Is the i3 Surface Pro 3 good enough for my needs...

[TestudoAubreii]

...for the foreseeable future?

I recently bought the i3 Surface Pro 3 and I am considering trading up for the i5/8GB. However, I really am not using it for anything other than tablet activities. I mostly just browse the web and watch streaming and local HD movies and the occasional Steam in-home streaming game. I don't plan on using it to be too productive or "hardcore gaming" (if any SP3 gaming, at all).

Is the SP3 i3 good enough strictly tablet usage, like media consumption, or would I need to upgrade. If it is good enough (I do really assume that it is), will it be relevant for that usage for the foreseeable future?

Please, forgive me for being sort of ignorant to specs and usage. Thank you in advance for any and all help and responses.

 

[raqball]

Your usage is much like mine..

I use it as a tablet 90% of the time and for lite PC activities 10% of the time..

I had the i5 / 8 / 256 and it was serious overkill for my usage. I just today ordered the i3 / 4 / 64 and am pretty sure that it will also be overkill for my needs.

The only real issue is can you make it with 64GB of storage? In my case I have an Office subscription that comes with unlimited cloud storage. I pretty much keep everything there so 64GB of hard drive space is more than enough for me..

If your use is like mine, then even the i3 is overkill..

My .02

 

[malberttoo]

...for the foreseeable future?

I recently bought the i3 Surface Pro 3 and I am considering trading up for the i5/8GB. However, I really am not using it for anything other than tablet activities. I mostly just browse the web and watch streaming and local HD movies and the occasional Steam in-home streaming game. I don't plan on using it to be too productive or "hardcore gaming" (if any SP3 gaming, at all).

Is the SP3 i3 good enough strictly tablet usage, like media consumption, or would I need to upgrade. If it is good enough (I do really assume that it is), will it be relevant for that usage for the foreseeable future?

Please, forgive me for being sort of ignorant to specs and usage. Thank you in advance for any and all help and responses.

Testudo, from what you described, the i3 SP3 is the perfect device for you, and should do you well for the future, until your usage gets substantially more demanding.

 

[TestudoAubreii]

Your usage is much like mine..

I use it as a tablet 90% of the time and for lite PC activities 10% of the time..

I had the i5 / 8 / 256 and it was serious overkill for my usage. I just today ordered the i3 / 4 / 64 and am pretty sure that it will also be overkill for my needs.

The only real issue is can you make it with 64GB of storage? In my case I have an Office subscription that comes with unlimited cloud storage. I pretty much keep everything there so 64GB of hard drive space is more than enough for me..

If your use is like mine, then even the i3 is overkill..

My .02

Testudo, from what you described, the i3 SP3 is the perfect device for you, and should do you well for the future, until your usage gets substantially more demanding.

Thank you for the replies!

That is great to hear. Even if it is overkill, I really dig the form factor, design and having a full blown operating system at my finger tips in tablet form. I am not really concerned with storage at this point. I can grab an SD card if i need more.

I think my biggest concern was choosing 4GB over the 8GB of RAM. So, just doing tablet tasks that I mentioned should be good at 4GB for a while. Am I correct in assuming that perhaps the unit will die out before I need more RAM for a boost in performance?

 

[compnovo]

My SP3 has 4GB of RAM and it performs great. It's a common misconception that RAM improves overall performance but that's only true if you're doing HEAVY multi-tasking or using RAM-intensive programs like video editing (the old saying with Photoshop is there's no such thing as too much RAM). Since that doesn't seem to be your situation I really think you'll be fine.

 

[hughlle]

Well given that this is not a "should i buy it" thread, and that you already have the i3 and are using it for your tablet needs, you should already know the answer. Is it doing what you want it to do? Or has there been a specific situation that has left you wondering whether to upgrade.

Other than storage, I see no reason why the i3 model wouldn't suit the majority of users. I bought the i5 and i know i could have easily gotten away with the i3.

 

[raqball]

Other than storage, I see no reason why the i3 model wouldn't suit the majority of users. I bought the i5 and i know i could have easily gotten away with the i3.

I agree.. The i3 and 4GB of ram is sufficient for most. I understand some want to 'future proof' their purchase but this is never a consideration for me. I always get the new model and sell the old.

In this case I may only use the SP3 for 6 months before I buy the SP4. I'm no Windows expert as I've been a Mac user for a long time but I assume Windows does a stellar job of managing the RAM. As far as storage goes, there are so many free cloud based storage options out there and SD card prices have came down quite a bit that I see no need for storage overkill.. I'd be willing to bet I won't even come close to using half of the 64GB..

 

[dportal2006]

Your usage is much like mine..

I use it as a tablet 90% of the time and for lite PC activities 10% of the time..

I had the i5 / 8 / 256 and it was serious overkill for my usage. I just today ordered the i3 / 4 / 64 and am pretty sure that it will also be overkill for my needs.

The only real issue is can you make it with 64GB of storage? In my case I have an Office subscription that comes with unlimited cloud storage. I pretty much keep everything there so 64GB of hard drive space is more than enough for me..

If your use is like mine, then even the i3 is overkill..

My .02

The lack of storage is the only reason why i did not purchased the $800 i3 model. Before purchasing the Surface Pro 3 i used to have the SP2 64 GB model. I purchased it thinking that storage was not going to be.an issue if i could store my media on an external SD card. The only thing i did not take into account is that the Windows Updates have to be stored on the hard drive itself. After only a few days of usage i only had like 30 GB left. That was after installing a couple of programs and a few apps. Over the life of the product i feel like 64 Gb is simply not enough.

Is the i3 processor good enough? For most people it is more than enough. For web browsing and general tablet use there is really not that big of a difference. Most people are going to be really satisfied with the performance of the product and will not notice any difference between the i3 and i5 processor found on the 128 GB model.

 

[raqball]

I have 32'ish GB (32.4 to be exact) free right now after installing all my apps and programs. I have almost a TB of music, photos and video stored on OneDrive and maybe 20GB used on my 128GB SD card.

I'm cool with the 64 on the i3 and as you say, the i3 is more than sufficient for my use..

 

[GreyFox7]

Anyone that can get by with an Atom based tablet (Lenovo, Asus, Acer, HP, Dell) will be more than pleased with the i3 performance its a real step up. I wonder if they have the same quirkiness?

 

[dportal2006]

Anyone that can get by with an Atom based tablet (Lenovo, Asus, Acer, HP, Dell) will be more than pleased with the i3 performance its a real step up. I wonder if they have the same quirkiness?

What do you mean by quirkiness?

 

[jnjroach]

I can't remember if I posted this previously, but the i3 version of the Surface Pro 3 is designed to benchmark around 80% of the i5 Version and the i5 is 80% of the i7....