Microsoft Surface Pro 4 announced: "better in nearly every way" (The Verge)
- Thread starter Anton Sugar
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Marty Chinn
Member
I had the i3 version.
Hatty
Member
and in truly terrible news, you cannot load Windows ME on the SP4
Preorder cancelled
Surface Pro 4 review on CNET, reviewed today so I guess nobody posted it here. Other sites should start reviewing it as well.
http://www.cnet.com/products/microsoft-surface-pro-4/
THE GOOD The Surface Pro 4 fits a larger screen with a higher resolution into a slightly slimmer body than last year's model. The pen and keyboard cover are also improved, and this is one of the first mobile systems shipping with Intel's latest processors.
THE BAD Microsoft still refuses to include the Type Cover keyboard by default, forcing a separate purchase. Battery life still isn't enough for a full day.
THE BOTTOM LINE A host of small refinements cements the Surface Pro 4's position as the best-in-class Windows tablet -- so long as you're prepared to pay extra for the required keyboard cover accessory.
http://www.cnet.com/products/microsoft-surface-pro-4/
THE GOOD The Surface Pro 4 fits a larger screen with a higher resolution into a slightly slimmer body than last year's model. The pen and keyboard cover are also improved, and this is one of the first mobile systems shipping with Intel's latest processors.
THE BAD Microsoft still refuses to include the Type Cover keyboard by default, forcing a separate purchase. Battery life still isn't enough for a full day.
THE BOTTOM LINE A host of small refinements cements the Surface Pro 4's position as the best-in-class Windows tablet -- so long as you're prepared to pay extra for the required keyboard cover accessory.
brotkasten
Member
We(?) knew reviews were coming this week. But the info I want (pen improvements, Core m3 vs SP3 i3/SP4 i5) won't come from mainstream sites, so the wait continues for a while.
e:
Brad Sams' review over at Petri.com:
https://www.petri.com/review-surface-pro-4-evolutionary-update#.VieM4N_E20k.twitter
Doc Holliday
SPOILER: Columbus finds America
I agree with the Type Cover criticism, it should be included. Windows unlike IOS is really dependent on having a keyboard, especially for desktop apps.
AnandTech review posted, not quite as good as NotebookCheck in regards to depth of tests but far above everyone else.
http://anandtech.com/show/9727/the-microsoft-surface-pro-4-review-raising-the-bar
Some select benches
CPU - 20% faster
GPU - 30-45% faster
Display
Battery
http://anandtech.com/show/9727/the-microsoft-surface-pro-4-review-raising-the-bar
Some select benches
CPU - 20% faster
GPU - 30-45% faster
Display
Battery
brotkasten
Member
I expected Core m3 benchmarks from Anandtech, but I guess they didn't want to wait another two weeks and pushed the review for the i5 reivew unit out.
Diablohead
Member
If the pro 4 really does float around 60c that is amazing, my cheap windows tablet goes into 70+ doing anything on it lol and overheats if I strain it too long.
I think MS probably looks at sales of Surface and then sales of the keyboard and realize there's enough people not buying the keyboard that it makes sense to keep it separate. If you want the keyboard included, there's a Surface now for you...
nice to see the display is significantly better!
I want to see some m3 benchmarks but it seems like I'll probably get mine before are released.
Come on MS! Charge my card! Ship it!
brotkasten
Member
Or perhaps people are seeing how the keyboards are a rip off and refuse to buy them for such a high price.
I mean, look at Lenovo. They're including their keyboard in the $699 base model.
Doc Holliday
SPOILER: Columbus finds America
Ugh I really hate how quiet Apple is being about the Ipad Pro relase date/reviews. I want need to try it out before deciding where to spend my cash damn it!
I'd be happy enough if they just sold a cover. I can live without a £110 type cover, I have any number of keyboards I can use when it is at home. But I can't really take it in my bag without something to protect the screen.
I would like to wait for several things to make an informed decision
- iPad pro reviews
- miix 700 reviews and model lineup (expect the $699 model to be only 4Gb/64GB/m3)l including throttling - Lenovos last core m yoga was terrible for throttling
- SP4 long run tests to check throttling
- SP4 CPU+GPU stress test for gaming Again long runs to check for throttling
- SP4 m3 vs i5 - both CPU and GPU with real life benchmarks not just synthetic.
- SP4 4GB vs 8GB benchmarks. Would like to live with the price of the 4GB model
I think it's likely that at this point they're keeping prices artistically high in order not to compete with other OEMs.
Either that, or they know that people will just buy the Surface anyway and not the Lenovo.
Doc Holliday
SPOILER: Columbus finds America
same here, but more important than reviews will be my own hands on with the Ipad pro. If I buy the Ipad Pro it will be because the Pencil experience is that much better than a surface Pro or Companion. It will have to be a lot better for me to ignore the lack of a desktop software.
This is exactly where i'm at. My curent PC is good enough, but the one thing I wanted on it was a touchscreen. Now I'm trying to convince myself of SP4 since it has everything I want (backlit keyboard, touchscreen, easy portability)
brotkasten
Member
It really bugs me that Microsoft never sends out the base SKU for review purposes. They did the same with the Surface 3. No one got the 2/64GB model.
It's obvious that Lenovo wants to be more aggressive and actually compete with the Surface, as they refuse to resell them (unlike Dell and HP).
brotkasten
Member
I just read the display part of the Anandtech review and it seems like a big improvement over the SP3.
