Hatty
Member
If you like the idea of using desktop apps with a touchscreen then the surface pro is for you. The Microsoft store is pretty barren of touch centric apps so all the good programs will be desktop style
Microsoft Surface Pro 4 announced: "better in nearly every way" (The Verge)
- Thread starter Anton Sugar
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If you like the idea of using desktop apps with a touchscreen then the surface pro is for you. The Microsoft store is pretty barren of touch centric apps so all the good programs will be desktop style
Guys,
I need a new laptop for work.
I'm a VP of sales for a software company and recently upgraded from a MacBook Pro retina 15" to a 17" MSI behemoth of a gaming laptop. I decided that while I was travelling for work I could be playing The Witcher 3.
The reality is that I'm usually too tired from travelling to want to play any games and typically just watch a movie or browse the web so having a 9lb laptop and carry on baggage has become a real pain.
So I'm selling that laptop to a friend who will use it as a desktop replacement and I'm considering one of these surface 4s. But I'm not convinced it'll suit my needs in a laptop. I really just want something that will be extremely portable so I can sit on a plane, in an airport or at a hotel and bang out some emails and at the same time have enough battery so I can not worry about a cross country flight killing me while I watch The Wire.
I have an iPad Air 2 which I'm very happy with on the tablet thing but it leaves a lot to be desired from a working perspective.
I think I'm going to do the dell Xps 13 with touch screen. Am I a moron?
Help me out please.
I need a new laptop for work.
I'm a VP of sales for a software company and recently upgraded from a MacBook Pro retina 15" to a 17" MSI behemoth of a gaming laptop. I decided that while I was travelling for work I could be playing The Witcher 3.
The reality is that I'm usually too tired from travelling to want to play any games and typically just watch a movie or browse the web so having a 9lb laptop and carry on baggage has become a real pain.
So I'm selling that laptop to a friend who will use it as a desktop replacement and I'm considering one of these surface 4s. But I'm not convinced it'll suit my needs in a laptop. I really just want something that will be extremely portable so I can sit on a plane, in an airport or at a hotel and bang out some emails and at the same time have enough battery so I can not worry about a cross country flight killing me while I watch The Wire.
I have an iPad Air 2 which I'm very happy with on the tablet thing but it leaves a lot to be desired from a working perspective.
I think I'm going to do the dell Xps 13 with touch screen. Am I a moron?
Help me out please.
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
XPS13 is a good laptop, my sister has the base model. The high res touchscreen model has reduced battery life over the 1080p screens from memory of reviews though. Make sure you check reviews. The SP4 is like 8 hours using wifi for web browsing. Surface Book can be 12 or beyond depending on what you're doing (watching videos I think was the test for that figure). Don't recall the XPS 13 off by heart.
……forgetit
Member
The battery on the surface isn't the best, but you'll atleast get a few hours out of it. I've been using my pro 3 for about 5 hours now and I just plugged it in, so judge that as you will. The surface is great if you have the money buy it really isn't perfect unless you have a table or desk to put it on. Any other specific questions?
Man, I am loving the display (and writing notes using the pen) on this thing. Browsing the web has been fast with a few glitches (YouTube crashed and then caused a restart?)
Windows hello is nice as well. Super fast- I'm using it over a password type.
Right now unfortunately I can't get Skype calls to work. :/
Edit: worked after restarting
Windows hello is nice as well. Super fast- I'm using it over a password type.
Right now unfortunately I can't get Skype calls to work. :/
Edit: worked after restarting
Hatty
Member
The M3 model was benchmarked and it doesn't seem too bad
the iPad air 2 seems comparable in multicore so I'm guessing that the M3 is slightly weaker than the A9X in the iPad pro?
the iPad air 2 seems comparable in multicore so I'm guessing that the M3 is slightly weaker than the A9X in the iPad pro?
I just want to see M3 vs. Surface Pro 3 i3/i5 benchmarks.
