Anyone pre-order?
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What is this, an Apple product? Are we supposed to buy on just good looks?
@ suitable1 - 14.5 hours of battery life. More than just good looks. Though it is pretty.
It’s very sexy indeed. For my uses, Windows 10 S would probably have to go but I’m assuming there’s no reason I couldn’t install Windows 10 Pro.
@ ianlee74 -
I have a Microsoft Surface Pro 4 and I am running Windows 10 Pro without problems.
Not sure my Surface Pro is the same as what you are talking about though.
They do look good and glad to see we have moved on the usual 1368x768 resolution screens of laptops from the past. Pity I already own a Dell XPS 15 as I think the i7 with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD would make a good machine for development and CAD work when mobile. Only shame is that the burgundy colour doesn’t come in that spec 
I believe that you can upgrade to Pro for free until the end of the year.
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[quote=“willgeorge”]I have a Microsoft Surface Pro 4 and I am running Windows 10 Pro without problems.
Not sure my Surface Pro is the same as what you are talking about though.[/quote]
We’re talking about the new Surface Laptop from the initial post. In case you missed it, Microsoft also announced today a new flavor of Windows, Windows 10 S. It’s a more [S]ecure version of Windows that only allows apps from the Windows Store to be installed. It’s aimed at education as is the Laptop. However, I would assume that Windows 10 Pro can be installed on this hardware the same as it can be on any other laptop. But, I don’t know enough about the Surface Laptop or Win10 S yet to say that for sure. Who knows what other security mechanisms are built-in…
Apparently, upgrading from S to Pro is a two-click operation, and will eventually cost $50. Through the end of 2017, however, it’s free.
You do, at that point, give up some of the advantages in battery life. But could be a worthwhile tradeoff depending on what you need to do.
I’d be very interested if (like Office) Microsoft starts wrapping their dev tools (VS2017, VS Code) etc. using Centennial and putting them in the store. That would make Windows 10 S much more interesting to me personally.
Obviously, if you’re doing anything with hardware, Windows 10 S would probably be a non-starter, since I’d imagine installing necessary drivers would be impossible without upgrading to Pro.
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@ ianlee74 -
Found this…
One thing that’s interesting is that 10 S isn’t currently available through MSDN downloads. We have to assume it will be eventually but as that FAQ mentions… Currently, if you upgrade to 10 Pro there is no way to go back to 10 S.
Well, as soon as you compiled an app with vs2017, it would be deleted because it was not downloaded from the windows store. Otherwise it would be a security loophole to just provide the source code for any app you want to install on windows S, and build it there, to bypass the restrictions, no?
A reasonable point. Would probably be a big challenge to make full VS2017 work, and VS Code would probably face similar challenges due to the need for Node and NPM to be installed, both of which represent similar security risks, in a locked-down environment.
But given that Windows 10 S arguably represents the future of Windows, Microsoft is going to have to solve these challenges sooner or later.
Authorized dev environment : Minecraft
In all seriousness though, even to develop Store apps, you need to put the box into Developer or Sideload mode, which turns off a lot of safety interlocks right there. Once those are off, you can sideload apps from anywhere whether you built them or not. I suspect that sideload and dev mode are disabled in S (though I have no firsthand experience yet).
I like the machine, and it would be high on my list if I was in the market at the moment, but I’m not. So I best keep the blinders on, head down, and forge on into the wind with my current rig(s).
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Heh. Yeah, as soon as I clicked Submit on that previous comment, it occurred to me that developer mode was probably the answer…but as you note, it’s probably not sufficient, even if it is enabled on Windows 10 S. So in the short term, upgrading to Pro is probably the answer. But there has to be a long-term solution, I would think.
Well, this is interesting:
[url]https://www.microsoft.com/store/apps/9nblggh4rsd8[/url]
I’d love to know if this will work on Windows 10 S. Clearly, it’s possible to access hardware from a store app wrapped using Centennial. Whether that’s possible on Windows 10 S is a slightly different question. But would be cool if so.
Desktop Bridge app?
Centennial and Desktop Bridge are one and the same (the former was the codename).
BTW - as I’m sure you’re aware since you’re at BUILD, but for the benefit of those who may not be following the keynote, Microsoft announced that iTunes is coming to the Windows Store. I assume it’ll be a Desktop Bridge app, but that means that the 2nd most-used app in Windows should in theory work on Windows 10 S. Suffice it to say, that’s a pretty big deal. Who knows…maybe Microsoft will figure out how to get Chrome on the Windows Store.
Īn talking to the Microsoft folks this morning, the answer is “yes”! If its in the Store, you can run it.
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