Naw son. I'm on my third surface and no scratches, period. Touch and type covers.
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Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Announced (12", 3:2 aspect ratio, new stand)
- Thread starter enzo_gt
- Start date
Naw son. I'm on my third surface and no scratches, period. Touch and type covers.
SerTapTap
Member
Anyone get an issue where the typecover drops and regains connection repeatedly (most noticable if the backlight is on, as it'll flicker). Pulling it out and reconnecting usually fixes it, but I wonder if that's the sign of dirty contacts or something? Shouldn't be that dirty, typecover's been attacked 99% of it's life.
Chezzymann
Member
Yeah, every once in a while that happens to me. Also, every one in a while I hit the stupid narrator key and the dude wont shut up, not to mention that it makes it almost impossible to do anything with it on.
SerTapTap
Member
There's a narrator key? I turn off most of the accessibility shortcuts. Every computer I've ever used I've accidentally turned on Sticky Keys then have to go disable it
Septimus Prime
Member
I had that once while trying to unlock my device, which was docked. Waiting for a little bit (like a minute) resolved the issue, though.
Now after using the device for a week...
Still the best PC I have ever used.
It's perfectly sized and just has a wonderful weight to it. It is completely usable as a tablet and the light magnetic strip across the keyboard port and the power port assures I have a pen available at all times.
I stopped by the Microsoft store in Vancouver and picked up the Brenthaven zippered sleeve built specifically for the Pro 3 and it is a very nice accessory. The sleeve features a nice snug slip for an extra pen in a small magnetic side pouch. A good pickup.
I'm a complete Microsoft mark so my opinion is junk but after buying the Pro, the Pro 2, and the RT, I can say Microsoft has finally created a winner. I'm nervous about what Windows 9 is going to bring but I really hope they continue to support the Surface hardware platform.
Still the best PC I have ever used.
It's perfectly sized and just has a wonderful weight to it. It is completely usable as a tablet and the light magnetic strip across the keyboard port and the power port assures I have a pen available at all times.
I stopped by the Microsoft store in Vancouver and picked up the Brenthaven zippered sleeve built specifically for the Pro 3 and it is a very nice accessory. The sleeve features a nice snug slip for an extra pen in a small magnetic side pouch. A good pickup.
I'm a complete Microsoft mark so my opinion is junk but after buying the Pro, the Pro 2, and the RT, I can say Microsoft has finally created a winner. I'm nervous about what Windows 9 is going to bring but I really hope they continue to support the Surface hardware platform.
LukasTaves
Member
Yeah, I'm loving mine as well. I'm so glad I resisted the impulse of buying a 7/8" tablet alongside my surface because I really don't think I would have use for it.
S3 has been a joy to use, both as a tablet and laptop and everything in between that the kickstand/cover allows, and it's so light and have great battery life that I can actually just carry it around, not worrying about cables and chargers and not feeling my shoulder sore because of too much weight. And then I can just hop in to a nearby Starbucks open Visual Studio and code a little.
Yesterday I was also reading a book before going to bed, I put it on portrait with the kickstand open and the cover back, that gave a very sturdy support for it, so I could lay down, have the surface in my belly and enjoy my reading without even having to hold the "book" at all times. I have a kindle too that sits next to my bed, and it's amazing, but not carrying the device at all sure beats carrying something even if it's extra light. I'm seriously considering getting rid of my kindle now as well
It's really an amazing device. Ms nailed so perfectly the form factor, weight, kickstand and cover that this feels like a mutant device that can suit very well all your scenarios, and actually changes the way you use stuff, in ways Surface 1 never could because it was too heavy, too small and have terrible battery life for an all day device. I'm really seeing this become my only electronic device alongside my phone. It's hard to find use for my desktop, my notebook and my kindle now.
S3 has been a joy to use, both as a tablet and laptop and everything in between that the kickstand/cover allows, and it's so light and have great battery life that I can actually just carry it around, not worrying about cables and chargers and not feeling my shoulder sore because of too much weight. And then I can just hop in to a nearby Starbucks open Visual Studio and code a little.
