Microsoft Surface Laptop — Microsoft's answer to the MacBook Air

@jeroen_corthout Can't say for sure, but there's nothing indicating that you couldn't just install Windows 10 (home/pro) on this and be perfectly fine. It has the horsepower. Battery life might suffer a little.

@wuss Just read that for $49 you can get to the Home/Pro version. Other than that they should give this for free, I feel very relieved.

@jeroen_corthout @wuss TechCrunch says that the upgrade to Windows 10 Pro will be free until the end of the year. So, some good news for early adopters. https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/0...

@k3sava @jeroen_corthout really trying to find a reason why I shouldn't buy this. MacOS runs inside a VM pretty well afaik....

@wuss @k3sava Anyone found more info on the more advanced versions? 4GB RAM is not going to cut it.

@rrhoover I've never owned a MacBook ** gasp ** .. but this thing is beautiful. And, hell yeh, 14 hour battery?!? FINALLY!!

@rrhoover hardware is nothing compared to software. Where's their game there Ryan?

@rrhoover https://www.google.com/amp/s/www...

@sean_murphy @rrhoover If I can easily put linux on it,I'll be a happy camper.

@sean_murphy I'm not surprised. Easy access to the bash, unbelievable selection of desktop environments....what's not to like ;)

@bentossell Such a huge opportunity for them, and they nailed it.

@kunalslab Actually I think many developers will switch after the new Mac Book. Its too expensive for what it does. Also MS has finally integrated linux shell directly making it much easier for developers. I am a Mac user btw and looking to switch to Windows when the right hardware comes along and this one looks promising if there is a good support with it.

@orask fair point. As far as getting a powerful machine (which most devs I know want), we still don't know the pricing for the high-end model. Intel® Core™ i7 512GB SSD 16GB RAM Intel® Iris™ Plus Graphics 640 So let's revisit this when we find out this information. 😊 EDIT: see @jeroen_corthout's post about not being able to install Chrome. If you do any front-end development, that's a deal breaker.

@orask @kunalslab I agree. If it wasn't for work providing a new macbook pro, my personal purchasing history of mac books would have ended with the latest generation. WAY too overpriced for what I consider several steps BACKWARDS. Yes I need MacOS, but I'd be perfectly happy with my desktop setup, and rocking a laptop like this for on the go.

@orask yup it's that bash shell that makes Windows viable now

@abdou_tahiri You don't actually know that yet ;). You can technically install MacOS on most machines provided they have a UEFI based BIOS. As far as how usable it will be is a different story....

@wuss Nae, us AMD hackintoshers get buy pretty well even though we have to fiddle with our installs significantly more.

@ykguler yes you can... It was demonstrated during the announcement — with one finger.

@alexwhitedev Agreed. A few months ago bought a Dell XPS to try and switch back to Windows from Mac. Hardware works fine and I use it for browsing and Quickbooks. But for dev work eg. Rails, everything just took more effort. Being in this to get my work done and not geek out over hardware, I had to go back to my old MBP. Maybe it would be different if I were developing a product for Windows...

@steftheo11 to be fair the Surface Book is more of a MBP replacement than this.

@simonstjohn I'm sorry, didn't consider you pour pigmented sweat while typing. I'm sorry, didn't even consider that air is humid. I'm feeling kinda silly now..

@chthomos TechCrunch says the upgrade to Windows 10 Pro is free until the end of the year! Otherwise it's $49, which is a good deal too! :) https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/0...

@jaybroni you could use Xamarin to do iOS dev?

@jaybroni VM macOS runs pretty well I hear? I use a lot of mac only software too, so here's hoping..

@samsabri unfortunately apple doesn't allow that. You can build it using Xamarin on a PC but you still need a mac to compile and deploy to the app store.

@dan_preiss I use both - actually, we use Macs, Chromebooks and Windows laptops. The hardware might be fine, but using Windows is a pain in the proverbial, to this day. Weird and convoluted security protocols, stuff that should make sense doesn't, everything is harder than it needs to be. No thanks.

@randuin Touchscreen laptops are, in my experience, not very useful. 2 in 1's however are a different story. I replaced my wife's Macbook Air (screen issues after only 2 years), with an Acer R13 Chromebook 2 in 1. I didn't get it expecting the touch to be used much, but i was wrong. Granted, a large part of that is the R13's ability to tap into the Play store, but touch in the context of recreational use (not productivity) is immensely useful in a 2 in 1. Teepee mode is great for watching shows or getting the keyboard out of the way when cooking. Kids love playing mobile games on a 13" touchscreen w/ the keyboard folded completely back.