Microsoft Surface Pro WTF

[shellylh]

I have been planning to get the new Microsoft Surface Pro when it comes out to replace my again Motion Computing slate tablet pc.  It seems to have a decent stylus digitizer (although not a Wacom digitizer) and it a good price.  However, I just saw this (from http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/tablet-pcs/1297429/microsoft-admits-surface-pro-128gb-storage-limited-to-83gb).

 

"Microsoft's Surface Pro tablet, which is due to launch with a headline-grabbing 128GB of storage space, will only have 83GB of room for users' files.

 

According to a statement from the company given to Softpedia, the 128GB Surface Pro device - ... - a chunk of its 128GB capacity is taken up by the operating system and pre-installed applications - leaving just 83GB of user-accessible space to store files."

 

WTF?  Are all Windows 8 computers like this?  What in the hell could possibly come pre-installed?

[Salt Peanuts]

^ According to MS, "System software uses significant storage space; your storage capacity will be less" so, yes, all Microsoft Surfaces are like that.

 

IIRC, some guy is suing MS for false advertisement (or something along that line) because his Surface only came with 16gb of free space instead of 32gb he was expecting.

Edited January 28, 2013 by Salt Peanuts

[TMoney]

Yes, all windows 8 computers are like that.

 

Just disable pagefile and hiberfile and that'll free up a bunch of space.

[Bigguy]

These kinds of devices similar to iPads are targeting people who only web surf and not people who create things which require storage space.

[grawk]

/me makes note to stop creating things on his ipad.

[The Monkey]

In advertising law, that's one of those claims that, while literally true, is still misleading.  And quite possibly actionable.

[shellylh]

The Microsoft Surface RT is targeted to those kind of people.  The pro however has an Intel Core i5 processor, includes a digitizer stylus and a real version of Window 8.  It is just like the tablet pcs of the last 10+ years except it is now lighter and cheaper than before.  If the digitizer is good enough, I imagine many graphics artists may use it.  I plan to use Adobe Illustrator, latex, etc. 

 

Good to know about disabling pagefile and hiberfile.  I might just put Linux on it and certainly wouldn't need them taking up space. 

 

I guess I don't really need the space as I can keep stuff in online storage, I was just amazed by how much was "pre-installed."  (My current tablet only has 60GB.)

Edited January 29, 2013 by shellylh

[Grahame]

It's the American Way

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2012/11/15/microsoft-surface-lawsuit/1706347/

 

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2412166,00.asp

 

http://blogs.cio.com/windows/17570/why-microsoft-deserves-be-sued-over-surface-rt-tablet-storage

[tkam]

I've got Windows 8 x64 on my laptop here - the Windows folder alone is about 20GB in size

[Salt Peanuts]

For those interested, the case number (according to PACER) is 2:12-cv-10641-R-FMO.

[TMoney]

Seems like the plaintiff is just angling to get paid-off. Its sad that its easier and more cost effective to pay these people to go away than it is to get a summary judgement or dismissal.

[Dreadhead]

That's how it goes. I did a quick search and a 128 gb Air has about 86-95 gb of free space after os and a few apps. I did get that from the Internet though so it may not be true.

[shellylh]

Yeah, but are those apps installed by Apple or are those apps the ones someone chose to install? 

[Dreadhead]

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3633027?start=0&tstart=0

Got it from there. One guy says 90.4gb after about 2gb of apps.

Edited January 29, 2013 by Dreadhead

[blessingx]

According to this guy, after installing Mountain Lion on his 256GB MBA, he was left with only 278GB. 

 

 

 

 

[Salt Peanuts]

I think the issue is because we think of Surface Pros (and to extent, RTs) as tablets instead of as full-blown computers. None of us would be annoyed if full-blown computers we bought had less space than the stated hard drive space (which they would since there'd be OS and other software already installed).

Edited January 29, 2013 by Salt Peanuts

[Dreadhead]

It is a full blown computer that's the point of the pro. That's why I compared it to an Air.

 

Even on Android Tablets the OS takes up significant space. I have no clue about Apple tablets.

Edited January 29, 2013 by Dreadhead

[grawk]

mine is way full of apps, or I'd say , but I'd guess it's significantly less than 8gb, since you can install IOS on an 8gb ipod touch and still have room for apps and music

[Dusty Chalk]

None of us would be annoyed if full-blown computers we bought had less space than the stated hard drive space ...

No, that's not true.  I mean, yes, it's true, but ( a ) that's not the point, it's not that we get annoyed that it's less, it's that we get annoyed that it's that much less -- I mean, 45 G out of 128 is a bit much, and I do complain that Windows (not just 7, but previous versions as well) is a resource hog every time I run into that issue on a Windows partition. 

[Salt Peanuts]

It is a full blown computer that's the point of the pro. That's why I compared it to an Air.

Which was my point about people *thinking* of it as tablets instead of full blown computers.

Even on Android Tablets the OS takes up significant space. I have no clue about Apple tablets.

On my iPad 4, it's got 57.2gb out of 64gb available. IIRC, an actual usable space on a 64gb storage is around 59.6gb, so about 2.4gb iOS already used up from the get go. Edited January 29, 2013 by Salt Peanuts

[Iron_Dreamer]

I'd just wait for the inevitable Haswell version later this year.

But at any rate, it is annoying how huge Windows is, and how huge its' genenrally unnecessary page and hibernation files are by default.

[shellylh]

No, that's not true.  I mean, yes, it's true, but ( a ) that's not the point, it's not that we get annoyed that it's less, it's that we get annoyed that it's that much less -- I mean, 45 G out of 128 is a bit much, and I do complain that Windows (not just 7, but previous versions as well) is a resource hog every time I run into that issue on a Windows partition. 

 

Precisely!!!

[Dusty Chalk]

I'd just wait for the inevitable Haswell version later this year.

But at any rate, it is annoying how huge Windows is, and how huge its' genenrally unnecessary page and hibernation files are by default.

I used to install Windows 7 -- now admittedly, it was onto VM's, not on actual hardware, so I don't know if the OS installation is smart enough to know it's being installed on a VM and leave stuff out -- but it was less than 10G.  So the mistake was installing a full-blown Windows 8 install instead of their tablet software, or making some sort of "pro" version of their tablet software, or not trimming out the fat -- I mean, I bet half of that is for fonts and foreign language versions of stuff.  And how many drivers do you need if you control the hardware?

[Dreadhead]

Well I'll hopefully be picking up one very soon for my wife and I'll let you know if how much if any can get freed up. Also note that it has a SD slot so adding 64gb storage should be straightforward and pretty cheap.

[Iron_Dreamer]

I used to install Windows 7 -- now admittedly, it was onto VM's, not on actual hardware, so I don't know if the OS installation is smart enough to know it's being installed on a VM and leave stuff out -- but it was less than 10G.  So the mistake was installing a full-blown Windows 8 install instead of their tablet software, or making some sort of "pro" version of their tablet software, or not trimming out the fat -- I mean, I bet half of that is for fonts and foreign language versions of stuff.  And how many drivers do you need if you control the hardware?

Yep, I've installed Windows7 onto a 16GB CF card, and had plenty of space to spare once the uncessary files were swept away. But the fact that Windows will default to chewing up 32GB of my SSD space, when installed onto a system with 16GB RAM, is rather annoying, not that it's not easily fixed. I just wish it was one MORE thing that had to be fixed. I'm getting to used to the (general) ease of Android.