can't wait to buy surface pro 4

[ptrkhh]

I think i read a review of an ultrabook equipped with a broadwell cpu but with a fan installed. I could have misread but manufacturer could be trying to play safe too.

Just my opinion

It has a TDP of 4.5W. That means, the OEMs should make a thermal dissipation system that can handle 4.5W worth of heat generated, no matter how.
Yes, that Ultrabook is called Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro. Blame Lenovo for that. Rather than designing a proper fanless thermal dissipation system, they instead opted to put a fan there, with no proper chambers, and call it a day. That's why the Y3P came significantly earlier than other Broadwell laptops.

 

[bvone21]

Which device would that be???

Competition looks good this year...OEM's are stepping up
http://www.windowscentral.com/toshiba-announces-portege-z20t-take-microsofts-surface-pro-3

Check out this ultrabook refresh from Dell also...
http://www.windowscentral.com/hands-new-dell-xps-13

You've also got Dell adding a 4k display to their XPS15, the Asus Chi, and refreshes to all of Lenovo and Acer's models (Although I haven't heard of anything new from Acer aside from just a CPU refresh)

 

[ptrkhh]

According to Intel (none of this tested in the wild yet of course), the U series SKU's for Broadwell provide:

• Up to 1.5 hours longer batter life (while watching 1080p or UHD video)
• 22% performance gains in Games (3dMark)
• 50% faster performance in Video conversion (MediaEspresso)
• 4% improvement in productivity (SysMark)

Glad that I got the SP3. Without even considering the fact that Intel always give optimistic data, the improvement is really really subtle. 50% faster video conversion, granted, but beyond that, that would be almost nonexistent on day to day usage. 22% in games is almost nothing. It wont make unplayable games playable. 20fps games would run at 25fps now, still unplayable. Especially combined with the fact that it took more than a whole year for them to bring us this CPU.

 

[GreyFox7]

with Toshiba releasing a non-sucky SP-like device, I wonder whether msft will start to deprecate its own line. I think Satya really doesn't want to be in the HW business & will sell off Nokia before long. I can envision him ditching surface as soon as the OEMs get with it.

If your talking about these:
http://winsupersite.com/mobile/ces-2015-toshibas-stunning-new-windows-devices
I'm already underwhelmed that Core-M 2 in 1 has a lackluster screen and is expensive while the tablet sports an Atom processor and mediocre specs.

 

[ptrkhh]

with Toshiba releasing a non-sucky SP-like device, I wonder whether msft will start to deprecate its own line. I think Satya really doesn't want to be in the HW business & will sell off Nokia before long. I can envision him ditching surface as soon as the OEMs get with it.

The Toshiba is great from the engineering point of view, but its hardly innovative nor out-of-the-box. They just use the tried-and-tested(-and-failed, on some parts) idea. Take a look FHD 16:9 screen (double fail), laptop dock with missed opportunities (no HDD, no battery, cmiiw), etc, etc. Im not saying its bad, but its still far from the SP3.

And in term of design, its a VAIO Z copy

Competition looks good this year...OEM's are stepping up

I couldn't see the step up apart from the specs. They just make their products thinner, faster, with higher resolution. Hardly exciting. And dont forget that some of them are still launching products with 2010-era Full HD resolution.

 

[megatronium]

SP4 + Skylake = Upgrade!
SP4 + Broadwell U = Unnecessary

Glad I didn't wait. I don't see MS pushing out an SP4 with that modest of a spec boost or radically different form factor ala SP2 to SP3.

 

[bvone21]

If your talking about these:
http://winsupersite.com/mobile/ces-2015-toshibas-stunning-new-windows-devices
I'm already underwhelmed that Core-M 2 in 1 has a lackluster screen and is expensive while the tablet sports an Atom processor and mediocre specs.

Pros and Cons...there are some that might like Core-M done right (Yoga 3 being a bad example)...Fanless and 17 hours battery life with the keyboard (and Wacom input). The tablet portion is similar in weight/dimensions to the surface (different aspect ratio though).

Personally, I'll stick with the Surface...but I don't think the Toshiba looks like a bad entry off the bat...

I couldn't see the step up apart from the specs. They just make their products thinner, faster, with higher resolution. Hardly exciting. And dont forget that some of them are still launching products with 2010-era Full HD resolution.

I agree that none of these devices leapfrog the SP3 except in certain specs...but I think each year the Windows OEM product quality is going up thanks to device pressure from Surface (and not to discount Apple's influence)...this is a good thing.

That XPS 13 looks VERY good as a standard ultrabook form factor...and the Asus Chi lineup looks like an excellent option if your looking for mobility/price and don't care about higher end performance.

So you don't want thinner, faster, higher resolution, and improved specs...isn't that what we want for the next surface? Are you more interested in new form factors and innovation there?

 

[megatronium]

So you don't want thinner, faster, higher resolution, and improved specs...isn't that what we want for the next surface? Are you more interested in new form factors and innovation there?

Sure we do. Question is: Is thinner, faster, higher resolution and improved specs enough to warrant a SP4 purchase for current SP3 users or even for Microsoft to manufacture considering Skylake isn't that far off? For me, the answer is no.

 

[ptrkhh]

So you don't want thinner, faster, higher resolution, and improved specs...isn't that what we want for the next surface? Are you more interested in new form factors and innovation there?

I want a faster, higher resolution, and longer-lasting tablet than the SP3, but at the same time, I truly hate the idiotic Full HD 16:9 screen on a tablet that the OEMs seem to love so much. If I had to choose, I still would prefer the SP3 over anything those OEMs offer.

 

[jonypx09]

Broadwell encompasses both Core-M and Core i.
They have released so far Core-M at 4.5w TDP and dual core versions of Core i U series with both 15w & 28w TDP
Still to come are the higher wattage, quad core, and quad+ core parts. All 5th generation is Broadwell.

Oh, my mistake. Regardless, I'm guessing we won't see the SP4 until the second half of 2015.

 

[InspectHerGadget]

Looking at the broad well U chips it doesn't look very exciting.

Yawn

 

[GreyFox7]

We might see a mid year bump up in specs for second half devices but still nothing earthshattering. In an SP4 this may be something of a sleeper though. With the increased power efficiency I think will come less throttling with the Broadwell U CPUs in the same SP3 chassis and thereby realizing a greater percentage of the full performance of the i5/i7 CPUs than you see in the SP3. Given increased efficiencies of other components as well (memory, SSD, wifi, etc.) each milliwatt saved frees up thermal space in the system. We wont really know how it plays in the SP4 until it hits the street or at least some early reviews.