What to buy according to PCWorld
Here are the details of the Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 chips, and why they matter
What's inside ...
Surface Book:
•6th Gen 2.6-GHz Intel Core i7-6600U processor with Intel HD graphics 520
•6th Gen 2.4-GHz Intel Core i5-6300U processor with Intel HD graphics 520
Optional (customized for the Surface Book) Nvidia GPU
Surface Pro 4:
•6th Gen 2.2-GHz Intel Core i7-6650U processor with Intel Iris graphics 540
•6th Gen 2.4-GHz Intel Core i5-6300U processor with Intel HD graphics 520
•6th Gen 900-MHz Intel Core m3-6Y30 processor with Intel HD graphics 515
Which Surface Book to buy: Core i5 or Core i7?
With identical graphics cores, the main difference between the Core i5 and the Core i7 appears to just be pure clock speed, so the better deal for performance per buck goes to the Core i5 chip.
From a pure performance perspective, based on how previous Intel model numbers have gone and my testing of the desktop Skylake chip, I predict that you might see a 15-percent difference between the two based on CPU-intensive chores. (Yes, and like a meteorologist, you can’t hold me to it unless I’m right.)
Therefore, you’d probably be fine buying the Core i5 version of the Surface Book with discrete graphics and 256GB SSD for $1,900 instead of shelling out $2,100 for the Core i7 Surface Book with discrete graphics and a 256GB SSD. Most of you won’t notice the difference unless there’s some other key difference between the configurations that I’m missing. More RAM or storage and your decision is made for you, i7 only.
But what about that graphics chip?
One part that’s still shrouded in mystery is the discrete graphics chip Microsoft put in the Surface Book.
What GPU though, I still don’t know. Nvidia offered up nearly the same statement as Microsoft itself did.
“The new GPU is a Maxwell based GPU with GDDR5 memory,” an Nvidia spokesperson said. “It was designed to deliver the best performance in ultra-thin form factors such as the Surface Book keyboard dock. Given its unique implementation and design in the keyboard module, it cannot be compared to a traditional 900M series GPU.”
The company directed me to Nvidia’s
blog, which confirms that it’s an “8M” and has a 1GB GDDR5 frame buffer. So for that one chip, you’ll have to wait a bit more to find out just what kind of performance the Nvidia GPU nets you.
What about the CPUs in the Surface Pro 4?
Unlike the Surface Book, here you should choose wisely. While the CPUs in the Surface Book don’t differ dramatically, the SP4’s brains matter far more.
The highest end Surface Pro 4 uses Intel’s Iris Graphics with 48 execution units and should offer rather decent performance. If you read page 4 of my
Skylake Core i7-6700K review, you’ll see that the desktop chip with its Intel HD 530 graphics—a step down from the Surface Pro 4 with the Core i7—pushes 54 fps in Tomb Raider when set to normal and at 1366x768 resolution. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect the Surface Pro 4 to be close to that or possibly exceed it (there are differences in cooling and memory bandwidth that could impact performance). Basically, “light-duty” gaming is definitely a feature of the Core i7 Surface Pro 4.
The mid-range Core i5-based Surface Pro 4 will be slower, but in the same performance ballpark as the Core i7 unit in, say, Photoshop. But it will take a definite back seat in graphics performance, which means “lighter duty gaming” or graphics tasks.
The really interesting changeup is that Core m3-6Y30 part within the entry-level Surface Pro 4. It won’t be as fast as the two faster SP4’s in any CPU task, such as Photoshop or video encoding, and it’ll also be third-place in graphics, too. But the significantly lower power consumption—and the significant boost in battery life—may be worth the tradeoff.
Depending on how Microsoft configured the chip to run in the Surface Pro 4, it could offer truly stupendous battery life that the two hotter and faster CPUs can’t touch. And it’ll do this while offering better performance than say, an Atom X5- or Atom X7-based Surface 3.
What Surface Pro 4 to buy
With this information in hand, the sweet spot for performance for the pre-configured models is the Core i5 with 8GB of RAM and the 256GB SSD.
So, which one should you buy? Again, realizing that the three CPUs here will yield markedly different results, here’s what I’d recommend:
- Buy the Core m3 SP4 if your top priority is battery life, cost and more performance than an Atom-based Surface 3. Just know it will be slower in graphics and CPU tasks than the other two units. One thing to be aware of: the Core m3 does not have vPro, which may be a deal-breaker for a managed corporate environment.
- Buy the Core i5 SP4 if you do more intensive chores such as Photoshop, Lightroom or light-duty video editing. The extra 8GB will help, and the Core i5 should outpace the Core m3 in CPU tasks and be a little faster in graphics tasks. And yes, vPro is supported on the Core i5 version.
- Buy the Core i7 SP4 if you really need faster graphics performance. On the CPU side, you may see a 15 percent or so performance difference, too.
Again, this is based on how Intel CPUs have behaved for a few generations now and my testing of the desktop Skylake chips. While we won’t know for certain until we perform actual testing, I’m pretty comfortable making these predictions now.
Excerpted from PCWorld.
