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Microsoft Surface Book

Three 'Microsoft Surface Book' stories October 2015 - January 2016
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Microsoft dismisses iPad Pro as “a companion device” and references old Steve Jobs stylus quote

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Jan 12 2016 - 5:08 am PT
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A senior Microsoft spokesman dismissed the iPad Pro as nothing more than a companion device, contrasting it with the Microsoft Surface when speaking to TrustedReviews.

Dan Laycock, Senior Communications Manager for Microsoft Surface, says that while consumers can get by with a single Surface product, the same can’t be said for Apple’s heftiest tablet.

“Microsoft really wants you to only carry one device for tablet and PC use,” explains Laycock, speaking to us at the Consumer Electronics Show 2016 in Las Vegas. “Whereas the iPad Pro is always going to be a companion device.”

Laycock also said that “at one point in time, Apple declared that if there’s a stylus, that’s failure” – a reference to a quote by Steve Jobs when referring to early smartphones. Apple, of course, argues that the Apple Pencil as an optional accessory for some tasks is very different to a device which cannot easily be used without a stylus.

Benchmark tests last year showed that the Apple Pencil offered lower latency than Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4 stylus.

Via Business Insider

Apple bringing 1,000 new jobs to Ireland, where Tim Cook describes Microsoft’s Surface Book as “deluded” [Updated]

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Nov 11 2015 - 4:28 am PT
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Update: Apple has since stated that Cook intended to describe the Microsoft Surface Book as “diluted” rather than “deluded.”

The Irish government has announced that Apple will be employing an additional 1,000 staff in Ireland, the country where the company declares much of its revenue from sales throughout Europe, reports Reuters.

Ireland’s main foreign investment agency, the IDA, said Apple was to add 1,000 jobs to its office in Cork by mid-2017 from 5,000 at present. It said the company had also added 1,000 jobs in the past year.

There had been some concern about whether Apple would maintain a significant presence in the country if the European Commission investigation into Apple’s tax dealings in the country went against the company … 
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Microsoft’s claim that Surface Book is twice as fast as 13-inch MacBook Pro misleading, show benchmarks

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Oct 23 2015 - 5:38 am PT
141 Comments

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When Microsoft launched its first full-on laptop, the Surface Book, it made a big point of claiming that the machine was twice as fast as a 13-inch MacBook Pro. Benchmark tests by PCWorld show that this claiming is misleading, though the dedicated graphics card available in certain models does pay off for some uses.

The site’s tests showed that in pure CPU benchmarks, the MacBook Pro was actually slightly faster than the Surface Book. This remained true for Geek Bench 3 tests, which simulate real-life usage … 
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