SP3 i5 or i7 for Graphic Design Student/Artist?

[GreyFox7]

I also considered the thinkpad yoga, but it's not enough of a tablet for me, and the aspect ratio of the screen is "wrong" too despite the massive resolution it offers. The very same reason I wouldn't consider a surface pro 2.

I can understand the frustration with many coming from surface pro 2 to 3. In a way it's like Microsoft should have called the pro 3 a different name, a different model as it's a different form factor from the previous two and many, like me will be first time adopters for that very reason as the appeal is different. For what I do having the extra screen height greatly helped in my decision over what to buy - plus as mentioned before the huge bonus of being able to lie the SP3 nearly right down and use it like a graphics tablet. I think I will make great use of the note-taking aspect too.

I'm still mega excited about getting my SP3 and still have to wait ages! If the performance ultimately doesn't meet my expectations I will of course be disappointed then I'll be forced to think about changing it for a laptop, but that's really not what I want, the SP3 is the nearest I can see to being my ideal device with the tablet advantage and note taking. The pro 2 while I think it's great, just isn't quite what I'd be interested in if the SP3 had to go back and I'd be back in a dilemma about what to get instead.

I know what you mean about screen height, I think overall the 10.6 size is pretty good, definitely better than 10.1 or smaller, but it would be better with an aspect ratio of 16:10 screen vs the 16:9 and they could do that in the same size tablet by reducing the bezels or adding a couple mm but that would have implications to existing keyboard covers. The weight and thickness of the Pro & Pro 2 kept me from buying those but I do have a Surface 2.

 

[Zog1971]

With respect to everyone who is posting, can we please stay on topic? I'm sold on the SP3. There are other threads to talk about why or why not you want an SP3. If you don't like it, that's cool. I'm really just wanting to hear about which 8gb RAM processor to get for my needs. Thanks!

 

[ipaq_101]

With respect to everyone who is posting, can we please stay on topic? I'm sold on the SP3. There are other threads to talk about why or why not you want an SP3. If you don't like it, that's cool. I'm really just wanting to hear about which 8gb RAM processor to get for my needs. Thanks!

I have used Photshop with the i5/8gb model without problems, then again I don't anything crazy with photshop to give you any real data. For my light usage of Photoshop there weren't any problems.

 

[megatronium]

For my fellow artists, might I recommend this site.

http://surfaceproartist.com/

 

[Zog1971]

I did go ahead and opt for the i7 from the online store with student discount AND my states no tax weekend. It gets here tomorrow and am like a giddy schoolgirl. I know it's not right for all, but HOPING it's just right for my needs over the next 2 years. I will only be able to compare it to my much loved SP1, but looking forward to seeing what differences I see between the 2.

 

[Moonsurface]

Looking forward to your thoughts. I still have 3 weeks to wait until I get mine :-(

 

[palmor]

Something that I was surprised at is that the i5 is hyperthreaded. I was looking to see my CPU usage during a Lightroom export and while in task manager I choose to look at all the cores and there was 4. Did a little bit of research and found out that yes, the i5 4300u is hyperthreaded. So there are very few differences between the i7 and i5

 

[GreyFox7]

Something that I was surprised at is that the i5 is hyperthreaded. I was looking to see my CPU usage during a Lightfoot export and while in task manager I choose to look at all the cores and there was 4. Did a little bit of research and found out that yes, the i5 4300u is hyperthreaded. So there are very few differences between the i7 and i5

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So two differences that MAY have some impact on special situations (probably limited) AVX and EM64T. the letter allows for running 16 bit code (yeah like who cares man) could have implications for running some older VMs. while AVX might get some use in the ever perplexing world of graphics design. Perplexing to me because its not my thing

 

[megatronium]

L3 cache and L3 cache per core.

 

[JoeNathan78]

Im probably gonna go for the i5 256 myself. Looking forward to your review once you get it!

 

[xcentrk]

I am also still on the fence, but am leaning towards the i5 256 also. Will probably purchase in a week or so.

To the OP, am looking forward to your experience with the i7.

 

[Stephan]

Wow. Lucky ! I was wondering the same questions as you Zog 1971. I'm really looking forward to your feedback (I'm waiting you're feedback before buying the i7 version)