Just wanted to say this for any artists out there. If you were planning on using the Surface Pro 3 as a desktop but aren't sure if your Wacom Cintiq will work on it I can confirm that it does. In my case, I have a Cintiq Companion (the android version) and when plugged into the Surface Pro it acts like it should. Just install the drivers it comes with and now N-trig and Wacom drivers work fine on one system.
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Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Announced (12", 3:2 aspect ratio, new stand)
- Thread starter enzo_gt
- Start date
SerTapTap
Member
Plus 1 a year was too fast a release schedule for a high-end device like this IMO. I think they wanted annual for Surface RT, which is dead. That plus the Surface 3 and new SKU for Surface Pro 3 just recently indicate to me that there's no Pro 4 coming this year, probably a Pro 4 next year and maybe alternating pro/non-pro every year from now on. I think that'd be a good way to handle it anyway.
brotkasten
Member
They had some Surface Pro 4 discussion on the last Windows Weekly. Neither Mary Jo nor Peter Bright had any sources, but they speculated that if it's coming this year, it's later (around October), because MS is waiting for Intel's Skylake.
Then again, this just happened.
(Brad Sams is the EIC of Neowin and usually pretty good about this stuff)
Here's the link to the Italian blog.
http://www.italico.tabletpc.it/2015/07/surface-pro-4-in-italia-dal-28-agosto.html
Then again, this just happened.
(Brad Sams is the EIC of Neowin and usually pretty good about this stuff)
Here's the link to the Italian blog.
http://www.italico.tabletpc.it/2015/07/surface-pro-4-in-italia-dal-28-agosto.html
Need to go on a long ass business trip in September and thinking of buying a SP3(i5 version) for the flight and personal use while I'm on the trip. I wanted to wait until the SP but with the SP4 rumoured to be delayed until next year, any reason(price drop, bundle deals etc.) not to bite on a SP3 right now? Even if that late August rumour is true, late August would be too late for me to get one.
Again, I feel like I'm copying and pasting but the SP3 is an amazing machine for the money. Even if the SP4 comes out this year, the SP3 is nothing to slouch at.
TheSecondSpitter
Member
Why is an August launch too late for a trip in September?
I'm exactly in the same boat as you.....my question is if there's no SP4 launch this year, why haven't MS dropped hints to this effect? They will lose nothing and get all the people sitting on the fence to jump in.
Oh I totally agree with you. It's just that if there's some sort of a price drop that might be coming in the next few weeks, I'd rather wait till then rather than buying it now as the i5 SP3 is fairly pricey. The advantage of buying it now is that I have another(much shorter) trip coming up next week where I could use it.
Well the trip would start late August actually, I have to leave the last weekend of August, which is the rumoured launch date of the SP4.
I guess another option for me is that I could buy it and then return it if there's a reasonable SP4 release date or a price drop announced.
SerTapTap
Member
They've already dropped the SP3's price so I doubt they'll drop it yet again personally. In fact all the humors were that the price drop meant SP4 is coming soon. MS kind of asked for it with the rapid release schedule though, they need to either be less frequent or more transparent about when the next is coming because a huge amount of people are like "I'll wait for the price drop/next one" in perpetuity.
Others can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe you have 30 days to use it. Having said that, why not buy it, try it and decide on it with your trip? Quite frankly, if a price drop comes with the SP3 around W10 time I wouldn't be surprise but if you need it, you need it.
They had some Surface Pro 4 discussion on the last Windows Weekly. Neither Mary Jo nor Peter Bright had any sources, but they speculated that if it's coming this year, it's later (around October), because MS is waiting for Intel's Skylake.
Then again, this just happened.
(Brad Sams is the EIC of Neowin and usually pretty good about this stuff)
Here's the link to the Italian blog.
http://www.italico.tabletpc.it/2015/07/surface-pro-4-in-italia-dal-28-agosto.html
Microsoft Surface marketing in Europe... yeah I'll take that rumor with some McFries.
