Surface 3 lte for science sphere. Recommended it to me?

[viktit88]

Dear professionals! Dear friends! Help me, please!
I am from Russia. And I decided to buy surface 3 lte device (I want to replace my 13 inch MacBook Pro and iPhone) for daily work at home, on the road and in office.
For me the main things I need are portability, convenience in typing (I use MS Office a lot, about 10 hours a day), and also autonomy. I am working in the sphere of science, so I work with a lot of researches and databases. I need to use ms office (special business version with power pivot, power map and other special tools), latex, spss, mathtype, mathematica, stata, qlick view, adobe acrobat pro, indesign, finereader, 1c, ms visio, ms project and etc. And, of course, I like to watch movies in the evening. These are the main programs I need to use, other are less productive. I am also doing a lot of administrative work, that is why I always have hundreds emails every day and I should response on them very quickly, so I also work on my Apple iPhone to be always online. I think, if I will buy lte version of surface 3, I will use my iPhone less and only for calls and sms.
So the question is, whether Surface 3 lte will satisfy all my needs.
If not, I have another two variants: 1) I will buy need MacBook 12 and will use it with my iPhone or 2) I will buy Lenovo Thinkpad x250 with lte
Thank You very much!
Best wishes, Viktor

 

[malberttoo]

Dear professionals! Dear friends! Help me, please!
I am from Russia. And I decided to buy surface 3 lte device (I want to replace my 13 inch MacBook Pro and iPhone) for daily work at home, on the road and in office.
For me the main things I need are portability, convenience in typing (I use MS Office a lot, about 10 hours a day), and also autonomy. I am working in the sphere of science, so I work with a lot of researches and databases. I need to use ms office (special business version with power pivot, power map and other special tools), latex, spss, mathtype, mathematica, stata, qlick view, adobe acrobat pro, indesign, finereader, 1c, ms visio, ms project and etc. And, of course, I like to watch movies in the evening. These are the main programs I need to use, other are less productive. I am also doing a lot of administrative work, that is why I always have hundreds emails every day and I should response on them very quickly, so I also work on my Apple iPhone to be always online. I think, if I will buy lte version of surface 3, I will use my iPhone less and only for calls and sms.
So the question is, whether Surface 3 lte will satisfy all my needs.
If not, I have another two variants: 1) I will buy need MacBook 12 and will use it with my iPhone or 2) I will buy Lenovo Thinkpad x250 with lte
Thank You very much!
Best wishes, Viktor

Welcome!

The Surface 3 is not the machine for you. Better get the Thinkpad.

 

[viktit88]

Welcome!

The Surface 3 is not the machine for you. Better get the Thinkpad.

Please, tell me, why it is so.

 

[malberttoo]

Please, tell me, why it is so.

The biggest reason is the processor. The Surface 3 comes with an Atom processor, and while it is decent for a consumption type device, the things you have listed, some of them will, in my humble opinion, be pretty hard on that proc. My opinion is that you will find it to be very slow.

The other reason is that you specifically mentioned Indesign, and I just can't imagine doing that kind of work on that small of a screen.

BUT I am only one voice, so I recommend you give it a day or so, and no doubt some other folks will come along and give you some feedback as well.

 

[viktit88]

The biggest reason is the processor. The Surface 3 comes with an Atom processor, and while it is decent for a consumption type device, the things you have listed, some of them will, in my humble opinion, be pretty hard on that proc. My opinion is that you will find it to be very slow.

The other reason is that you specifically mentioned Indesign, and I just can't imagine doing that kind of work on that small of a screen.

BUT I am only one voice, so I recommend you give it a day or so, and no doubt some other folks will come along and give you some feedback as well.

Thank You friend. For bigger screen it is not problem. In my office I have 23 inch display, that I can connect with surface 3 via hdmi or vga.
Waiting for another feedbacks. Thank You!

 

[leeshor]

I'm inclined to agree. It would seem that any current Atom processor is likely not to meet your needs in a fairly short period of tome. You should be looking at a processor you can grow into not out of.

The Surface Pro 3 i5 would be far better.

 

[hughlle]

My personal opinion is that the S3 is a tablet. It may be faster than my old tablet but it's still just a tablet that can get bogged down quite easily. I can't see myself being able to do any serious work on it without banging my head against the wall. My Sp3 is for real work, with my S3 purely as a couch device as I just don't find it fast enough to give it any more responsibility.

 

[viktit88]

Dear Professionals, Do You think that intel atom z8700 worser and more slower than intel core m? My friend has yoga pro 3 with core m proc. and it has no problems with the same programs that I need. I do not believe that s3 is slower than sp3 with an old haswell processor.

 

[jnjroach]

Dear Professionals, Do You think that intel atom z8700 worser and more slower than intel core m? My friend has yoga pro 3 with core m proc. and it has no problems with the same programs that I need. I do not believe that s3 is slower than sp3 with an old haswell processor.

The Core M is the replacement of the "Y" Variant of the Haswell Core "I" series.... it is a different architecture from the ATOM SoC....

 

[viktit88]

The Core M is the replacement of the "Y" Variant of the Haswell Core "I" series.... it is a different architecture from the ATOM SoC....

That is why core m better and faster than atom z8700?

 

[jnjroach]

That is why core m better and faster than atom z8700?

Correct.... Intel has made the Core series for performance and the ATOM as the efficient SoC for Tablets, Phones and other low power implementations....

 

[malberttoo]

Also you have to consider that one of the primary factors that makes the Surface products so appealing to a lot of us, is the Pen and handwriting integration. Many users here have found other devices that are better on paper spec-wise, but the requirement for Pen or handwriting makes the Surface a winner. I do not see that in your list of requirements, although once you try it, you may really like it.

@hughlle, as an owner of both SP3 and S3, what is your take on Victor's question of the Atom vs. the "old Haswell"? From seeing some of the feedback on this forum, I definitely believe that the Haswell still spanks the Atom in several areas.