Windows 10 Preview on Surface Pro 3

[RémiM]

I really want to try this but dont know where to start. Is this ready for a daily use wirt good battery?

I agree 100% with @malberttoo .

Besides these very justificated warnings, I just wanted to give you my opinion. I love Win10 with all my heart. My experience is perfect so far, and battery life is as good as with Win8.1. I use it as my main OS, everyday.

Don't take my opinion for granted. A lot of guys here had bad experiences with Win10 and rolled back to 8.1. I think @mitchellvii can tell you all the problems he had for hours and hours.

But when it runs well, believe me, it runs well.

Maybe your best bet is to wait for the consumer preview.

 

[hughlle]

Well until i can get my sp3 back on the internet it's fubared. Did a recovery from 9926, thinking i'd get 8.1 back, but instead got 9879, and despite being told (only) the apps installed after the update wouldn't remain, nearly all of the core apps that had been there since 8.1 no longer work just c++ runtime errors upon starting them. Couldn't even run onenote app, so uninstalled, and then can't even reinstall it as the store tells me my machine does not meet the minimum requirements.

 

[lhauser]

I really want to try this but dont know where to start. Is this ready for a daily use wirt good battery?

Depends. Some of us have had few to no problems, others have had a lot of problems (I'm in the few-to-no problems camp). It's really been odd to see so many different experiences from a pretty common hardware base.

If you really want to try it, here's my advice: make an image of your 8.x machine, do a clean install of Windows 10, and see how it works for you. If you have problems, an image will make it easy to return to where you were.

My SP3 is my "daily" machine, but not the machine I use for my profession (that is provided by my employer). I also have an older machine I can go to for my everyday needs, if required (which it hasn't been). For everyday personal use, it's been a little glitchy but nothing show-stopping. Obvs, YMMV.

 

[mitchellvii]

For me the only real standout of W10 over 8.1 is the excellent font smoothing. The Start Menu of course is an improvement but I use Start8 in 8.1 so that's not a big deal for me. The part that is worse in W10 is the fan - for me it runs pretty much constantly. Graphically I like the borderless shadowed windows in w10 but that's just a theming thing. As far as overall performance, they run about the same to me.

 

[m0v1em4n]

Hi Guy,
If you have seen some of my previous post, you'll know that I have carried out a fresh install of Windows 1o, formatting the hard drive beforehand and thought I would post my findings.
Ok previously with Window 10 installed over Windows 8.1 I had the following

Before

• IE was ok after an update and clearing the cache.
• Fan seem ok, with normal use.
• I was unable to download apps from any off the app stores (old and beta ) kept getting an error
• My PDF magazine would not open in reader after installing Win 10, but they would in Win 8.1
• Pen defaults to One note modern ( not One Note 2013 )

Generally things seemed Ok including battery

After

• IE still ok
• Fan under normal condition is OK.
• I can now download from both app stores
• My PDF magazine now open again in Win 10
• Whilst I still get the tone when I close my type cover, I now don't get the notification " do you want to go to tablet mode"
• Pen still defaults to modern One Note instead of the 2013, I have even tried the Surface hub with no joy

Generally thing seem OK including battery and the system is running pretty good

Just my findings and for me I got 2 things working that previously didn't

 

[mitchellvii]

I agree 100% with @malberttoo .

@mitchellvii can tell you all the problems he had for hours and hours.

But when it runs well, believe me, it runs well.

No, actually a short paragraph would do. But I agree, when it doesn't suck, it's awesome. Just remember, it is VERY beta - in some aspects almost alpha.

 

[GTiceman]

It is certainly very Beta. But I do agree with others that a clean slate is the way to go. After my second wipe and limited install my system has been running very stable. I have not installed any other browsers because that is when the problems seem to appear for me. Right now it is my Store Apps, Office, Office Preview, FastStone Image Viewer.

I will need to install my Adobe XI and possibly some video editing software

 

[sharpuser]

Really gave the SP3 a workout this weekend with Excel macros and OneDrive files. Had one blue screen of death, and had to reboot. Too many macros running / debugging. Recovered the Excel file after a restart. Good thing, since I did not save the file.

Having fun with wallpapers while wondering if there will be a new build this week (Tuesday February 10).
The Surface Pro 3 is a fun machine to showcase to others.

View attachment 5375

 

[Ryan Simmons]

I don't understand, I have had really bad battery drain with 9926. Before and after the updates.
I did a clean install, updated all the Windows Updates and installed the Surface Pro 3 driver pack from Microsoft.

When unplugging the power cable, I almost immediately went to 96%, then about 15 mins later was on 89%. How is everyone getting decent battery life?

I had to go back to 8.1 because of this issue. Windows 8.1 lasts forever on battery.

 

[sharpuser]

No problem here. Hmmm. I wonder if the wireless adapter is causing excessive drain by scanning for connections?

 

[Ryan Simmons]

I don't have a wireless adaptor, just a nice clean SP3 i7 with terrible battery on 9926 really hope a firmware update addresses the issue or its fixed in the next W10 build.

 

[SteveMac]

Using BatteryBar Pro, I see my Windows 10 SP3 discharge rate is about 8383 mW per hour. From memory Windows 8.1 was more 7000. I don't think this is too bad at all for a Technical Preview, still results in about 5 hours of battery run.

This is with full screen brightness and the default balanced power profile.