in doubt between m3 and i5

[artenbe]

Hi,


I'm thinking of purchasing a pro 4, though currently I'm still convinving myself to give such a big amount of money for it, but anyway

I would use it as follows:
1. tablet/laptop at home for browsing, reading, blogging
2. tablet/laptop at work for office use, drawing, notes etc
3. lightroom raw photo editing (12mpx files) on a weekly basis, but purely amateur based


I'm leaning towards de m3 because it's fanless etc, but I'm slightly worried if it will be able to do the lightroom stuff..

I currently have a imac 2007 with a core2duo processor, 4gb of ram and a ssd installed and the performance i get from that machine is fine for my use, if that can give you any indication. I had a macbook air 13" 3 years ago and that as well was performance wise enough to do my photo editing.

So if the m3 is up to par with those devices in lightroom, speed wise, I'll be very happy

any indication of a real world difference between the m3 and i5 in lightroom would also be very much appreciated!

thanks!

 

[eduardmc]

Read the other i5 vs m3 thread in this page.

just a recap

Get the i5, underclock it to m3 speed for a FANLESS, COOL and better battery experience. When you want to do heav task in lightroom or encoding video etc (i5 was 60% faster in this test than a m3) just with one click go back to default i5 speed. When all done go back to your underclock M3 fanless profile. All this cannot be done with the M3 version.

I see that quill.com has the i5 version for $850 cheaper than the m3. Plus theres another coupon to make it $750 ($100 off) which make this a really hot deal, to bad I bought mine for $899.

 

[artenbe]

I live in Belgium and the i5 is 1185 us dollars and the m3 1075 dollars.. (the difference buys you the keyboard here)

i won't do any video encoding, purely lightroom

 

[Afy]

Defnintely i5. Much better to be over than under IMHO

 

[artenbe]

yeah but price is a consideration for me

I've also found a couple of people talking about lightroom running perfectly on the SP3 i5
and from what i've seen here, the m3 should be better or at least the same as the SP3 i5 so ...

 

[raqball]

The i5 will be more powerful no doubt and it will get intensive tasks done faster. My core M has taken everything I have thrown at it and I edit 1080p video on it. Yes I am sure that it takes longer to do it than if I had the i5 but I am not in a time crunch so the extra wait does not bother me at all.

I don't use lightroom so I can't comment on it but my core M has not missed a beat!

 

[Nspyr]

I have the i5 version and lightroom DOES run smooth. I also use photoshop, and premiere elements on it. no problems here.

 

[Telstar1948]

The only negative I've heard about is that in a number of tests the i5 gets a little better battery life than the m3. You may want to check that out.

 

[artenbe]

I ordered a i5 with keyboard and pen tip kit
I was able to use the education discount of 10% which essentialy bought me the i5 for the m3 price

hope it will arrive next week

 

[Zkyevolved]

I got the i5 because I want to keep my device for at least 3 years. I buy tech all too often and I see the SP4 as a keeper! Fast, good battery life, responsive, keyboard is awesome. Maybe, who knows, the Sp5 keyboard will be even better and will fit in the Sp4 xD.

Getting the i5 will just guarantee that your device will run faster for longer. The M3 is GREAT, but for right now.... Who knows what tasks you'll want to do next year or the year after. Better to be safe than sorry.

 

[Mikewired]

The only negative I've heard about is that in a number of tests the i5 gets a little better battery life than the m3. You may want to check that out.

I have both an m3 and i5. For me the i5 is getting better battery life.