Is the Surface a meme? Why do so many compsci students have one?

Is the Surface a meme? Why do so many compsci students have one?

They're comfy and unironically better than convertible laptops.

I've got one, good Imo, not worth the price tho

Used it to take all my notes in college. Did decently well as a coding laptop. Still holds up to this day. I had a SP3

I hear this a lot but not sure how it could be true. Windows is a shit tablet OS, and the keyboard/kickstand combo make a Surface more unusable compared to a laptop

What were the specs on it?

Because convertibles make shit tablets, period. The Surface with keyboard actually makes a pretty good computer as well as being an actual tablet.

They have a very VERY high failure rate.

Also TSA does't count as laptop so you don't have to take it out in security line

I see more fag uni students with 2016 $1000 MacBooks in their political science classes. Waste of money

I kind of agree but if you like OSX you don't really have any other choice so I can understand it. I know tons of people with macbooks who have had them for 5+ years without any issues or needing anything more powerful.
People with gaming laptops are the real retards.

>People with gaming laptops are the real retards.

literally this

Citation needed plz

This.

I have a Pro 3, bought it as a cheaper import when it was new. Screen and stylus are literally god tier. Battery has never been anywhere near as good as it should be, despite various firmware updates, and the fan can be a little loud (for a tablet), but it's a really good machine that performs really well.

>Windows is a shit tablet OS
Well, there are no Mac tablets, and Linux has no games.

>iPads don't exist
okay

Typing this on my 2017 Surface Pro, fantastic computer, horrible QC. I don't think there's another line of devices with as many widespread issues as the Surface line. Bought the warranty, worth the money.

There's nothing more autistic than some faggot pulling out his giant gaming laptop at work or school. Real men who can support families and have potent semen use a portable computer outside of the house and leave their virginity protecting gaming laptop at home.

Is that true? I didn't even think about that.

>social media device

>Why do so many compsci students have one?
Heavily subsidized through a scheme like DreamSpark here in Pakistan.

Not him but I have a SP1, somehow thanks to an SSD fault windows refuses to work on it but I can still somehow install Ubuntu.

>i-O-ass is equivalent to a desktop operating system
OK Tim.

If you want more laptop out of a surface pro, you could always end up getting a surface book

I really wanted one my last year of uni for the note taking and portability. I have so many old notebooks with really good notes, imagine if they were all digitized without having to scan shit. I could look stuff up decades from now. And yes I know textbook pdfs and the internet replace the need for most old class notes but a select few of my professors were a goldmine.

Is the first gen omen laptop nerdy? I got it specifically because it looked nice, decent specs, wasn't over the top alienware tier but not fagbook expensive.

iPad 3 back in the day lasted throughout the entirety of my degrees, it was so fucking amazing for taking notes.

Then you resell the notes to your colleagues for dolla, especially since no one took tablet notes back then.

Three reasons.
>Students get a decent discount off of Microsoft products, including the Surface.
>Surface is powerful, in fact THE MOST powerful tech of its form factor.
>The Surface, despite being expensive, is not only powerful enough to get most tasks done, but also SUPER portable, which many students find useful if they have long commutes.

You want to play games on a tablet?

Have a surface pro 2. That thing got me through my last year of high school and 3 years of college. USB port burned out tho and the connection with the keyboard is janky. Other than that still works great.

its a lie. nobody in comp sci would run a surface

What do you use for notes?

I have one. It is great for drawing.

>They have a very VERY high failure rate.
My new SP had the SSD stop working. They paid for the shipping and gave me a new one and it's still working fine.

It's "good enough" and light and has great battery life. What else do students need? Not to mention the screen is fucking amazing so watching shit with it in tablet mode is great.

>tho
What up my nigga? Didna espect to see a brotha up in this bitch.

Holy fuck this sounds like a shilling campaign from the 40's. Who wants a family or children? Huge wastes of money

two in ones are good since they double as a laptop but if you just want a tablet the surface devices are nice, windows 10 actualkly works well on touchscreen devices not sure about other windows version

Depends on the checkpoint (airport) and the agent.

I went through MLI every week for a long time and they made me remove it to a bin each time because it "Looks like a laptop on the X-ray".

EWR: Basically never.

LGA: Basically never

IAH: 50/50

ORD: Basically never.

Now with the new rules in non-precheck lanes any electronic larger than a cell phone has to be divested anyways.

Because compsci students are basically high school kids who use windows

I have never actually witnessed a compsci student with a surface. Most compsci students have an gaming acer laptop.

>>Students get a decent discount off of Microsoft products, including the Surface.
Yeah, I wish

I have a decent setup at my room, but for a convertible that you simply use in uni/while commuting longer roads/... surface is just way too comfy. in no way i would recommend it for your main pc, but as a sidepiece it's more or less perfect
and you don't need to do anything that needs tons of resources (notetaking with new pen is just based), browsing facebook/instagram and other unnecessary shit...
I mean, it needs win10 to function as intended and telemetry will suck out the shit of your... uni notes, i guess?

