Microsoft Event - October 26th

Microsoft has announced an event on October 26th at 10 AM EDT.

Live Stream: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/octoberevent

Microsoft is expected to discuss new features for Windows 10 and upcoming Surface devices.

At this event, Microsoft might announce a long rumoured addition to the Surface line up, an all-in-one computer. A number of FCC filings have shown a Surface branded wireless keyboard and mouse that could go along with this new all-in-one.

In terms of the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book, Microsoft might only announce refreshed versions of these devices with Intel Kaby Lake processors and in the case of the Surface Book, updated NVIDIA Pascal graphics. One addition to a refresh could include Thunderbolt 3, enabling the Surface devices to utilize features such as external graphics cards.

There is also the possibility Microsoft might announce a Surface 4, as the Surface 3's production will stop at the end of this year.

Last year, the Surface Book went almost completely under the radar, so there is definitely the possibility for a surprise, but we'll just have to wait and see.

MS has been quiet. I wonder how Surface products are selling, and if they're worth it to MS.That keyboard is definitely reminiscent of another I'm quite familiar with...

Speaking of which, I wonder if this event will be largely drowned out by an anticipated October Apple event (new MacBooks/Pros, new iPad/Pros). We're already seeing some scary-fast mobile benchmarks creeping out from what many presume to be the A10X.

No word on sales figures, but Surface revenue was up 9% in their Q4 report. Considering there are more devices in the pipeline, I'd say it's doing well. More Surface-style devices are also coming out from companies like ASUS, HP and Lenovo.

Speaking of which, I wonder if this event will be largely drowned out by an anticipated October Apple event (new MacBooks/Pros, new iPad/Pros). We're already seeing some scary-fast mobile benchmarks creeping out from what many presume to be the A10X.

Last year's Surface event generated a considerable amount of buzz, an all-in-one along with other announcements might do the same. New Macbooks are well overdue, the current ones are years outdated, although, new hardware won't be able to compensate for macOS.

I don't see how these "scary fast" benchmarks from questionable sources will make the iPad Pro any better. The current model is still well underutilized. Even if Apple was using the same Intel hardware as Microsoft, they'd still be worlds behind what a Surface with Windows can offer. No matter how hard Apple seems to try, the iPad Pro is still just a big iPad (read: big iPhone with a stylus).

An image that's been circulating the internet is a Microsoft patent drawing that might hint at what a Surface all-in-one could look like:

@NVIDIATI: I'd find the "buzz" more compelling if we had an idea of how much people felt like supporting it with their dollars.

There's also a disconnect between what people perceive as Apple failing to do something vs Apple choosing to do something. Apple choosing not to give you what you want doesn't mean they couldn't.

MS as a whole is not really competing in the post-PC space. Particularly so now that Windows Phone has failed so miserably. That's a critical piece of an ecosystem lost. Google has no desktop operating system and no control or influence in the tablet space.

Apple is the only one that has put all the pieces together. And you're right, their Macs are overdue. I'm hoping to see some really interesting inclusions in some of this year's models (ambient OLED bar to replace function keys—let's hope that comes true).

Come to think of it, I'm not sure this topic is even appropriate for the Mobile board. I suppose we will have to see what MS announces.

(A touch screen laptop with an available detachable keyboard, running a desktop OS, with new potential for a mouse/keyboard announcement doesn't sound like Mobile Board material)

The "buzz", as in media attention. Given Surface revenue has been increasing, obviously people are supporting it with their dollars. The said amount can probably be found in Microsoft's quarterly reports.

Poor choice of words. For example, Apple "could" adopt newer versions of OpenGL or Vulkan for macOS, but they're not, so the ecosystem, and its users, continue to lose out. Clearly something is failing.

Post-PC is still a ridiculous statement, while the sales have declined over the past years, it's not something that's going to disappear, or become insignificant. For that matter, global tablet sales have been declining year-over-year (especially the iPad) but Windows market share has seen increases. Mobile shipments are also expected to decline this year.

