Surface Pro 4

Kueller said:
I feel weird, this is probably going to be the first Surface Pro model I don't purchase. My SP3 has served me extremely well, and nothing about the SP4 looks like a compelling reason to upgrade. I'm sure the battery life and performance would improve, but I don't really do any heavy processing on my Surface and I've rarely found the battery life to be a limiting factor.

The Book is more interesting, but yikes, that price tag. I'm sure it will be popular for those with an expense account.
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If I had a SP3 and was happy with the specs(it had enough storage and ram for what I was doing) I wouldn't upgrade it either. I'd just buy the new keyboard.
 
How do you figure? The new one has more USB 3.0 and DP ports, and instead of taking up a significant footprint on your desk is now a tiny dongle that still lets you use the full range of the SP's kickstand instead of locking you into a single position. Plus it now has better forward compatibility since they're free to change form factors without breaking compatibility with the dock, like how it works with the SP3, SP4, and SB1 now. It's less of a traditional dock, as in something you use to lock your mobile device in place, but it's a much better for extending the attached device now.
 
It looks like there is a sale on the Microsoft Store right now on SP4 and the Book (Columbus Day maybe?); it's about $100 off (and up, based on specs) on the SP4, not too bad.

If I'm reading their pre-order policy right it sounds like anyone ordering before the sale will get charged the sale price.
 
Drown Babies said:
It looks like there is a sale on the Microsoft Store right now on SP4 and the Book (Columbus Day maybe?); it's about $100 off (and up, based on specs) on the SP4, not too bad.

If I'm reading their pre-order policy right it sounds like anyone ordering before the sale will get charged the sale price.
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You sure you don't have a military or educational discount applied to your account?
 
-Dragon- said:
You sure you don't have a military or educational discount applied to your account?
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Yeah I think I was seeing the student discount. But on the plus side, getting a student discount applied is really easy, just select a school on the education site.

I called them up and got them to change my existing order, so that works too.
 
I was planning to get an SP4 (8/256) but just scored a deal on an SP3. Got the 4/128gb for $599 brand new. I plan on getting the new type cover and maybe the new pen. Iunno, what do you guys think? Keep the discounted SP3 or go for the newer SP4. I would be fine with just 4/128gb since it's just for basic stuff.
 
sn_85 said:
I was planning to get an SP4 (8/256) but just scored a deal on an SP3. Got the 4/128gb for $599 brand new. I plan on getting the new type cover and maybe the new pen. Iunno, what do you guys think? Keep the discounted SP3 or go for the newer SP4. I would be fine with just 4/128gb since it's just for basic stuff.
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Awesome! I'd say unless you can think of a reason for needing the SP4's better hardware take the deal. Of course we all like the new shinny but the SP3 is still a nice device and had there not been a Surface Book I wouldn't have looked at upgrading my SP3 for an SP4.
 
sn_85 said:
I was planning to get an SP4 (8/256) but just scored a deal on an SP3. Got the 4/128gb for $599 brand new. I plan on getting the new type cover and maybe the new pen. Iunno, what do you guys think? Keep the discounted SP3 or go for the newer SP4. I would be fine with just 4/128gb since it's just for basic stuff.
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You can always add an sd card for more storage space. It would be nice to have more ram but honestly for most stuff it will be fine.
 
Anybody know how the core m will be on battery?

Im not sure what is better on the SP4, but the sp3 is more in my budget. Just since i want to use it for games and videos i feel like the core m might offer bettter battery life (by gaming i meam streaming them of my desktop so i dont need a i5/i7 tablet)

Also for just daily activities, 8gb ram isnt neccessary right?
 
Greeley said:
Anybody know how the core m will be on battery?

Im not sure what is better on the SP4, but the sp3 is more in my budget. Just since i want to use it for games and videos i feel like the core m might offer bettter battery life (by gaming i meam streaming them of my desktop so i dont need a i5/i7 tablet)

Also for just daily activities, 8gb ram isnt neccessary right?
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I pre-ordered the m3/4GB. Will see how it performs. It's not an easy way to get the 8GB of ram. You have to pay hundreds of dollars for the specs you don't need in order to have the 8GB.
 
