Upgrading to i7 Surface Pro 3?

[dman27]

I'm thinking about upgrading to the I7 version of the Surface Pro, but wanted to see if you guys/girls thought it was worth the trouble for a small increase in speed?

I have the I5 SP3, 256GB with 8MB of Ram. I use this for Audio production, Testing of software and general

Also, is there a way to backup everything from the current SP3 and have it completely restored to the I7 version, or would a complete reinstall of all programs be necessary?

 

[JesseDiaz]

I'm thinking about upgrading to the I7 version of the Surface Pro, but wanted to see if you guys/girls thought it was worth the trouble for a small increase in speed?

I have the I5 SP3, 256GB with 8MB of Ram. I use this for Audio production, Testing of software and general

Also, is there a way to backup everything from the current SP3 and have it completely restored to the I7 version, or would a complete reinstall of all programs be necessary?

I was and still am thinking about it.....In the beginning I was pretty much set on doing it...now...not so much. I think the i5/256/8 gb RAM is a good balance and I am very very satisfied with it so far

 

[Kif]

No way to be sure until the i7 is actually released. I have a feeling people who are sticking with an i5 are going to say they're totally happy with it and the people who are holding out for a i7 will say it's worth the wait and extra cost. I think there is some question how throttled the i7 will be since the i5 is already throttled and the i7 isn't going to run cooler. Backup and restore to another device should be pretty straight forward but I haven't tried it yet with windows 8.1.

 

[dman27]

@JesseDiaz: I do agree that the i5 is a good balance and besides the normal wi-fi issues, haven't had any problems. Just want to future proof this as much as possible.

@Kif: I'm really hoping that MS will have worked on the firmware to improve the throttling issues by the time the I7 is released. The i5 and i7 have the same power requirements, so it shouldn't be much more. With reports of the SP3 actually being slower than the SP2 and the i7 having a lower base frequency, I'm really torn as to which direction to go.

I was thinking of the Backup and Restore as well, however, was concerned about the activation being invalidated, along with incompatible drivers when restoring a complete image to the i7 version.

 

[ctitanic]

To me it's a matter of money. If you can pay for it get it.

 

[wookiee2cu]

I went with the i7 256gb model, I know myself well enough to know that I'd always be wondering if the i7 performed better had I gone with an i5. I also look at it in terms of when I go to resell it down the road, the i7 will fetch more money. I have a very small 500gb external hard drive that I got with my Samsung TV that is powered through the USB so storage wasn't really and issue for me. If you can afford it then I'd get it.

 

[macmee]

If I buy an SP3 to upgrade from my SP2, I'm getting the i7. But, if I learn that it's actually slower than the SP2 due to cooling restrictions then I'm not downgrading from a SP2 to a SP3 at all.