Hatty
Member
Smokes the i3 apparently
Slightly weaker than the i5
Very impressive overall, though the relative lack of active cooling will probably hold it back like the 2015 macbook
XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Anyone have any recs for a bluetooth mouse?
soul creator
Member
My i5 SP4 has the one on the left of your pic with the USB port. I wonder if they put in a cheaper charger with the M3 version, since it doesn't use as much power (from what I remember reading, it doesn't even have a fan)
Marty Chinn
Member
That would suck and be a downgrade given the SP3 i3 version had the better adapter.
I'd like to see a comparison with the sp4 i5 4gb model
Also would like to see how well the m3 and i5 models handle mine craft (Java)
brotkasten
Member
Not to mention the battery life.
You can always pick up any other spare charger. But yeah, that charger is certainly worse than what we've had on the SP3.
Same, I purchased on Amazon with one day, and on Amazon's site, it's showing a delivery for tomorrow, though it left Phoenix at 3:23am PST and I'm in California. Going to try to have it held at a post office so I can just go pick it up.
Kibbles
Member
Now it says "Preparing for Shipment"and
Smh. I live near a facility too, if it ships from there I stg.
Edit: Yup. Just shipped out the nearby facility with USPS and I won't get it until tomorrow, the 28th. Fuck Amazon. I only had time to sign today.
I'm SUPER happy with my m3 purchase. Just sold an i5 SP3 and my m3 SP4 is just slightly slower performance-wise, no fan, better screen and pen input. Only worried about the 4 GB of RAM, but we'll see how that holds up.
SP4 m3 /// SP4 i5
Geekbench 3 Score: 2420 /// 3082
Geekbench 3 Multicore Score: 4652 /// 6372
What don't you guys like about the new charger? Only difference I can see is that it's just one part now instead of the powerbrick with another cable you plug in. I like it better this way.
edit: oh ya... I guess the m3 has a smaller charger due to lower power requirements. Well I like the smaller charger.
brotkasten
Member
The problem people have with the smaller m3 charger is the lack of a USB power out, which is useful to charge your phone, while keeping the only USB port on the Surface free.
The larger one has a USB charging port, which is really, really convenient. At least for me it has been on multiple occasions.
Marty Chinn
Member
The other power adapter has a USB charging port on it and it fits better on power strips and wall sockets since it has a smaller footprint. One example is my wall outlet has two USB ports on it for charging. With the old adapter I could use them but with the new adapter it blocks them. Not only that but since it doesn't even have the port on the charger I can't even use that.
Aren't they like $80?
What program/app do you use for reading comics? I don't know of any good touch-enabled ones for Windows.
Got the Shakes
Member
So thinking seriously about buying a SP4. I have a Microsoft Store pretty close to me, so that's where I'd be buying from because I can get an education discount there. I'm looking at buying one of the i5 models and the type cover.
My uses would be as a laptop replacement mostly. I have like a 5-6 year old Vaio right now so I'm in the market for a new Windows machine. I would be doing the obvious web browsing kind of stuff, but also would probably end up doing a lot of my school work on it as well. Currently that would entail writing Java code in Jgrasp (which isn't really that resource intensive) and being able to run Dreamweaver CC 2015. Also while at home I would take advantage at times of being able to use Steam's in home game streaming and Xbox streaming.
It would be something like $1015 to buy the i5 128 gb SSD w/4 gb or RAM and the type cover or about $1270 to buy the i5 with 256 SSD and 8 gb RAM. I'm leaning towards the more expensive machine because it would be more future proof and obviously stands the chance to run more intensive programs better with the additional RAM. Am I right in leaning that way? Is there any reason I should go for the cheaper machine if I can afford either one?
My uses would be as a laptop replacement mostly. I have like a 5-6 year old Vaio right now so I'm in the market for a new Windows machine. I would be doing the obvious web browsing kind of stuff, but also would probably end up doing a lot of my school work on it as well. Currently that would entail writing Java code in Jgrasp (which isn't really that resource intensive) and being able to run Dreamweaver CC 2015. Also while at home I would take advantage at times of being able to use Steam's in home game streaming and Xbox streaming.