SerTapTap
Member
Others can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe you have 30 days to use it. Having said that, why not buy it, try it and decide on it with your trip? Quite frankly, if a price drop comes with the SP3 around W10 time I wouldn't be surprise but if you need it, you need it.
Yeah if you buy through the MS store you get a 30 day return period, it's probably the only reason I took the plunge. I'll never buy a laptop without a return period, I tried out a $1500 gaming laptop and hated it, returned it without issue though. Laptops are just inherently made of compromises and you can't know if it's acceptable without it in your hands.
Septimus Prime
Member
I want to chime in real quick and recommend the Zagg Invisihield Glass for the SP3. It fits almost perfectly, is basically invisible, and is glass (so it doesn't mess up how the screen feels and is highly scratch resistant). My SP3 did eventually get a scratch on it from bumping around in my shoulder bag all day, pressed against the type cover, so I think it's well worth the $50 or so to protect it.
SerTapTap
Member
Best I can tell, yeah. Apps work like phone apps even if non-store apps still have the potential to be registery-polluting DLL requirin' monstrosities
everthustodeadbeats
Member
Had my first Surface Pro 3 lock up. The screen was unresponsive then went black. Each time you hit the windows button, it would vibrate, so it was on. Had to press Volume Up and Power for 15 seconds to recover.
Hope this isn't a sign of things to come. Thought it was bricked.
Hope this isn't a sign of things to come. Thought it was bricked.
Septimus Prime
Member
Just checking, but did you install f.lux, by any chance? That program does not play well with SP3.
SerTapTap
Member
It actually is worse on the SP3 than my desktops...locks up and needs to be closed, stops responding to touch/mouse input sometimes. I really hope Edge is amazing mostly because I want out.
Not sure it's a universal problem with Chrome + SP3 though. I complained about it before in this thread and no one else seemed to have it happen.
Also, Chrome seems to stop the SP3 from sleeping properly so you gotta close it. Unless you're really tied in to chrome like I am I'd recommend against it.
Septimus Prime
Member
Chrome runs fine on my SP3. My only complaint is that if you also have Canary installed, you get two instances of Chrome running, and Canary starts itself up every once in a while.
Agreed, I don't like Chrome much on SP3. I don't think I have as many problems with you, but I have more than I do on desktop Chrome.
everthustodeadbeats
Member
Did not install that. Right now it's a bit of a fluke thing
Did it happen during you working with it or when you tried to turn it off/send it to sleep/waking it up? If you have an external monitor connected and it happened when your SP3 tried to go to sleep it might be a compatibility issue with the dp-cable.
everthustodeadbeats
Member
Happens when I boot it up. The more common thing is booting up into a frozen touch screen. I press the Windows button on the bevel and the screen redraws and the touchscreen works. Only one time did it go black. But that freezing is happening regularly now. May have to send it in.
TheSecondSpitter
Member
Does anybody have any complaints about the surface pro keyboard?
SerTapTap
Member
I've had a few too many issues with Win 10 RTM build on my desktop to recommend upgrading immediately on SP3. Lots of minor annoyances, also Cortana still seems useless. The window snapping flow is extremely annoying with multiple monitors (I HATE the "sticky" monitor sides/corners, and turning them off turns off the awesome win + left/right shortcut), DS4 Windows doesn't work yet, my motherboard software really hates win 10, and the weather alerts are hilariously overzealous--it told me like 10 times in an hour that there was a heat advisory and gave me a tornado watch that was several counties away.
Not all issues everyone is likely to care about, but I'm sure there's going to be some fixes and some time for people to patch their software for win 10 quirks. Unless there's a bunch of hotfixes lined up right for launch, which is possible.
Anyone know if they ever fixed the tablet mode issues people complained about? I only have win 10 on my desktop so I can't try it at all.
