Which Surface Pro 4 would you choose?

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[sweatshopking]

The correct answer is none. None of them sleep properly, and bugs abound. Loved my sp2 until it was totally ruined by many of the same issues as the sp4 on 10. Don't expect fixes for many of the problems it'll have. It you want a machine which is reliable, stick to your mbp.

 

[decider]

TBH, I have to say that my SP4 sleeps without issue. I have not noticed any issue. I was concerned about light bleed but after many evaluations I have to come to conclusion that I don't have a light bleed issue as well. I think reading all the posts on light bleed led me maybe to see something there that was not.

 

[Gregory Newman]

I think an Surface pro 3 with an Intel i5 with 256 gigs hard drive with the new type keyboard, new pen and new dock are a good way for me to go. this Device is more than powerful enough to to do what i want a computer to do. My dream is A Surface Pro 5 with the larger Surface books screen with an I5 CPU and 8 giigs of ram plus a 256 gig hard drive is the dream Surface pro a lot of people would kill for. Oh well may some body at Microsoft will cause one to come to the Market place

 

[Erik Read]

I am going to say it depends but not for the same reason as everyone else. I say it depends on how often you buy a new machine. If you upgrade every year then get what you need today. If you are like me 3-4 years on average I think between upgrades then get the best you can afford. Either way you are somewhat future-proofing your purchase. Don't get more than you need right now if you are going to turn around and dump it next year and don't get stuck with today's minimum if you are going to keep it awhile.
I went with a Surface Book i7/16GB/512. Should last me a while.

 

[Andy_Elvis11]

Thanks for all the feedback guys!

I wanna get some decent longevity out of this thing, so I think i'll end up biting the bullet and getting i5/8/256. This thing will live its life as a decent photoshop / lightroom / drawing / scriptingmachine as well as being my main computer, whilst my MBP will live as primarily an editing machine - It needs to be replaced soon enough but that for next year I think - might get another one out of it.

It may end up being an AiO (Surface....Desktop anyone?) - probably the Zen AiO or whatever Apple throw out in the next year. If Microsoft release a slightly larger Quad-Core CPU Surface Book, then I think that may grab that. But who knows eh?

Again, thanks everyone for the help.

Now, the new question is - I've seen a few issues with the devices - I understand it's 90% all software related, just wondered who had a SP4 and whether or not they had experienced any of the problems that seem to be about. I totally get that those with working Surfaces are busy using them, rather than being on here / reddit / somewhere else complaining about them.

On my Surface 3, I have the sleep/wake issue. Everytime I have to wake the system up i'm having to hold the power for 10 seconds (with the typecover plugged in) - and my screen shows a bunch of stuck pixels when showing black. - I'll be happy with 6 Hours battery life - i'm 80% of the time plugged in so not having power isn't really an issue...............yet

thanks again everyone

 

[dirtyvu]

I'm tired of users trying to tell people the m3 is the same speed as the haswell i5 in sp3 and sp2. It's not at all on the cpu side. On the gpu side there are situations where m3 is good but not all situations. Core M is still core M. Core M has its place just like atom does. Like celeron does. It's not even core m5 or core m7 but rather core m3! That's like saying you're smart because your genius brother is smart.

 

[Closingracer]

Thanks for all the feedback guys!

I wanna get some decent longevity out of this thing, so I think i'll end up biting the bullet and getting i5/8/256. This thing will live its life as a decent photoshop / lightroom / drawing / scriptingmachine as well as being my main computer, whilst my MBP will live as primarily an editing machine - It needs to be replaced soon enough but that for next year I think - might get another one out of it.

It may end up being an AiO (Surface....Desktop anyone?) - probably the Zen AiO or whatever Apple throw out in the next year. If Microsoft release a slightly larger Quad-Core CPU Surface Book, then I think that may grab that. But who knows eh?

Again, thanks everyone for the help.

Now, the new question is - I've seen a few issues with the devices - I understand it's 90% all software related, just wondered who had a SP4 and whether or not they had experienced any of the problems that seem to be about. I totally get that those with working Surfaces are busy using them, rather than being on here / reddit / somewhere else complaining about them.

