I was going to type this earlier but hadn't got around to it. I am not a professional reviewer, but just a regular guy who likes to use computers.
I was in Houston visiting family and had a chance to stop by the Galleria and I saw that the Microsoft store had Surface 3's on display to try out. Right next to the 3 was the Pro 3.
The thing that caught my attention about the 3 was the size. It seemed like the perfect size for portability. Additionally, it didn't have any gaps in the top of the device for letting out heat. I have never owned a Surface Pro 3, but the gaps in the top for heat dissipation bother me on the off chance that I am using the device and someone were to spill a drink on it, I think the drink would go right into those air gaps and destroy the computer. So I really like that the Surface 3 is completely sealed.
I played around with the device testing how it opens applications and it is very quick. I have read reviews saying that emmc hard drives are significantly slower than SSD's, but I couldn't tell a difference when I compared the Surface 3 to the Surface Pro 3. BTW iPads also use emmc memory as well so for cost comparison your getting a similar device for $499.
I then wanted to see if the Surface 3 could handle streaming 4k content through youtube while also being able to scroll around on the screen moving up and down and seeing if there is any noticeable slow down. The surface 3 was able to stream 4k content from youtube perfectly. There was no slowdown when showing the video and there was no slowdown when scrolling.
While the keyboard was smaller than the one on the pro 3, it didn't seem any harder to type on. The quality of the keyboard is just amazing. I am really impressed that you can get something like this for $129 and you don't have to use a bluetooth keyboard or put batteries in it because it runs off the tablet.
Gaming was pretty bad. I will just put that out there right now. The atom processor is not meant for gaming. I asked one of the employees if there were any games to demo to show how it performs and he went to the app store and downloaded a game that I believe is a mobile type game you can get on iPads and androids. The game was kind of choppy and not that smooth. However, with the release of Windows 10, we will be able to stream xbox one games at home to the surface 3 with zero lag and amazing graphics, so I think that if you are wanting to game on it, this will be a great option.
Conclusion: Microsoft knows what they are doing with developing peripherals for the Surface while Apple makes the iPad and expects 3rd party companies to make peripherals and so you don't get a good quality keyboard that integrates with the iPad. You can buy a keyboard case for the iPad and it will cost around $79 to $99 and will be bluetooth with a slight delay between button presses and seeing the letters appear on screen. There is no such issue with the keyboard for Surface. Personally, the portability for me outweighs the decrease in gaming performance and probably decrease in video/photo editing performance. I am a mac owner and I am interested in getting the Surface 3 because my iPad can't work with reference software like zotero for typing up academic papers for graduate school. I also like additional benefits of one note such as the fact that it will read documents to me while I work on other things. Regarding fanless design computers, I think that the Surface 3 is a much much better deal than the retina macbook that just came out that costs $1299. I also think the Surface 3 is a better deal than the iPad. The performance of the core M is not much better than the atom in most uses because the core m has to keep power usage down to maintain thermal limits. I will definitely be buying a Surface 3 next week when it comes out.
I was in Houston visiting family and had a chance to stop by the Galleria and I saw that the Microsoft store had Surface 3's on display to try out. Right next to the 3 was the Pro 3.
The thing that caught my attention about the 3 was the size. It seemed like the perfect size for portability. Additionally, it didn't have any gaps in the top of the device for letting out heat. I have never owned a Surface Pro 3, but the gaps in the top for heat dissipation bother me on the off chance that I am using the device and someone were to spill a drink on it, I think the drink would go right into those air gaps and destroy the computer. So I really like that the Surface 3 is completely sealed.
I played around with the device testing how it opens applications and it is very quick. I have read reviews saying that emmc hard drives are significantly slower than SSD's, but I couldn't tell a difference when I compared the Surface 3 to the Surface Pro 3. BTW iPads also use emmc memory as well so for cost comparison your getting a similar device for $499.
I then wanted to see if the Surface 3 could handle streaming 4k content through youtube while also being able to scroll around on the screen moving up and down and seeing if there is any noticeable slow down. The surface 3 was able to stream 4k content from youtube perfectly. There was no slowdown when showing the video and there was no slowdown when scrolling.
While the keyboard was smaller than the one on the pro 3, it didn't seem any harder to type on. The quality of the keyboard is just amazing. I am really impressed that you can get something like this for $129 and you don't have to use a bluetooth keyboard or put batteries in it because it runs off the tablet.
Gaming was pretty bad. I will just put that out there right now. The atom processor is not meant for gaming. I asked one of the employees if there were any games to demo to show how it performs and he went to the app store and downloaded a game that I believe is a mobile type game you can get on iPads and androids. The game was kind of choppy and not that smooth. However, with the release of Windows 10, we will be able to stream xbox one games at home to the surface 3 with zero lag and amazing graphics, so I think that if you are wanting to game on it, this will be a great option.
Conclusion: Microsoft knows what they are doing with developing peripherals for the Surface while Apple makes the iPad and expects 3rd party companies to make peripherals and so you don't get a good quality keyboard that integrates with the iPad. You can buy a keyboard case for the iPad and it will cost around $79 to $99 and will be bluetooth with a slight delay between button presses and seeing the letters appear on screen. There is no such issue with the keyboard for Surface. Personally, the portability for me outweighs the decrease in gaming performance and probably decrease in video/photo editing performance. I am a mac owner and I am interested in getting the Surface 3 because my iPad can't work with reference software like zotero for typing up academic papers for graduate school. I also like additional benefits of one note such as the fact that it will read documents to me while I work on other things. Regarding fanless design computers, I think that the Surface 3 is a much much better deal than the retina macbook that just came out that costs $1299. I also think the Surface 3 is a better deal than the iPad. The performance of the core M is not much better than the atom in most uses because the core m has to keep power usage down to maintain thermal limits. I will definitely be buying a Surface 3 next week when it comes out.
don't think they're any in the UK stores yet to check out which is a shame. Still... I'm slowly convincing mum to get one so should have my hands on one soon! I love that she called the iPad pointless in comparison.