"Ultimately what we see with the Surface Pro 4 is that Microsoft has taken the display tech and moved it well past the Surface Pro 3. Color accuracy is fantastic, whites are whiter, blacks are blacker, and the panel almost feels like it is flush with the surface of the tablet. Microsoft put a lot of tech into the entire Surface Pro 4 display stack, including the panel itself and the custom PixelSense digitizer which handles both touch and pen. After several years of almost getting the display right, with Surface Pro 4 it looks like they have finally succeeded."
All in all, I'm glad that I didn't cheap out, even if a SP3 would be sufficient.
"Ultimately what we see with the Surface Pro 4 is that Microsoft has taken the display tech and moved it well past the Surface Pro 3. Color accuracy is fantastic, whites are whiter, blacks are blacker, and the panel almost feels like it is flush with the surface of the tablet. Microsoft put a lot of tech into the entire Surface Pro 4 display stack, including the panel itself and the custom PixelSense digitizer which handles both touch and pen. After several years of almost getting the display right, with Surface Pro 4 it looks like they have finally succeeded."
All in all, I'm glad that I didn't cheap out, even if a SP3 would be sufficient.
darkinstinct
...lacks reading comprehension.
Engadget says otherwise. Fixes for what is broken, otherwise pretty comparable experience. Battery life is five to seven hours, which is the main reason I am not gonna switch to Pro 4.
EatinOlives
Member
Tangentially related note:
It's funny that the Surface Team keeps stealing the "Table" Team's names.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/pixelsense/whatissurface.aspx
Used to be called Surface...until they named the tablet/laptop hybrid Surface, so they changed the name to PixelSense...and now the Surface's new digitizer is called the PixelSense.
I can only imagine what the team is thinking. "For fuck's sake guys, think of your own names!!"
I'm hoping you'd get maybe another hour from the m3 version
Even something like Gazelle offers far more than MS.
Yeah, I might just gift my SP3 to my mom and get an SP4, assuming that the cameras can focus on documents to the same extent that a cell phone's cameras can. I was so disappointed last year when I found out the lenses in the SP3's cameras are fixed focus only. The SP3 would have been so amazing as a document processing device otherwise.
EazyWeazy3
Member
Think I'm gonna pull the trigger on an i5/8GB/256 soon. I'm in no hurry so the out of stock/pre-order doesn't bother me much.
Just need to sell my 15in MBP or probably give it to my dad.
As it becomes available to the public, I'll have to check youtube daily to see how the average person is using it, and not just tech blogs.
Pretty excited! Never thought I'd be going back to MS but I'm looking forward to the switch.
Just need to sell my 15in MBP or probably give it to my dad.
As it becomes available to the public, I'll have to check youtube daily to see how the average person is using it, and not just tech blogs.
Pretty excited! Never thought I'd be going back to MS but I'm looking forward to the switch.
Wouldn't the angle be tricky? Just use a smartphone in a stand along with office lens or cam scanner, and sync to onedrive/Dropbox?
Kibbles
Member
EBay. Always beats trade in deals.... Or, you could sell me yours
I just sold something on ebay for the first time in a while and manm, through the ebay fees and then paypal fees you end up losing quite a bit.
Kibbles
Member
Surface Pro 4 vs Book- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3NC7AC6oSc
Camera w/ OneNote is pretty nice. I was at a conference for work last month, one guy I talked extensively w/ used an ipad air for most of his note taking using Onenote. Snap pictures of important slides, immediately capture some notes after. Looked like a pretty good process and something I'd like to implement w/ SP4 once I get it.
I believe the review units were all the i5, so we didn't get to try either the m3 or the i7 with Iris, unfortunately. However, we were told that you won't see any significant difference in battery life across the models. This is quite plausible in benchmarks such as Microsoft's video playback, or the Web benchmark that we do, because most of the time the processor is idle anyway. The Core m's low TDP is relevant to in-use performance, but not really to idle performance.
Thanks. Disappointing but expected. I can forgive not providing the m3 as MS will want to encourage most people to see the i5 as the base model to make more money. But you'd think they would provide the i7 as quite a few people may consider the increase in cost if the iris graphics are enough of a jump.
Yeah. I'm really interested in the upgrade in terms of graphics for the i7. Also, whether that beefier version comes closer to the TDP and thus throttling is a bit more pronounced than in the i5 version (where it very rarely happens).
Ugh, I've been charged for the keyboard but not the SP4. That almost certainly means that Discover has denied it as fraud, just like they did with my SB order.
someone on Reddit said...
"just got the anti-fraud text from Discover to approve the charge."
do you not have fraud alert set up?
I had it setup before too, but regardless I never got anything from Discover about the rejection.. just from MS. I had even called to let them know the charge was coming and that didn't help either. Fraud guy said he could see the notes on the account, but that's not anything they use so it's just needless effort. I did get a free $25 statement credit for my trouble, but that's insignificant.
Anyways I called and they said no charge from MS yet aside from the keyboard, so possibly I'm just paranoid. Just sent myself a test text from their fraud system via the website so I guess I can just wait.
sometimes i game
Member
Excited for you SP4 owners. As a Surface Pro 3 owner (i5), I think it's perfect, light, gorgeous screen, fast as hell and I don't see any reason to upgrade.
Haloid1177
Banned
If I owned an SP3 I'd buy the new fingerprint keyboard as an upgrade. I know it's not cheap, but it's a big improvement. At the very least, I'd seriously recommend going to a Microsoft Store if you have one available to try it out.
Depending on your pen usage, the new pen might be worth picking up too.
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