Decent prices on the newly released Surface Snapdragon lines (both Pro and Laptops).
Posting for anyone that is looking to pick one up or try one out, PSA these are 1st generation / early adopter devices so buyer beware regarding ARM64 app compatibility.
PS these listings are valid for pricebeat with Officeworks (what I did) as the UPC's match.
this is opt in now so not on by default
Pretty sure that feature has been "recalled" and got turned into a public beta opt-in. Microsoft really shat the bed on the launch of these devices.
that being said, once the prices start coming down and/if app compatibility improves - even without all the AI stuff, this line is shaping up to be a viable alternative to Macbooks
Translation layer works pretty well from my experience
once the prices start coming down and/if app compatibility improves - even without all the AI stuff, this line is shaping up to be a viable alternative to Macbooks
It already is competitive with Apple (better - no, but competitive - yes). This price is already cheaper than the M3 MBA, which is an 8GB/256GB config.
Regardless of whether you prefer macOS or Windows, this competition is undoubtedly good - I'm particularly looking forward to this pushing Apple to include 16GB RAM as a standard base spec in their future Macbooks, and potentially start at a 512GB SSD option.
FWIW, this has an upgradeable SSD, so you can easily get a 16GB/1TB config Surface Laptop 7 for around $1850. The equivalent M3 MBA is almost $1,000 more. Hopefully this puts downward pressure on the higher end MacBook configs too.
I am just slightly concerned with how MS is almost looking like they are brushing their prev attempts and Windows on ARM.
I really want them to succeed since cheaper tablet like (as in extremely power efficient and passive cooled) laptop that doesn't skimp on features is my grail laptop. Right now Apple Macbook is the only one that is close enough.
I am just slightly concerned with how MS is almost looking like they are brushing their prev attempts and Windows on ARM.
Issue is that the last few times, the performance on ARM was just not there. Even as recently as the Surface Pro X with the Qualcomm SQ1, the performance was just far behind what Intel / AMD could do with x86-64 (and what Apple was doing with their own ARM chips).
The Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus are genuinely faster than most of the Intel / AMD chips in similar price brackets, so is already an entirely different proposition.
Also the push that Apple is providing cannot be understated, Apple has gained around 10% market share since switching over to ARM (see: https://patentlyapple.typepad.com/.a/6a0120a5580826970c02b75…), after being stuck at around 20% for a while. Plenty of users I know (including myself) who aren't particularly fond of macOS, but are begrudgingly using it due to superior battery life, performance, and hardware.
@p1 ama: Just saw this and thought I might comment. The prime deal and having Amazon on the notification :S
The problem that I am seeing is more of, it didn't happen mindset.
Do I think MS has better chance with this attempt? Yes.
Do I think they will abandon it like their 1st and 2nd attempts without fixing the issues that might come from the transition? I feel like the history suggests that they would be.
They could have fixed and improved upon the failures that they had from previous attempts. It almost feels like they are taking the, the transition to ARM would solve the issues we had with Intel and AMD route. I am just going, why are they not looking at their past mistakes and go, there might be something more than transition to ARM that made Apple succeed in this transition since we failed twice already with our transition.
It reminds me too much of Windows Mobile. I used to use Lumia 925, and I genuinely think they would have had a chance if they didn't take, "didn't happen, next version is going to solve everything" approach. They end up delaying for this next big thing without fixing anything, and end up releasing something that cannot compete with whatever is current at release, because their competition have been releasing software (and hardware improvements) with minute incremental changes that have added up to something massive. Normally this comes at the cost of, you have to buy newer hardware as well because our new big thing requires something new. This obviously pisses off people who had older hardware who were asking for improvements for aeons who were not necessarily wanting something massive (i.e. something with better sleep behaviour for their everyday devices, not necessarily new features).
More I think about it, this might be the MO for MS.
got one of those, beautiful machine and battery lasts forever
Have you run into any app compatibility issues?