Regarding the SP3, my only complaints are it doesn't seem to operate at a significant angle (so no using it sideways in bed), the key layout is smooshed (as is any laptop layout), it's not completely imperveous to finger grease (seems no better or worse than most keyboards) and I use the FN button a bit more than I'd like (mostly for F5)
All in all I'm really quite impressed with it's quality and feel considering the size. It's not quite as nice as my Thinkpad keyboard, but the entire keyboard is as thick as the key caps on that keyboard were. I wouldn't write a novel on it with my desktop & mechanical keyboard sitting in the other room, but it's surprisingly on par with a good laptop keyboard IMO. Better than chiclet keys. Ugh.
Not all issues everyone is likely to care about, but I'm sure there's going to be some fixes and some time for people to patch their software for win 10 quirks. Unless there's a bunch of hotfixes lined up right for launch, which is possible.
Anyone know if they ever fixed the tablet mode issues people complained about? I only have win 10 on my desktop so I can't try it at all.
Regarding the SP3, my only complaints are it doesn't seem to operate at a significant angle (so no using it sideways in bed), the key layout is smooshed (as is any laptop layout), it's not completely imperveous to finger grease (seems no better or worse than most keyboards) and I use the FN button a bit more than I'd like (mostly for F5)
All in all I'm really quite impressed with it's quality and feel considering the size. It's not quite as nice as my Thinkpad keyboard, but the entire keyboard is as thick as the key caps on that keyboard were. I wouldn't write a novel on it with my desktop & mechanical keyboard sitting in the other room, but it's surprisingly on par with a good laptop keyboard IMO. Better than chiclet keys. Ugh.
LukasTaves
Member
There's a shortcut (FN + Caps lock) that toggles the FN behavior, even after restarts. I leave mine to leave the F keys at first and press FN when I want to use the keyboard functions.
Septimus Prime
Member
I wouldn't mind if it had a separate number pad. I'm not sure how they could get that in, space-wise, though.
No one knows, really. Some rumors put it off until the middle of 2016, some say October.
Anton Sugar
Member
I assume there will be some kind of SP3 trade-in bonus once SP4s are on sale?
SerTapTap
Member
Have they done that before? I was figuring I'd just have to sell mine. I used to give my old computers to my parents but they almost never use them and this one should still be worth a decent chunk of what I paid I hope.
SerTapTap
Member
I find it pretty comfortable personally. You're using the magnetic strip to make the keyboard rigid, right? A combo of that plus some fiddling with the kickstand does wonders, and if I don't actually need the keyboard I just flip it all the way back and use it more like a tablet.
Can't personally recommend recent lenovo products. lots of bad/okay at best amazon reviews too (while the surface pro 3 is about as close to perfect as you can get with that many reviews) It's a shame, one of my first tablet PCs was a lenovo X200, great but expensive, and it's size/weight would be laughably unacceptable these days but it was a marvel in it's day.
I think maybe it's because i'm to afraid of adjusting the kickstand a bunch in fear of wearing it out.
Do you push it out evenly from the middle? Is it fine to push it only from the side? Or are you supposed to put it on your lap/table and push it out evenly?
It also sucks how much the back gets scuffed up. Anyone else have that issue?
CaptainZombie
Member
I think you would like the SP3 quite a bit. I had the Surface 3 for a few days which I liked, but the screen size was too small. The SP3 is really nice and built really well. I currently have the SP3 i3 version, but plan to exchange it to BBY for the i5. I really want the larger HDD since the i3 version with Windows 8.1 and its updates, including a few small programs installed I am at 26-27GB which is not enough.
I've read quite a bit of the user reviews around the web on the Yoga Pro 3 since I was looking at that and a lot of them seem to be really mixed. Overall, the SP3 seems like a well built tablet/laptop combo that is very portable where some of these other slimmer laptops even being less weight in recent years, still do not offer the same features.
Metro IE has been giving me terrible lag on ad-heavy websites lately. Does this happen to anyone else? Basically I can't scroll through the website while all the ads are loading. Forums like slickdeals and head-fi is giving me a terrible browsing experience.
