Arguably, the vendors needed it.

Yeah, the high-end Windows laptops these days are all mostly Apple knock-offs. No wonder everyone who's serious wants the real thing instead. So Microsoft made a hero laptop that isn't a MacBook knock-off. Now the Windows OEMs will start knocking it off instead.

Not even good Apple knock-offs. The build quaility on machines like things like the ASUS Zenbook is no where near Apple, and business machines are always think/bulky. This thing is amazing.

I guess moving to USB-C is asking for too much?

Unfortunately, they chose to support 99.9(999?)% of existing USB cables instead.

You can always make that argument. If you want progress, you need to Think Different. Intel and Microsoft have enough muscle to get 100 million PC's shipped in 12 months wth a new standard. Of course, no one said that they only have to ship USB-C.

And it's always a good argument, especially for a series of standards that have always depended on vendor buy-in to proliferate, rather than solid design. Just because USB-C is the first USB not to absolutely suck, doesn't mean manufacturers ought to fall head over heels to put them in new devices, considering the countless existing devices that use the old, shitty connectors we got stuck with because the standards body couldn't get its act together.

I guess if you think that walled gardens and locked down platforms are "progress", then you really are thinking differently because you have to basically swallow that pill if you want to enjoy the occasional hardware progress that is seen with fruitier companies.

Of course real progress, to me, means that there is a good standard and everybody uses it. Remember when cell phones all had their own type of charging adapter? I'm so happy now that most manufacturers use micro-usb. Everybody except Apple of course because they're always too busy trying to invent something that will keep you locked in.

I'm sorry, I guess by referring to Apple I confused the point. You went off on some pointless irrelevant rant. How about I mention Google instead?

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2478157,00.asp

http://www.androidcentral.com/google-says-look-out-more-usb-...

USB-C is an open standard that is not controlled by Apple.

This comment breaks the HN guidelines. Please comment civilly and substantively, or not at all.

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Thanks. So is rudely telling someone that they "went off on some pointless irrelevant rant" and introducing pointless flamewar material in the response before that.

Instead of playing back at them, I guess I'll just post the rules next time.

- "Be civil. Don't say things you wouldn't say in a face-to-face conversation. Avoid gratuitous negativity."

- "Please avoid introducing classic flamewar topics unless you have something genuinely new to say about them."

It is irrelevant this year. Next year it'll ship on tens of millions of PC's. It's certainly not a deal breaker but it would have been a nice to have this year on a small form factor device.

It also doubles the throughput of the older standard. It's a $1500 device so people who buy it will probably be using it in 4-5 years. I'd rather spend $20 on an adapter cable now and be able to support the better standard next year.

So you'll get it next year then. I don't get why you have to be a prick about it though by saying that Apple or Google are somehow "more progressive" and then turn around and call someone else's response irrelevant and pointless when you just admitted that your entire concern is basically irrelevant right now.

Next year is 3 months away. Who wants to drop $1500 and buy a new device in 12 months?

Because no devices require USB-C yet? Regular USB stuff isn't going to just disappear, so it's really not that big a deal. It's like not having a bluray drive or a 3d-tv screen - nobody cares.

Here, maybe if you hear it from Microsoft?

http://www.techinsider.io/microsoft-usb-c-2015-10

If I hear them talking about USB-C is it going to magically cause 99% of regular USB devices to disappear in three months? No.

I'm sure Surface 5 devices will have USB-C in 12-16 months when people actually start caring about USB-C.

That would have been nice to see, since I expect these will have amazing longevity otherwise. Ideal might have been one USB 3.0 and one USB type-c. (Along with adapters in both directions if we're talking really ideal.)

The bread and butter of other hardware vendors is not laptops starting at 1500 dollars. Microsoft is making the Surface line Windows' flagship. It's directly competing with Apple on hardware quality and features and most importantly ecosystem. Microsoft is building cattle that will make people who want pets happy while making life easy for enterprise's cattle ranchers.

Its like Microsoft's Google Nexus series....

The Google Nexus never seemed to pull the rug under anyone, they weren't a best selling device in most circumstances.

The Nexus devices were often also available straight from their vendor at the time in the same form or a slightly different model.

And most importantly the Nexuses were always sourced from on of their partners, here MSFT is directly competing against their partners.

Suspect you might just be a tad over-negative about this.

First, Microsoft doesn't own any factories so the business is going to a partner (probably Pegatron).

Second, Microsoft partners can sign up to sell and support the Surface Pro range. Dell and HP have already done so. Shipping thousands of Surface Pros into businesses, imaging them, and supporting them on-site and remotely is the part of the PC business with margins, which are rather thin on Windows hardware.

Also, Microsoft isn't competing in the mainstream Windows market, where device prices are typically $200 to $500. In fact, it's mainly competing against Apple, which is arguably a good thing for the rest of the Windows ecosystem....