3DMarks Scores of Surface Pro 3 Models (i3/i5/i7)

[megatronium]

You forgot cooler...
It was on tv.

I've never seen an ad comparing the SP3 to the SP2 saying it was faster or slower. Only ads I've seen is hipster ads and the new ones comparing MBA. Seeing as we're in the same profession(s), I'd love to see the ad and what it claimed the SP3 can do.

 

[GreyFox7]

So I guess you were all ready to outfit your office with some MacBook Airs but opted for the SP3 instead. Glad I don't work there.

 

[infer66]

Nope just the SP2's and a render farm of 80 nodes.
Don't worry they wouldn't hire you anyway.

 

[dman27]

Here is what is presented as the "facts" by MSFT

Surface Pro 3
The tablet that can replace your laptop

Battery Life:
Up to 9 hours of web browsing4.

4 Testing consisted of full battery discharge while Internet browsing over WiFi. Internet browsing was tested browsing 25 popular web pages. All settings were default except: Wi Fi was associated with a network,

Panos Panay..."10 percent more performance than the Surface Pro 2 in this thin of a package."

"This thing is fanless. Another way to say fanless is "thin." Another way to say fanless is "cool" to the touch. Another way to say fanless is you don't feel the air. ". .....he then goes on to describe the fan ?

"And then you say, "Well, what have you compromised? What have you taken away to do all that?" Nothing. You love your battery life on your tablet. This gets more performance than the Surface Pro 2, which got plenty of accolades.
As a matter of fact, over 20 -- 15 -- there's a number in there -- percent more battery life in this product than any product Surface has shipped before. "

From MSFT website:
With a brilliant, 12”, Full HD Plus display, Dolby® audio, and a built-in Kickstand, Surface Pro 3 is perfect for HD movies, music, and a great gaming experience.


These are coming directly from the manufacturer. It is up to each person to read into and interpret the "meaning" but these statistics are supposed to be representative of the product.

once these numbers and impressions are released to the public, that bell can't be un-rung.

my own opinion is that the surface pro 3 is an incredibly capable Hybrid that can handle most laptop/ tablet functions in superior fashion. However, I do think it was misrepresented for Some real world use. It opens the door for criticism of what was said, not what is expected.

Why associate this with "great gaming experience" when it actually is not suited for that purpose?

why claim 9 hours of web browsing, while knowing that other background processes have to be terminated or greatly reduced to achieve anything remotely close to those numbers?

This has served close to 90% of my needs, but it is unfortunate to find out that the I7 is only operating in I5 and I 3 ranges Compared to other systems.

 

[megatronium]

Here is what is presented as the "facts" by MSFT

Surface Pro 3
The tablet that can replace your laptop

Battery Life:
Up to 9 hours of web browsing4.

4 Testing consisted of full battery discharge while Internet browsing over WiFi. Internet browsing was tested browsing 25 popular web pages. All settings were default except: Wi Fi was associated with a network,

Panos Panay..."10 percent more performance than the Surface Pro 2 in this thin of a package."

"This thing is fanless. Another way to say fanless is "thin." Another way to say fanless is "cool" to the touch. Another way to say fanless is you don't feel the air. ". .....he then goes on to describe the fan ?

"And then you say, "Well, what have you compromised? What have you taken away to do all that?" Nothing. You love your battery life on your tablet. This gets more performance than the Surface Pro 2, which got plenty of accolades.
As a matter of fact, over 20 -- 15 -- there's a number in there -- percent more battery life in this product than any product Surface has shipped before. "

From MSFT website:
With a brilliant, 12”, Full HD Plus display, Dolby® audio, and a built-in Kickstand, Surface Pro 3 is perfect for HD movies, music, and a great gaming experience.


These are coming directly from the manufacturer. It is up to each person to read into and interpret the "meaning" but these statistics are supposed to be representative of the product.

once these numbers and impressions are released to the public, that bell can't be un-rung.

my own opinion is that the surface pro 3 is an incredibly capable Hybrid that can handle most laptop/ tablet functions in superior fashion. However, I do think it was misrepresented for Some real world use. It opens the door for criticism of what was said, not what is expected.

Why associate this with "great gaming experience" when it actually is not suited for that purpose?

why clam 9 hours of web browsing, while knowing that other background processes have to be terminated or greatly reduced to achieve anything remotely close to those numbers?

This has served close to 90% of my needs, but it is unfortunate to find out that the I7 is only operating in I5 and I 3 ranges Compared to other systems.

The first quote is a flub or lie however you want to take it. He does go on to describe the fan...

