Desperately need the opinions of Surface Pro 2 owners

[_moore]

Hi, I am very close to getting a Surface Pro 2 (256gb) to replace my iPad 2 and 2010 iMac.

My main concern is whether the Pro 2 is powerful enough to become my only computer, yet nimble enough to be used on the sofa in front of the TV for casual browsing.

The most intensive use it would get is designing websites and doing photo editing in Adobe Photoshop, and I also do a bit of video editing from my GoPro Hero 2. I currently use Final Cut Pro and while I'm not a "pro" user, I do like to play around with slow motion effects.

Do you think I could do this on a Surface Pro 2 with ease, or is it going to struggle?

Your help will be much appreciated. As you know, it's an expensive purchase!

Thanks,

Andrew

 

[_moore]

Oh, I forgot to mention that I would be buying a 24" monitor and 1TB external hard drive to go with it

 

[kevinlevrone]

The 2010 iMac has a Core i5-760 as standard processor which scores 3909 in PassMark. The Surface Pro 2 with the i5-4300U scores 3770. As you can see, the difference is negligible. The SSD and 8GB of the latest RAM spec are top notch.

Provided that if you have an extra monitor, the Surface Pro 2 will satisfy all your requirements.

But as you can see you will pay a price for the convenience and convergence, with no extra performance compared to your current setup.

But for me, it was worth it.

 

[Edistobob]

I made the Pro2 256GB model my main computer shortly after Thanksgiving and haven't looked back. It is working great and I have not regretted it at all. I use an external monitor at home and an external hard drive for backups. I also use a USB hub that has several devices constantly plugged in. I don't think you'll have trouble with any of the applications you are proposing, but I do not have personal experience with the video editing. But I so some light photo editing, stream movies using our HDTV as a monitor, and use it for everything else that I ever used my old computer for. Bottom line, it has been an great choice and change for me.

 

[Dayton]

Yes it is a complete hybrid and will satisfy both casual use and heavy lifting. I use my SP2 at work as my mobile device and at home for everything but iTunes/Amazon media, which I still leave to a desktop.

 

[sharpuser]

I was (am) a heavy iPad and MacBook user. The Surface Pro 2 I have does all I want and need. Though I still use those other devices, this one is my favorite.

 

[mtalinm]

A dissenting view: the sp2 is really not that fast. Some of the included apps are lagging, even when scrolling, like News and browser.

In doing statistical crunching I find my Lenovo x230 (with a full-speed i7 chip) 3-4x as fast as the SP2.

I love it, but it's no speed demon by any means.

 

[Dayton]

A dissenting view: the sp2 is really not that fast. Some of the included apps are lagging, even when scrolling, like News and browser.

In doing statistical crunching I find my Lenovo x230 (with a full-speed i7 chip) 3-4x as fast as the SP2.

I love it, but it's no speed demon by any means.

Are you using "Power Saver" as the energy profile? SP2 is plenty fast enough, replaced my Lenovo X1 Carbon Touch.

 

[Tsurugaya]

For the usage you outlined I would suggest you expand your budget a bit and also get the docking station, it will make it so much easier moving from your desk connected to the large monitor in to the sofa for web chilling. You are not going to enjoy photo editing on the Surface screen any more than you would on an iPad.

 

[kevinlevrone]

A dissenting view: the sp2 is really not that fast. Some of the included apps are lagging, even when scrolling, like News and browser.

In doing statistical crunching I find my Lenovo x230 (with a full-speed i7 chip) 3-4x as fast as the SP2.

It's like saying a BMW M5 is not very fast, because a Ferrari Enzo crushes it. You are comparing a 1.9/2.5GHz chip with a 2.9/3.6GHz chip.
The Surface Pro 2 crushes my Dell E6410 with a full-speed Core i7 chip (it's 50% faster). Does this mean anything ? No.

 

[jrapdx]

I concur with the majority opinion: the SP2 is a good choice for many "power-user" scenarios, especially when mobility is an important consideration.

SP2 was the sole contender when I was considering the options in Decemeber 2013. The SP2 alone offered 8GB RAM and large SSD (256GB was enough for me). My applications included using virtualization with Hyper-V for web server development, which can put large demands on CPU and memory resources. Another use has been photographic image editing. I needed adequate horsepower and at the same time size/weight suited to taking the computer on the road.

My experience has been positive (once some of the firmware bugs got straightened out). ATM I won't try to give a complete run down of the best settings for different uses, but running high-demand programs should be done with the SP2 plugged in and power plan set to High performance.

 

[benjitek]

I find it's nice that you can use your SP2 as a tablet format, but there are times when you need both a PC and a tablet, regardless of which OS the table has.