Surface Pro 4 Core M for CIS/CIM course

[cj-m]

I will be starting a CIS/CIM course next year Feb and want to know if anyone is using Visual Studio Community or any other relevant/similar programmes on their Surface Pro 4 Core M and what is their experience so far?

I have read all the debates regarding 8GB vs 4GB RAM and for me, the biggest factor is if Visual can run satisfactorily on a SP4 Core M. This is my concern and would influence my decision to purchase either a 8/256 or the 4/Core M.

For those who need further info for giving advice - my average daily usage is very low. I work in an environment that has limited to intermittent internet connectivity, so most of my tasks and daily use is off line. Emails constitute the bulk of my online usage.

Thanks for any and all input.

 

[boltman2013]

Visual Studio Community 2015 with Update 1
https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/downloads/visual-studio-2015-system-requirements-vs.aspx#1


Windows 10
Windows 8.1
Windows 8
Windows 7 Service Pack 1
Windows Server 2012 R2
Windows Server 2012
Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
Note: Installation on Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 requires Update 2919355 (also available from Windows Update).

Hardware requirements

1.6 GHz or faster processor
1 GB of RAM (1.5 GB if running on a virtual machine)
4 GB of available hard disk space
5400 RPM hard disk drive
DirectX 9-capable video card that runs at 1024 x 768 or higher display resolution

Core M would sufiice and would of course be fanless. Great choice. leaving you $400 more money for Type KB and any dongles you need or a nice carry case,pocket the rest. Use .edu discount get 10% off.

You will love fanless and the perfect silence.

 

[brianbrain]

Given the use-case as described, I think you'll be fine with 4GB. You may find that the system could compile faster with additional RAM, but that really depends on how large of a codebase you're working with.

You could always get the M3/4GB from Microsoft, and if the memory seems to be a problem, return it for the i5/8GB within 30 days.

 

[xandros9]

What they said.

 

[onlysublime]

It's all a matter of how tolerant you are of compile times. Since it's just a class with small projects, memory won't really be an issue. Once you move on to bigger projects, you always have the option to upgrade later. Just like there's no need to buy a grand piano for a beginner when a Yamaha keyboard is perfectly good.

 

[cj-m]

Thanks for the responses and re-assurance. Much appreciated.

 

[azcruz]

I am using Visual Studio 2015 Community Edition and it's barely enough to compile and debug with a 512MB phone emulator. You won't even be able to start up the emulator if Edge is running, so if you need the Internet for reference, close Edge first then start up the emulator. Once you're debugging already, you can start up Edge.

If you will be debugging on the local machine, remote machine, or the device itself, the 4GB memory is enough. I use this Pro 4 as my quick development machine, if I need more memory then I have to switch to my Mac mini running Windows 10 in Bootcamp. That machine has 16GB of RAM.

 

[pankaj981]

Personal advice: Get a laptop which has the juice for the price, at least a Core i3/i5 and 8GB memory. You'll need it. Visual studio can become really taxing on the CPU during compilation, add another VS instance running in parallel and it'll definitely bog down your Surface.

 

[mc511]

Personal advice: Get a laptop which has the juice for the price, at least a Core i3/i5 and 8GB memory. You'll need it. Visual studio can become really taxing on the CPU during compilation, add another VS instance running in parallel and it'll definitely bog down your Surface.

I agree. You will spend a lot less for the same system specs. I think the XPS 13 is a good choice. It is on the MS store.

(cant post a link to the MS store as i am only 4 posts in)

The SP4 is a great little device but you can pay better for a system with similar specs. Ask yourself if you really are going to make use of the tablet features and see if its worth it.

 

[rexian]

Not a Windows developer but my work laptop with 16GB / i7 with Eclipse / Java / Tomcat / VMWare along with usual apps like Outlook, large Excel files, Chrome with 20 tabs etc. holds up pretty well. It was a struggle with 4th gen i5 (non-U) / 8G last year.

You are not there yet and if you just need it for the class Core M might do but if you plan to do any serious development work in near future anything less than 6th gen i5/8G would be frustrating. Like the folks above said, XPS 13 is a better option below $1k but if you want the portability of SP4 go for Core M if you are very sure that your usage would be light.

Modern IDEs are memory hungry, 4GB is going to be more limiting than the processor if you don't mind compile time. Being fanless is obviously an advantage as there is one less thing to fail but MS didn't build this for developers.