I just got back from a 3 day trip. As I have in the past with the SPro 1/2, I only took my SP3 i7 and HTC 8x. My trip was 3 days of intense training on new product features. It was from 830am to 430-5pm for the first two days then half day today. There was about 50 people in attendance. The majority of folks were from the West and about 15 folks were from Corporate on the East coast.
Here are some random thoughts/observations.
A year ago at a similar meeting, I was the only person with a Surface tablet. The rest was a sea of Dell/HP/Mac. I started my campaign to convert folks to Surface devices by doing my Surface thing throughout the year. At this meeting, there was 10 folks with Surface devices. There were four SP3's, five SPro2's, and one SPro1. The folks with the SP3's were my peers on the West who I influenced to get a SP3. The SP2's were a mix of Corp and West coast peers who were also influenced by my campaign. The lone SPro1 was a Corp person who desperately wanted to upgrade but didn't have funds. It was great seeing all the Surface devices. We had a great time talking them up and had many more folks asking and committing to move to the Surface. There is strength in numbers.
The best part was seeing the Corp folks embracing the Surface. I'm hoping that Corp will see the value of the Surface and provide us with them.
I purposely left my power cord in my hotel room. The first two days were long, information filled ppt preso after ppt preso after ppt preso. Powerpoint by death as most of us know. I used my Sp3 i7 all day to take notes and hit websites. I used OneNote and pen. I also recorded video and audio in OneNote just to try it. On both the long days, my battery life was around 27% left when we got done. Not to shabby. This was my main concern on moving to the i7 vs i5. I didn't want to lose battery life and I didn't so I will keep the SP3 i7 for now. I know this isn't a stress test but it fits my needs.
The Corp folks doing the presentations suffered no random blue screens or hiccups. I bring this up because there has been much ado about random blue screens and hiccups on this forum. To be fair, the Mac presenters also didn't have problems but then that's expected.
My SP3 i7 never heated up nor did the fans ever come on. Again, to be fair, I was mainly web browsing and using Office suite. I bring this up also because folks have mentioned their SP3's heating up and fans coming on while doing lesser things.
My SP3 i7 never locked up, had slowness, or ever had problems with slow browsing. My pen always worked. Clicking the top button always opened OneNote (a cool feature to show your peers). I'm pretty conservative on what I install. Just simple apps like Office 365, Kindle, Nook, a few Metro games, LogMeIn, etc. I don't push the boundaries. I suspect this is why I'm usually issue free.
On SP3 i5 vs i7, I would say get the i5. Having tried both, there is no real difference in performance in the way I use it. You folks out there who are gaming or running intense programs will need to rely on the benchmarking members. I wish I could say the i7 is super faster. For me, the i5 is the sweet spot. I only have the i7 because I really don't care about the extra $200. As others have pointed out, if you can, why not?
I am affected by the wobbly kick stand mentioned in another thread. My SP3 i5 just snapped into first position. My i7 doesn't and for this reason I will most likely exchange it.
Last, I was watching Under the Dome Season 2 Episode 2 using Dish Anywhere. The whole show was practically a MS Surface commercial. There were several folks using the SPro2 in it. Pretty cool.
I'm very happy with the SP3. The larger screen and thinner form factor were reason enough to jump from the SPro2 for me. I would highly recommend the SP3 for those of you debating on whether or not to pull the trigger on one.
Here are some random thoughts/observations.
A year ago at a similar meeting, I was the only person with a Surface tablet. The rest was a sea of Dell/HP/Mac. I started my campaign to convert folks to Surface devices by doing my Surface thing throughout the year. At this meeting, there was 10 folks with Surface devices. There were four SP3's, five SPro2's, and one SPro1. The folks with the SP3's were my peers on the West who I influenced to get a SP3. The SP2's were a mix of Corp and West coast peers who were also influenced by my campaign. The lone SPro1 was a Corp person who desperately wanted to upgrade but didn't have funds. It was great seeing all the Surface devices. We had a great time talking them up and had many more folks asking and committing to move to the Surface. There is strength in numbers.
The best part was seeing the Corp folks embracing the Surface. I'm hoping that Corp will see the value of the Surface and provide us with them. I purposely left my power cord in my hotel room. The first two days were long, information filled ppt preso after ppt preso after ppt preso. Powerpoint by death as most of us know. I used my Sp3 i7 all day to take notes and hit websites. I used OneNote and pen. I also recorded video and audio in OneNote just to try it. On both the long days, my battery life was around 27% left when we got done. Not to shabby. This was my main concern on moving to the i7 vs i5. I didn't want to lose battery life and I didn't so I will keep the SP3 i7 for now. I know this isn't a stress test but it fits my needs.
The Corp folks doing the presentations suffered no random blue screens or hiccups. I bring this up because there has been much ado about random blue screens and hiccups on this forum. To be fair, the Mac presenters also didn't have problems but then that's expected.
My SP3 i7 never heated up nor did the fans ever come on. Again, to be fair, I was mainly web browsing and using Office suite. I bring this up also because folks have mentioned their SP3's heating up and fans coming on while doing lesser things.
My SP3 i7 never locked up, had slowness, or ever had problems with slow browsing. My pen always worked. Clicking the top button always opened OneNote (a cool feature to show your peers). I'm pretty conservative on what I install. Just simple apps like Office 365, Kindle, Nook, a few Metro games, LogMeIn, etc. I don't push the boundaries. I suspect this is why I'm usually issue free.
On SP3 i5 vs i7, I would say get the i5. Having tried both, there is no real difference in performance in the way I use it. You folks out there who are gaming or running intense programs will need to rely on the benchmarking members. I wish I could say the i7 is super faster. For me, the i5 is the sweet spot. I only have the i7 because I really don't care about the extra $200. As others have pointed out, if you can, why not?
I am affected by the wobbly kick stand mentioned in another thread. My SP3 i5 just snapped into first position. My i7 doesn't and for this reason I will most likely exchange it.
Last, I was watching Under the Dome Season 2 Episode 2 using Dish Anywhere. The whole show was practically a MS Surface commercial. There were several folks using the SPro2 in it. Pretty cool.
I'm very happy with the SP3. The larger screen and thinner form factor were reason enough to jump from the SPro2 for me. I would highly recommend the SP3 for those of you debating on whether or not to pull the trigger on one.
