Forum member hands on reviews SP4

[dajogejr]

Did not know about the spacer, I read/was told all peripherals would work.
My guess is by the time the spacer is ready, I'll already have my new style dock...and any SP4 Pro I order going forward will have the new style Dock.
I'm looking at him now figuring out how I can put a few folded over sticky notes, etc., where they need to be to fit properly.
Not a huge deal, but worth mentioning.
Thanks both of you!

 

[jnjroach]

I have the SP4 i5/8/256

I've updated to TH2 Build 10565 so issues might be compounded but it is worth it.

Normal Issues Currently:

High Disk I/O - normal culprits - Search Indexer, SuperFetch (all normal with the first 48-72 hours)
Intel Video Driver is still buggy - Tempted to Update to latest but that can bring other problems
Some Vectoring while inking in portrait mode toward the bottom of the screen

Loves:

New Cover is great to type on
New Trackpad
New Screen and Resolution
New Nib for Pen - much improved inking experience
Drives my 4K and 2K external monitors much better - no crashing
Windows Hello is frick'n awesome


Overall - evolutionary update but for me well worth it....

 

[leeshor]

I turned off the search indexer and Super Fetch. Mostly out of habit. Research on SSD optimization settings will show that it is suggested to turn both off to reduce SSD surface wear. If you use the Samsung Magician on a standard SSD drive and set it for optimized reliability it makes those changes for you.

I should note that this is more important if you have cloned a hard disk to an SSD because Windows 8.x and 10 are supposed to see you are doing the install on an SSD and makes some of those changes by default but doesn't on a hard disk. Disabling Super Fetch in particular will sometimes improve performance. The faster the system and SSD the less impact turning of the indexer will have.

With that said, Jeff makes a good point about the first 48 hours of use.

 

[GreyFox7]

Additional Core M stuff.
Ok heads up, after some update applied the power plan was on Performance vs Balanced (this probably explains the screen brightness setting being changed as well) upshot of all that was... my "First" battery run was 5.5 hours. I'm now properly switched to Balanced and have taken one pass through settings so this next one should be better.

I'm sure I still have a few settings to review and "set correctly" so that in a few days I should be sipping battery like a fine wine.

Did a run of PCmark Home and got a score of 2070
while the PCMark Work Score was 2232
Currently working on running the same tests on the Surface 3 and SP3 i5 so I'll post a comparison later... but it might be just a text update rather than screen shot from Futuremark as navigating their results DB is frustrating.

Yep that new Type Cover is the bees knees (That means it's really good)
I'm still not a touchpad guy... need to learn how to type with my thumbs up because I occasionally hit the pad while typing with a thumb and now I'm off some other where typing often in the middle of another sentence. Hey can I get a trackstick option on this thing.

One other Note: I do so love the lighter Surface 3 and this is definitely not that, just modestly lighter than the SP3 but I don't think you'd notice much really.

 

[GreyFox7]

Here's the result of running PCMark Home, Work, and Creative on
the Core M SP4, the i5 SP3, and Surface 3

% is comparison to Core M scores.

PCMark Home..... SP4 Core M 2070 |SP3 i5 2297 +10% |S3 1437 -30%
PCMark Work...... SP4 Core M 2232 |SP3 i5 2703 +17% |S3 1607 -28%
PCMark Creative. SP4 Core M 2083 |SP3 i5 2299 +09% |S3 1270 -39%

Home is a test of typical home use: web browsing, writing, light photo editing, video chat, casual gaming.
Work is a test of basic office tasks : web browsing, writing, video chat, spreadsheets.
Creative is more demanding entertainment & media tasks: web browsing, photo editing, video editing, group video chat, media transcoding, & gaming.

In Home, Work, & Creative the Core M was a little slower than the SP3 i5 but not a lot slower.
The Surface 3 was quite a bit slower.

Note the Test Duration times in the images below which corresponds to execution speed.