Yesterday I was also reading a book before going to bed, I put it on portrait with the kickstand open and the cover back, that gave a very sturdy support for it, so I could lay down, have the surface in my belly and enjoy my reading without even having to hold the "book" at all times. I have a kindle too that sits next to my bed, and it's amazing, but not carrying the device at all sure beats carrying something even if it's extra light. I'm seriously considering getting rid of my kindle now as well
It's really an amazing device. Ms nailed so perfectly the form factor, weight, kickstand and cover that this feels like a mutant device that can suit very well all your scenarios, and actually changes the way you use stuff, in ways Surface 1 never could because it was too heavy, too small and have terrible battery life for an all day device. I'm really seeing this become my only electronic device alongside my phone. It's hard to find use for my desktop, my notebook and my kindle now.
Now you can preorder 'MS Wireless Display Adapter'
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/productID.308216600
It say this 'works with all Miracast enabled Windows 8.1 devices and Miracast enabled Android devices 4.2.1 and later'
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/productID.308216600
It say this 'works with all Miracast enabled Windows 8.1 devices and Miracast enabled Android devices 4.2.1 and later'
SerTapTap
Member
This is half of what I've always wanted--to basically be able to throw any input in my house to any screen I have. Ideally I'd like to throw my consoles on my surface or something too. A bit surprised at the price, might pick one up for shits and giggles when it's cheaper. Got a $10~ mini displayport for my SP3, it's neat for some big TV gaming if you don't have access to something bigger. If I lived out of hotels it'd be a lifesaver.
Before I got the Surface I was considering selling my iPad (not very comfortable supporting the iOS/app store ecosystem + I don't really use it much), now I'm considering selling the Nexus 7 too. Even as a tablet the SP3 is so much nicer to read, and all I used the damn thing was twitter, emulators and browsers anyway.
My Nexus 7 is slowly dying (apparently cheap memory) and lagging a lot, thinking about getting something new. And I'm about to return to university so something more versatile might be handy. Microsoft offers the Surface Pro 3 with i3 for students for 720 , is it worth that for what it is? I'm mostly looking for long battery life, no games and such.
SerTapTap
Member
Battery life is a bit more variable than it might be on an android tablet, here's some tests. Lasts quite a while for light browsing, but videos eat into battery quite a bit, at least they did before the latest firmware. It's supposed to help but probably won't change TOO much.
LaserBuddha
Member
When I stream a chrome tab to my Chromecast from my Surface Pro 3, in order to watch an online video, I run into some problems. If I try to run the Chromecast stream at 720p instead of 480 and/or I run the video stream from the site itself at HD, it is choppy on my television. An HD stream looks nice as smooth on the browser tab being cast, while simultaneously being choppy on the television. My cable connection is a solid 15-20mbps.
Is this an inherent issue with doing all of this over wifi, or do you think upgrading from my old G router to an N would do the trick?
Also if this is going to continue to be a problem, would the tech in that new MS wireless adapter possibly perform better?
Is this an inherent issue with doing all of this over wifi, or do you think upgrading from my old G router to an N would do the trick?
Also if this is going to continue to be a problem, would the tech in that new MS wireless adapter possibly perform better?
PSA: Drawboard is on sale for 50% off (USD 4.99) in the Windows 8 app store:
http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/app/drawboard-pdf/6d65bcd8-8390-4533-af58-307d2e1ec1dd
http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/app/drawboard-pdf/6d65bcd8-8390-4533-af58-307d2e1ec1dd
LukasTaves
Member
I just bough a chromecast to use with chrome XD
Hope this supports 1080p as chromecast apparently is limited to 720p.
But in reality they should have added support for this right on the xbone, but I'll get the adapter anyway XD
Edit:: Oh, I wonder if this is lag free at lower resolutions (than Surf 3 native res), could be useful as a way to dock it wirelessly to an monitor. OMG, please be as lag free as possible.
I wonder if I should just get this, instead of waiting for Unidocs to get ezPDF Reader up to their Android/iOS versions' standards. It's lacking so much right now...
But then, I do want to try Console OS, which will allow me to use the Android version anyways, so... Yeah, I'll wait.
