Surface Pro 3 - best computer I've owned

[pandathumb]

The threads on this sub forum are tailing off, the device is 3 years old after all, but I have to say that the SP3 has been the best computer I've ever owned. Sure there were bumps along the way with the OS, the first year with windows 10 being particularly painful in terms of usability and battery life, but the last year has been great. I've never reinstalled the OS and it's running fast, the battery life is more than adequate, the screen still looks great with only a few minor scratches, and most importantly I don't see any reason to upgrade yet. I don't think I will either until my son needs a better laptop and I hand this one down to him.

Anyway I was just curious to know how many people are the in the same boat because the longevity has really surprised me and I've gotten happier with the purchase as time went on.

gary

 

[Wayne Orwig]

I bought a Surface Pro 1 when they were first released. I was happy, except for the battery life. I always used a portable battery pack, and all was well.
Late last year I damaged the Pro 1 when I tossed the battery pack on the table and it crashed into it. I wanted a replacement, but didn't really want to shell out big $$ for a Surface Pro 4, since I already had a main laptop. I just wanted something a bit more portable. I came across a super deal on a refurbished Pro 3 and bought it. I have been very happy with it. About double the battery life of the Pro 1, and more horsepower. So far it has been great. I would still like to have more battery life, but who doesn't.

 

[hughlle]

I can't say that the SP3 is the best I've ever owned, that would go to the SP4, but it's only margionally better than the SP3 due to little things like better thermal design, screen etc. However, I gave my SP3 to my partner, and despite its age, it is still quite the workhorse for the form factor, and going as strong as the day it was bought.

While not the best I've owned, I will say that it is by far the most significant piece of technology I've owned. I was contemplating buying another boring laptop for uni work, which hardly excited me as they're all pretty much the exact same thing, but the SP3 was something else entirely, and made me completely reevaluate what I want out of my computers, and the way I use them.

I upgraded so that my partner could have a machine to do real work on, but if I were buying again, there would be no reason for me to ignorethe SP3. It may not be top of the list if we're playing spec wars, but most rational people know how silly they are. As you say, 3 years on and it remains an incredibly competitive device. It's taken this thread for me to realise that it is 3 years old, and that does shock me a bit. If I didn't know any better I'd think it was a newly released device.

 

[ScottyS]

The threads on this sub forum are tailing off, the device is 3 years old after all, but I have to say that the SP3 has been the best computer I've ever owned. Sure there were bumps along the way with the OS, the first year with windows 10 being particularly painful in terms of usability and battery life, but the last year has been great. I've never reinstalled the OS and it's running fast, the battery life is more than adequate, the screen still looks great with only a few minor scratches, and most importantly I don't see any reason to upgrade yet. I don't think I will either until my son needs a better laptop and I hand this one down to him.

Anyway I was just curious to know how many people are the in the same boat because the longevity has really surprised me and I've gotten happier with the purchase as time went on.

gary

I am in that boat with you. I'm sure the SP4 is a bit better, but not enough for me to shell out all that $$$ for the upgrade, and I'm afraid my SP3 is going better than ever (thanks to MS getting the initial bugs worked out of Win10) so I have no reason to get the new SP 2017.

Like Hughlle, I probably wont give up my SP3 until someone in the family needs the hand-me-down.

 

[Tsurugaya]

I use mine as my main computer. Through the Dock I have three monitors connected and four 1TB hard drives.I could run an empire from that beauty.

 

[BubbaUK]

Hardware performance is currently exceeding software demands (at least, for most users), so I've not got the urge to upgrade. I was tempted by the Pro 2017 & the fanless i5, because the fan on the SPro3 can sometimes wheeze, but I've decided to hold back for a while at least, see how things pan out.

Is the SPro3 the best computer I've ever owned? Hard to say. I really love my desktop iMac, and I had a Sony Vaio TZ11 which I still regret selling, but the SPro3 is certainly up there.

 

[John2k14]

I'm so torn apart ... I like the SP3 kind of... my fan spins like hell! And the battery last 1 to 2hours.
Future termal problems on the new SP3 torn me to the i7/16/512, Just bought it but haven't open it!

 

[Johnny365]

I love the SP3. I still use it, but have since gotten a Macbook Air 2014 that I relegated as my main machine. I use the SP3 now more portable, like an iPad.

I've had it for about 2.5 years now and love it. Still has a great screen and while the fans turn on and the back gets hot, I still get a decent 4-5 hours on the battery with 250 cycles on the battery wear (LG one).

SP4 wasn't that big of an upgrade and the Surface 2017 is meh. I'm perfectly fine with my SP3, even though it only has the 4GB/128GB combo.

 

[Wayne Orwig]

Well, my great initial experience got a little tarnished.
As I mentioned before, I damaged my SP1, a bit over a month ago. I bought a refurb SP3 to replace it. The experience had been nearly perfect. Then, last Friday, the SP3 powered off for no reason. Nothing would get it to power on. I had to leave on a weekend trip without it. On Monday, magically, it powered on. About an hour later, off it went again. I called tech support, which was unable to help, as expected. I called the nearest MS store, and they had refurbs in stock. I went there the next day, July 4th, and they handed me a new refurb. The store visit was a pretty good experience. But that refurb refused to upgrade to the latest Win10 due to some USB driver issue. I spent a lot of time all week working on that.
I finally got that kink worked out, and now have most of my tools loaded and configured. I'll make a disk image soon to save my current state, and hopefully enjoy a few years with it.

 

[nathan1213]

The threads on this sub forum are tailing off, the device is 3 years old after all, but I have to say that the SP3 has been the best computer I've ever owned. Sure there were bumps along the way with the OS, the first year with windows 10 being particularly painful in terms of usability and battery life, but the last year has been great. I've never reinstalled the OS and it's running fast, the battery life is more than adequate, the screen still looks great with only a few minor scratches, and most importantly I don't see any reason to upgrade yet. I don't think I will either until my son needs a better laptop and I hand this one down to him.

Anyway I was just curious to know how many people are the in the same boat because the longevity has really surprised me and I've gotten happier with the purchase as time went on.

gary

 

[John2k14]

I must agree with you, I've upgraded my SP3 with a new surface laptop same i5/8gb and I even think that the performance is worst than SP3.

 

[BeatsMeWhy]

Purchased new Surface Pro Type Cover for my ageing SP3. Not inexpensive but glad I did, given it is the critical user interface device. Having separate brightness up, brightness down, volume up, volume down and mute keys is great. Battery life good enough on the whole. In combo with Win 10 - and having now discovered all the Win 10 tricks and shortcuts - and OneDrive make it an awesome productivity and recreational tool.