Surface Pro 3 (5/20/14)

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Geronimo

[H]ard|Gawd
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This might be released soon.

http://bgr.com/2014/05/14/surface-pro-3-release-date-2/

http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/14/5716282/surface-pro-3-microsoft-support-site

What do you guys think? Thoughts? I for one, sold my Surface Pro2, & broke even, but miss it. I'm excited & looking forward to see what the SP3 will bring. If not, I can always get a SP2 again at a lower price. I kept my Type cover 2, hdmi dongle, Wacom pen, & case. I guess I will soon find out if I have to unload the accessories if they are not compatible.....
 
Surface Pro hardware has been pretty nice since release.
Here's hoping the SP3 addresses some physical shortcomings
Weight
Thickness
Aspect Ratio
Pen storage that isn't the charging port
 
Kueller said:
Surface Pro hardware has been pretty nice since release.
Here's hoping the SP3 addresses some physical shortcomings
Weight
Thickness
Aspect Ratio
Pen storage that isn't the charging port
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I agree on all, except the aspect ratio, which I'm fine with, but 16:10 sounds reasonable. I will be drooling if they make it slimmer at least, which I guess if that would also reduce weight. What if they kept it the same size and increased the screen size, by reducing the bezel? The pen storage could be behind, underneath the kickstand.
 
3rd generation seems to be closure to what I would actually buy. Besides SP3 also tracking the Thinkpad 10 which at ~$500 erases the cost advantage of Android tablets while eliminating the iPad.
 
mi7chy said:
3rd generation seems to be closure to what I would actually buy. Besides SP3 also tracking the Thinkpad 10 which at ~$500 erases the cost advantage of Android tablets while eliminating the iPad.
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Wow! Nice machine. Lets see what specs, & if Wacom option. This is on my radar now. Thanks!
 
"eliminating the iPad". How cute.

I'm interested in a new Surface, but genuinely still fairly happy with my first gen. It's probably not going to be a must-buy for me.
 
16:9 really killed the original surface pro and the pro 2 for me. At such a small size it was really awkward, like someone chopped the top off of the screen. Then it was too narrow to use in portrait mode effectively. If the next one is 16:10 or more I'd reconsider. I like almost everything else about it.
 
16:9 is pretty much a deal breaker for me as well. 16:10 is is the widest aspect I want, though ideally I would have 3:2, something I think only the B&N Nook HD+ did.
 
The reason I think that the surface is 16:9 is because it's already a fairly small screen for multimedia consumption. If you would look at YouTube video's, you would have borders at 16:10 and thus a smaller screen.
I just went from XPS12 to XPS15 (with near-4K screen) and I don't actually need a tablet anymore.
I do know some friends that would drool over this product...
 
If this leak is accurate, you'll have to forego any dreams of the Surface Pro 3 taking on mobile OS tablets:

The Surface Pro 3 gets real as some specs and pricing are revealed

Minimum $799. That's still a good deal if you're looking for a fairly quick laptop/tablet hybrid, but you're going to be disappointed if you were hoping that Microsoft would lower the price by $400 on its brand new flagship tablet.

Also, as usual, mi7chy is lying to suit his agenda: the ThinkPad Tablet 10 starts at $600. It's pure fantasy to think that this is going to threaten Android tablets and the iPad in terms of real-world sales.
 
Henri108 said:
The reason I think that the surface is 16:9 is because it's already a fairly small screen for multimedia consumption. If you would look at YouTube video's, you would have borders at 16:10 and thus a smaller screen.
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In my opinion, watching YouTube is among the least compelling things you can do with a $1000+ tablet.
 
Snowdog said:
16:9 is pretty much a deal breaker for me as well. 16:10 is is the widest aspect I want, though ideally I would have 3:2, something I think only the B&N Nook HD+ did.
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I'm with you 110%. 1920x1280 would be spectacular on a Surface Pro.