On my Surface 3, I have the sleep/wake issue. Everytime I have to wake the system up i'm having to hold the power for 10 seconds (with the typecover plugged in) - and my screen shows a bunch of stuck pixels when showing black. - I'll be happy with 6 Hours battery life - i'm 80% of the time plugged in so not having power isn't really an issue...............yet

thanks again everyone

I would of loved the 256gb storage but way out of my price range. I noticed on my surface pro 4 it takes a bit to turn on this morning but I just got the device so I'll wait a few more days and wait and see.

 

[Andy_Elvis11]

I would of loved the 256gb storage but way out of my price range. I noticed on my surface pro 4 it takes a bit to turn on this morning but I just got the device so I'll wait a few more days and wait and see.

I hear a lot about the system indexing, that might be it. The systems I used to play with in store booted upto desktop in 9 seconds from off. Which aint too shabby!

Edit: Try looking at some 128gb Micro SD cards! I got mine from Argos for ?35!

 

[Closingracer]

I hear a lot about the system indexing, that might be it. The systems I used to play with in store booted upto desktop in 9 seconds from off. Which aint too shabby!

Edit: Try looking at some 128gb Micro SD cards! I got mine from Argos for ?35!

I currently have a 64gb card inside since I bought one for my android phone when I had one which is now useless since i have an iPhone. Thanks for the idea though. Forgot they sell 128gb sd cards. Probably stick with Samsung cards since I rather spend some money on a reputable manufacturer.



Side note though.... Thoughts of hooking up an external HDD?

 

[Andy_Elvis11]

I currently have a 64gb card inside since I bought one for my android phone when I had one which is now useless since i have an iPhone. Thanks for the idea though. Forgot they sell 128gb sd cards. Probably stick with Samsung cards since I rather spend some money on a reputable manufacturer.



Side note though.... Thoughts of hooking up an external HDD?

I'm not sure about your usage, but I can tell you that work wise nearly everything for me is on external drives. I do lots of photo / video work, I think I've got 5/6 TB drives with all my work over the past few years on them. Definitely worth an investment considering a 1TB isn't really that much these days.

The Micro SD I got was one of those fancy Sandisk Ultras - Even I was surprised that something like that was so cheap - point is that the the big brands are even bringing prices down!

 

[manoos]

I can tell you what I have done.

I have checked Microsoft's return policy - when you buy online from MS Store - and found out that at least in my country they have a generous 30 day no questions asked return policy.

I wanted the core m3 version, which I thought should be sufficient for my needs, also because it is the only model that is passively cooled and thus completely silent. I was decided to replace it using the return policy with the core i5 8/256, should I find out after testing it myself that I needed a more powerful machine. However that was not the case, the core m3 has sufficient chops for my usage model.

I am in legal profession, so the software I run for that in not very demanding (Office, specialized legislation/case database apps). SP 4 has completely replaced printed documents for me in meetings, as I can have access to any document, make handwritten notes on the negotiated changes, etc.

However I also do a decent amount of moderate photo editing as a part of my hobby, and PS and LR work just fine on core m3, even with 4 gigs of RAM only.

To go with SP 4, I have purchased two of the new docking stations (one for the office, another for home) and an external Samsung T1 512 GB SSD drive (I can heartily recommend that one too, the thing is fast - I have tried running games from it just to see if that works - it was faster in loading times than my 3 years old laptop with internal SSD).

So if the return policy is applicable in your country too, you can buy the less expensive version and then replace it if you feel the need for it. Just check with MS store before you do...

 

[snakebitten]

Half (not all) of these M-I5-I7 debates would be diffused if the other choices for configuring your new Surface Pro 4 was equal.

But the Core M has few choices for configuration. It's obvious (to me) Microsoft intends to shed an "entry level" light on the M processor, regardless of how well it performs in the real world. (It isn't your grandfathers M-core)

I too am entertained by the loan M-core mantra of Boltman, but I would actually AGREE with him if we were comparing a fan-less M-8gig to the default I5-8. (My mantra......Microsoft, don't ram-starve me)

4 gigs of ram is so 2013. lol

Not everyone needs a Diesel F350 under the hood. The modern V6 has plenty of power for the average truck. (plenty of horsepower these days out of smaller engines) But Ford doesn't cut the bed in half if you choose the V6.

