I have a good excuse not to buy an SP3

[InspectHerGadget]

What a turn around for you! I remember you being pretty down on the SP3 not too long ago. Seems you like yours a lot now.

I was annoyed with the pen but impressed with the speed of the i7.

The pen is a bit fussy. I have to use OneNote Modern in full screen as the palm rejection doesn't work very well and being left handed, the pages are down the left. I was showing a customer the writing last night and I had several times I got shunted out of the page I wanted. This doesn't happen on the SP2 so now I'm just using full screen.

The performance though of the i7 is just great and that was the choice I ended up making and I'm keeping this one.

Both i7 models I've got have had no flaws at all.

I'm happy now but no device is perfect and I would prefer a passive pen like on the SP2 but I imagine the same pen will be used on the SP4 when it comes out.

 

[Aeron15]

If you're retired, I don't know what use you'll have for a 1.1kg PC. Unless you're the type of person who goes outside his house but have a computer in front of his face the whole day anyway.

 

[Liam2349]

Regardless, I now plan to wait as the "M" CPU from Intel is on the market and if you recall, msoft reconfigured the SP2 barely 5 months after first release with a CPU upgrade. I suspect in a short time the SP3 will be sporting the M-chip with 1/3 the battery drain of the current CPUs.

All good comes to he who waits. LOL

Microsoft made a very minor upgrade to SP2. Perhaps Intel stopped supplying them with the i5-4200u, so they started using the 4300u. Do you even know if the new M CPUs will use the same socket as our Haswell U?

Upgrading to a different type of CPU is a pretty big change.

 

[InspectHerGadget]

It seems pretty certain that they'll use the more powerful U series Broadwell, not the M series.

 

[absresin]

Use mine as a stylus. My keyboard cover won't work to sign in so have to disconnect it and use on screen keyboard. Pen works fine as a stylus for this

 

[jrioux]

Now, I really neeeeeed an SP3, so help me overcome my excuses.

Microsoft's Ebay and Amazon stores have factory refurbished SP3s. I bought a 128GB i5 with keyboard for $850.

 

[BOBEL]

Just brought a surface pro 3 i5 /128GB Get one you will not go back. Forget the
sp3 GO PRO!!!

 

[kozak79]

If you have doubts, Don't get one. If you have doubts about price, diffidently don't get one. With every little incident, you'll just think how expensive it was probably not worth it. I think of the SP3 as a luxury item. I love my i7/256gb, but only recommend it to those that can afford it without thinking about the price, same kind of people that buy the latest MacBook Pro without a real reason.

 

[mtalinm]

The SP3 is not a good laptop replacement. It is a good portable business device, but for a person who wants sustained prolonged usage with varying demands on the machine's CPU and GPU then the surface fails.

The SP3 needs to be watched and babied...Don't fall for the form factor yet. Wait till SP4. Despite what a lot of happy people say, the SP3 is flawed in respect to thermals and heavy usage. I was able to burn out my first SP3. I must have cooked it compiling like you and with editing video.

This is not to say I do not like the surface--I do but mostly because I like gadgets. Also, I have a good laptop to work with. An honest assessment will say the surface is the best tablet but not a good laptop replacement. Hell, the surface 2 was more robust. SP3 is a step ahead in design and a step back in terms of usability.

there is some truth to this. I'm mostly happy with SP3 but there are days I long for the non-overheating SP2. and both machines suffer from lack of memory (limited to 8G), which is frequently a problem for me (may not be for most).

Probably getting the Thinkpad P50 next, which goes up to 64G of memory and has workstation Xeon processors. I'll keep my non-pro S3, which is just so light and elegant...wish I'd waited for the LTE version though, arrgh.

 

[Cyb3rDud3]

The SP3 is not a good laptop replacement. It is a good portable business device, but for a person who wants sustained prolonged usage with varying demands on the machine's CPU and GPU then the surface fails.

The SP3 needs to be watched and babied...Don't fall for the form factor yet. Wait till SP4. Despite what a lot of happy people say, the SP3 is flawed in respect to thermals and heavy usage. I was able to burn out my first SP3. I must have cooked it compiling like you and with editing video.

This is not to say I do not like the surface--I do but mostly because I like gadgets. Also, I have a good laptop to work with. An honest assessment will say the surface is the best tablet but not a good laptop replacement. Hell, the surface 2 was more robust. SP3 is a step ahead in design and a step back in terms of usability.

Seriously? I mean seriously? Come on dude. I run visual studio with large solutions all the time. Normally have one or two virtual machines open as well. And SQL Server running. Got the full Adobe Creative Cloud thing going on, editing RAW files very often.

Only thing I barely ever do is edit video. But no, come on, the Surface Pro is a brilliant laptop replacement. And desktop, I don't use a desktop at all....

 

[kristalsoldier]

Seriously? I mean seriously? Come on dude. I run visual studio with large solutions all the time. Normally have one or two virtual machines open as well. And SQL Server running. Got the full Adobe Creative Cloud thing going on, editing RAW files very often.

Only thing I barely ever do is edit video. But no, come on, the Surface Pro is a brilliant laptop replacement. And desktop, I don't use a desktop at all....

Specifically about the desktop, I have a desktop machine because I had one before I got the SP3...but now that I have it, I don't use the desktop at all - I just do maintenance on it...and watch movies since it is hooked up to my external HDD. Can't see the damn thing because it is now past its prime and worth very little.