Microsoft Takes Apple by Surprise, Pours on the Heat

The contrast between Microsoft’s October 26 event and Apple’s October 27 event has the PC industry in a buzz. Observers who have been diehard Apple fans are casting jealous eyes towards the new Microsoft products. Meanwhile, some observers who have been against Apple for political reasons are making some solid observations that don’t have the traditional earmarks of being self-serving and misinformed.

[Note: this discussion isn’t about phones. Or VR. Or games. It’s about PCs and Macs.]

Did Apple make everything right with the Mac community yesterday? Did the company heal the wounds from so much product neglect? Are Apple’s instincts about the Touch Bar better than Microsoft’s instincts about how technical and creative professionals want to work? Has Microsoft shown signs of a reinvigorated ability to innovate under CEO Satya Nadella? These are some of the questions that are on my mind in the aftermath of those two events.

Microsoft Surface Studio. 28-inch touch screen. Image credit: Microsoft

Let’s walk thorough the Microsoft PC technology, then some of the reactions.

First, there’s a good product overview of the Microsoft Surface Studio over at The Verge. “Microsoft’s Surface Studio is a stunning desktop computer.” There, you’ll find videos of analysis by The Verge and Microsoft’s introduction event.

Next is Mashable’s article. “What it took to design the Surface Studio.” Lance Ulanoff spoke with Ralf Groene, Microsoft’s head of industrial design and revealed key insights into the design. After reading these articles and viewing the videos, you’ll have a really good feeling for what the Surface Studio is all about and the innovation involved.

One decent article that summed up the event comparison was at MarketWatch. “Apple demolished by Microsoft at their respective PC events.” Articles like this won’t make Apple happy, but then, as an old boss once told me, “perception is everything.”

Apple, having dealt from a position of technical strength and favor for so long, seemed to get wrapped up in the Touch Bar to the exclusion of its overall customer base. The USB-C-based 2016 MacBook Pros get so immersed in the idea that touching the display of a notebook computer is ergonomically unsound that they’ve ended up forcing the customer into certain technical and operational cubbyholes. I mentioned a few yesterday.

More importantly, the painful gap in time from the last MBP updates (March, May 2015) seemed to overwhelm the technical significance of the Touch Bar. When contrasted to what Microsoft has achieved with the Surface Studio, the reaction amongst the press, perhaps for the first time, came down with sobriety and logic on the side of Microsoft.

The Surface Dial rests on and works right on the display itself. Image credit: Microsoft.

One of the things that may have assisted in this assessment was the Surface Dial (US$99) which, on the surface, has the instinctive technical feel of something from a science fiction future in contrast to Apple’s touch sensitive Touch Bar which is merely cool. (But see page 2 here for more.) Time will tell if Microsoft’s instincts prove superior or are simply a trade-off in concepts. In the meantime, Jason Snell at Six Colors looks at the relative merits of touching your work or touching the Touch Bar in “Perpendicular philosophy.”

These products are very new. We’ll have to see how the two philosophies end up meeting consumer needs and which turns out to be solid money maker. But the sense I have, at this early stage, is that Apple had become complacent and was caught by surprise. Nadella’s Microsoft which had met with so much derision under Steve Ballmer is now the fresh thinking underdog in the PC arena.

Apple is not the kind of company that explicitly, outwardly acknowledges this possible shift. Healing will have to come in the form of its new product designs and decisions from now on. And less stony silence.

Now, on to Apple’s vision. That’s on page 2.

Next page: The Tech News Debris for the Week of October 24th. Apple’s Vision Beyond the Touch Bar

Page 2 – The Tech News Debris for the Week of October 24th.

Apple’s Vision Beyond the Touch Bar

Apple’s new 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pros. Image credit: Apple

One of the questions customers are asking this week is how committed to the Mac Apple is. At C|Net, Shara Tibken and Connie Guglielmo have put together a fabulous article. “Does the Mac Still Matter?” The subtitle: “In exclusive interviews, Apple executives explain why it was over four years in the making — and why we should care.”

We didn’t want to just create a speed bump on the MacBook Pro,” [Schiller] says. “In our view this is a big, big step forward. It is a new system architecture, and it allows us to then create many things to come, things that we can’t envision yet.”

This article will give you a feeling about how Apple is thinking about the Touch Bar and beyond. One thing that comes to mind is the long-term roadmap of just how we’ll work in the future with iPad-like device which we touch and future Mac-like devices and their displays which we haven’t been accustomed to touching. And how they may or may not merge. Only Apple has the roadmap, but the Touch Bar might just be the launch point.

More Debris

Why do the new MacBook Pros still max out at 16 GB RAM? MacRumors has that reader question and the answer from Apple SVP Phil Schiller. In part:

It is a good question. To put more than 16GB of fast RAM into a notebook design at this time would require a memory system that consumes much more power and wouldn’t be efficient enough for a notebook.

I find that to be an unsatisfying answer. After all, when in the office, connected to a 4K/5K display, doing compute and app intensive work, the MBP is plugged into A/C power. When on the move, with only a small display available, less ambitious tasks are likely. And even then, a battery top-off is seldom hard to achieve. Unless you’re in the Antarctic. I remain unconvinced because the competition has all moved to 32 GB.

If you’re thinking about a new MBP with USB-C and Thunderbolt 3, this is a good FAQ and refresher on the transport protocols also supported: USB 3 and DisplayPort 1.2. Backwards compatibility is also discussed. I have this one kept handy myself.

Joe Wilcox is trying to make sense of the specs and prices of Apple’s post-event Notebook line. So far as I can tell, he’s got it all right. And it’s pretty darn confusing. “Could Apple make Mac laptop buying any more confusing?”

If you’re interested the more detailed specs of the new MacBook Pros, AnandTech is always a great place to go. “Apple Announces 4th Generation MacBook Pro Family…” There, you’ll find a comparison chart with the part numbers for the various Intel Skylake CPUs and GPUs.

Microsoft’s Surface family.  Surface Studio, Surface Book and Surface Pro. Image credit: Microsoft.

Finally, while all the excitement this week was for Microsoft’s Surface Studio and Apple’s new MacBook Pros, I want to bring your attention to Microsoft’s relatively new notebook, the Surface Book. Engadget has given it a thorough review, and its worth checking out. What struck me was the all out emphasis on computational power, something that catches the attention of many technical and creative professionals. It’s just another sign that Microsoft, after being asleep at the PC wheel for years, is now swinging for the fences.

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Particle Debris is a generally a mix of John Martellaro’s observations and opinions about a standout event or article of the week (preamble on page one) followed on page two by a discussion of articles that didn’t make the TMO headlines, the technical news debris. The column is published most every Friday except for holidays.

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