In landscape, with menu bars and stuff 1080 just isn't enough horizontal lines. In portrait...ugh, so much horizontal scrolling. I know 1200 is enough for most webpages because I use two 1600x1200 monitors in portrait beside my 30". Occasionally, I have to do a little side-to-side scrolling though, and I think 1280 would be enough to basically eliminate horizontal scrolling.
 
wonderfield said:
In my opinion, watching YouTube is among the least compelling things you can do with a $1000+ tablet.
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I am mainly doing photo- and video-editing. But watch youtube about 10% of my computer time.
90% of the people I know that have a 2000+ macbook pro retina never used it for more than youtube, facebook and word... They will never touch anything that will use more than 10% of any CPU and GPU, but still they buy a piece of gear that is overkill for their needs. Do they think it os overkill? I don't think so.
 
Wow, very impressed. They've pretty much answered all of my complaints. Shocked it goes on sale tomorrow.

Edit: Wait... did I not hear that correctly and that tomorrow is just pre-orders? or it is available?
 
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I'm pretty impressed as well. Up to a Core i7 CPU, 3:2 aspect ratio, improved TypeCover, better battery life. Sweet.

I'm disappointed there was no Mini though.
 
Jerome36 said:
I'm pretty impressed as well. Up to a Core i7 CPU, 3:2 aspect ratio, improved TypeCover, better battery life. Sweet.

I'm disappointed there was no Mini though.
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Yeah, hell of a smoke screen. I assumed we would hear a ton about a new mini, and that they would tag a new Surface Pro 3 on the end.

I did hear that they were seeding misinformation to try to plug a leak though. So, maybe that is another explanation for all of the mini rumors as well.

If the battery life is there now, I will be picking one up.

Edit: Guess I missed the battery life as well. Just read that it is over 20% better than Surf Pro 2.
 
Surface Pro 3, Surface Pro Type Cover and Surface Pen will be available for pre-order starting May 21 at 12:01 a.m. EDT through Microsoftstore.com, Microsoft retail stores and select third-party retailers. Commercial customers should speak to their authorized reseller.

Beginning June 20 in Canada and the United States, customers can visit Microsoftstore.com, Microsoft retail stores, select third-party retailers and commercial resellers to purchase Intel® Core™ i5 Surface Pro 3 and select accessories. Additional configurations will become available during August, and additional accessories will be available in the next few months.
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...
 
Don't think the pen is WACOM... Hrm... Otherwise, I like it from what I've see so far.
 
Wow, so they cut out 1/3 of the thickness, 100g of weight, made the screen bigger and higher resolution, and somehow got MORE battery life out of it? Witchcraft, I say!

Webhead said:
Don't think the pen is WACOM... Hrm... Otherwise, I like it from what I've see so far.
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It would make no sense at all to go away from the WACOM digitizer.

Sumbitch. They went with N-Trig. WHYYYYYY?!?!?!
 
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Impressive, probably will pre-order one tomorrow, would like the highest end one, the wife will throw a fit. But this looks to be worth it. This thing engineering wise looks like it outclasses every mainstream x86 mobile device out there, including Mackbooks.
 
From WPCentral:

i3-4GB RAM; 64GB - $799
i5-4GB RAM; 128GB - $999
i5-8GB RAM; 256GB - $1299
i7-8GB RAM; 256GB - $1549
i7-8GB RAM; 512GB - $1949
 
wow. looks awesome. i think its finally time to get a surface pro.

but wtf is N-trig? is this a reputable digitizer???? why did they go away with wacom :(
 
DO WANT

Surprised by the N-Trig as well, however the videos of people writing on it so far look promising. Per The Verge: "In practice, it looks good and responds really well — in fact, it might be the best writing experience on a tablet that we've seen yet.". The pen sure looks nice compared to the SP2 one. Although strange that it uses 3 batteries: "1 AAAA, 2 319 coin cell batteries".

Looks like the i5 models ship as early as June 20, but the (personally) more compelling i7 powered ones won't ship until the end of August. Interesting choices for the different price tiers, I think it will work. The new color choice is about perfect as well.