It would be something like $1015 to buy the i5 128 gb SSD w/4 gb or RAM and the type cover or about $1270 to buy the i5 with 256 SSD and 8 gb RAM. I'm leaning towards the more expensive machine because it would be more future proof and obviously stands the chance to run more intensive programs better with the additional RAM. Am I right in leaning that way? Is there any reason I should go for the cheaper machine if I can afford either one?
a secret-boss
Banned
I used the free comic book reader. Comix I think is the name with blue icon. It gets the job done
Xan Kriegor
Banned
Hey guys, sorry to somewhat derail the thread, don't know where to ask this question otherwise that isn't necroposting:
Does anyone know where I can buy/het the Surace Music Cover? These things are efin' unicorns man:
Does anyone know where I can buy/het the Surace Music Cover? These things are efin' unicorns man:
Okay, I feel like everyone is going to tell me my SP4 is busted but I need to know..
Does anyone elses screen keep fluctuating from an orange hue to a blue one? And also has anyone else had their display drivers stop working several times?: the screen will freeze and about 5 seconds and the a box in the bottom right corner will say "Microsoft's Windows 8 (???) display drivers have stopped working" or something of the sort.
If it's just me having all of these random, weird fucking issues I'll just exchange it, I guess..
Does anyone elses screen keep fluctuating from an orange hue to a blue one? And also has anyone else had their display drivers stop working several times?: the screen will freeze and about 5 seconds and the a box in the bottom right corner will say "Microsoft's Windows 8 (???) display drivers have stopped working" or something of the sort.
If it's just me having all of these random, weird fucking issues I'll just exchange it, I guess..
XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
You have a defective unit.
I had no issues with my i5 SP4 last night. Even left it on last night (screen off but not on sleep) to download a bunch of stuff from Steam.
yep
Edit: Actually my bad. I think it does. I have it installed but I use Cover. It has good touchscreen controls and organization.
Nice! Thanks.
Haloid1177
Banned
Does it happen in any other program other than Edge? Because it continues happening in Edge on my Surface Book, but I can leave it on my desktop or in Outlook and it never changes. Researching the issue I see a lot of people say it's an Edge problem and will be patched.
Anton Sugar
Member
So is the consensus that the SP4 keyboard is worth buying alone? Not ready to upgrade my SP3 just yet but wouldn't mind the new keyboard if it's worth it.
Daaaamn, that's awesome.
Daaaamn, that's awesome.
Come to think of it, no it does not. This typing issue I have where the keyboard will momentarily not respond also seems to only happen in Edge.
Guess I'm going to ditch this shit browser for Firefox then. Thank you for pointing that out!
Marty Chinn
Member
Wow, I'm impressed that Windows Hello works in a completely dark room where the only light source is the screen of the Surface Pro.
I believe the Pro 4 and Surface Book are both equipped with an IR camera for this purpose.
Hatty
Member
Its a shame because Internet explorer was actually getting better with each release. Edge is pretty bad in comparison
Anton Sugar
Member
Yeah, Edge has been pretty disappointing so far, IMO. Delayed implementation of extensions isn't helping.
Funky Papa
FUNK-Y-PPA-4
Anton Sugar
Member
Are there any good Windows Hello-supported webcams available? Would like to get that on my desktop if I can.
a secret-boss
Banned
So how are those new pen tips
per a few posts above, I really like the feel of the new standard tip. It has a more rubbery feel and you get a nice drag on the screen while drawing.
I plan on picking up the tip set ASAP to try the others out.
anyone notice excessive battery drain when screen is off?
Took my m3 SP4 off the charger at 7:30 AM at 100% charge. When I took it out on my lunch at 1 PM (first time turning it on), it was around ~60% charge. (if this was my MBP, it would have gone from like 100% --> 98% during this span turned off).
I used it for ~45 minutes on lunch. It's been in my bag since... used it a few times for a few minutes since then and I'm at 16% charge now.
Took my m3 SP4 off the charger at 7:30 AM at 100% charge. When I took it out on my lunch at 1 PM (first time turning it on), it was around ~60% charge. (if this was my MBP, it would have gone from like 100% --> 98% during this span turned off).
I used it for ~45 minutes on lunch. It's been in my bag since... used it a few times for a few minutes since then and I'm at 16% charge now.
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