It's a Facebook machine and iOS is a joke

I still love my SP3/4 though

Did you ask, or did you just do it?

Half the time I ask "do I have to take out a tablet?" and they'll just randomly give me an answer that day.

The other half of the time I just leave it in and it gets through nine times out of ten. I live in washington, so the guy explicitly was shouting "take out your laptops, surfaces, etc." I left it in and they didn't have a problem. I've started to look at the person behind the machine. If they take a while/are new or are female I'll take it out.

I think when I got mine it was $200 off (or maybe $300)?

>Who wants a family or children? Huge wastes of money
Sure is millennial in here. Enjoy life when it entirely lacks meaning in 20 years.

>>"My isolation from the real world because of videogames made me unable to get acouple"

only the shitty students use wangblows whilst they're meant to be using linux/macOS

I just do it and wait for secondary. MLI, secondary every time. Now in non-pre lanes, it's automagic secondary because it's obviously bigger than a cell

Got a surface 3 for cheap, its ok.
It's had some odd glitches, especially with updates, and sometimes the keyboard disconnects for some reason.

I just use it as a nexus 7 replacement, so it's ok.

Because Emojibook was too expensive for them.
Seriously meme aside, any sane CS Student would choose a MacBook because most universities would usely choose Mac OS over Windows botnet.

>Mac OS over Windows botnet
It's like this post is a visible form of irony.

I use a HP mini 110
> Pic related
My grandfather gave it to me when I was in middle school. Surprisingly it still works and the battery has aged well with a full charge lasting around 2-2.5 hours up to 3 days idle, it has been through windows XP up to 7 and lately a lightweight Debian 9 install.
I use it to take notes and occasional scripting, my only problem with it might be it's the noisy fan. Man, when HP made good shit.

can you actually put linux on these?

>3 days idle
Standby isn't idle, retard.

They're expensive for what they are, but if your mommy's paying for it, then they can be quite convenient for people who need mobile power but not THAT much.

If you are implying that I said Mac OS wasn't a botnet, then please take that statement back, user.
What I said is that UNIX is a far better development environment, and therefore most researchers prefer that both themselves and students use Mac OS. Apple truly owns the education market.

I laughed way too hard at this.

I have, but it's not entirely easy. Generally there's some special hardware that needs a kernel patch, but that was a couple years ago, so maybe it's not needed anymore.

Microsoft did always knew how to bribe their future developers. You could get pretty much the ENTIRE Microsoft software suite for free if you were taking CS classes back in my day.

i have the very first pro one. don't buy a surface if you're going to use it on you lap a lot. it's really fucking uncomfortable

>They have a very VERY high failure rate.
my surface pro from 2013 is only just starting to fail (SSD keeps shutting down). it's served me well, never had a hardware problem with it until now

You can still get it.

It's actually quite nuwave hipster of you to imply children will suddenly make your life worthwhile.

It's macbook or bust. Literally the one nerd who used linux got bullied by the profs they would always make quips and exceptions for the nerd like "open x and do y... well unless you use linux in that case figure it out yourself".

Whatever, you get it.

>It's actually quite nuwave hipster of you to imply children will suddenly make your life worthwhile.
Hahaha, really? I had no idea that traditional families were "nuwave hipster." I thought that was wanting to travel. Man, how do you get things so backwards?

Can it run GNU/Linux?

I was going to get an HP revolve to use a tablet. My hatred of Microsoft aside, I'm not sure if I could use one knowing I can't replace the battery and I highly value having a good keyboard.

You had no idea that cultural viewpoints operate as a pendulum and the progressive hippie parents gave birth to conservative children who in turn become hipster racists who preach about how amazing trad culture is? Perhaps try picking up a book or two to fulfill your life.

Those little HPs were wonderful. If the fan wasn't always noisy a replacement could fix it, but fan noise doesn't bother me.

ehhhh it still kinda sucks in tablet mode. Usually there are issues switching between orientations.

Do I have any options besides a business class hybrid laptop or Microsoft Surface? Most of the other PC tablets if 64-bit processors pair with 32-bit memory. This causes problems installing Linux.

I've been looking to replace my consumer laptop with a ThinkPad. Am I better off just combining the two and get an X1 yoga? I feel like 14 inches would be too big for a tablet to use around the house for basic computing and media consumption.

Just wondering, but why would you ever run Linux outside of a VM? It's basically the only OS that actually runs well in one.

honestly m8 you should wait until 2018 if all you do is basic browsing and media consumption when arm devices explicitly excel at that and asus/hp have already come out with one and they seem amazing

You obviously a newfag if you need to ask that question.

looks neat but still concerned that it might have 32 bit memory that may prevent me from installing Linux. They may also end up very expensive or with small amount of non upgradable storage. Still enough to make me change my plans. I was going to buy an HP revolve after the holidays. If the new tablets play nice with Linux, I'll just get one of those and replace my consumer laptop with a T-Series ThinkPad. Unless Ryzen mobile turns out to be amazing or something. It would have to offer more then a better integrated GPU justify the expense of buying a business laptop new.