Have a different model with Snapdragon X Elite; use this as a dev machine - no issues with my default VSCode + WSL2 setup.
Use Brave as a browser and their arm64 build works perfectly well. On the other hand, have gotten a few tab freezes on Microsoft Edge when trying to browse Amazon :')
When using Steam and Discord through the translation layer, works fine, but you may notice some slowness when you're hovering over the top menu in steam (for the dropdown text to appear); this also happens when hovering over profiles in Discord, but voice and video all work fine.
If you're looking to game on this, probably a 50/50 in my opinion. I mostly play indie games; most games run perfectly fine for me but some games randomly freeze :(
If you have niche applications that don't have native arm support, I probably wouldn't risk it. But if you're just a casual user (web browsing, microsoft office), this is pretty sweet as the battery does last ages.
I just wish these guys came out with something as powerful as a 14 Core M3 Pro laptops for development on a 16" screen. Would have definitely gotten one.
@[Deactivated]: I was hoping to be able to install arm windows on macs with m processors. Is it not possible yet?
@maiuspala: No idea, At 6000$ the cost would be prohibitive too.
https://www.apple.com/au/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/16-inch-sp…
@[Deactivated]: I just bought a MacBook Pro with M1 Pro and 32GB in new condition (open box) for $2500 from Mwave. It’s brand new.
I’m running Parallels with Win 11 inside. I use it for work (electronics) and it goes great. I’m really enjoying macOS at the moment.
@maiuspala: It can only be virtualised at the moment through something like Parallels or VMware Fusion, or UTM.
I've had the best experience with Parallels out of the three.
I only used it for work and it's all web based applications so can't comment much but it's fast.
What apps do you use? The vast majority of users only ever use a web browser and the Microsoft Office suite, which is almost a perfect use case for a machine like this.
Yep I've got one of these also, the battery is incredible and it's very fast. Impressive.
Microsoft wants to screen grab and recall my pornhub history - No thanks ! Do that to your employees if you like
I suggest researching before commenting. Recall is now opt in.
I got bombvoted earlier for criticising Copilot+ 😀
Yeah it’s opt in right now but it won’t be for long. Microsoft are constantly upping the ante with data collection and advertising in windows. I’m done with all that. I’m old school and care about my privacy
So turn it off? ShutUp10++
I'm with you on this. Privacy matters, and it's concerning how data collection seems to be increasing everywhere. Some folks here seem unfazed, but I value privacy too. It's good to see others who care about these issues.
I didn't neg you!
I think there is a fine line on privacy/utility. Reality is that if you have any sort of usage with big tech, then there is already a wealth of telemetry collected about you. That in return benefits you with personalization but some can see that as invasive (I personally do) - but then again, these companies are businesses - nothing is free.
You would have to go to extremes to take your privacy back (Graphene OS, Signal, Proton services / tutanota, De-googling your accounts etc)- but in doing that you are also making your digital life hell whilst at the same time making it a pain to interact with your friends and family.
my dayjob requires that I stay on top of digital privacy and I've personally grappled with the topic from both sides. Most sensible solution is to take a balanced approach that works for you.
I got bombvoted earlier for criticising Copilot+ 😀
No you didn't, you got "bombvoted" for spreading information that is untrue and no longer current
Don't confuse this tech with the cloud-based solutions pushed by Apple and Google. Recall saves screenshots to a local encrypted folder (only accessible to Administrators), which is then processed by local hardware for local information retrieval. How exactly is your privacy compromised?
Not technically 1st gen, they've had windows on ARM many times, it's just always been shite, since Windows RT more than a decade ago.
It's always been about better battery life but the performance/compatibility has been poor. This iteration is better, but from looking at reviews and tests you will still run into problems so check which software you use and ensure it's compatible before you purchase.
you are correct! previous ARM attempts were dead on arrival.
hopefully this time it sticks, what Apple has done with the ARM transition really has set the bar in-terms of performance/efficiency.
Also read that Intel and AMD have major releases around the corner, if that means x86 getting more efficient - I'm all for it.