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Does the MS store use Ingram Micro for distribution? I have 2 preorders from launch day, and I've now got 2 labels created today from this location in the Chicago area.
 
heatlesssun said:
Awesome! I'd say unless you can think of a reason for needing the SP4's better hardware take the deal. Of course we all like the new shinny but the SP3 is still a nice device and had there not been a Surface Book I wouldn't have looked at upgrading my SP3 for an SP4.
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Yeah, I don't think I'll have any issues with 4/128gb. The reasons I'd want the SP4 are that hopefully battery life, heat, noise will all be improved. I heard the SP3 had some throttling issues. That and other things like the pen attachment and other small details attract me to the SP4 moreso than a performance POV. But hard to turn down such a great deal on the SP3 and still get the new type cover with it.
 
sn_85 said:
Yeah, I don't think I'll have any issues with 4/128gb. The reasons I'd want the SP4 are that hopefully battery life, heat, noise will all be improved. I heard the SP3 had some throttling issues. That and other things like the pen attachment and other small details attract me to the SP4 moreso than a performance POV. But hard to turn down such a great deal on the SP3 and still get the new type cover with it.
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Throttling was on the i7 model. The i3 and i5 had no issues.
 
Am I the only one confused where the core m falls tho?

I would think it would be as power as an i3 since that's what it's replacing
 
It'll depend on exactly how it is configured and the cooling system.

At the very least it should be much faster in burst workloads as the Core-M series feature turboboost while the older y-series did not.

Henri108 said:
Throttling was on the i7 model. The i3 and i5 had no issues.
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They all throttle under extended load if both the CPU and GPU are used -

65620.png
 
I want it basically for steam and maybe some daily usage YouTube etc. and I'm going to be streaming the games off my desktop to the surface's screen so I don't anything that powerful. Pretty much I want the one that's going to give the best battery life and can handle multiple browser tabs, YouTube, etc.

Out of these 3 and $899 is already at the limit of my budget (I can barrow a Bluetooth keyboard meanwhile)

Surface 3
sp3 pro i3
Sp4 core m
 
Greeley said:
I want it basically for steam and maybe some daily usage YouTube etc. and I'm going to be streaming the games off my desktop to the surface's screen so I don't anything that powerful. Pretty much I want the one that's going to give the best battery life and can handle multiple browser tabs, YouTube, etc.

Out of these 3 and $899 is already at the limit of my budget (I can barrow a Bluetooth keyboard meanwhile)

Surface 3
sp3 pro i3
Sp4 core m
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Honestly I'd avoid the Surface 3 (4/128). I have one and thought I'd get it for just casual browsing (multiple tabs, youtube, word, onenote) however it really struggles with flash heavy webpages. That's even without multiple apps or tabs open. I'll notice that it'll be slow in loading sites like ESPN or when watching flash videos. YouTube it's ok once you get the video loaded but at times navigating the site can be a tad laggy.

There are other niggles that I notice such as when I'm note taking in OneNote it'll register my palm as a double click and the double click will get stuck on screen until I restart it. Other times it'll register my pen clicks as a double click as well which is fixed only by restarting. Also the charging is slow as heck and the connection if not in at the right angle will lose connection.

There are a few more glitches here and there that I notice and I'm wondering if these are more Windows 10 related vs Surface 3. Either way it added up to a bad experience for me even though short term reviews seemed pretty positive on it. I wanted to like it, love the size, noiseless, doesn't get hot but too many performance and glitches for me to enjoy it.
 
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Okay. Between the i3 and core m then.


i think the most taxing webpage i visit is pokemonshowdown.com
 
I'm getting the m3 too.

