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Surface Pro (2017) as desktop replacement?

jnjroach

Administrator
Staff member
May I ask what issues you have, and how you connected two monitors? Is it the downgrade of CPU power, or less RAM, or both? I also have two monitors, but I don't know what the best options are with a Surface Pro. Is the docking station required to do dual monitors?

[edited to add:]
Just read your reply in the other thread about the monitors.
My experience is the KabyLake SoC is far superior to all previous Core SoC put out by Intel. My concern would be the RAM, the i7 may be a better choice depending on usage.
 

Russ

Active Member
the imperative to do backups and mirroring of that one device becomes even more significant, especially if you are traveling with it a lot.

Bubba --

Absolutely! I have her on a regular backup routine and, especially, when she returns from a China trip. I maintain a full backup of her system here. With a few tweaks, I can boot her system on a spare desktop here in my shop. Between those backups and cloud data storage, I could fully restore her system in an afternoon, with time out for iced tea. I even have an arrangement with with an IT guy in Shanghai to restore her system if disaster strikes there. Lest you think I am being overly protective, I did a lot of international travel in a previous life well know that weird stuff can happen when you're far from home.

Take care,
Russ
 
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wpcoe

Active Member
@Russ: Thanks for that "real life" scenario.

Still battling with which Surface Pro model to buy. I wish I had the deep pockets of your lady friend!

In addition to continually synching my desktop and notebook computers, I do keep a separate back-up of data files on a USB hard drive. Programs and the o/s I don't worry about so much. It may be time-consuming to re-load and reinstall, but as a retiree I should be able to find the time. The nice thing about being single and retired is that I don't have to do anything today, I can always do it "tomorrow." :D
 

convergent

Active Member
Thanks, guys. The feedback is encouraging that I might be able to ditch the desktop computer totally.

Now, I need to decide if it's worth a $300 premium to go for the i7 model. (Extra .5Ghz, Iris Plus with 2x the EUs & 64MB eDRAM, and extra 1MB cache.)

@convergent is spot on about the price jumps to get the extra RAM and SSD capacity. Out of my price range. Even splurging $300 for the i7 might be pushing it.

And you'd lose the fanless design, so that kept me at i5.


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wpcoe

Active Member
I really wish I could have a unit for a test run for say, a week, and then be able to return it if not satisfied. It sounds like the i5/8GB/256GB is the way to go, but what if the i7/8GB/256GB for $300 more would actually be the one for me?

Yeah, I know: First World Problem. :D
 

convergent

Active Member
I really wish I could have a unit for a test run for say, a week, and then be able to return it if not satisfied. It sounds like the i5/8GB/256GB is the way to go, but what if the i7/8GB/256GB for $300 more would actually be the one for me?

Yeah, I know: First World Problem. :D

I'm guessing no brick and mortar store near you? I kind of did what you said. If I wasn't happy with the performance I could have upgraded within 30 days.

Also the fan is a mechanical part and given the inability to repair the thing, I see it as a risk.


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I really wish I could have a unit for a test run for say, a week, and then be able to return it if not satisfied. It sounds like the i5/8GB/256GB is the way to go, but what if the i7/8GB/256GB for $300 more would actually be the one for me?

Yeah, I know: First World Problem. :D

If you're near a micrsoft store, that's an easy thing to do. To me, I could've gone with the i5, but that 4.0 GHz on a Surface device which I verified to the CPU-Z database is nice to have lol.

Capture.PNG
 
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wpcoe

Active Member
If you're near a micrsoft store, that's an easy thing to do. To me, I could've gone with the i5, but that 4.0 GHz on a Surface device which I verified to the CPU-Z database is nice to have lol.

The Microsoft Store in Thailand is only an online shop and only sells software. Over here there generally is no risk-free option to return merchandise unless there is a defect, and even then a replacement is given, not a refund.
 

Josh Tench

New Member
I know this post is a little old now but for what it is worth I've been using a SP (2017) with 3x external HD displays using one of these MST adapters....
DisplayPort 1.2 MST Hub | Video Splitters | StarTech.com

It works pretty well but with 3x displays attached I can't use the SP built in display. On a client's site with a different setup I was able to use 3x external monitors plus the SP display. It was impressive and highly effective from such a small footprint.

I don't generally find that the machine is slowed by having the additional displays. I just about live in MS Excel and PowerPoint, I wouldn't expect to try and use it for gaming.

Josh
 
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