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Microsoft launches its Surface Pro tablet in New Zealand today (from $1349), complementing the Surface RT already on the market.
The good
The guts of Microsoft's Surface Pro pitch is that it can be used as a full-blooded PC replacement.
There's no faffing around with file conversions. The Pro's beefy hardware, including a laptop-like Intel Core i5 processor, allows the new tablet to run Windows 8 proper, and the same versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Photoshop - and any other Windows 7 or 8 programme - that you use on your PC (the cheaper, lighter RT lacks full compatibility). Or it can run any app from Microsoft's Windows Store - Microsoft's equivalent to Apple's iTunes AppStore or Google Play).
For the full desktop-replacement feel, you can dock to a regular monitor or keyboard (courtesy of wi-fi and Bluetooth, plus USB and mini DisplayPort jacks). There's also an SD Card slot for adding files and storage by hand, so to speak. Like the expansion ports, it makes you feel like you're on control, unlike the sealed-off iPad with its single, proprietary cord.
A built-in kickstand lets you prop the Surface Pro up on an angle.
And for on the road, there are two optional cases, each with a built-in keyboard and trackpad: the thin and light Touch Cover ($185), which has no moving parts, and the chunkier Type Cover ($199) which has physical keys with a bit of travel - which Microsoft says let you type twice as fast as tapping on a glass screen.
But the whole package together and you've got something that can almost be a PC replacement.
The Surface Pro's 4GB of RAM is a decent whack unless you're a real power user. But the on-board storage options (64GB or 128GB, plus that SD Card slot for DIY), while generous in tablet terms, or on the light side for your main work machine - and you get just 7GB of free online storage with Microsoft's SkyDrive (Microsoft points out, correctly that 7GB is more than others offer free; Apple's iCloud, for example, offers only 5GB, Dropbox a mere 2GB).
Like other services, SkyDrive lets you buy extra capacity, from $13 a year for 20GB to $66 a year for 100GB - better, but still not enough to keep pace with my laptop, where I'm constantly shuffling or deleting files as its 250GB SDD bursts at the seams.
A number of Android devices thrown in a 50GB Dropbox account. As it chases down iPad and Android tablets' big lead, it seems logical for Microsoft to reward Surface buyers with a big gob of bundled SkyDrive storage.
So, for now, most will probably veer toward using the Surface Pro as complement to their PC, or as a replacement in short bursts, like while traveling. In this department, the Pro naturally couples with Office 365, the cloud version of Office.
ABOVE: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer with a Surface Pro. The tablet comes in a durable-feeling magnesium "VaporMg" case and features a high definition display in the 16:9 widescreen shape used by most Androids - a contast with the iPad's boxier 4:3 ratio display.
The trade-offs
The Surface Pro's power comes at a price.
It weighs in at 908g (the heaviest iPad is 662g) and it's 1.35cm thick (to the iPad's 0.94mm). That extra heft over the Surface RT (676g) makes a difference. The Pro isn't comfortable to hold in one hand, or for a long period, such as when reading an ebook on Kindle software.
The extra grunt also takes a toll on battery life. Where the Surface RT can last an iPad-like up to 10 hours or so, the Pro is half that. Simply, that laptop-like power means laptop-like battery life.
The Surface Pro ($1349 with 64GB or $1499 with 128GB) is also more expensive than iPads with the same onboard storage. And on top of that you have to add up to $199 for a keyboard. An iPad with Retina Display with 64GB costs $1029 with wi-fi only; the 128GB model $1179. Microsoft can point out that's not apples to apples, so to speak, as its tablet has a more powerful process and more RAM, but it's how the punter in the street will compare.
Unlike iPad and most Android tablets, there's no cellular option. But in lieu of of popping in a SIM card, the Pro's USB slots mean you can attach a data stick. And when on wi-fi, you can use any web-capable communications app (and several, like Viber and Microsoft's own Skype, are available as Windows Store apps too).
Another issue is apps. Many high-profile iOS and Android apps, from Kindle to Twitter, now have versions in the Windows Store. But the iTunes AppStore and Play still have a big lead, and app makers still tend to focus on iPhone and iPad first, with an Android version a little later then, maybe, other platforms.
Against that, there's the convenience of being able to run almost any Windows progamme on the Pro.
On the local front, Microsoft NZ director of development Nigel Parker is helping to coral hundreds of software makers working on Windows Store apps. Some are focused on the local market, such as the apps now available for iSky, Trade Me and the NZ Herald.
But Mr Parker also points to others, like Artrage from Auckland's two-man Ambient Design, which have been worldwide hits. Among other tricks, Artrage takes advantage of the Surface's ability to "paint" thinner or thicker lines depending on the pressure applied to the screen. Mr Parker says it has now sold a million copies through the Windows Store - some for $US50, some for $1 to schools (Ambient now also targets iPad and Android users).
The long game
The Surface Pro's ability to run most Windows PC apps is very much the Surface Pro's secret sauce.
It's taken a while, but Microsoft now has a coherent strategy: the same (or at least very similar) version of Windows 8 runs across smartphones, tablets and PCs.
That makes life a lot easier for software makers, who can make an app available for all three platforms with only a modest amount of tweaking.
And it will also make life a lot easier for Windows users as they juggle multiple devices - a common interface, and using the likes of Office 365 and SkyDrive to share and sync files between your gadgets is a strong story.
"Will" is the operative word here. The weakness, for now, is the Windows 8 interface on the Surface Pro looks foreign to many people.
Most are still on Windows 7, or an older version. HP told NBR a common question from business buyers about its Windows 8 tablet, the ElitePad, is "Can it be downgraded to Windows 7?" (Answer: no). And Microsoft NZ marketing and operations director Frazer Scott says a number of corporates are going to make the leap from Windows XP - released more than a decade ago - straight to Windows 8. That type of upgrade takes time, he adds.
Yet, it will happen. Microsoft has already sold 100 million Windows 8 licenses. In 12 months, the new OS is going to start looking a lot like the new normal for PC users - in turn making the Surface Pro look a lot more familiar, and its compatibility advantages a lot more obvious (things should be helped along by the free Windows 8.1 - aka Windows Blue - which is due for a public preview in June. The incremental upgrade will seek to make life easier for the users who have been a little disorientated by Windows 8's pretty radical new look, and the absence of the familiar Start button).
The end game
There's been a couple of IDC and Gartner surveys lately showing a sharp drop in PC sales this year - which is being pegged on the rise of the tablet.
Mr Scott says it's more a "taxonomy issue" - in other words, we have to account for the fact that the PC's form factor is changing.
We're already seeing some of Microsoft's hardware partners making ultrabooks (lightweight laptops) that let you snap off the screen and use it as a tablet. The Surface Pro just comes at things for the other direction; sold standard as a tablet but offering better options than other tablets for adding a keyboard.
Tablets are definitely denting PC sales. People who would have ordinarily bought a new Windows laptop are letting it sweat a while longer, and spending their money on a tablet instead.
But the end game is a single device, and I think that will be an ultrabook with a snap-off display that doubles as a tablet, or an upgrade to the Surface (or one of the Windows 8 tablets made by partners like Dell, HP, Asus and Lenovo) with an easy keyboard snap-on option. And if we are heading for a single device, that's got to put Windows at the centre of things.
See the full Surface Pro tech specs and other details here.
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Microsoft launches Surface Pro tablet in NZ - its shot at success
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