Surface Pro 3 throttling: i7/i5 = i3 in speed with sustained load.
http://forums.wpcentral.com/microso...rottling-i7-i5-=-i3-speed-sustained-load.html
Oh, very interesting. Is it an over-exaggeration, or is this par for everyone else as well? I will totally get the lowest price one (it has SD slot or something for more space, right?) if performance is negligible.
edit:
Any word from MS on a firmware fix to eliminate the throttling?
Im not sure. I think its mainly if you are going to use it unplugged, that it will downclock under much load to essentially i3 levels.
Id wait for the next surface. 3 was built with the wrong cpu in it.
I am considering getting an i3 and have some questions:
Does anyone know if a i3 can handle modern 2D indie games, and most importantly Towerfall?
Has anyone noticed the kickstand becoming more loose since you first got it? The whole mechanism looks like engineered wizardry to me and I wonder if it will be as durable as the sp1 one.
Does anyone know if a i3 can handle modern 2D indie games, and most importantly Towerfall?
Has anyone noticed the kickstand becoming more loose since you first got it? The whole mechanism looks like engineered wizardry to me and I wonder if it will be as durable as the sp1 one.
SerTapTap
Member
Has anyone gotten Sleep Study to work? Connected Standby is enabled on mine, but powercfg /sleepstudy says there's no trace file to work off of. powercfg /batteryreport works though. FWIW, Batteryreport says I'm getting an average of 6 hours of battery life, sounds about right. I usually use it for moderately heavy web browsing and the occasional video, and I never really use Metro apps.
The third post in topic you just linked to actually shows the i7 doesn't throttle as significantly as i5 (but gets hotter as a result) and I really haven't noticed throttling being a major issue. It really seems overblown. If you use the Surface Pro as a tablet or mid-high end productivity laptop it performs perfectly fine. As far as gaming is concerned, I'd be willing to bet the lack of a dedicated GPU is a far more significant factor than any thermal throttling.
Playing games on the Surface Pro 3 is a bonus and will require tweaking for intensive games, just like every laptop that doesn't weigh 10 lbs and cost $2000. I personally find the i5 quite satisfactory but dont' have other models to test.
I can't find anything particular doing a good breakdown of benchmarks of all 3 versions, but almost all reviews note the i5 is about the best bang-for-buck, and the i3 doesn't particularly improve battery life either, except for tablet-only tasks.
Unsure about the i3, but my i5 plays Skullgirls, which is technically a 3D engine, with all it's insane sprite counts and 60 FPS, at native 1440p res (this is generally a no-no for 3D games). I didn't use an FPS checker but I didn't notice frame drops. Plays Mercenary Kings perfectly fine as well. I haven't fussed with it too much since my desktop outputs to my TVs too, but it seemed pretty serviceable, especially with a mini displayport - >HDMI adapter and a DS4 synced with DS4 Windows. Would have gotten some use if I got it before my trip to Vegas I guess.
As said above, not sure how big the different really is, but I suspect worst-case dropping the res a bit should get you the same experience I had.
The third post in topic you just linked to actually shows the i7 doesn't throttle as significantly as i5 (but gets hotter as a result) and I really haven't noticed throttling being a major issue. It really seems overblown. If you use the Surface Pro as a tablet or mid-high end productivity laptop it performs perfectly fine. As far as gaming is concerned, I'd be willing to bet the lack of a dedicated GPU is a far more significant factor than any thermal throttling.
Playing games on the Surface Pro 3 is a bonus and will require tweaking for intensive games, just like every laptop that doesn't weigh 10 lbs and cost $2000. I personally find the i5 quite satisfactory but dont' have other models to test.
I can't find anything particular doing a good breakdown of benchmarks of all 3 versions, but almost all reviews note the i5 is about the best bang-for-buck, and the i3 doesn't particularly improve battery life either, except for tablet-only tasks.
Unsure about the i3, but my i5 plays Skullgirls, which is technically a 3D engine, with all it's insane sprite counts and 60 FPS, at native 1440p res (this is generally a no-no for 3D games). I didn't use an FPS checker but I didn't notice frame drops. Plays Mercenary Kings perfectly fine as well. I haven't fussed with it too much since my desktop outputs to my TVs too, but it seemed pretty serviceable, especially with a mini displayport - >HDMI adapter and a DS4 synced with DS4 Windows. Would have gotten some use if I got it before my trip to Vegas I guess.
