i5 & i7 surface 3 , also new surface 3

[sean_scouser]

Hi

ive been reading alot of threads on this forum trying to get as much info as possible about the surface 3

i live in the uk and am waiting for surface 3 to come out here and am going to order one

i work at sea and like the idea of carrying this instead of my laptop when travelling to and from work
mostly i will be surfing web , using office to send my timesheets off etc and hooking my wd 2tb hd upto
the surface to watch tv series and stuff

at the moment am torn at which surface to get either the 256gb i5 or the 256gb i7 , is there going to be much between them i think i will end up opting for the i7

also ive have a app on the Android phone called appygeek which keeps you upto date with all tech news realeases etc and there have been a few articles saying they think microsoft will be releasing a 10in screen surface and no its not the mini the one that got cancelled read that in other articles has any one seen anything about this or know anything

am thinking of waiting a month or 2 till after realease to see if other stores have good offers/bundles , has this been the case in america with price drops or better deals then off microsoft site

thanks for reading

 

[ctitanic]

If you are going to be using Android the extra power from the i7 is welcome. But I'll try to stay away from it because of the battery life.

 

[leeshor]

Welcome to the forum

There has been a bit of discussion here on the forum and most people feel that there will be little actual performance difference between the 2 processors. If you look at the raw processor benchmarks that would seem to be true for the most part. I have my doubts but the bottom line is that if your use is general it may not be worth the extra cost of the i7

 

[ctitanic]

Welcome to the forum

There has been a bit of discussion here on the forum and most people feel that there will be little actual performance difference between the 2 processors. If you look at the raw processor benchmarks that would seem to be true for the most part. I have my doubts but the bottom line is that if your use is general it may not be worth the extra cost of the i7

Totally agree. Unless the i7 is using a better cooling system.

 

[leeshor]

This is a total wag but I'm thinking there nay be some additional features we haven't heard abut yet.Cooling improvements may be one.

 

[sean_scouser]

no i wont be using andriod will be using it as comes like

thinking i7 cause i will be keeping it till it kind of breaks so want it to last / future proof kind of

thanks for the welcome just cant wait to actually get a surface now , i like to do alot of reading up on products before i buy them

am 99% sold on a surface like just waiting for it to be released now

 

[BillsCarnage]

The i5/8gb is the sweet spot. The only real difference is the i7 has hyper threading, which imo, is nothing more than an expensive waste of $$.

The rumored 10.6 Surface is likely going to be the Surface 3 (ARM), whereas the Mini was more likely Atom based. Though they could still make the S3 Atom based.

Save your $$, get the i5, a warranty and accessories all for less than the i7.

Oh and in terms of "future proof"... What you get today should last you a solid 3yrs. I've never quite agreed with that phrase. Unless you're a hardcore gamer or say a 3D animator, today's hardware will suit your needs just fine for many years to come.

 

[GreyFox7]

Based on your described usage and preferences, I recommend the i5 between the two.

 

[Moonsurface]

I had the same thoughts as you regarding i5 and i7, I'm also in the UK, I preordered the i7 some time ago and as we're UK we'd have to wait for whatever version anyway.

I went for i7 for the better onboard GPU ( I do some photoediting and RAW photo processing from a high resolution DSLR) though I'm not sure exactly how much difference it will make. Microsoft would be surely be in trouble if they released an i7 version with the extra cost and didn't make it in some way an improvement over the i5 surely??

I guess we'll find out soon enough.

 

[BillsCarnage]

II went for i7 for the better onboard GPU ( I do some photoediting and RAW photo processing from a high resolution DSLR) though I'm not sure exactly how much difference it will make. Microsoft would be surely be in trouble if they released an i7 version with the extra cost and didn't make it in some way an improvement over the i5 surely??

I guess we'll find out soon enough.

Are you using Photoshop? Just an fyi, but the Windows version of PS was not built for this high ppi screen, so the UI will give you a migraine. This is is a problem with a lot of legacy apps. I haven't tried CC yet, but every version prior is the same result. Bumping the resolution down to ~1600x1050 makes it bearable.

 

[Knuck]

If you are going to be using Android the extra power from the i7 is welcome. But I'll try to stay away from it because of the battery life.

According to several reports battery life should be the same.

Are you using Photoshop? Just an fyi, but the Windows version of PS was not built for this high ppi screen, so the UI will give you a migraine. This is is a problem with a lot of legacy apps. I haven't tried CC yet, but every version prior is the same result. Bumping the resolution down to ~1600x1050 makes it bearable.

As a daily user of PS CC I don't agree. Never had an issue with PS and the SP3

 

[GreyFox7]

I had the same thoughts as you regarding i5 and i7, I'm also in the UK, I preordered the i7 some time ago and as we're UK we'd have to wait for whatever version anyway.

I went for i7 for the better onboard GPU ( I do some photoediting and RAW photo processing from a high resolution DSLR) though I'm not sure exactly how much difference it will make. Microsoft would be surely be in trouble if they released an i7 version with the extra cost and didn't make it in some way an improvement over the i5 surely??

I guess we'll find out soon enough.

Your use case sounds like a reasonable one for the i7 but could I ask what you are using now CPU & GPU wise? for a little performance comparison of components from benchmarking sites