Surface Pro M3 v i5

[Carpie]

Hey, I’m looking at buying a new surface pro. I don’t have too heavy usage requirements, but might occasionally use one slightly intensive program.

The M3 model is currently about £150 less, and I’m aware that they are both fanless. As I’m a student, I’d rather save money if I could.

Is the M3 model ok? Is the i5 model much quicker?

Thanks

 

[hughlle]

Welcome. What is the intensive program you may use? By which I mean is it intensive like a game, or is it intensive like a video editor (and as such the slower CPU will just make an encode take longer, as opposed to a game not being able to run smoothly).

And don't forget that you may be able to get the 10% microsoft student discount

 

[theveterans]

M3 should be more than good enough for simple video editing (1080p) as long as Intel Quicksync is enabled. For programming like basic Matlab or Solidworks, it should be OK too

 

[Jay Marino]

When purchasing a computer, I try to buy a computer that not just fits what I do now, but what I might be doing 5 years from now. Although the m3 might be fine for what you do now, as app get more complex, I would suggest getting the i5 so that you don’t have to upgrade 2 years from now and this could be your main computer for a long time.

 

[hughlle]

When purchasing a computer, I try to buy a computer that not just fits what I do now, but what I might be doing 5 years from now. Although the m3 might be fine for what you do now, as app get more complex, I would suggest getting the i5 so that you don’t have to upgrade 2 years from now and this could be your main computer for a long time.

While I agree on the whole, it depends on the use case, and for those considering lower end machines, they are obviously not intended to be workhorses, or play the latest games, the use case doesn't seem to change. I bought a 4gb i5 sp3 on launch, and then bought a 4gb i5 sp4 on launch, and when I upgrade that, it will also be a 4gb i5 model. Don't see myself upgrading any time soon though. Ofice is office is office so to speak. While I've bought the i5 versions, that is purely because i use it for light gaming at LAN parties, so figured why not. In reality though, that is such a small occurence (twice in almost 4 years) that I know I'd have been quite happy with the i3 sp3/m3 sp4. Heck, even my S3 is good enough for every day use when plugged into an external monitor

 

[CrippsCorner]

Same here. I'd of loved to 'upgrade' from my original Surface Pro this time around, but I stuck with i5/4Gb mainly because of the price (I wanted to keep it under a grand) but my usage hasn't really changed in 4 years, and I figured the original done me well over all those years so why bother changing!