Surface 3 for $300. Worth it in 2018?

[maxonlinux]

Hello. I live in Ukraine (where the 400$ is average salary btw) and I wanna buy some Surface to study at university. I found the new, unused Surface 3 - 2/64 (LTE) for 320$. Is it a good deal for now, or I should pay a little more and purchase some another Surface? How do you think?

 

[Plantje]

Hi! If you think of that it might be better to opt for a 4/128GB (LTE) Surface 3

 

[hughlle]

While I don't know what they currently cost, I'd say that sounds expensive for the specification. Do you even need the LTE ability? I'd also go for the 128/4gb model if it is possible.

Saying that, I used surfaces for university, and while I liked the portability of the S3, I left mine at home because I found my SP3 to be far superior in every way. The SP3 is a real laptop replacement, while I found the S3 was just a bit too cramped, a bit too slow.

 

[Plantje]

Agreed, if you don't really need the LTE you may perhaps even get a better deal on a Surface Pro 3. And as I understood the difference between the Atom X7 and (even) the m3 are huge!

 

[maxonlinux]

So thank you guys for your answers! But I cannot find the 128/4 version in Ukraine, only 2/64. And yes, I need the LTE (mobile net is so cheap in my country. Only 5$ per month for unlimited 4G). Okay, the SP3's cost around that price, but they are second hand, with signs of wear and miss original accessories (box, stylus, etc.) and I won't really get some enjoyment from used device.

 

[Plantje]

I'm pretty sure that the Surface 3's that you can find now are refurbished ones as well. If you need LTE and tethering is not an option the Surface 3 is "okay", but don't expect too much of it. If you have many tabs open in your web browser it will slow the machine down a lot!
And I noticed that using the Spotify app with hardware acceleration on basically makes the system unusable.

 

[hughlle]

I'm pretty sure that the Surface 3's that you can find now are refurbished ones as well. If you need LTE and tethering is not an option the Surface 3 is "okay", but don't expect too much of it. If you have many tabs open in your web browser it will slow the machine down a lot!
And I noticed that using the Spotify app with hardware acceleration on basically makes the system unusable.

I agree. I consider the S3 to be a tablet that happens to be able to run windows, while the pro line is a fully fledged computer that happens to be able to function as a tablet. Anything beyond word and onenote and I'd not be using my S3. It would often struggle with a 1000 page PDF textbook while scrolling around. More a companion device than a single device solution.

 

[bronsky]

I run my entire practice on an S3 and have for the past 3 years. I have had no problems. I have a dock, full sized keyboard, mouse and 23" monitor for deskwork. The Atom is aging a bit but still performs okay for my needs.

 

[hughlle]

I run my entire practice on an S3 and have for the past 3 years. I have had no problems. I have a dock, full sized keyboard, mouse and 23" monitor for deskwork. The Atom is aging a bit but still performs okay for my needs.

It certainly becomes more capable with those additions. On its own though, I just found that it was a little too cramped and slow for my uni work outside of the house. Not entirely pleasant to type on, or use the trackpad, and when you're writing an assignment and have 20 different tabs open for reference material, plus onenote, word, and drawboard, it certainly bogged down. I guess it depends on your use and expectations. I had a guy in my class who also bought one, and while he loved it for onenote during lectures, he did all his real work on a regular size laptop.

I don't want to sound like I'm knocking the S3, I still love mine, but not for cranking out a 10,000 word essay etc. The lower specs do however mean that the battery life is superb

 

[Plantje]

Completely agree!