Who has an SP3 and S3 and considers it acceptable to have both?

[netuser]

This might not be the right place to post this, but I guess people in this thread have experience with both. I've been comparing the Surface 3 (4 gb RAM) and Surface Pro 3 (i5) for the past few days, and I really don't know which one to get. I need it for school, so I'm going to use it for taking notes, PDF viewing, Excel, Word and some web browsing.

Surface 3 pros:
- Size
- Fanless (I really hate fan noise)
- 1 year free Office
- Cheaper

Cons:
- Significantly slower than the SP3
- Charging problems (?)
- Windows 10 preview seems to run badly (I'm not a huge fan of W8)

I'm also wondering if the Surface 3 can handle moderately big Excel files decently. Right now I'm using a fairly sluggish, 5 year old Dell laptop with a dual core cpu and an HDD at school, so anything should be an improvement. What do you guys think I should get?

Not sure if there are charging "problems" other than being picky about which non-OEM chargers and cables charge at reasonably fast speeds. Once you use the correct cables and chargers, it charges fine.
You can always stick with the OEM cable and power brick for the least hassle. With a SP3, you have no other options besides the OEM.

 

[cliffr39]

Not sure if there are charging "problems" other than being picky about which non-OEM chargers and cables charge at reasonably fast speeds. Once you use the correct cables and chargers, it charges fine.
You can always stick with the OEM cable and power brick for the least hassle. With a SP3, you have no other options besides the OEM.

My Surface 3, while plugged in with the bundled charger, would drain just simply using Word to type a research paper for Grad. school (no other apps open). Not sure if mine was defective or not, but that is not good. That is with brightness at 25%

 

[netuser]

Sounds defective or else something is running in the background putting a heavy load on the processor.

 

[mtalinm]

This might not be the right place to post this, but I guess people in this thread have experience with both. I've been comparing the Surface 3 (4 gb RAM) and Surface Pro 3 (i5) for the past few days, and I really don't know which one to get. I need it for school, so I'm going to use it for taking notes, PDF viewing, Excel, Word and some web browsing.

Surface 3 pros:
- Size
- Fanless (I really hate fan noise)
- 1 year free Office
- Cheaper

Cons:
- Significantly slower than the SP3
- Charging problems (?)
- Windows 10 preview seems to run badly (I'm not a huge fan of W8)

I'm also wondering if the Surface 3 can handle moderately big Excel files decently. Right now I'm using a fairly sluggish, 5 year old Dell laptop with a dual core cpu and an HDD at school, so anything should be an improvement. What do you guys think I should get?

Fatness is a huge plus. My SP3 blows and blows and blows. All the time. It's noisy. Yes I've turned off most indexing. It's just a thirsty puppy. One of the reasons I use the S3 whenever possible (which is 80% of the time).

 

[adgjr4]

Fatness is a huge plus. My SP3 blows and blows and blows. All the time. It's noisy. Yes I've turned off most indexing. It's just a thirsty puppy. One of the reasons I use the S3 whenever possible (which is 80% of the time).

This is really my number one concern with getting a Surface Pro. I can't stand loud fans. I hope those rumours about the SP4 being fanless turn out to be true, but I guess that's not very likely.

 

[malberttoo]

This is really my number one concern with getting a Surface Pro. I can't stand loud fans. I hope those rumours about the SP4 being fanless turn out to be true, but I guess that's not very likely.

I believe I can honestly say that most users here who are single-tasking (only Word, or OneNote, or marking up PDF's or whatever) or just not stressing the proc in general, rarely hear their fans. I use my i5 SP3 for all kinds of stuff, lots of Remote Desktop windows, Vmware dashboard, lots of IE and Chrome tabs open, music notation program. Not all at once, but usually at least a few simultaneously, and I've only heard my fan twice since I owned the thing on release day, and once was right after installing Win 10.

If you are hammering it then yes it will be trying to cool itself off. Otherwise, I believe it's a non-issue for most users. (Edit- except Mitch, who uses his for white noise...)

 

[InspectHerGadget]

You would have to be doing some heavy lifting or gaming to get the fan going.

 

[Telstar1948]

You would have to be doing some heavy lifting or gaming to get the fan going.

I'm on my second i5/8/256 SP3. Neither got very warm and the fan very seldom ran...until my present SP3 downloaded May's updates, now it runs quite a bit warmer (off and on) and the fan runs more than it ever has: same usage. Something about that update...

 

[InspectHerGadget]

I have a MacBook Air also and it evidently has a fan. I think I heard it once.

 

[GreyFox7]

I have a MacBook Air also and it evidently has a fan. I think I heard it once.

Yeah I have one of those too and the fan sounds like a jet engine.

 

[cliffr39]

Yeah I have one of those too and the fan sounds like a jet engine.

Haha, true. It doesn't come on that often, but it sure can get loud when it does. I'll be sitting there like what is that noise??

 

[hughlle]

Haha, true. It doesn't come on that often, but it sure can get loud when it does. I'll be sitting there like what is that noise??

Just like SP3 then. Silent 95% of the time, but the other 5%, oh man is that thing loud!

Panay: "so you never feel it, you don't hear it"

What a load of utter BS. I appreciate that it was a marketing event, but come on, you don't tell a lie that big when the truth is so blatant.