Intro
With iPad sales dropping year on year has Microsoft just put the final nail in the coffin for Apples iPad? Mark Brown company director of EditorsKeys.com takes a look at why this might just be the case.
I want to start off by saying I am an avid Mac user and a businessman, in fact every computer in my office up to this week was a Mac, as I just didn't trust the PC or Windows after I once lost all of my college work due to a huge windows error, you can imagine how angry I was. It's been nearly 10 years since that day, and I might slowly be coming back to the PC way of things, if I continue to be impressed with Windows 10, possibly the next office computer will be a PC!
Why Windows 10 could damage sales of the iPad.
I recently I sold my iPad and purchased a Surface 3. The problem with my iPad was that it just didn't do anything more than my iPhone 6. Yes pictures looked better and browsing websites was easier, but I found that I just left it at home most of the time and brought along my heavy MacBook Pro so I could get real work done. I say 'real' work, by that I don't mean accounting or legal work. I run a business and am a bit of a creative, so real work for me is Photoshop, video editing and web based work. I travel around a lot so I wanted some light, but I also wanted to be able to switch off from work when at home. (Something the iPad is great at.)
The major issue I had against my iPad is that it could never run full versions of Photoshop or even do some basic PDF editing tasks which I needed for business. After owning three different iPads over the years, I've finally given up and resided to the fact I might just need to use a laptop? Then... I saw Microsofts advert for the Surface 3!
When I first got the Surface 3 with Windows 8.1, I liked the idea of what Microsoft was trying to do. The Surface is lighter than the new slim MacBook and about half the price. It could be a tablet, but it could also run all of the business and creativity apps I had on my MacBook Pro like Photoshop. However due to the poor implementation of Windows 8.1, I ended up using the Surface 3 in desktop mode 99% of the time. (I'd use it in tablet mode for Web browsing but that was it.) I was happy with my choice, but would still recommend friends think carefully before buying one, asking 'is it the right device for my situation.'
Game changer.
Windows 10 has just launched and is now installed on my Surface 3. What a game changer.
Since installing Windows 10, I feel that you can now use the Surface as a full tablet in the same way you can with an iPad. Everything scales perfectly, the new Edge browser is great and you don't keep getting thrown in and out of a desktop and tablet haze. (In fact I writing this review in the new mobile version of Word without the Surface keyboard attached!)
Multitasking has been greatly improved and you can easily snap a couple of apps next to each other and for the first time. It's even easy to work out how to control the tablet functions. Windows 10 has added a new back button, a Cortana button for search and a notification area with quick settings controls which make operation as a tablet incredibly easy. I remember before Windows 10 I would have 'explain' to people how to pull up settings or even how to shut down. It was really confusing and I hated the 'Charms' menu. It was like Microsoft tried to make the operating system as confusing as possible to use.
Windows 10 has just launched and is now installed on my Surface 3. What a game changer.
All Gone
Thankfully that's all gone now in Windows 10 and I would now easily recommend to friends that they should check it out, whatever their situation. Don't get me wrong, it's not all perfect. The Microsoft app store is no where near as good as Apple's, however I'm yet to find anything I can't do in either the tablet mode or desktop mode. I'm hoping that will change soon, now the OS is looking a lot healthier.
Desktop mode has also been greatly improved, bringing back the Start Menu plus allowing the ability for Metro style apps to work in a windowed mode means you get some great looking apps. I think this will really change things for developers who have put off developing for the platform.
Choosing something else?
I guess this is my end point, as much as I LOVE Apple and will still buy their laptops as my main computer, I don't think I will ever buy an iPad again and I'm not sure if anyone has sane reason to over a Surface 3 or Surface Pro 3, plus if you don't like the Surface line there are also plenty of other great looking 2 in 1's and smaller tablets coming out.
I hear you saying, well I'm into Google or iCloud so I'm locked in. Well that's what I thought, but the new OS has settings to pull in everything from these accounts. Even Apple has a new version of iCloud for Windows too. So even if this is your second computer or work device and everything else in your life is Apple (Or Google), the Surface 3 plays along nicely!
Writing the Surface 3 feature for Buzzfeed!
Follow me on Twitter @Mark_Browns
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