PCMark Home

PCMark Work

PCMark Creative

 

[bugelrex]

Additional Core M stuff.
Ok heads up, after some update applied the power plan was on Performance vs Balanced (this probably explains the screen brightness setting being changed as well) upshot of all that was... my "First" battery run was 5.5 hours. I'm now properly switched to Balanced and have taken one pass through settings so this next one should be better.

I'm sure I still have a few settings to review and "set correctly" so that in a few days I should be sipping battery like a fine wine.

Your battery tests are greatly appreciated, its the last unknown before deciding on which model to choose

 

[EMINENT]

So, if anyone was wondering if the hue was fixed with build 10565, it is not.

Running pretty good so far otherwise. Ditto on the new type cover. AMAZING! Never really enjoyed the SP3 one, but this one is so different that I it makes me actually want to type on it. I love that the Messaging app now shows all my texts from my 830. I didn't get a chance to text anyone from the app though because it was pretty late. I tried to select myself to send a message and the app crashed.

 

[callihan_44]

I briefly got my hands on a surface pro 4 I-5 8gb 256..screen is beautiful, slightly better than my sp3 and thinner. Setting up network connection for a fellow employee wifi signal and speed (5ghz) was similar to the sp3. The things I personally noticed the most was transferring files seemed slightly faster, keyboard is an improvement for sure and the pen, the different pen tips was an excellent upgrade for anyone that loves using the pen. One tip that came already installed mimicked a felt tip which had a great feel to me and feels more natural to write on the screen with. I say the upgrade overall is worth it, if I were stuck between buying the sp3 or sp4 I would pick the 4 .

 

[Henki7]

Here's the result of running PCMark Home and Work on the Core M SP4 and the i5 SP3

I had some issues on the Surface 3 ... had to remove malwarebytes... will update this later.

Without further ado... on to the results.​

% is comparison to Core M
PCMark Home SP4 Core M 2070 |SP3 i5 2297 +10% |S3 1437 -30%
PCMark Work. SP4 Core M 2232 |SP3 i5 2703 +17% |S3 1607 -28%
PCMark Creative ... later it takes a while.

Home is a test of typical home use: web browsing, writing, light photo editing, video chat, casual gaming.
Work is a test of basic office tasks : web browsing, writing, video chat, spreadsheets.
Creative is more demanding entertainment & media tasks: web browsing, photo editing, video editing, group video chat, media transcoding, & gaming.

In both Home and Work the Core M was a little slower than the SP3 i5 but not a lot slower.

I am so uncertain about buying the new sp4 m3 or the sp3 i5. but after seen this test the best choice is the sp3 with i5 rather than the sp4 m3? maybe the sp3 i5 with the new pen and keyboard? i will only use my surface pro on school and do web browsing, netflix and spotify, i have another computer for gaming osv.
Iam so bad at specs so dont know what to do? what would be the best for me?

 

[GreyFox7]

I am so uncertain about buying the new sp4 m3 or the sp3 i5. but after seen this test the best choice is the sp3 with i5 rather than the sp4 m3? maybe the sp3 i5 with the new pen and keyboard? i will only use my surface pro on school and do web browsing, netflix and spotify, i have another computer for gaming osv.
Iam so bad at specs so dont know what to do? what would be the best for me?

For your stated uses you will barely scratch the surface of it's power, which is why either would be fine, so performance wise get the one *you* want. Although we still don't know how the battery life will play out.

The overall difference was less than 10% on Passmark which is hardly noticeable.

 

[Henki7]

For your stated uses you will barely scratch the surface of it's power, which is why either would be fine, so performance wise get the one *you* want. Although we still don't know how the battery life will play out.

The overall difference was less than 10% on Passmark which is hardly noticeable.

View attachment 7042

Thanks for answer
haha okok, so the performance would not be any better or worse if i choose sp4 or the sp3 if i got you? then the price will decide.
I have a feeling that with the updates etc the sp4 m3 is the best choice then?

 

[GreyFox7]

Updated post #29 above with PCMark results.
Forum member hands on reviews SP4