Microsoft Surface, Will it kill the i-pad? Options

[Licentia Per Ori...]

So unless you have been hiding under a rock for the last couple of months you will know that Microsoft are planning to jump into the tablet space.

This is currently dominated by Apple.
Will Microsoft take apples crown?

many people are of the opinion that it's going to give apple a serious kicking, and will migrate more people to the microsoft eco-system, resulting in lower future sales of i-phones and i-pods to boot.

Personally i think it will do more, It has the capabilities to dominate the tablet market.

my reasoning is that.
1. It works at work.
I pad is great and that, but if you work in an office chances are you use windows there. You will use MS office,
The i-pad does not work well with Windows, The surface will be designed to work with it seamlessly.

2. It out specs the i-pad.
Microsoft are releasing two versions with the pro version packing an Ivy bridge i5!
It's a serious but of kit.

3. the keyboard.
Yea it's a tablet, but putting the keyboard on it.
(and crucially giving it away for free)
make the windows tablet a true contender for laptop replacement.
Even the biggest apple fan-boi out there will admit that the i-pad is good for consuming content (watching and reading things)
but is completely crap when it comes to creating content (like forum posts)

So what are your thoughts?
are Microsoft going to dominate in the hand-held market?
the i-phone 5 is launching, and no one is excited about it.
But the new Nokia phones are far more exciting,
and will having your PC, Tablet, Phone and Games console all operate on a single integrated eco system attract customers to Microsoft?

[Sparrowsmith]

I'd say Apple will always have two things over Microsoft.
1 - style
2 - function

Apple products crash a helluva lot less than other products on the market. Take the macbooks. They're not thrown together from bits and pieces, they are a solid 'whole' piece of technology. Taking one apart is like rocket science (exaggeration). They also know how to sell themselves. They REALLY know how to appeal to a crowd.
But it's never scared microsoft because they dominate the workplace. In fact, they dominate most markets.
I own a PC, and I intend for my next computer to be a PC. I do like macs, but I like the honesty I get from a PC. If I look up reviews on an apple product, the reviews are all polarized, I don't learn anything. On the other hand my current laptop, a Medion Akoya P6613, has really good reviews, and while I've treat it very badly and it is somewhat broken, it still fights the good fight.
And then there's the other reason I prefer PCs. You can take them apart. I know my laptop inside and out. I've taken a soldering iron to it. Fixing this things little bugs and problems has actually taught me a lot of skills. When a mac breaks, you take it to an istore because there's nothing you can do, but a PC is designed to be easily accessible.

And that's it basically. Apple brings out magical technology that you can't really do anything with, while standard PCs running windows can be altered and upgraded so long as you know how to open youtube and find a guide.
My brother owns an macbook and it took him about an hour to change out his hard drive for a static one. I could do that on my Medion in ten minutes.

And this is why I think the Microsoft Surface isn't really a great idea.
Microsoft's strong suit has never been hardware, it's software. They make an OS that, buggy as it is, several markets rely on. Leave the 'future' stuff to Apple, cause people will buy it no matter how shitty it is. I'm not saying the ipad is shit, but if you wreck the screens on one of those bad boys, you're FUCKED. If I wreck my laptop screen, I just buy a new laptop screen. I don't even need help attaching it.

Out of interest, has anyone here seen Pirates of Silicon Valley?
Sums up the Apple/MSoft relationship nicely.