Unless Apple really pulls out the stops next month, I think this is my next computer :)
 
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drstk said:
wow. looks awesome. i think its finally time to get a surface pro.

but wtf is N-trig? is this a reputable digitizer???? why did they go away with wacom :(
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The reason for the N-trig digitizer I believe is that it doesn't require a digitizer layer and allows for the device let be thinner. N-trig has been in the business a good while, they a perfectly reputable but historically their technology hasn't been generally considered as good as Wacom's though it seems to have been getting better.
 
heatlesssun said:
The reason for the N-trig digitizer I believe is that it doesn't require a digitizer layer and allows for the device let be thinner.
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Yup, and if you watch the event one of the things they talked about was how they were able to get rid of a lot of parallax you experience with other displays. On some of the tech sites quite a few people are complaining about moving away from Wacom, but it won't be long before some people are giving their impressions on this N-trig digitizer. In Engadget's quick hands on they were pretty impressed with it:

The pen, first of all, has been redesigned so that it feels more like a normal, ink-based pen. Indeed, it does feel more substantial in the hand, not that I had many complaints about the pen that came with the Surface Pro 2. Also, the screen has just enough friction that when I write on it, I feel like I'm writing on paper (or as close as you can get, anyway).
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These were just initial impressions, after the event, so we'll see what people say when they spend more time with it... and do more than just take some quick notes with it.
 
heatlesssun said:
The reason for the N-trig digitizer I believe is that it doesn't require a digitizer layer and allows for the device let be thinner. N-trig has been in the business a good while, they a perfectly reputable but historically their technology hasn't been generally considered as good as Wacom's though it seems to have been getting better.
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i see. i guess that's a good reason if they wanted to go thinner. I wonder if N-trig has the same edge problem as wacom.

I started watching a couple of vids and it looks like the pen works okay. Read that it has Bluetooth? it can wake the surface and go straight to onenote :eek:
 
It's a shame they're crippling the i3 version by restricting it to a 64GB SSD. There's no particularly good reason for that other than to shove consumers up to the next price tier.
 
drstk said:
i see. i guess that's a good reason if they wanted to go thinner. I wonder if N-trig has the same edge problem as wacom.
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That historically has not been a problem for N-trig devices. The issues have been around random ink but that seems to have improved. With Adobe putting in specific support for the SP3 I think the ink experience should be good.
 
They really need more options... i get that limiting models allows them to be stocked in real-time easier, but i'd like to see an i7 128gb option simply for price reasons.
 
I really want to love N-Trig. I mean it.
The lack of support by apps such as Manga studio and Photoshop have been major turn-off to me. I think that pressure sensitivity is something that N-Trig will reach parity, but I've never felt positive about N-Trig getting any support by the photo editing apps.

After seeing this demo, I am cautiously optimistic. I don't think that I will go for SP3 since I am SP2, but I would be very happy if SP3 proves itself to be the first serious N-Trig device that can work with all productivity apps as a true contender against Wacom.
 
Reimu said:
I really want to love N-Trig. I mean it.
The lack of support by apps such as Manga studio and Photoshop have been major turn-off to me. I think that pressure sensitivity is something that N-Trig will reach parity, but I've never felt positive about N-Trig getting any support by the photo editing apps.

After seeing this demo, I am cautiously optimistic. I don't think that I will go for SP3 since I am SP2, but I would be very happy if SP3 proves itself to be the first serious N-Trig device that can work with all productivity apps as a true contender against Wacom.
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Adobe was there to make a specific presentation on an upcoming release of Photoshop that's touch optimized and works well on the SP3, so Photoshop support is coming.
 
Is it me or does the screen look overly bluish?

I'd probably consider the i3 configuration for the better battery life as long as performance is acceptable. With only iGPU I wouldn't use it for anything graphically demanding like gaming so it seems i5 and i7 are wasted.

Dumb that Microsoft doesn't offer 8GB DRAM across all configurations and hopefully SSD is user upgradable.
 
wonderfield said:
Do not expect the SSD to be user-upgradable.
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I'd take it one step further to - do not expect anything to be user-upgradeable.

If it's anything like the SP2, there's a bunch of adhesive and a shit ton of tiny screws holding everything together.
 
The Verge had good things to say about the stylus, but again, these are all quick impressions, during the hands-on session after the event:

Microsoft has also designed a new stylus for the tablet that the company wants to be as natural as an actual pen. In practice, it looks good and responds really well — in fact, it might be the best writing experience on a tablet that we've seen yet.
Click to expand...
 
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