Google's off in a different direction as of late, they're planning to merge Chrome OS and Android next year (rumoured "Andromeda"). While I can't see too much promise, I'm still curious to see what they have planned, especially with future Pixel devices being developed more and more in-house. Google is also planning to make their own silicon designs in-house as well. Hardware is now part of their current vision, which is definitely a new direction for them.

I'm less interested in OLED function keys and more interested in OLED displays on laptops, like those already seen from HP and Lenovo.

Given we've always had Surface and other tablets on this board, I see no problem. For that matter, we don't even know if new Surface devices of any kind will be announced. Windows 10 can be used as a desktop OS, but it's also used on tablets (and Xbox, Hololens, etc.). Its versatility and features are very relevant to the Surface, which is still a tablet, even if it can do so much more than any other tablet.

it'll be another crapfest like googles show.

leave the hardware shows to apple.

MacBook Pro + iphone 7 im good microsoft we no longer need you anymore there no longer relevant

and sony is also dead too why would i play console when my macbook plays billions of games same my phone i don't have time for gaming dedicated only machine i need my items to do everything.

Sorry sony but ill be playing Mario Run and Pokemon Go for free while your playing some horribad indie with dlc for 100 bux yeah I think im on board with apple.

I get Itunes I get my App store im good im very good.

just another terribad show compared to apple.

These companies still think their relevant, ive been an apple user since the Apple iisi

We don't need anyone else we haven't ever. Apple is killing it.

Hahahah... So Microsoft is making their version of an iMac, replete with the same exact keyboard.

Not sure why people still think MS will come out with anything that'lol be relevant.

As for the Surface line, professionals already swear by iPads. The amount of support between an iPad and Surface is so painfully obvious

UPDATE - Amazon might have just given away Microsoft's plans for a refreshed Surface Pro 4 by adding "OLD VERSION" to the product name:

Big yawn for the surface line

Someone wants attention hehehe

The surface has been doing pretty well as of late so It will be interesting to see what comes out of this. No one really sees the iPad or iPad pro as a competitor to the surface as they both have their own place in the market.

Definitely, tablets like the iPad Air 2 (and numerous Android tablets) are often used as a POS device and not as a productivity device. The Surface is rarely used for these types of applications.

The comparison came when Apple had advertised the iPad Pro as being a laptop replacement, something it's clearly not.

@musicalmac Following up on a previous comment, Microsoft's Q1 17 earnings report shows Surface revenue is up 38% y/y.

@NVIDIATI: Does it go into any other specifics? I guess from a market standpoint growth is all that matters. Even if it's going from 100 to 138 total sales.

Only that the amount of revenue was $926m.

@musicalmac: Windows Phone will rise from the ashes soon!

UPDATE - It looks like Amazon changed it again. Now it says "2015 VERSION":

It looks like a SP4/SB refresh, "2016 VERSION", might really be coming on Oct. 26th. We'll just have to wait and see.

I think @mister-man had a heart attack with that new Surface Book model and that Surface Studio, must be questioning his love of Apple since Apple no longers caters to professionals.

They never really did to be honest. I mean the new macbook wont even have an esc key and developers are pretty upset about that. It feels like apple just keeps trying to generate buzz with these odd decisions, they implement changes that look nice and sound cool but are functionally inferior to what they replace. Only time will tell if it pays off.

While it is true that microsoft has been a bit quiet outside of the PC market, I am spotting more and more surfaces out in the world and even saw a few surface books. They must be doing decently well to continue to make newer models. I for one would love a surface book if I had anywhere near enough money for one.

It looks like Microsoft isn't moving to the latest hardware yet. They're likely waiting until early 2017 for the Surface Pro 5 and Surface Book 2 release before moving to Kaby Lake, GTX 10xx series GPUs, Thunderbolt 3 and their next generation Pen technology.

No Surface Pro 4 refresh.