As said above, not sure how big the different really is, but I suspect worst-case dropping the res a bit should get you the same experience I had.
So I finally figured this out. You need to sign in to Windows 8 with a local account - otherwise you won't be able to sign into the Games app using an email account that's not the same one that you use to sign into Windows 8 (i.e., your Microsoft Account).
Annoying, since you lose the benefits of signing into Windows 8 with an MS Account, but since I don't want to associate my Windows 8 MS Account with my Xbox Live MS Account there's no other way around this issue.
Also, all of these posts are pretty old and don't reflect the firmware update that heightened the thermal restrictions, so that should be even less of a problem now.
SerTapTap
Member
Oh right, do we have any data on how much that's changed?
Anyone getting a new SP3 should install all updates (probably multiple cycles of reboots I'm afraid) before doing too much with it. There are a LOT of fixes either to windows or Surface firmware specifically since the launch. They've been pretty good with these, I remember installing windows 8.1 on my desktop and watching almost all of my problems with win 8 go away.
WhiskerFrisker
Member
Sounds okay.
I finally got to try out a surface Pro 3 the other day and I was impressed. It's fast, responsive, and the display is crystal clear. I also like the attachable keyboard and how it feels. The Surface Pro 1 keyboard was terrible. The only thing stopping me from purchasing one is the price. Hopefully I can find a deal during black Friday/ Cyber Monday for it to be a little cheaper. I feel like Microsoft has a winner in its hands.
Septimus Prime
Member
My kickstand is still rock solid. I did, however, just notice a scratch on it just now. Damn.
My i7 gets ridiculously hot and loud sometimes. This morning, I actually brought it to a meeting, and my client--who I found out also owns an SP3--commented on how loud the fan was. At this point, I'm not really sure if the updates have helped with that much at all.
I have a USB fan pointed at the corner at home, for when it's docked. That helps a little.
The surface pro 3 definitely hits that part of my brain that lusts over gadgets.
Definitely interested in picking one up and just curious about a couple of things. How overblown is the throttling issue? I probably won't be playing games or anything with it - mostly office/one note and Photoshop (or some equivalent - manga studio, sketchbook, etc). Just looking for a device to draw / paint on along with doing a lot of document stuff.
I've read reports (admittedly early ones it looks like) that drawing slow diagonal (45 degree) lines are wavy. Can anyone confirm this? The wavy lines are definitely an issue with ipad and small tip stylus which is why I want to get away from drawing on the iPad.
Definitely interested in picking one up and just curious about a couple of things. How overblown is the throttling issue? I probably won't be playing games or anything with it - mostly office/one note and Photoshop (or some equivalent - manga studio, sketchbook, etc). Just looking for a device to draw / paint on along with doing a lot of document stuff.
I've read reports (admittedly early ones it looks like) that drawing slow diagonal (45 degree) lines are wavy. Can anyone confirm this? The wavy lines are definitely an issue with ipad and small tip stylus which is why I want to get away from drawing on the iPad.
SerTapTap
Member
I'd want to find someone who really uses photoshop for impressions there, but I've had zero throttling issues outside of games. (haven't noticed "throttling" in games either honestly, just general "laptop" performance)
Dont' assume it's anything like iPad drawing. It's much, much closer to Wacom drawing (it's actually ntrig for lower latency). I don't draw/write much with it, but only problem I noticed with the pen is the pressure curve is a bit silly;there's plenty of pressure sensitivity levels, but you have to press much harder than I usually do in order to get half of 'em to trigger, so within my regular pressure range it's not as sensitive as I was hoping. The Penny Arcade artist said they were considering some sort of adjustable pressure curve but I dont' know what if anything has come of that so far.
LukasTaves
Member
My only annoyance with Surface 3 so far with 3 weeks of usage is not even a problem on the device itself, but rather how Windows (the desktop) handles orientation changes. It seems it acuatlly changes the resolution and when it switches back the screens sizes are all messed up, even if they were maximized.
Hope Ms fixes this for windows 9.
But other than that, it's just perfect. I'm even considering returning my work laptop to my company because I'm really linking using surface for work more than it. Not having to deal with a hot keyboard when using Unity is a huge plus
Hope Ms fixes this for windows 9.
