Hey all,
Long-time lurker, first-time poster 😉
With Apple rumored to be releasing an iPad mini 5 this year, should Microsoft resurrect the Surface mini? 🙂
Windows 10 and Windows on ARM is in a much better position than Windows RT or Windows 8 ever was, so I think there might be a shot (and I do believe the market is there, just like for smaller smartphones).
What do y’all think? (Especially Brad and Paul) 🙂
Cheers 🙂
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#401523">In reply to MacLiam:</a></em></blockquote><p>It's hard to see a price/performance advantage of a Mini/Andromeda/etc compared to a standard laptop. How much would people be willing to spend on a device that is adequate only for short-term out of office use? Even my WP 8.1 can act as a "Plan B" device for running Office, but I can't imagine paying hundreds of dollars for a slightly better Plan B experience. </p>
skane2600
<p>The primary difference between Windows RT and Windows on ARM is the latter's ability to run 32-bit Win32 applications in emulation. But the emulation performance is fairly poor even on the relatively expensive devices that support it. A Surface mini would have to be considerably less expensive and we could expect its emulation performance to be even less adequate. </p>
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#401586">In reply to jimchamplin:</a></em></blockquote><p>Both tablets and traditional PCs ultimately suffered from the start of the "One Windows" approach starting with Windows 8. "Tabletizing" the UI for both is what caused the backlash by PC users that resulted in later versions being less useful on tablets. </p><p><br></p><p>Microsoft should have made their tablet OS the best it could possibly be on that type of device without thinking about legacy Windows at all. Instead they ended up compromising both the products and their potential profitability.</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#401642">In reply to Daishi:</a></em></blockquote><p>I think we agree for the most part. There was never a user-centric reason to create a hybrid OS. Microsoft wanted Windows 8 on the desktop to lure users into their mobile offerings and it failed spectacularly. There's also a recurring naive belief on the part of many software developers that they can create these "one-size-fits-all" platforms. Ultimately they always fail to achieve their goals. </p>