I've recently been interested in picking up a cheap (sub $300-250) surface tablet, and I've seen pro model 1s and 2s all over the place and even a regular surface 3 (atom x7). My main goal with the tablet is for 2D game development in programs like contruct 2 and Clickteam fusion 2.5, which I know either will be a good deal for, but I also want to emulate games on them too. Now I was going to go with the Atom Surface 3 I saw just because it's the newest and seems the fastest and the design is just nice to look at, but the Pro 1 & 2 models I've been seeing have more space in their SSD and have i5 processors. I'm aware that processors are a huge factor in emulation, but I have seen the Atom Surface 3 run just about every emulator I'm interested in (even GameCube) near flawlessly, any tips on which one I should end up choosing?
Which Surface is best for me?
- Thread starter 1700peach
- Start date
Hm, so you think a pro 1 or 2 would be better suited for my needs? Are there any aspects I should be watching out for when buying a pro 1 or 2? Like something with battery life or the stand not bending as much? Screen quality? Etc (in comparison to your Surface 3)
For what you are wanting to do I would get a Development Rig (Development needs at least 8GB RAM), Pro 2 with 8 GB would work...A Surface 3 would work for testing but I wouldn't want to do much developing on it unless you are using NotePad++ and an Online Compiler...
Well, thing is I can't really afford to get a regular development rig, but yea these game engines I work in only require 1ghz processors & 512mb of ram. Heck, Clickteam fusion only requires 200Mhz and 256MB of ram. So I would think either surface no matter the model would be good for those tasks. I should've streamlined the question too, is a 1st gen 128gb 4GB ram model 1 surface pro, better than a regular surface 3.
I know some Microsofties that use the S3 for some HTML5 and Jscript Development, the eMMC is the biggest throttle on the S3, the performance of the X7 ATOM and the i5 in the SP1 will be fairly comparable but the SSD on the SP1 will be much faster...
Well, thanks! Pretty much the answer I've been looking for. Just the positives of a SP1 vs an S3 really. For my needs I think the SP1 is just right.
jrioux
Active Member
The SP2 has better battery life and a more flexible kickstand.
I've heard that the processor is weaker though, how much better is the battery?
SP2 blows the SP1 out of the water, the SP1 gets 2.5-4 hours on battery and the SP2 gets 4-8 hours....
Hm, well I'll certainly pick that one up then if I can find it for sub 300 bucks
Actually in comparison, how well is a surface 3's battery to those two models?