I'm coming from a Surface Pro 2, the original one not the slightly upgraded version. Based on some very quick indirect comparisons (i5 4200 vs i5 5200, i5 5200 vs Broadwell m3, Broadwell m3 vs what Intel says about Skylake m3...) I'm guessing I'll get more or less similar performance.

I'm hoping that heat and throttling isn't an issue; if it's bad I might see about upgrading. Better battery life would be a major plus though.
 
Drown Babies said:
I'm getting the m3 too.

I'm coming from a Surface Pro 2, the original one not the slightly upgraded version. Based on some very quick indirect comparisons (i5 4200 vs i5 5200, i5 5200 vs Broadwell m3, Broadwell m3 vs what Intel says about Skylake m3...) I'm guessing I'll get more or less similar performance.

I'm hoping that heat and throttling isn't an issue; if it's bad I might see about upgrading. Better battery life would be a major plus though.
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I pre-ordered the m3 as well. I want to see how it performs. I can always return and get the i5..
 
I had a chance to try out an SP4 with the new chiclet-style keyboard the other day. Much better typing experience than on the previous type covers. Screen is incrementally better, but woe-be-ye who tries to use a non-scaling program, hope you have a magnifying glass or there's no text involved (and of course most of the non-scaling programs are legacy Windows software, with plenty of text involved)

Since the Type Cover keyboards are a different size from my desktop and laptop keyboards, I find myself mis-typing quite often on my SP3's type cover due to being unable to feel where one key ends and another begins with the almost totally flat layout. With the chiclet layout it's much easier to tell when you're not properly centered over a key, travel seems improved too. The one I played with didn't have a fingerprint scanner.
 
I'm looking at the mid range i5 version. Still using my SP1 but cant pre order this time around. Always fun to see my throttling and heat issues thread on the Microsoft forums still getting pinged lol. Hopefully this one handles it much better.
 
limitedaccess said:
Well Anandtech review is up - http://www.anandtech.com/show/9727/the-microsoft-surface-pro-4-review-raising-the-bar

Quick glance looks like there is still some throttling if used for gaming but not anywhere near the same extent as the i5+ SP3s.
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Considering that this has more performance, higher resolution screen, is lighter, thinner, and gets only slightly less battery life I would say that is damn impressive! Also the screen quality is second to none apparently.

I really want to see a core m battery life because it is a bit disappointing they weren't able to up the battery life, instead choosing to slim the form factor.
 
Erasmus354 said:
I really want to see a core m battery life because it is a bit disappointing they weren't able to up the battery life, instead choosing to slim the form factor.
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That's simply the reality with tablets, at least with ones like this. A trend that Apple sort of set, reduce weight and thickness, keep battery life constant.
 
Edit: Ooops, wrong thread, got it mixed up with the Surface Book thread, my mistake, ignore this post. ;)
 
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Received my SP4. It is a freaking nice machine. One thing I noticed the Anandtech unit had the Toshiba SSD, and my device has the Samsung... Hm...
 
hmz said:
Received my SP4. It is a freaking nice machine. One thing I noticed the Anandtech unit had the Toshiba SSD, and my device has the Samsung... Hm...
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Might have been a pre-prod model. My Surface Book 512 GB has the NVMe Samsung.
 
hmz said:
Received my SP4. It is a freaking nice machine. One thing I noticed the Anandtech unit had the Toshiba SSD, and my device has the Samsung... Hm...
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My i5/8/256 looks like it has the toshiba drive. I was setting up another one at the same time for a client but didn't check what his has. I have to swing by his office tomorrow if he is there I can check and see who made his 256 gig drive.
 
Anyone get their core m3 SP4's yet? Thoughts on performance and battery life would be appreciated!!!
 
Seems like the rear camera doesn't take pics. Might be the software issue.

Nevermind, camera update fixed it.
 
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So does Windows Update take care of firmware updates (if any) on these, or is there a separate thing?
 
I'm going to go for the i5 version, coming from my Surface Pro 1 it should be leaps and bounds better :D
 
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