Surface Pro 3 Core i3

[daveyp]

In on this!

Picked up the i3 version for $585 today with edu discount and movers coupon.

 

[ManUnited]

If you plan to purchase the keyboard from any vendor besides a Microsoft store, please remind them that MS discounts the keyboard for .edu purchases, as well.

 

[MacrosTheBlack]

In on this!

Picked up the i3 version for $585 today with edu discount and movers coupon.

Awesome! Did they give you any problems with stacking the coupons?

 

[daveyp]

Awesome! Did they give you any problems with stacking the coupons?

No. What I did was purchase the keyboard with it, and gave the guy both coupons so he wouldn't be immediately suspicious. He did notice both discounts were automatically applied to the surface and just exclaimed 'holy s*%&'. But I intend to return the keyboard cover I purchased and rebuy with a discount/giftcards.

 

[chankoedo]

All i found so far:

"On my i3 just basic websurfing with multiple tabs I am seeing 9-10 hours showing on batterybar estimates. Not enough time used for anything more concrete. Battery life is better than the i5 version. Nothing unexpected there.
The fan has not been audible to me since I've used it. I remember hearing it at least a few times when I tried out the i5 version.

Overall very happy with the i5 speed vs i3 battery life/fan/heat trade off I am seeing with the i3 version. Can't really comment on the performance as an i5 is overkill for what I use it for anyway. i3 has worked flawless for me."

 

[hughlle]

Anand just released an i5 vs i3 battery life article. It's showing about 1 hour more than i5 (9 hours vs 8) for web browsing but for anything medium to heavy, it is only about 20 minutes more. Worth it? Not for me. Not a big enough difference to compensate the performance hit.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8341/microsofts-surface-pro-3-core-i3-vs-core-i5-battery-life

edit: misread the graphs. In the test outside of browsing, it seems the i5 actually has marginally better batter than i3. I5 has better battery when used in a laptop capacity, but as a tablet, i3 wins.

 

[chankoedo]

I was hoping for a far better battery lifetime with the i3 version, however what I can see now is far from it. It's a pity.

What would be interesting to know is the capacity of its battery. Has to be lower in comparison with the i5/i7 vesions...

 

[GreyFox7]

I was hoping for a far better battery lifetime with the i3 version, however what I can see now is far from it. It's a pity.

What would be interesting to know is the capacity of its battery. Has to be lower in comparison with the i5/i7 vesions...

Powercfg /batteryreport /output %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\battery_report.html

Run the command in a command prompt will tell you the battery capacity and usage.
My guess is its the same battery but the management profile is different in some way... TBD.

 

[hughlle]

Why would it be lower? That would just probably result in higher costs due to having to manage different manufacturing processes, assembly lines, stock etc, instead of simply having a universal barebone that they just drop a different mainboard into.

 

[GreyFox7]

Anand just released an i5 vs i3 battery life article. It's showing about 1 hour more than i5 (9 hours vs 8) for web browsing but for anything medium to heavy, it is only about 20 minutes more. Worth it? Not for me. Not a big enough difference to compensate the performance hit.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8341/microsofts-surface-pro-3-core-i3-vs-core-i5-battery-life

edit: misread the graphs. In the test outside of browsing, it seems the i5 actually has marginally better batter than i3. I5 has better battery when used in a laptop capacity, but as a tablet, i3 wins.

key take aways from the Anandtech report

the Core i3 Surface Pro 3's battery life shows a slight regression compared to our Core i5 results but not significantly so:

Although our laptop tests didn't show any gains, our tablet workload showed a substantial increase in battery life for the Core i3 version vs. the Core i5 Surface Pro 3:

But this workload is right were the lower end user lives.

An 11% increase in battery life is likely due to the lower power binned Y-series Haswell ULx part. It's interesting to me that the gains are exclusively in our lightest workload and don't appear to be present under any of the more active workloads.

I still feel like the best overall balance of battery life, storage, performance and price is going to be a Surface Pro 3 equipped with a Core i5. I think where the $799 Core i3 makes sense is if you're budget limited and left with the choice between a 64GB ARM based tablet or the entry level Surface Pro 3.

 

[i3po]

I definitely have a limited budget. I'm seriously considering getting a surface pro 3 i3 with a student discount. I just don't want to feel like I wasted my money. I wish I could afford the i5/8gb. I feel like that is the sweet spot for future proofing. I just wish picking out a surface didn't feel like such a compromise. I wish I could mix and match. Maybe have an i5 with 8gb with 128gb of storage space or i5 with 4gb and 64gb of storage space.

Frustrating...I'll probably end up getting neither because of it. Also the keyboard thing feel silly. They should include it in the price of the computer.

 

[bamaster]

EDU discount is $150 minimum now. So you can get the base model for $649 (down from $799 MSRP). That's pretty nice!