Convince me to buy the SP4 despite so many issues
- Thread starter jtcb
- Start date
ok thanks for the reply.
Say if you can choose between the following. Which one would you get? Is it worth the upgrade for media consumption purpose and maybe a bit better performance/future-proof down the road?
Price difference from:
S3 to SP4 m3 = $199.98
SP4 m3 to SP4 i5 4GB = $57.48
SP4 i5 4GB to SP4 i5 8GB = $208.74
Say if you can choose between the following. Which one would you get? Is it worth the upgrade for media consumption purpose and maybe a bit better performance/future-proof down the road?
Price difference from:
S3 to SP4 m3 = $199.98
SP4 m3 to SP4 i5 4GB = $57.48
SP4 i5 4GB to SP4 i5 8GB = $208.74
Philtastic
Active Member
Here's a synthetic benchmark comparison. Using Geekbench, you'll see scores for every Surface device. Synthetic benchmarks are not completely representative of real world performance but should give us a reasonable comparison between the devices.
Surface - Geekbench Search - Geekbench Browser
Just giving it a quick look over, the Surface 3 with the Atom x7-Z8700 seems to average a multi-core score around 3100. The Surface Pro 4 with the Core m3-6Y30 scores around 4500 or about 45% faster than the Surface 3. That's pretty significant.
Surface - Geekbench Search - Geekbench Browser
Just giving it a quick look over, the Surface 3 with the Atom x7-Z8700 seems to average a multi-core score around 3100. The Surface Pro 4 with the Core m3-6Y30 scores around 4500 or about 45% faster than the Surface 3. That's pretty significant.
Philtastic
Active Member
If you look at my above post, you'll find that the SP4 Core m3 is roughly 45% faster than the S3 Atom. Let's look at the prices from the Microsoft Store online:
S3 128 GB = $600 USD
SP4 m3 128 GB = $900 USD
The SP4 is exactly 50% more money than the equivalent S3 (but includes the pen which is $60 for the SP4 pen) which makes it purely a matter of whether you need or can afford the additional performance.
Again, for mere media consumption, the S3 is more than enough.
The Sp4 does have Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) as a method of dimming the backlight, which gives many people eye strain and migraines. Please do not buy until MS will fix it or provide a software switch to disable PWM. (Though I do not think it is possible as I think it is in the hardware.)
Stop the war on PWM!!!!
This is why it is used:
The main advantage of PWM is that power loss in the switching devices is very low. When a switch is off there is practically no current, and when it is on and power is being transferred to the load, there is almost no voltage drop across the switch. Power loss, being the product of voltage and current, is thus in both cases close to zero. PWM also works well with digital controls, which, because of their on/off nature, can easily set the needed duty cycle.
Stop the war on PWM!!!!
This is why it is used:
The main advantage of PWM is that power loss in the switching devices is very low. When a switch is off there is practically no current, and when it is on and power is being transferred to the load, there is almost no voltage drop across the switch. Power loss, being the product of voltage and current, is thus in both cases close to zero. PWM also works well with digital controls, which, because of their on/off nature, can easily set the needed duty cycle.
Hey I know all about why it is used - it is just that it is very unhealthy to stare at flickering light whole day. I and many others are unable to use displays with PWM so manufacturers need to stop using it. period.
Its not going to happen anytime soon... its still the best Technology with a price/performance ratio, the amount of people impacted is relatively small. I know it is an issue for people impacted but it just isn't cost effective to replace it.
"People Impacted" ? Everyone is impacted - it is not healthy for anyone to look into a high frequency flickering light even if one does not get any symptoms. It's like saying "I ingest large amount of poison x, since I do not seem to have any problems" By staring at a flickering light for hours a day for years, will definitely have an impact on your nervous system and your health. No question about it. It is just unnatural, there are no sources of flickering light in the environment, so human nervous system is not adapted to constant abrupt flicker.
OK.... I see you posting this all over the internet and you are getting very little traction even over on the Official Forums and no other posts.... for the most part people aren't that concerned. Sorry it gives you unease and discomfort.
Yes, and you have a problem with that? Manufacturers like HP, Eizo, Benq have already started manufacturing displays without PWM, because enough people have complained and they have also themselves realized that it might not be a good idea to stare at a flickering light. This needs to be spread as wide as possible to ensure that some day manufacturers manufacture proper displays without flicker. Of course, "people" are not concerned - the average joe did not worry about smoking 3 packs a day, until the message was tattooed to his forehead and he got cancer.