But other than that, it's just perfect. I'm even considering returning my work laptop to my company because I'm really linking using surface for work more than it. Not having to deal with a hot keyboard when using Unity is a huge plus
I'm so annoyed with the shitty wifi. Latest surface update was supposed to fix it, yet it's as broken as before. All that's changed is it pretends to be connected when in reality there's no network connectivity. It's pathetic that after unlocking the device I have to manually disconnect and reconnect every single fucking time.
SerTapTap
Member
Really wonder what the wifi issue is...seems like it must be hardware or depend on your router or something...I've never once had a problem with it. You're up to date and everything? Was supposed to be a fix for that in the last batch of firmware updates. I wouldn't know how well it fixed it though, mine's fine on wakeup
edit: come to think of it...I'm using 5 Ghz band, are the issues on 2.4 Ghz maybe? That could explain why I never noticed if so. Now, my stupid ROUTER dies all the time but that's another issue...god damn I hate router hardware.
edit: come to think of it...I'm using 5 Ghz band, are the issues on 2.4 Ghz maybe? That could explain why I never noticed if so. Now, my stupid ROUTER dies all the time but that's another issue...god damn I hate router hardware.
LukasTaves
Member
I had an issue once. It would connect to wifi but not open anything, and any bluetooth device wouldn't work. But it was before I installed many updates, and never happened again.
WhiskerFrisker
Member
I know what you mean. Did you try it out at Best Buy? That's where I did and it was great. The display is sharp and colorful. One note is made for students!
I've seen some great prices on eBay. Is it safe to shop from there? I never did before but some prices are insane. $500 for the i5 128gb model.
SerTapTap
Member
Oh shit, guys, this is very very bad.
I...kind of like Metro IE. The address stuff at the bottom of the screen and touchability of the UI is great. Not sure I can handle not having my bookmarks/cookies/passwords/etc from chrome. But it's quite nice for touch.
I selfishly hope Surface really picks up so Chrome and Steam and others pay more attention to stuff like high DPI, touch etc. It's so weird since Chrome has an Android version, you'd think they'd merge efforts a bit.
Anyone get weirdness when the type cover is plugged in while using tablet mode? Sometimes the screen does the teeny "zoom" effect like it's trying to switch screen modes again when I have the typecover pulled back and the surface in protrait mode. Pulling out the type cover makes it work perfect, but it'd be nice if they could fix that. Is there somewhere to send feedback that isn't a "replace my surface ASAP" line but is actually possibly checked by a human being?
That or my contacts for the typecover are a bit weird and it's "reconnecting", I think I'll try some rubbing alcohol to clean 'em, they don't look dirty or anything though.
It's ridiculously thin, and they've never upgraded one post-launch. I doubt iteration will ever have a dedicated GPU either--best case an SP4 or 5 might have iris pro graphics, which would be nice. Not even sure about that. It's a productivity device after all. And every laptop I've tried with a dedicated GPU is a hilariously loud, heavy, hot monstrocity, I doubt there's a way to make that work in a Surface.
I...kind of like Metro IE. The address stuff at the bottom of the screen and touchability of the UI is great. Not sure I can handle not having my bookmarks/cookies/passwords/etc from chrome. But it's quite nice for touch.
I selfishly hope Surface really picks up so Chrome and Steam and others pay more attention to stuff like high DPI, touch etc. It's so weird since Chrome has an Android version, you'd think they'd merge efforts a bit.
Anyone get weirdness when the type cover is plugged in while using tablet mode? Sometimes the screen does the teeny "zoom" effect like it's trying to switch screen modes again when I have the typecover pulled back and the surface in protrait mode. Pulling out the type cover makes it work perfect, but it'd be nice if they could fix that. Is there somewhere to send feedback that isn't a "replace my surface ASAP" line but is actually possibly checked by a human being?
That or my contacts for the typecover are a bit weird and it's "reconnecting", I think I'll try some rubbing alcohol to clean 'em, they don't look dirty or anything though.
It's ridiculously thin, and they've never upgraded one post-launch. I doubt iteration will ever have a dedicated GPU either--best case an SP4 or 5 might have iris pro graphics, which would be nice. Not even sure about that. It's a productivity device after all. And every laptop I've tried with a dedicated GPU is a hilariously loud, heavy, hot monstrocity, I doubt there's a way to make that work in a Surface.