It offers a great gaming experience for me. So does my X360, Wii, PS4, Fire TV, Moto X, Atari Jaguar (well, not so much), Commodore 128, Samsung RF510, etc. but you get the picture.

 

[dman27]

The first quote is a flub or lie however you want to take it. He does go on to describe the fan...
.

not sure what you're talking about? I did say he goes on to describe the fan. However, some took his presentation to say that the device was fanless. I was just puzzled as to why he put that out there?

Here is more of the quote:
"
I can go through all 100 custom parts it took to do that. I won’t. I want to talk about one part. It’s probably the most significant of the parts. I’ll hold the device so you can continue to get a shot of it. But look at the fan that you see up there. We talk about fanless all the time. Fanless is an interesting concept. That was something people talked about three years ago when they talked about tablets.
This thing is fanless. Another way to say fanless is “thin.” Another way to say fanless is “cool” to the touch. Another way to say fanless is you don’t feel the air.
So what we designed in our product as you know from Surface Pro 2. Take a quick look at Surface Pro 3. Do you see that perimeter vent going around here? That same vent in Surface Pro 2, that same technology invented came into this small package.
Then we reinvented the fan. We were able to make it 30 percent more efficient than any fan in any product today. Then we reinvented the fin on the fan, and we’re able to radially emit air throughout the entire product so you never feel it. You don’t hear it. You don’t even see it.

Here is the link to the Speech transcript: http://www.singjupost.com/microsoft-surface-pro-3-launch-event-transcript/2/

I am Writing this on a SP3, So obviously I like it. I think it is important to point out real world usage us what is represented to make this and every version better. It also serves as a reminder to manufacturers that customers will really hold them to the verbiage that convinced them to part with $ 1200+ dollars.

 

[megatronium]

not sure what you're talking about? I did say he goes on to describe the fan. However, some took his presentation to say that the device was fanless. I was just puzzled as to why he put that out there?

Here is more of the quote:
"
I can go through all 100 custom parts it took to do that. I won’t. I want to talk about one part. It’s probably the most significant of the parts. I’ll hold the device so you can continue to get a shot of it. But look at the fan that you see up there. We talk about fanless all the time. Fanless is an interesting concept. That was something people talked about three years ago when they talked about tablets.
This thing is fanless. Another way to say fanless is “thin.” Another way to say fanless is “cool” to the touch. Another way to say fanless is you don’t feel the air.
So what we designed in our product as you know from Surface Pro 2. Take a quick look at Surface Pro 3. Do you see that perimeter vent going around here? That same vent in Surface Pro 2, that same technology invented came into this small package.
Then we reinvented the fan. We were able to make it 30 percent more efficient than any fan in any product today. Then we reinvented the fin on the fan, and we’re able to radially emit air throughout the entire product so you never feel it. You don’t hear it. You don’t even see it.

Here is the link to the Speech transcript: http://www.singjupost.com/microsoft-surface-pro-3-launch-event-transcript/2/

I am Writing this on a SP3, So obviously I like it. I think it is important to point out real world usage us what is represented to make this and every version better. It also serves as a reminder to manufacturers that customers will really hold them to the verbiage that convinced them to part with $ 1200+ dollars.

I was pointing out that it was likely a flub because he goes on to talk about the fan...

 

[GreyFox7]

I was pointing out that it was likely a flub because he goes on to talk about the fan...

OR he prepared off the wrong brief... or recalled it incorrectly...

as I have said before I believe the SP3 was originally designed for Broadwell and Intel was late delivering so it was switched to Haswell.

I think we all know now it has a fan. Seems a bit obsessive to keep going back to May... breath in breath out... let it go.

 

[dman27]

I was pointing out that it was likely a flub because he goes on to talk about the fan...

got you.

 

[dman27]

OR he prepared off the wrong brief... or recalled it incorrectly...

as I have said before I believe the SP3 was originally designed for Broadwell and Intel was late delivering so it was switched to Haswell.

I think we all know now it has a fan. Seems a bit obsessive to keep going back to May... breath in breath out... let it go.

I never had am issue about it. I was making the point that customers are actually going off of actual verbiage or released specs. When these are drastically different in real world usage it opens the door for the type of responses from customers and journalist that we are now seeing.

Either way, many of us have decided to Keep the product despite the issues.

 

[Moonsurface]

To me anyway the thinness of the new model makes some sense and it's not necessarily just ipad chasing... just think, if Microsoft had made the device thicker with the new screen size that would have been a hell of a big, and quite chunky tablet - people ARE used to ipads and thin, light tablets these days. They wouldn't have got away with it. So in order to do both functions as a tablet and a laptop to an acceptable standard with the new screen size and current technology I think they've done the best they can with the design. The screen size is an undeniable improvement in the SP3, it makes it better to use both as a TABLET and a laptop which was what Microsoft were aiming to replace wasn't it??

