my Dell Venue 8 Pro. So I think Windows on an 8 inch screen can work great. I have Office 2013, using Outlook for email. Can check out Excel and Word files. Watch videos with VLC, etc. It all works just fine.

 

[Naer]

the tablet feature on the surface pro is just using your fingers to control the cursor?

 

[shortylickens]

the tablet feature on the surface pro is just using your fingers to control the cursor?

It also has some gestures, but not nearly as comprehensive as an iPad.

 

[Naer]

Will the mini have better power than the ms 3? I doubt it

 

[finbarqs]

As a SP3 owner, I can say that Windows 8 definitely is not there yet... Too many bugs... You can easily tell it's a microsoft product, and not a polished apple product..

 

[vbuggy]

Desktop Windows does not translate well to smaller screens. I feel like the Surface Pro 3 is as small as you can comfortably go for what is ultimately an ultrabook.

Well, desktop touch targets will be a lot smaller... but having said that, a lot of people who criticise this then go on to ignore similar issues on other small tablets are full of shit.

It looks like the small MS tablets will be RT anyway with a deleted desktop. The prime draw at that time will be a full touch Office and as far as I know the reason Surface Mini was nixed was due to the non availability of the full-touch Office for Windows.

 

[Red Storm]

Well, desktop touch targets will be a lot smaller... but having said that, a lot of people who criticise this then go on to ignore similar issues on other small tablets are full of shit.

What other small tablets? The iPad Mini and similar sized Android tablets? Those work well because the OS is designed for touch, but Windows 8.1 is not (I'm obviously talking about desktop because that's the main draw of full Windows). More specifically, traditional Windows applications were designed with precision mouse input in mind, not finger input.

 

[vbuggy]

What other small tablets? The iPad Mini and similar sized Android tablets? Those work well because the OS is designed for touch, but Windows 8.1 is not (I'm obviously talking about desktop because that's the main draw of full Windows). More specifically, traditional Windows applications were designed with precision mouse input in mind, not finger input.

No, perhaps you'll be surprised at how many small targets there are in many Android & iOS apps. For some reason for a certain type of person, they ignore that, and then go onto complain about far larger targets in Windows.

 

[Red Storm]

No, perhaps you'll be surprised at how many small targets there are in many Android & iOS apps. For some reason for a certain type of person, they ignore that, and then go onto complain about far larger targets in Windows.

There is a clear difference between apps designed for touch and apps designed for mouse input. Even on a Surface Pro 2 desktop app control can be difficult, on a Mini it would be worse.