Microsoft Officially Unveils the Surface Pro 3

[kristalsoldier]

Btw, can anyone tell me what if any are the differences between devices bought in Canada and the UK? Obviously, I am looking for differences in the installed OS. One other question: Does MS products carry an International Warranty (for the 1st Year)? In other words, if I buy the SP3 in the US or Canada and I use it predominantly in the UK (my place of residence), will the warranty be honoured? As for the Type Cover, I guess I would buy it in the UK for the KB layout - or would that be a problem?

 

[jnjroach]

Btw, can anyone tell me what if any are the differences between devices bought in Canada and the UK? Obviously, I am looking for differences in the installed OS. One other question: Does MS products carry an International Warranty (for the 1st Year)? In other words, if I buy the SP3 in the US or Canada and I use it predominantly in the UK (my place of residence), will the warranty be honoured? As for the Type Cover, I guess I would buy it in the UK for the KB layout - or would that be a problem?

Yes, it has an international warranty, you could replace the cover with a UK when available.

 

[kristalsoldier]

Yes, it has an international warranty, you could replace the cover with a UK when available.

Nice! That is precisely what I am going to do!

 

[iSaliena]

Is there really a difference between the pro 2 and 3? ugh. I just got my Pro 2 last month and to hear that a new one is coming out very soon almost sucks... like is it worth upgrading? and would it cost less? so confused.

 

[WillysJeepMan]

Is there really a difference between the pro 2 and 3? ugh. I just got my Pro 2 last month and to hear that a new one is coming out very soon almost sucks... like is it worth upgrading? and would it cost less? so confused.

Only you can determine whether or not it is worth it to upgrade from a Pro 2.
The Surface Pro 3 differentiators:
- 3:2 aspect ratio
- Supposedly improved TypeCover3
- same thickness as a Surface 2 (RT version, not Pro 2, technically .01 inches thicker than a Surface 2)
- improved synergy between pen and screen
- reduced parallax effect on the screen when writing

I may have missed a few, but those are the ones that stood out to me. The other thing to consider is that they won't be available for quite some time. Can you go without a machine for that long? Can you return the Pro 2 for a refund?

Hope this helps.

 

[GoodBytes]

I noticed that you no longer have the 2 year 200GB OneDrive and Skype offer with the Pro 3, and if we look at the Core i5 256GB 8GB model, it cost 50$ more.

If you are new to the Surface Pro, the Pro 3 is a great choice.
If you have the Pro 2 going to Pro 3 is poor investment, as the CPU is the same as the Pro 2.
The i7 option is a very poor buy, as it is still a dual core CPU, just with HD5000 graphics instead of HD4400, where the performance difference is small, and teh big problem with Intel, which prevents you from playing games at higher settings, is that it does not fully support DirectX and OpenGL, despite Intel claims, which results in numerous crashes with rendering issues. As Intel seams to be a bit more serious and start putting somewhat of an effort in their graphic solution lastly, I would say wait for Broadwell (5th generation Core i). Also, the base clock of the Core i7 is 1.7GHz while the Core i5 is 1.9GHz. While the i7 can go up to 3.3GHz compared to 2.9GHz, this is under Turbo Boost, meaning if the CPU sees that it has the room (thermal wise), to clock at its peek it would. Else it won't reach the peek speed. So only reviews can tell if it can actually deliver 3.3GHz a lot, and not only peeks a few times, but really stops at 3GHz or something.

So to me, the upgrade form Pro 2 to Pro 3, is not worth it, unless you REALLY, but like REALLY need the larger screen resolution or looking for lighter (~1.76lb instead of 2lb).
If you do, remember that the pen, it looks like, Microsoft switch to N-Trig pen technology, so expect to purchase AAAA's batteries to operate the pen. Yes, 4x A's. So finding those are hard, and you have no battery indicator anywhere to know how much you have left. So you need to always carry a second battery with you in your pocket if you use the pen a lot.

 

[rmeigs]

Sadly, I think that the next Surface h/w announcement is not going to be positive news for fans of the RT line. I'm thinking that Microsoft wanted to separate the announcements so that one doesn't get drowned out by the other.

The Surface Pro 3 is generating lots of positive buzz. If Microsoft were to also announce a Surface Mini running RT that retails for $399 that would generate negative buzz. Or, if MS were to announce a Surface Mini running x86 Windows for $350, that would generate negative buzz as well.

There is also the possibility that Microsoft is waiting to see what Apple announces.

Makes perfect sense. I still want a Surface Mini running RT real bad and hope they announce something soon. Small screen tablets are consumption devices and my Dell Venue 8 Pro is overkill; plus the desktop is a waste.

 

[auinabq]

I noticed that you no longer have the 2 year 200GB OneDrive and Skype offer with the Pro 3, and if we look at the Core i5 256GB 8GB model, it cost 50$ more.

If you are new to the Surface Pro, the Pro 3 is a great choice.
If you have the Pro 2 going to Pro 3 is poor investment, as the CPU is the same as the Pro 2.
The i7 option is a very poor buy, as it is still a dual core CPU, just with HD5000 graphics instead of HD4400, where the performance difference is small, and teh big problem with Intel, which prevents you from playing games at higher settings, is that it does not fully support DirectX and OpenGL, despite Intel claims, which results in numerous crashes with rendering issues. As Intel seams to be a bit more serious and start putting somewhat of an effort in their graphic solution lastly, I would say wait for Broadwell (5th generation Core i). Also, the base clock of the Core i7 is 1.7GHz while the Core i5 is 1.9GHz. While the i7 can go up to 3.3GHz compared to 2.9GHz, this is under Turbo Boost, meaning if the CPU sees that it has the room (thermal wise), to clock at its peek it would. Else it won't reach the peek speed. So only reviews can tell if it can actually deliver 3.3GHz a lot, and not only peeks a few times, but really stops at 3GHz or something.

