i3 Surface Pro or Surface 3 for tablet use?

[TestudoAubreii]

Hello. I am in the market for a tablet. I will be using it for mostly media consumption, with some PS4 remote play/Steam In-Home streaming and basic web browsing.

I had an i7 Surface Pro, but the battery life was not good,at all, and I could tell the it got a bit laggy when streaming games and other intensive tasks. So, now I am looking for something that will take up more of a tablet role, only using it for the things I mentioned above.

My main concern is battery life, with excessive heat and throttling right behind it. Would you all recommend the i3 Surface Pro 3 or the Surface 3?

Thank you in advance for your responses and advice!

 

[jnjroach]

Moved thread - The S3 is a great consumption Tablet that supports productivity but is also a dead-in product as Intel has abandoned the ATOM Platform. And unfortunately the Core M SP4 has the same battery life as the i5 SP4...

 

[jrioux]

Hello. I am in the market for a tablet. I will be using it for mostly media consumption, with some PS4 remote play/Steam In-Home streaming and basic web browsing.

I had an i7 Surface Pro, but the battery life was not good,at all, and I could tell the it got a bit laggy when streaming games and other intensive tasks. So, now I am looking for something that will take up more of a tablet role, only using it for the things I mentioned above.

My main concern is battery life, with excessive heat and throttling right behind it. Would you all recommend the i3 Surface Pro 3 or the Surface 3?

Thank you in advance for your responses and advice!

If I were thinking of buying a machine for your intended uses, I would definitely buy the Surface 3 over a Surface Pro. Best Buy currently offs the 4GB/128GB Surface 3 for only $400 - Microsoft - Surface 3 - 10.8" - Intel Atom - 128GB - Silver.

 

[bronsky]

Hello. I am in the market for a tablet. I will be using it for mostly media consumption, with some PS4 remote play/Steam In-Home streaming and basic web browsing.

I had an i7 Surface Pro, but the battery life was not good,at all, and I could tell the it got a bit laggy when streaming games and other intensive tasks. So, now I am looking for something that will take up more of a tablet role, only using it for the things I mentioned above.

My main concern is battery life, with excessive heat and throttling right behind it. Would you all recommend the i3 Surface Pro 3 or the Surface 3?

Thank you in advance for your responses and advice!

How about an M3 Mix 700? Microcenter has them for $399.

 

[Turbo4AWD]

Surface 3 for just recreational tablet use without a doubt. Pro for work related tasks.... despite the battery life difference. Personally I would rather have the power than just battery life on a slower device.

 

[stammie]

Firstly let me say I wouldn't be surprised if MS don't release another non pro Surface, one of the reasons for the Surface line was to prove/create a market for Windows 2 in 1 devices,
pretty much every OEM now has their own Surface like clone and those at the lower end are more powerful but compete on price with the Surface 3, for example here in the UK a fanless i3 Acer Switch Alpha 12 is only a few £'s more than a Surface 3 with a typecover and if you count the included pen with the Acer it works out cheaper than the MS solution.
I fully intended on selling my Surface 3 when I bought a SP4 but without going into the circumstances I still have the Surface 3 and still use it from time to time, as much as I like the device I would really recommend going for the more powerful yet competitively priced competition especially as 15 months into its life the battery on my Surface 3 seems to be falling off of a cliff (this could be because it has a Simplo battery and has the same fault SP3's are suffering from).

To cut a long short the Surface 3 made me fall in love with the Surface line but there is better on the market in its price point.

 

[kristalsoldier]

To cut a long short the Surface 3 made me fall in love with the Surface line but there is better on the market in its price point.

What would you suggest as an alternative to the S3 leaving aside the iPad Pro?

 

[jnjroach]

What would you suggest as an alternative to the S3 leaving aside the iPad Pro?

The S3 is still a great tablet and hybrid....most of the other Tablets in its class are using the lower spec'd ATOM CPUs.....

 

[kristalsoldier]

The S3 is still a great tablet and hybrid....most of the other Tablets in its class are using the lower spec'd ATOM CPUs.....

Oh, I agree - though I don't use my S3 as a hybrid, but purely as a tablet/ slate (what's the difference between the two?)! I was just wondering what else could be considered in lieu of it. I just hope MS comes out with a successor machine to the S3 and keeps that product band alive.

Edit: Pluses and minuses

 

[hughlle]

What would you suggest as an alternative to the S3 leaving aside the iPad Pro?

It can only be another windows tablet. The surface line might do similar things to android/ios, such as play youtube, browse facebook, but they are very different markets imo. If all you want is the mobile OS experience then there really isn't any point in a surface or similar. The point of the surface et al is that it is a full blown OS with associated features (usb peripherals etc, nothing fancy or proprietary needed)

 

[kristalsoldier]

It can only be another windows tablet. The surface line might do similar things to android/ios, such as play youtube, browse facebook, but they are very different markets imo. If all you want is the mobile OS experience then there really isn't any point in a surface or similar. The point of the surface et al is that it is a full blown OS with associated features (usb peripherals etc, nothing fancy or proprietary needed)

Well, I see the logic in what you are saying, but if you take my case as an illustrative example, I use the S3 in a pure tablet/ slate form. Indeed, when I bought it, I made sure I did not buy the accompanying type cover and the aim was to replace the iPad Air that I was using in the same role. The additional thing that the S3 brought for me was inking, which one could now say that the iPad Pro also offers, but with a larger footprint than the S3.

I mean, it would probably not be wrong to say that I am totally underusing the S3, but that's the way the cookie crumbles for me (btw, I did try - between the iPad Air and the S3 - a DVP8 - was not too happy with it though I loved the form factor).

 

[jnjroach]

Oh, I agree - though I don't use my S3 as a hybrid, but purely as a tablet/ slate (what's the difference between the two?)! I was just wondering what else could be considered in lieu of it. I just hope MS comes out with a successor machine to the S3 and keeps that product band alive.

Edit: Pluses and minuses

Since Intel has abandoned the ATOM SoC designed for Tablets, the X3, X5 and X7 Tablets are all very similar in SPECs and there isn't an upgrade path. The only successor path is using the Skylake (or future CabyLake) M3-M7 (which the OPP SP4 uses). Currently the Core M Tablets are all trying to compete with the SP4 with 12" screens.

I'm hoping we will see an ARM based Surface Phablet (6.5 - 8") with Ntrig Support running Windows 10 AU with Continuum Support.