Surface Book with Performance Base:

• 16 hour battery life
• GTX 965M 2 GB
• $2,399 starting price

Surface Studio (limited availability for Holiday 2016)

• 28" 4500 x 3000 display (3:2) (Adobe sRGB, DCI-P3 and a number of calibrated profiles)
• Skylake quad core i5 or i7
• 8 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB DDR4
• GTX 965M 2 GB or GTX 980M 4 GB
• 1 TB or 2 TB storage
• $2,999 starting price

For creators, the Surface Studio is definitely an interesting device, but the internal hardware seems like an all-in-one from last year (GTX 9xxM and no Thunderbolt 3) as if it was supposed to launch along side the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book.

Surface Dial

• On screen capacitive feature (Surface Studio only - Surface Pro 4/Surface Book on screen support coming via firmware)
• Dial rotation and push button
• Haptic feedback
• $99

Surface Keyboard

• Bluetooth 4.0
• $129.99

Surface Mouse

• Bluetooth 4.0
• $49

Surface Ergonomic Keyboard

• Bluetooth 4.0
• $129.99

What else is new?

Windows 10 Creator's Update

$299 VR headsets from HP/Dell/Lenovo/ASUS/Acer

Nothing wow'd me.

No Xbox Scorpio

No Smartphone

The laptop didn't look as good as macbook

the vr headset looks uglier than gear vr and psvr

really bad show how is microsoft's stock so high anyway?

look at these products are people buying them?

I couldn't even find the live show youtube didn't have it up apple and sony's show were huge on youtube this was like 1000 people tuned in

I just dunno man what there doing

G8 B8 M8

Gabe from Penny Arcade released his impressions of the Surface Studio (https://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2016/10/26/the-surface-studio):

I spend 6 to 10 hours a day drawing digitally and I have for more than a decade. The Cintiq and the Surface, these are like my tools or my instruments. I am intimately familiar with how it feels to create things on these sorts of devices and the Studio honestly feels like a generational leap forward. If you are a digital artist and you are currently working on a Cintiq you have to go to a MS store and look at the Studio.

One part caught my attention and could explain why the specifications are "about a year old":

About a year ago they invited me over to show me a brand new device. I ended up in a little tiny room with a sheet covering something on a table in front of me. There was a one way mirror on my left and I was informed that there were people back there watching. I was super curious what it was all about and when they pulled the sheet off I saw the Surface Studio.

Yeah I see a lot of potential with the Surface Studio for creative artists and graphic designers as well as engineers. As for the GPU issue not being Pascal, this was probably made before Pascal was announced and before Nvidia announced their smaller versions as this Studio was being made

UPDATE - Surface Dial on-screen support is coming to the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book via firmware update:

While you'll be able to use the Surface Dial with any Windows 10 PC, Microsoft is also working on a firmware update to let Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 owners attach the Dial to their display and have the same functionality as the Surface Studio. Microsoft's head of devices and Windows, Terry Myerson, revealed the planned firmware update in an interview with The Verge today.

Credit The Verge

So it looks like we finally know what the 2016 device was.

Microsoft seems to have 3 more devices planned for 2017. I could assume two of them are the Surface Pro 5 and Surface Book 2. As for the third, perhaps a Surface 4, Surface Studio 2, Surface Phone, or maybe something else entirely.

Looking decidedly not appropriate for the mobile board. Unless I hear compelling evidence to the contrary, this is probably a lock.

Windows 10 Creator's Update (For Windows tablets it's equivalent to a new version of iOS or Android).

Surface Dial (creative accessory for Surface Pro 4 & Surface Book).

New high end version of the Surface Book (Which is also a tablet).

--

Heck, there are 4 threads alone just bashing Google's Pixel and numerous other troll / spam threads.

There is even a thread on speculation about AR with no content. Even this thread has more content related to Hololens / AR (Windows 10 Creator's Update) than that one.

@NVIDIATI: I agree, with the lack of quality threads in this board, it would be a shame to have this locked.

You know, it will be a good debate to show that Windows 10 has evolved from Windows 8/8.1 to be more mobile friendly. Yes, the Surface Studio is definitely making you very envy since Apple wouldn't do that kind of innovation on their iMacs. Also, like @NVIDIATI stated, the Surface Book is pretty much a tablet hybrid.