So to me, the upgrade form Pro 2 to Pro 3, is not worth it, unless you REALLY, but like REALLY need the larger screen resolution or looking for lighter (~1.76lb instead of 2lb).
If you do, remember that the pen, it looks like, Microsoft switch to N-Trig pen technology, so expect to purchase AAAA's batteries to operate the pen. Yes, 4x A's. So finding those are hard, and you have no battery indicator anywhere to know how much you have left. So you need to always carry a second battery with you in your pocket if you use the pen a lot.

Thank you for that. Like iSaliena, I just got mine last month and was feeling a bit bummed. It was such a big purchase for me, I even said, "As soon as I buy this they'll release the newer one.". But I feel way better about it now!

 

[WillysJeepMan]

Makes perfect sense. I still want a Surface Mini running RT real bad and hope they announce something soon. Small screen tablets are consumption devices and my Dell Venue 8 Pro is overkill; plus the desktop is a waste.

A Surface Mini running RT and equipped with an N-trig stylus could get me to change my mind about the usefulness of a Surface Mini.

 

[oion]

A 12-inch tablet honestly sounds too awkward to actually use in the hand as a mobile and moves away from the "replace mobile entertainment + business device" from my point of view. It's probably better for professional artists, though. If this is in response to those idiots who didn't understand Pro's "hybrid" nature, thus shifting that line towards laptop competition, eh...but the Japanese bleeding edge subnotebooks never did get popular in the U.S. due to the Western "bigger is better" ideals, so this is probably going to do well, great for MS. If the RT line continues in the same current form factor, that's another visual cue to help the more stupid consumers tell the difference, perhaps, and allow for more feature overlap avoiding "confusion" (like adding pen support to the RT line). I can see a larger screen helping with all the legacy desktop applications that aren't designed for touch, too, but at the 12-plus range, I would personally skip the Pro3 entirely and go straight for a real ultrabook; once you add the power cover (which I assume is coming), the weight will go up on the Pro3 anyway. The unfortunate part is that none of the previous major accessories are compatible.

If the backend development of RT bundled with WinPhone works out, that should help, though I wonder about the Nokia X family and whether that's going to remain entirely separate from other MS products or not; importing the Android ecosystem would be interesting. (Justing musing there.)

 

[WillysJeepMan]

A 12-inch tablet honestly sounds too awkward to actually use in the hand as a mobile and moves away from the "replace mobile entertainment + business device" from my point of view. It's probably better for professional artists, though. If this is in response to those idiots who didn't understand Pro's "hybrid" nature, thus shifting that line towards laptop competition, eh...but the Japanese bleeding edge subnotebooks never did get popular in the U.S. due to the Western "bigger is better" ideals, so this is probably going to do well, great for MS. If the RT line continues in the same current form factor, that's another visual cue to help the more stupid consumers tell the difference, perhaps, and allow for more feature overlap avoiding "confusion" (like adding pen support to the RT line). I can see a larger screen helping with all the legacy desktop applications that aren't designed for touch, too, but at the 12-plus range, I would personally skip the Pro3 entirely and go straight for a real ultrabook; once you add the power cover (which I assume is coming), the weight will go up on the Pro3 anyway. The unfortunate part is that none of the previous major accessories are compatible.

Stupid consumers?! wow.

I guess Microsoft has no responsibility in creating the state of confusion.

 

[oion]

Stupid consumers?! wow.

I guess Microsoft has no responsibility in creating the state of confusion.

Yes and no. MS obviously bears a lot of blame with the initial release due to idiotic marketing choices, and then we also got idiotic middle-men muddling the waters by comparing the products against the wrong competition for the wrong reasons; however, I follow a fairly narrow and cynical school of caveat emptor. Especially with products expected to last several years, as the price of a product increases (e.g. $$$ electronics and $$$$ computers and then cars/houses), the responsibility of consumers to properly research grows exponentially IMO.

With the exception of outright fraudulent tactics, products that affect consumer safety (e.g. Chinese-manufactured dry wall, toothpaste, baby food, pet food, honey, etc.), and purely subjective product (e.g. films and music), I have no interest in coddling the consumer who doesn't take the extra steps, while considering a mid-$$$ purchase, to figure out whether it really suits his needs or not. Buying a Surface RT line and then later hating it because "it doesn't run my desktop applications!" or "it doesn't have pen support!" or "it doesn't run the app game I want!" is pretty stupid. Buying a fully loaded Mac Air laptop whatever purely to surf the internet and write some school papers is pretty stupid too, but whatever. Even if a consumer isn't technically savvy, they need only be savvy enough to find the tech-savvy people online and ask.

In an ideal world, every single item we buy would be given a 5-star rating, when a product meets a consumer's needs at the correct price point and whatnot. Obviously microeconomics is a lot more complicated than that, but in my cynical view, consumers in general are pretty stupid. I mean, a friend of mine keeps buying the wrong dog food because the bag has similar colors as the one she normally buys.