 

[GenieV]

I would definitely go with the i5 4 Gb/128 Gb. I have it and love it. I however would have chosen the 8 Gb RAM as these are not up-gradable. So far it has handled what I've used it for (SO FAR) I hate that I cannot upgrade the RAM. You can use external storage if needed, but not RAM. I cannot imagine having less than 4 Gb RAM. Good Luck!!

 

[rexian]

Right now the only option for me is $1299/i5/8g/256g (i7/16g is way too expensive) but if MS had made it little more configurable I'd have gone with i5/16g/128g as I don't need too much storage for IDEs / editors / scratch area - I have a 16TB NAS at home for video/photo and at work everything is on file servers these days. For movie watching while traveling I can always use a microSD card but 8g memory is a bare minimum requirement for light development with modern IDEs, photo/video editing and Chrome/FF.

 

[Alan T1]

Wife bought me i5/4GB/128GB.

I quickly ran out of space after a few installation of apps/games.

MS Store in my area was graciously enough to allow me to exchange/upgrade to i5/8GB/256GB. I just needed to pay the difference.

I'm very pleased with exchange now. So much more breathing room.

 

[garak0410]

Wife bought me i5/4GB/128GB.

I quickly ran out of space after a few installation of apps/games.

MS Store in my area was graciously enough to allow me to exchange/upgrade to i5/8GB/256GB. I just needed to pay the difference.

I'm very pleased with exchange now. So much more breathing room.

And you also can install and run Desktop apps from the MicroSD. The problem I have is that it can be hit or miss. For Example...I installed GOG Galaxy games on it. One time, Galaxy didn't see the MicroSD drive and bam, it quit showing the list of games and no way to get it back except to uninstall/reinstall (or just run from shortcut)...so it is kind of hit and miss and always a good idea to get the storage you need.

 

[WildKarrde]

While Boltman is right, the m3 is a capable machine, it's not the best. I had a Surface Pro 2, which was almost identical in performance to the new m3, I upgraded to the SP4 i5/8GB because I needed the extra power for photo editing, CAD design and the occasional gaming. I can even run GTA Online on my SP4! With my power setup I can get 7 hours battery life out of it. Sure, the m3 model is great, but the i5 and i7 models are way better.

 

[Andy_Elvis11]

UPDATE: I've been told that the retailer I ordered from isn't stocking the i5/8gb/256 anymore. I was going to save myself 10% through buying it there.

So really i'm back at the Core-M / i5-4gb-128gb+128gb stage. Not really prepared to go over ?1000 for a secondary device. I'm going to use Sketchbook pro for my storyboarding, Adobe Story for script-writing and perhaps maybe a little lightroom / photoshop and general use.

I think as a primary system the higher spec would be the way to go, but I hardly think sketching with a few tabs open with some music is going to kill the RAM. I can do that on my 2gb Surface 3.. and that handles it pretty well. Heck, it even handles a few albums in Lightroom alright if i'm not killing it with data.

I intend to bolster my primary system option further on in the year. I mean, it's a laptop, so it's not going to kill me hauling it around. It'd be NICE to do it all on a Surface, but not an extra ?300 on top of ?850 odd nice.

 

[TimC7]

I am also looking at purchasing a Surface device for the first time. I am looking at either the Surface Pro 4 or Surface Book with Intel Core i5's, 256GB SSD and 8GB RAM. I will be doing web development work so will be using basic text editors and web browsers, but I will also be doing software development work with Visual Studio.
My current laptop, which is a Lenovo Yoga 500, also with a Core i5 and 8GB of RAM falls down slightly when dealing with Visual Studio and lags quite a lot if I try and run anything else at the same time. Plus, its away for repair currently with a possible short circuit somewhere, so I am seeing a good opportunity to replace it.
What do you think I would be better with, the Pro 4 or Surface Book? I'm just trying to gather as much intel as possible before I try and make my decision.