Ralph Waldo Emerson is credited with saying, “Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door.” Well, that may work with mousetraps, but it doesn’t appear to work with tablets. If Mr. Emerson was around today, he might be credited with saying, “Build a better tablet than the most popular one, and the critics will rip it to shreds.”
Case in point: the Microsoft Surface Windows 8 Pro.
Walt Mossberg, All Things D “I like the original Surface and see it as a tablet with the extra benefit of some Microsoft Office programs. However, I am less enamored with the Surface Pro. It’s too hefty and costly and power-hungry to best the leading tablet, Apple’s full-size iPad. It is also too difficult to use in your lap. It’s something of a tweener — a compromised tablet and a compromised laptop.”
Steve Kovach, Business Insider “The Surface Pro is just like the first Surface except it’s thicker, heavier, costs at least $400 more, and has about half the battery life. It looks like a tablet, but you can snap on an optional (but essential) keyboard cover that turns the Surface Pro into a pseudo-laptop. So why would anyone buy that?”
What they fail to mention, is that the Surface Windows 8 Pro is highly innovative, and unlike any device we’ve seen to date. Microsoft may have, quite possibly, pioneered a new device category. A small form factor tablet with the processing power of a desktop computer. What the critics also fail to mention is that pound for pound, no other tablet device in the marketplace can match what the Surface Windows 8 Pro has to offer. Don’t believe me? Name one!
Here, I’ll list a few that you might have in mind:
Acer Iconia W700 – Weights 2.1lbs. as a tablet, but has a separate docking station and a bluetooth keyboard.
Dell XPS12 Ultrabook – Weighs 3.35lbs., and is thicker when configured as a tablet.
Lenovo Twist – Weighs 3.48lbs., and is thicker when configured as a tablet.
Microsoft on the other hand have stated how the Surface Pro is the best pound for pound. “The product was designed to take full advantage of Windows 8 coupled with the Ivy Bridge core processor from Intel. We created a product that did not compromise speed, performance in any way. With that, we wanted to be the best notebook/laptop product in its class, but still deliver you the tablet form factor. This product is optimized in every way to take advantage of the full third generation core i5 it runs, yet give the best battery life. If you compare it to say a MacBook Air, you will quickly see that pound for pound in battery size vs battery life, you will find optimizations that puts Surface best in its class.”
Yes, they all have similar specs, and are marketed as tablets, but none of them are designed with the combination of size, weight, processing speed, and portability, that is found in the Surface Windows 8 Pro. So, yes I agree with the critics; it’s not a better mousetrap. But, it’s for certain, a better tablet!