Also watching Evo on twitch past weekend was very taxing to my SP3. As long I have the stream on, everything else is super sluggish. Is this normal?
Also watching Evo on twitch past weekend was very taxing to my SP3. As long I have the stream on, everything else is super sluggish. Is this normal?
For a cover/keyboard combo it's not bad, but I wouldn't call it great. It's very serviceable.
Ads are terrible, they are getting worse and worse too. You can load up desktop IE and set up tracking protection and block them btw - works in both desktop and metro modes.
looking for a new laptop for my wife, and I think I have the shortlist down to the basic surface pro 3 (i3, 4GB RAM, 64GB SSD), or the new asus zenbook UX305 (8GB ram, 128GB SSD, Core M 5Y10). Both are roughly the same price (if I buy the surface pro without the type cover initially). But eventually I'd either need the type cover or the dock for convenience which bumps the cost up quite a bit.
The zenbook seems like it'd be faster, and the 8GB RAM sounds less constricting than the 4GB on the surface pro, but I'd like to hear some impressions of the base model if anyone has one.
My wife has two main uses - she works from home and connects up an external monitor and wireless kb&m, and uses her current laptop as a second monitor. In addition she often brings her laptop to the living room in the evening for general browsing (she doesn't have a tablet), which is bulky and not ideal (15" heavy laptop with charger attached due to poor battery life)
I think the surface would be good in both situations. When in the living room she can use it as a tablet (or with a separate keyboard if needed), and when working I was thinking either to use it as-is, as a second monitor connected up via the mini displayport and with a logitech unifying receiver - or buy the docking station which would eventually be more convenient as no cables or dongles attached to the actual tablet.
I'm mainly wondering how capable the i3/4GB combination is. She pretty much only uses it for office apps and chrome - often around 10 tabs open for various searches/online dictionaries etc (she is a translator). As chrome can be a memory hog I don't know if 4GB would be enough.
So any reassurance (or not) would help me decide which to get.
Also, are there any offers likely to be coming soon? A while ago MS did an offer in the UK which gave away the type cover when you bought a surface pro, and with Win10 coming soon I was hoping they might have a similar offer soon.
The zenbook seems like it'd be faster, and the 8GB RAM sounds less constricting than the 4GB on the surface pro, but I'd like to hear some impressions of the base model if anyone has one.
My wife has two main uses - she works from home and connects up an external monitor and wireless kb&m, and uses her current laptop as a second monitor. In addition she often brings her laptop to the living room in the evening for general browsing (she doesn't have a tablet), which is bulky and not ideal (15" heavy laptop with charger attached due to poor battery life)
I think the surface would be good in both situations. When in the living room she can use it as a tablet (or with a separate keyboard if needed), and when working I was thinking either to use it as-is, as a second monitor connected up via the mini displayport and with a logitech unifying receiver - or buy the docking station which would eventually be more convenient as no cables or dongles attached to the actual tablet.
I'm mainly wondering how capable the i3/4GB combination is. She pretty much only uses it for office apps and chrome - often around 10 tabs open for various searches/online dictionaries etc (she is a translator). As chrome can be a memory hog I don't know if 4GB would be enough.
So any reassurance (or not) would help me decide which to get.
Also, are there any offers likely to be coming soon? A while ago MS did an offer in the UK which gave away the type cover when you bought a surface pro, and with Win10 coming soon I was hoping they might have a similar offer soon.
TheLaughingStock
Member
The i3 in my experience awhile back heats up, is too loud, doesn't last long, and doesn't have a lot of space. It's cheap but not convenient enough for my tastes. If you're going to be getting a bunch of accessories to get around ports and storage, then I'd recommend something else. 4GB would be enough. Asus is a good budget laptop even with core M and you won't need as many accessories. Check slickdeals for sales or a similar site.
well the asus would still have me unplugging a monitor so not much difference there.
Does the i5 heat up less then? PC world in the UK have a bundle deal for the i5 version - the i5/4GB/128GB, type cover and dock for £999 with 10% off so £900 overall. That compares to £639 for most places for the i3 and I assume I'd need the type cover so that takes it up to £750.