Hoping to hear news of either the Samsung laptops, or the higher tier X Elite chips before pulling the trigger, but my laptop budget is full right now so very tempted..
A bit of a technical question, does anyone know which local LLM model are these new laptops using?
Got one for a co-worker. My biggest problem with ARM based chips is there's basically no printer drivers… We managed to connect our HP enterprise printer with Microsoft build in PCL driver, but the same driver wouldn't work with our Brother printer…
We also had to find ARM driver for the docking station as well.
Other than that, it works with all the apps we run so far.
Just set up my Brother HL-3170CDW on my Surface Laptop with ARM and it automatically found the printer, and dare I say, it just worked, I'm surprised how easy that was as I was expecting issues :)
There is discount on 15" models as well.
Got one via officeworks for $1614… Thanks
Same :)
Any chance you could post a photo of the receipt?
I'd appreciate this too ! can anyone post a receipt ?
I wish I held off for a few weeks then! Just bought it for full price at JB at the start of the month. 🥲
Love using it so far for some basic graphic design with Affinity and the usual productivity items. There are the occasional stutters with some x64 apps but overall it's been quite seamless.
Is this upgradable after purchase, or stuck with it for life like Macs?
SSD is upgradeable, that's it
Thanks, OP! Was waiting on the first decent sale to pick one of these up, just assumed it would take a bit longer for them to go on sale.
Initially tried to get JB Hifi to price match, but they knocked it back, which turned out great because Officeworks sold me one for $1,614 (price beat).
Bought a Surface Laptop 7, and coming from a Surface Pro 2 (which I used for 10 years, and is still working), so I’m sure it will be a nice upgrade.
Just adding in my thanks. I had Officeworks sell me the Surface Book for $1,614. It should be a nice upgrade from my Surface Pro 7.
Glad I could help!
Mine arrived earlier this morning, so far so good. haven't run into anything funky yet.
Guys can someone please post a receipt? would be a big help
Surface Book hasn't existed in years, but interested to know which one you got for this price, the Surface Laptop or Surface Pro?
In that case, it would have been the Surface Pro.
Genuine question, why are people asking for receipts when the discounted price is still on? shouldn't it just be a simple price beat request via phone?
In case it's helpful for people looking for a keyboard, JB Hi-Fi are selling the Platinum Surface Pro Signature keyboard for $159 here.
I couldn't find a cheaper price when searching.
I just received mine and it works fine for the Surface Pro 11.
Appears the keyboard I linked is no longer available. But, there's a 'Poppy Red' version which is even cheaper here.
just tried JB online and they said they can't match as it's not an authorised australian reseller.
Yep, JB has tightened their policies in recent months. I've found Officeworks to be easy to deal with provided the model# or UPC matches and that the competitor has a retail front with a valid ABN.
Also as a FYI for anyone looking to upgrade the SSD.
I upgraded to a 1TB Corsair MP600 Mini (TLC Nand) and it works perfectly with no compatibility issues.
Did you have to setup MS again or did it automatically setup i.e registered to the motherboard.
Did you use home again? Or pro?
I upgraded the drive in my surface pro and the license was picked up automatically.
Got a recovery image that's based on my serial and used that to setup the new drive. Had to setup The machine from new, 1:1 like the out of the box setup process.
My recommendation is that if you know you are going to upgrade, do it early into ownership so you won't be losing tonnes of data.
Yeah, I did the same thing. It was more cumbersome than I expected.
Here's a link to download the surface recovery image for anybody else that needs to do this.
Bought one. Thank you, OP.
I grabbed one today for the wife. Was a difficult choice but saved the $200 ordering from a non authorised supplier. Just hoping I'll never need to make a warranty claim.
Also grabbed a (presumably non authorised keyboard for $230 here: https://www.digidirect.com.au/catalog/product/view/id/67699/…?
Corgsta on 18/07/2024 - 10:02 Comment score below threshold.