Inshallah

>You obviously a newfag if you need to ask that question.
Trying to avoid bad performance, battery life, and user experience makes me a newfag?
The SP's Marvell chip doesn't even support monitor mode, so I don't see why the fuck anyone would WANT to run Linux directly on it.

Anyone who's been on Sup Forums for one or two months wouldn't need to ask. Even if it's a tablet I'm only going to use to read hentai in bed and look at my calendar, Windows still feels like a crude toy. I used to play games occasionally and even with such a simple use case Microsoft still finds a way to annoy or disappoint me.

they sell the shit 4gb version in student programs for cheap

Because they're comfy af and more useful than an iPad pro, and cheaper than any MacBook powerful enough to be useful. They're excellent for text books too. I like that I can literally carry my surface pro, and a decent pen+notepad for absolute emergencies (never needed them, but all tech fails eventually so I'm prepared in case it does), and nothing else at all. All of my books are on the device, and all of my class notes, files, papers, etc are on the device and my OwnCloud hosted on a machine with automated backups. In 9 years of college, I've not had an easier time than I do with my surface pro

>Even if it's a tablet I'm only going to use to read hentai in bed and look at my calendar, Windows still feels like a crude toy
um

>SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
>fan kicks in

Yeah I know tablets are usually used as toys. I also like my tablet to do some basic productivity. KDE's Kontact would be fantastic on a tablet. Having my email, scheduling and RSS feeds something I can easily carry around the home it's very appealing to me. Linux plays nice with home networking which is good because my calendar and address book is self-hosted on a calDev server. I might play some retro PC games on my tablet to and source ports are pretty easy to set up on Linux. A lot of that will hinge on how well I can right click with those digitizer pins though.

>Is the first gen omen laptop nerdy?

Yes. It's seriously one of the best laptop designs in recent years.

>all ports out of the way at the back (other than the SD slot)
>numpadless keyboard
>powerful-ish discrete graphics
>unique design that barely looks "gaymer" at all

All ruined by a fucking glossy touchscreen. And the following generations look like literally every other gaming laptop.

>All ruined by a fucking glossy touchscreen.

I should clarify, ruined for me and my autistic tastes. I'd have bought one if they had the option to get a matte display. I'm sure other people aren't bothered by this at all.

Owner of SP4 checking in. The screen is nice, and it's good for textbooks.

It sucks for lectures as I can't comfortably sit it on my lap due to the kickstand design. I should have bought a real laptop.

>>all ports out of the way at the back (other than the SD slot)
You can really tell that's it's made for just sitting on a desk 24/7.

>I like to draw
>I wanted a tablet
>I have a stationary PC for heavy tasks and gayms
>I'm in university and taking notes with a pen is easier and supposedly makes you remember better
>found a 6 months old pristine SP4 i5/8gb for $800
It's like stars aligned or something.
If you're looking for a laptop, there are way cheaper alternatives, so I'd only recommend this
1. For a really discounted price
2. If you're not looking for a laptop, but specifically a 2-in-one and can make use of the pen

>I should have bought a real laptop.
i tell that to myself every fucking time i try to get comfy in bed with this fucking thing.

Does there exist a good note taking program for Linux?

Also is it possible to get multi touch gestures to work on Linux so you can scroll by moving two fingers or pinch to zoom?

Good goy.

>You can really tell that's it's made for just sitting on a desk 24/7.

Before rear mounted batteries and the huge macbook hinge, most laptop ports were conveniently placed out of the way on the back of the computer.

With the original HP Omen, it's due to the extreme angle of the front and sides making most ports impractical. I don't think they wanted to do it that way, but I'm glad their design forced them to. And yes, it looks better if you're at a desk with a bunch of random shit plugged into it. This is an advantage for everything except possibly headphones with a short cord.

It is a meme. It's dogshit and broken by design. Also never seen anyone with one outside of obvious paid product placement in tv shows. Even when I worked at microsoft everyone hated having to use these turds. Older employees praised satya especially for allowing them to use macbooks at work, no joke.

>Even when I worked at microsoft
Is this the new my dad works at nintendo meme?

people have been pretending to have jobs around here forever now
there was even a guy who literally talked about his intern position as if it mattered
and he cried about "10000 lines of code"

just another day on Sup Forumsnuneets

(You)

Oh yes they do.

I tried that in Florida. Didn't go well.

Funny, I got into Linux at uni in the first place from an introductory course into Unix Operating System Principles.
I remember a few professors using Linux, one was going on about mint.

For home I use a combination of Linux as my host OS and Windows run in a VM with GPU pass-through.
For work I don't care as long as whatever tool I use gets the job done effectively and efficiently.

>why many cs students have one?
It's the same way with how every high school graduate has a Texas Instruments calculator - mainly because it gets shilled by the establishment. In this case, campus book stores that accept financial aid vouchers are shilling the Surface.

t.dr poorfags brah

I have one too, wish I had the 9 cell battery. It plays Quake well and it’s pretty snappy if you use Openbox. The battery on it is shot though and I don’t think it’s worth the investment when I already have a T420.

they're pretty good. worth the price if you aren't poor.