Does the i5 heat up less then? PC world in the UK have a bundle deal for the i5 version - the i5/4GB/128GB, type cover and dock for £999 with 10% off so £900 overall. That compares to £639 for most places for the i3 and I assume I'd need the type cover so that takes it up to £750.
CaptainZombie
Member
You might of had a faulty i3 cause the one I have doesn't heat up and get loud. It gets warm in the upper right hand corner on the back at times but not hot and loud. I am going to jump up to the i5 since hdd space is lacking on the i3.
SerTapTap
Member
I've only heard of heat being a particular issue with the i7. I have an i5, I dunno, it gets warm, fan turns on, but it's pretty low noise compared to most any laptop. I'm amazed the jet engines some people's laptops have.
I'd recommend the Surface Pro personally. 4GB ram is surprisingly capable--yes Chrome is a RAM hog, but it's easy to overestimate ram requirements since ram is *meant* to be used and a lot of programs will use a ton of ram if you give it to 'em but still work fine without it. 60 FPS high quality streams are about the only perf issue I have with Chrome on the SP3. I had to give up and watch Evo on the desktop because framedrops bug me, I don't usually have issues with video though.
I'd recommend the typecover over the dock personally--you can add a second monitor easy with the mini displayport (I have a mini DP->HDMI, works great), add a mouse ideally with bluetooth or with USB if you must, and you can always add a keyboard yourself at a desk, but the typecover is really great when moving around with it. Biggest advantage of the typecover is it's practically weightless and almost never gets in the way.
IIRC there are active offers on the SP3 right now, at least in the US.
If space is all you need you can expand with the internal SD card--you can get a 64GB quite cheap and a 128GB isn't too expensive, cheaper than upgrading for sure. Depends if you need high speed storage though, the microsd will of course be fairly slow for IO intensive stuff but for just pictures/video/music I would think it'd do the trick. I have a 128GB + 64 and space isn't an issue (but then my desktop does my gaming and recording)
I cannot believe how no ad network seems to give a shit about performance--adsense with text only seems okay, but holy shit, even GAF has a second or two of loading lag thanks to display ads. I would be a lot more willing to completely remove adblock instead of whitelisting if ads weren't such a major performance issue. I'm pretty sure most of the performance issues I had when testing Edge vs Chrome were simply due to ads.
I'd recommend the Surface Pro personally. 4GB ram is surprisingly capable--yes Chrome is a RAM hog, but it's easy to overestimate ram requirements since ram is *meant* to be used and a lot of programs will use a ton of ram if you give it to 'em but still work fine without it. 60 FPS high quality streams are about the only perf issue I have with Chrome on the SP3. I had to give up and watch Evo on the desktop because framedrops bug me, I don't usually have issues with video though.
I'd recommend the typecover over the dock personally--you can add a second monitor easy with the mini displayport (I have a mini DP->HDMI, works great), add a mouse ideally with bluetooth or with USB if you must, and you can always add a keyboard yourself at a desk, but the typecover is really great when moving around with it. Biggest advantage of the typecover is it's practically weightless and almost never gets in the way.
IIRC there are active offers on the SP3 right now, at least in the US.
If space is all you need you can expand with the internal SD card--you can get a 64GB quite cheap and a 128GB isn't too expensive, cheaper than upgrading for sure. Depends if you need high speed storage though, the microsd will of course be fairly slow for IO intensive stuff but for just pictures/video/music I would think it'd do the trick. I have a 128GB + 64 and space isn't an issue (but then my desktop does my gaming and recording)
I cannot believe how no ad network seems to give a shit about performance--adsense with text only seems okay, but holy shit, even GAF has a second or two of loading lag thanks to display ads. I would be a lot more willing to completely remove adblock instead of whitelisting if ads weren't such a major performance issue. I'm pretty sure most of the performance issues I had when testing Edge vs Chrome were simply due to ads.