Background on me and my use.
I am a 100% home user and would consider my use to be rather lite when compared to others. I mainly browse the web, do email, lite photo editing and general home use type computing.
In the past year I have owned the following computers and tablets.
The Surface Pro 3 was purchased after long and hard consideration of what I wanted. I’ve been looking for a tablet that could also be used as a PC because I have several PC programs that I need access to. In the past I’ve settled on having 2 different devices. I’ve known about the Surface line but passed on them previously for a few reasons. First and foremost was because I was 100% sure I’d hate Windows 8 and the second reason was because the screen size. I wanted a larger screen size for PC use. Tablet use is fine at 10” but I wanted a minimum of 12-13” for PC use.
- Chromebook Pixel
- Macbook Pro Retina
- Apple iPad
- Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2
I purchased the Chombook Pixel direct from Google for something like $1,600 after tax. The Pixel was a gorgeous machine! It absolutely rivals the Retina Mackbook Pro as far as the hardware goes. As an added bonus the Pixel was a touchscreen. I loved using it but the limitations of ChromeOS wore on me quickly and I sold it at a substantial loss.
The Macbook Pro Retina was purchased direct from my local Apple store. I liked it well enough but I found myself using it less and less over time as I adapted to using my iPad Air for couch potato surfing. I never liked the iPad so it was sold and I purchased the Note Pro 12.2. I liked this tablet much better than the iPad but I was still using 2 different devices and was not completely satisfied.
What I wanted was a tablet and a PC rolled into one. The Surface 3 fit the bill, it had the screen size I wanted BUT it had Windows 8 on it and like I said earlier, I was 100% sure I would hate it for that reason.
I finally decided to go to Best Buy to check out the Surface 3 Pro. My local Best Buy has a Microsoft area with a Microsoft employee (not a Best Buy employee) patrolling the area. She was very nice and took the time to answer all my questions. I played around with the display models for about an hour. I was still unsure but she assured me that I could return it within 14-days for a full refund if I was unhappy with it. I was originally going to get the i3 but she convinced me to go with the i5. Since it was only $200 more, I did go with the i5 version.
I am very, very happy with this machine! It really is everything I wanted. It’s a tablet with a nice large 12” screen when I want it to be and it’s a laptop with a 12” screen when I want it to be. For me, this is the best of both worlds.
I was concerned about only getting 4gb of ram but for my use thus far at least, it has not missed a beat or slowed down at all. My test was to head over to The Verge website. For some reason this site always shudders when scrolling. It shuddered on my Pixel (4gb ram) and it shuddered on my Macbook Pro Retina (8gb ram). I was surprised that I did not experience this on the Surface Pro 3 (4gb ram). Everything on the SP3 is smooth and fast.
I hear people complain about the heat and fan noise on the SP3 but I have not noticed this at all. My Pixel got hot. So hot you could not watch a video with it on your lap. The fan noise from the Pixel was also very loud at times. My Macbook Pro did get warm (not hot) and the fan on it was pretty quiet but could be heard at times. My SP3 has not got hot yet (it’s gotten luke warm a few times) and I’ve never even heard the fan so far with my use.
Windows 8, what can I say? I was wrong, dead wrong. I thought I would hate it but after using it, I am finding that I really like it. I even went out and purchased a Windows 8 phone, the Nokia Icon, which BTW I really like as well.
Overall I am thrilled with my purchase. I do not miss the Macbook Pro Retina one bit. The SP3 does everything I want and more. It’s a tablet when I want it to be and it’s a powerful laptop when I need it be. For the most part thus far I am living on the Metro screen and I only use the Desktop when needed to run my PC specific programs.
If you read this entire post then congrats you have made it to the end!
