I pay more than a healthy amount of attention to advertising, because really, if you can learn that almost everyone is trying to sell you something and then how they do it, you’re gonna go far kid.
The other big reason being that I work in advertising, and there’s always a satisfaction in discovering how my colleagues are finding new ways to lie selling their product.
The most recent one I’ve noticed?
The Microsoft Surface Pro 4 fabled as the ‘tablet that can replace your laptop’.
And don’t get me wrong, I really wanted one when I first saw the ad. The thing is cutting-edge tech in a sexy presentation. Don’t we all want to replace our aging laptops? In fact, who wouldn’t want to replace their laptop for a sleeker, lighter, touchscreen tablet that runs all the latest apps?
Wake up! You’re falling for it again.
Riddle me this, why would the people who currently sell the most popular operating system for laptops, want to replace them?
(And by the way, that’s not my opinion, Best Buy straight up says Windows is the most popular operating system on their laptops page.)
The answer is that they don’t.
Instead, Microsoft wants to indirectly kill the iPad via the backend. It’s no secret that Apple defined for most everybody exactly what a tablet is and what it should be. So instead of going head to head with the iPad, Microsoft wants to convince consumers that their newest tablet can replace your laptop, because if your laptop IS a tablet, there is no way you’re going to go buy another tablet.
Here’s the straight up and down:
The Surface Pro 4 starts at $900 for the most basic model and goes all the way up to $2,200 for the mega-tablet. Let’s say you settle for a ‘middle of the surface (yukyukihatemyselfyuk)’ machine at $1,300 dollars.
That gets you:
- 256 gb of memory/8 gb of RAM
- Intel Core i5 processor, 2.4 gigahertz
- 12.3″ touchscreen, 27.7 ounces
- stylus
Hey, where’s my keyboard?! Sorry Charlie, even if you pony up over a thousand bucks you’ll still need to throw in an extra $130 to have a keyboard with your new laptop impersonator.
Now, just for comparison, I’m typing this on a HP Pavilion dm4, or what the tech world would commonly refer to a dinosaur now in its fifth year (and still trucking on!).
Here are the specs for my laptop which I bought for $750 in 2011:
- 582 gb of memory/4 gb of RAM (expandable)
- Intel Core i3 processor, 2.10 gigahertz
- 14” screen, ~ 8lbs
- No stylus functionality
So as you can see, the high-end Surface Pro 4 doesn’t even greatly outpace a five-year old laptop, which cost almost half the price comparatively. But let’s say you took that same $1300 right now and put it towards a high-end laptop, what could you get?
The ASUS Zenbook would treat you well:
- 512 GB solid state drive / 12 gb RAM
- Intel Core i7 Processor, 2.5 gigahertz
- 13″ touchscreen, 3.2 pounds, and 0.8″ thin
- Stylus not included, but keyboard comes standard
The solid state drive and 12 gb of RAM alone are going to deliver some of the fastest start-up times and ability to run a plethora of different applications, web pages, and streaming without a hitch. Combine those with the i7 processor and you’ve got some serious hardware at under 5 pounds.
So the next time you’re meandering the tech section and a salesperson tries to convince you that the Microsoft surface is anything other than an well-advertised attempted iPad killer, hit them with this knowledge and a tip of the hat.
Word Slurpee 