Which Surface to get?

[cricket1001]

My Surface Pro 3 died. I’ve been thinking about either a Surface Pro 7 or the X. But then on someone’s post they said the Surface Book has a SSD. I read in other posts that the Pro 7 and I think maybe the X there is a problem with the fans being loud and also the computers still get hot. Having an SSD would solve that issue. But don’t know the differences between these 3 devices.

I do a lot of work in Excel, internet, and editing video. I need something pretty light and that is why I have gone with the Surface Pros in the past instead of a laptop. I have a bad left wrist. Something that I haven’t liked about the Pros is that they don’t seem very sturdy in putting it on your lap to type. I always have to put it on a lap-pad or something.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[sharpuser]

The Surface Book 2 is sturdy and hardy.

The 15 inch screen is wonderful for using Excel. I do geophysical work with mine.

 

[ScottyS]

First decision is do you want a laptop or a tablet with attachable keyboard.
The fans in the Surface cool the processor, they all have SSD (solid state drives as opposed to the old disk spinning hard drives). The Surface Book has a user removable SSD, which for some is a game changer.

 

[Turbo4AWD]

After several reviews online of the Surface Pro X, I say get the Surface Pro 6 or 7. Either of those two will serve you well unless you want a clamshell traditional laptop. Then go with Surface Book 2 or Surface Laptop 3. After going with a Surface 3 (non-Pro) I have wanted nothing but Surface Pro as my daily machine.

The Pro X has some really bad limitations due to the ARM processor so it will not be a pleasant experience to start and you are betting heavily that things will change GREATLY in the near future for ARM support in Windows applications.

 

[xc1097]

went from following:
Surface Pro > Pro 2 > Pro 3 i3 > Pro 4 i5 256gb > Pro 5(2017) i5 256gb > Pro 6 i5 128gb > Pro 7 i7 256gb

I forgot how noisy surface fan noise was until Pro 7 as last fanned version i had was Pro 4.
I was on the very verge of returning i7 for i5 due to noise issue but starting to live with the noise.
If you need to use in quite environment, i5 version is way to go.
if you need graphics power, i7 is answer.

all surface devices have ssd. the one in Pro X is odd size which is user replaceable but not sold anywhere yet

 

[cricket1001]

I’m still trying to decide but now the Surface laptops and the book 2 are also in the mix. I was seriously thinking of the book 2 but I read bad reviews and one review said because that is the oldest surface around, he would not buy the book 2 until an newer model comes out.
I think I’ve decided not to get the pro x or the book 2.
What are the differences between the Surface pro 6 & 7? Has anyone had issues with typing on a surface pro ? when it is on your lap? Can you use a bluetooth keyboard, not microsoft’s that is for the surface pro, that is separated from the surface pro? I am thinking of putting the surface pro without a keyboard in an arm or tripod thing that I can move around when I am sitting on my couch and have a bluetooth keyboard on my lap when needed.

Thanks

 

[xc1097]

i wouldn't get surface book 2. older hardware. period

i do not have issue typing with surface pro on my lap. yes, you can use bluetooth keyboard.
i use microsoft keyboard w/ fingerprint id when it's connected to dock.

difference between pro 6 & 7. hardware.
cpu is 8th gen vs 10th gen.
gpu goes pro 7 > pro 5 > pro 6
pro 6 had worse gpu compare to pro 5.

i was heavily leaning towards swapping my pro 7 i7 to pro 7 i5 due to fan noise, but i heard i5 version gets throttled heavily when it gets hot so that idea is out the window now.

 

[cricket1001]

Thanks for your feedback,
I think I will go for the SP7. If I edit videos should I get the i7 or would the i5 be ok. But then again you said the i5 gets throttled when it gets hot. My SP3 never got hot. Does the i5 get hot because of 10th generation is more powerful? Does it only get hot if you are on it for a long period of time?

Thanks,


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[xc1097]

i'm surprised your sp3 never got hot.
my sp4 got stupid hot & battery bulged due to it and i ended up dropping out of hand one time because it was too hot to hold.
MS replaced w/ sp5 for no cost even with small crack on the corner of screen after looking at the unit w/ buldging battery

sp5 i5 does get hotter than sp7 i7 due to nature of it being fanless.
i'm guessing sp7 i5 will also get hotter than sp7 i7 as there is no active cool & is only passive cool.

if you search i5-1035g4 vs i7-1065g7 performance, i7's performance score is almost double in terms of graphics.
if you plan to do lots of graphics work, i7 is your answer, if office & internet browsing then i5 or even i3 should be sufficient.
none of i3/i5/i7 is designed for gaming

 

[Turbo4AWD]

i'm surprised your sp3 never got hot.
my sp4 got stupid hot & battery bulged due to it and i ended up dropping out of hand one time because it was too hot to hold.
MS replaced w/ sp5 for no cost even with small crack on the corner of screen after looking at the unit w/ buldging battery

sp5 i5 does get hotter than sp7 i7 due to nature of it being fanless.
i'm guessing sp7 i5 will also get hotter than sp7 i7 as there is no active cool & is only passive cool.

if you search i5-1035g4 vs i7-1065g7 performance, i7's performance score is almost double in terms of graphics.
if you plan to do lots of graphics work, i7 is your answer, if office & internet browsing then i5 or even i3 should be sufficient.
none of i3/i5/i7 is designed for gaming

Agreed, "i7 for graphics" should work VERY well, but i5 won't be enough. It is pretty fast, but I tried out an i7 Surface Pro 6 recently and the speed difference is quite noticeable.

 

[Gus Smedstad]

if you search i5-1035g4 vs i7-1065g7 performance, i7's performance score is almost double in terms of graphics.

While true, if you're willing to look at Surface Books - as the original poster indicated he was - the real choice for games is the i7 Surface Book 2. Because that's the version that has a discrete graphics card, and isn't relying on the i7's onboard graphics support.

Here's what Notebook Check gives for benchmarks in Borderlands 3 at 1920 x 1080 / medium settings:

Surface Pro i5 (Ice Lake 48 EUs): 8.3 FPS
Surface Pro i7 (Ice Lake 64 EUs): 13.8 FPS
Surface Book 2 (GTX 1050): 36 FPS.

The "games on a laptop" thing is something I've struggled with. Mostly I lean toward keeping it as light and portable as possible. The Surface Book 2 isn't that heavy, but it's still enough heavier than the SPro to be a drawback, so I've decided to stick to games that don't demand a discrete GPU.

 

[cricket1001]

Well, I purchased the SP7 with i7, 16gb ram, 256gb memory. I wanted to get 512 but the cost was too much. Also, my waiting until Black Friday was a waste of time. I didn’t get any deals on my purchase. Thanks for everyone’s help!!!