Surface Book 2 i7 slower than Surface Pro i5??

[Ed1984]

Hello,

I am in the market for a new laptop, I have bought a Surface Book 2 i7 (8th gen) with 8GB RAM and GTX1050 and a Surface Pro i5 (7th gen) with 8 GB RAM so I can test both and return one of them.

Probably the most intense apps that I use on a daily basis are Photoshop and Dreamweaver. I have run several tests like open a bunch of high-res images and processing them on Photoshop and every single time the Surface Pro finished faster. (By a quite big margin).

On other tests, like opening dozens of PHP files on Dreamweaver, and duplicating large files (to test SSD speed) the Surface Pro also had a clerar advantage over the SB2.

Does it make sense? The SB2 is about $900 more expensive and has better specs, also Microsoft promotes it as "Powerhouse performance" but I am not seeing a performance improvement over than on paper (and supposedly) slower machine.

I think the SB2 is an overall better machine with a better design and which probably fits better on my lifestyle, but I am surprised of those differences so I am questioning myself if is it worth spending such difference basing the purchase factor on the design and not on the performance.

What do you guys think? Probably my SB2 does not work well?

 

[DCW1000]

That situation seems counter-intuitive. I would recommend that you download some standard benchmarking tools like the new Antutu, Geekbench4, or Performance Test. If your homebrew comparisons are backed up by the test suites, there's your answer. If for some reason the evaluation apps all show that the Book 2 outperforms the Pro, as I would expect, it's probably worth asking yourself if the tests you devised truly reflect the actual differences in processing capability of the two machines.

On the other hand, you can't fault a side-by-side real-world test involving the processes you go through on a daily basis. Maybe it would be a good idea to develop a few more tests that represent the work you regularly do. Good luck resolving this interesting question. Please report back when you have further information.

Is display size of any consequence to you?

 

[Ed1984]

I tested with geekbench and the results I get are on pair with the ones on the geekbench results site, the multi-core score is higher on the SB2, however the single-core score is better on the Surface Pro. I wonder if the apps I use are not using the full potential of all cpu cores.

Display size is not so important as I mostly use and external monitor for work.

Both machines are capable of doing the same tasks without any hiccups or slowdowns, but I expected a greater improvement of the newer i7 over the older i5. Thats why I am questioning myself if it is worth spending such difference for similar performance or if a SB2 base model (In case I preffer its form factor) would work just as good as the Surface Pro as both have the same specs and I don't have the need of a dedicated gpu.

 

[beman39]

have you checked to see if both are on the same "power mode"? but logically the SB2 should outperform the SP definitely... sounds like maybe you have a throttling issue?

 

[orlbuckeye]

Well the SB2 with the Nvidia DGPU should blow the SP away. Make sure you are using the DGPU when you test.

 

[Mattemt294]

I agree with beman. Click the battery icon on the task bar and make sure both power sliders are set to best performance.

 

[Ed1984]

I finally kept the Surface Pro. I couldn't justify the price difference as both run all tasks perfectly fine. I am not seeing a clearly advantage of one over the another. On more instensive tasks or gaming the SB2 should be faster but on my everyday use I don´t notice an improvement.

There is something great about the form factor of the SP, at first I thought the SB2 would be great as a replacement for my old laptop (MacBook Pro 15"), but after testing the Surface Pro for a few days I´m in love with this machine. The efficiency and portability of the Surface Pro are unparalleled by any other laptop I've experienced. I am using it a lot as a tablet (before I just preffered to use my phone instead of the full laptop) and when I need to be more productive I just connect it to my external display with keyboard and mouse.

The battery on the tablet part of the SB2 was very poor and having the keyboard laying around while using it as a tablet was simply not great. With the SP I have the full battery capacity using it as a laptop or tablet.

Also the SP is completely silent, while on the SB2 I had coil whine and could notice the fans spinning at times.