Yeah, I wouldn't really be using it for gaming other than for hearthstone and the like. Just wondering if that's a feature they would introduce at some point. I would be using it for programming/MS office work.
So, should I get the Surface Pro 2 instead?
Best Buy has the SP2 for 899 (128 i5) and the SP3 for 999 (128 i5).
If it's only 100$ difference, I think I will go SP3, but does it really not have an HDMI output? It's not a huge deal breaker, but it's odd the SP2 has HDMI out, but the SP3 does not.
Best Buy has the SP2 for 899 (128 i5) and the SP3 for 999 (128 i5).
If it's only 100$ difference, I think I will go SP3, but does it really not have an HDMI output? It's not a huge deal breaker, but it's odd the SP2 has HDMI out, but the SP3 does not.
Anyone have any personal experience / recommendations for what MicroSD card to use in the slot for heavy usage, like as a secondary drive intending to run applications, stitch together downloads, etc.?
I swapped a 2-year old SanDisk 32GB Class 10 from an old phone and it's OK-ish, but a little frustrating. If I'm watching a video off the card while trying to use the disk heavily in another fashion (download, moving files, etc) the video will often stutter or get choppy. For super-fast downloads, the download might choke up after a couple hundred megs, then resume.
Anyone using a card where it is as seamless as using the built-in drive or are my expectations off-base?
I swapped a 2-year old SanDisk 32GB Class 10 from an old phone and it's OK-ish, but a little frustrating. If I'm watching a video off the card while trying to use the disk heavily in another fashion (download, moving files, etc) the video will often stutter or get choppy. For super-fast downloads, the download might choke up after a couple hundred megs, then resume.
Anyone using a card where it is as seamless as using the built-in drive or are my expectations off-base?
Microsoft Store (online) has a bundle deal going for the SP2 + FREE Type Cover 2/Battery Cover on the 128gb model for 899.
Your expectations are always going to be off-base, to some degree. microSD cards are just never going to be as fast as the internal SSD.
The internal SSD has many advantages, including being able to consume more power (so it can run at a higher clock), being physically larger (so it can have more parallel flash chips inside it), a much faster bus protocol (SATA bus @ 6 gbps vs SD bus @ 832 mbps), and faster and smarter device controllers (NCQ, better garbage collection, TRIM support, device caching).
You can try and buy a faster microSD card, like this one:
Samsung 64GB PRO
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IVPU88U/?tag=neogaf0e-20
This could help some. But no matter which microSD you choose, it will always be outgunned by the internal SSD.
I'm just feeling super divided on what to settle on. Now that I look, it's hard to pull away from the 256 8gig RAM i5 SP3, but the jump in cost makes me come back to the SP2.
I'll probably want to play some gaming like Diablo (or TQ or similar) and LoL (or DOTA one day) on the go. I will probably stream Steam games at home whenever I'm that lazy, but I just want to know that if I get the SP2 it'll be good for me for the next few years and not instantly feel dated.
I bought a 2011 netbook in 2012 and it felt pretty sluggish in 6 months and now it is borderline unusable.
EDIT
that deal still applies with the 256 8gb RAM SP2. Getting that with a free extra battery power cover. So conflicted.
Double Edit:
Getting the SP2 mentioned above tomorrow. Thanks for the bundle info. Now, what else do I need?!
LukasTaves
Member
They both have mini display ports AFAIK, and you can buy adapters to HDMI on the cheap.
Get the SP3, it's much better.
SerTapTap
Member
$5, works great. And yeah, the SP3 is MUCH better. 8GB is frankly probably unnecessary. I've been amazed that I'm usually at only 70% utilization of my 4GB, win 8 is surprisingly lean.
Thanks for the answer / info. Have you used a faster microSD and felt appreciable difference or is that speed negligible in light of all the other bottlenecks?
SerTapTap
Member
Class ten microSD cards are basically no more expensive than others. Just get one from a known brand and you'll be fine. I got an ADATA 64GB one (with a adapter, not that you need one for the SP3) class 10, $27 on sale, $32 right now