To me it seems Microsoft DID listen to the moans about the previous designs and did their utmost to improve the general usability of the device in almost every way. Of course they may overstate battery life etc, but they would not be alone (e.g. cars with mpg figures etc, you can only achieve that mpg if you drive at 50mph on a rolling road with no wind resistance and no passengers lol). I don't think I've ever got the claimed battery life out of any of the phones I've had etc.

Future versions will undoubtedly improve on the performance in the same form factor (with probably only minor tweaks). So it may make sense to skip a generation if you're a pro 2 user and worried about the performance compromise and wait for the technology to catch up with the form factor.

This form factor seems to be making the Surface a much more popular device - at least compared to previous designs and will hopefully cement the future for the range which is a good thing surely?? I think Microsoft NEEDS the SP3 to be a success, and the positively reviewed improvements in form factor has a good chance of doing this for them.

I may yet be disappointed and come running back to moan big time that my SP3 doesn't do what I want it to do "Panos told me it could run full photoshop and last 9 hours" etc... but to be honest, even a throttled i7 SP3 will beat my four year old Dell laptop (that incidentally lasts only 45min on battery and runs hot ALL the time even with the screen off) at what I want it to do, I'd definitely be sending it back if it didn't!! I'm very confident that the SP3 offers me WAY more than just that which is why I was prepared to spend so much money on one rather than go for a "normal" laptop or ultrabook, I simply wasn't interested in purchasing another laptop, and no other tablet can do what I want.

Sorry a bit of an essay - and written by an outsider who doesn't (yet) own one.. so sure, tell me I have no idea what I'm talking about I accept that.... but this is what I see and how I perceive the Surface pro 3.

 

[wynand32]

I'm sometimes surprised at how contentious these debates can become (and admittedly, I've been a participant in a few myself). Particularly, they seem to result from folks who aren't happy about a device and who feel it necessary to post their displeasure in a forum dedicated to users of said device.

Sometimes, the posters are legitimately, honestly calling for assistance, and those should be welcomed and addressed accordingly. Often, the only answer that can be given is, "Sorry, but this isn't the device for you." How that response is taken is often telling.

Other times, though, posters are merely complaining, even attacking the manufacturer--even though a forum like this isn't run by the manufacturer and isn't even necessarily likely to be visited by manufacturer representatives. And when such representatives do visit forums, they're often lambasted. It's a lose-lost proposition.

So, in the latter case, what's the point in posting here? Is it merely to vent? If so, then I say: start a blog, or post there if you already have one. Is it to disrupt the ability for those who enjoy their devices to do so in peace? Sure, one isn't forced to read any given posts, but often the most egregious post is buried smack dab in the middle of a thread on some other topic (often completely unrelated). And so, intended or not, such disruption occurs, and we end up with these sorts of contentious debates.

I say, with regard to the SP3: Microsoft hasn't outright lied to anyone, nor (I believe) intentionally misled. Saying that the SP3 is a "great gaming experience" is true within the context of the device--does anyone really expect it to perform as well as a dedicated gaming notebook, or a desktop? Does Microsoft imply that it will? I don't think so, and I know that I've enjoyed a bit of casual gaming on my SP3 that's at least as good as on my Android tablet. It's definitely more than I expected from such a powerful machine that's about as thin as my smartphone.

The bottom line is that Microsoft has a 30-day return policy (and Best Buy a 14-day return, and whomever else) for a reason. That's specifically so that the buyer has time to evaluate the SP3 before committing to the purchase. That's much more than we get with automobiles, for example, which have no return policy at all and represent orders of magnitude larger investments--and which are fraught with just as many potential misperceptions. I know of people who expect their BMW to perform just as well in their amateur hands as it does for the professionals who write about it in the pages of Motor Trend. And they're just as angry when it doesn't, with no redress.

It really does seem like some folks are mad not because Microsoft has misrepresented the SP3, but because it simply doesn't perform as well as they'd like. They want a .36' thin machine that can run benchmark after benchmark without throttling, when many (myself definitely included) are plenty happy with the SP3's performance even if it is throttling to some degree.

That throttling, to the extent that it occurs, is less intrusive than the limiter on my G37 that cuts out the engine when I exceed 7200 RPM. And I'm okay with it, because with my car, I recognize that the engine isn't a Ferrari's and so I can't expect it to perform like one. If I wanted a Ferrari (and could afford it), then I should just buy one. The same goes for my SP3.