A few questions about the Sp4 !

[Ozozuz]

I'm going to buy the sp4 but before that i have a few questions for you guys ! c:

First of all, i've found a good offert from a local reseller for the i5 4gb ram version, well ... I am concerned that 4 gb are not enough, i have a very powerfull desktop so i don't need to do some hard work on the suface but for this price i want a "smooth af" experience.
I'll need to code a lot on the sp4, run a virtual machine w/out hearing the fan is a must to me

The fan, mhh, What about the fan ? I have to expect to hear it while watching a streaming video like twitch, popcorntime or during daily browsing ?

I'll be able to play some light game on it ? Like binding of isaac, enter the gungeon etc ? "you know, free time during university u.u"

 

[worldspy99]

8GB is the way to go. I had a 4GB SP3 and promptly upgraded to a 8GB version. The fan kept coming on the 4GB version quite frequently. Good luck.

 

[Ozozuz]

8GB is the way to go. I had a 4GB SP3 and promptly upgraded to a 8GB version. The fan kept coming on the 4GB version quite frequently. Good luck.

Dou mean to say that this does not happen on the 8Gb version or it's just a consideration ?

 

[teddystiles]

I have zero problems with my 4GB for what I use it for. The fan kicked on often from the time I bought it until the last driver updates in mid-April. Since the last drivers were installed, I don't think my fan has turned on once, whether I'm surfing, working, or watching Netflix. (I also can't see why you'd have a difference in the fan between the 4GB and 8GB version. Running out of RAM simply slows things down as it shifts memory onto virtual memory on the SSD - I suppose that might be slightly more CPU-intensive, but I imagine that a general slowdown would be more likely than having the fan ramp up.)

I have a desktop at home and a 16GB laptop at work that I use to run my Adobe design software, and I generally keep my Surface running fairly lightly more due to battery concerns than RAM ones. That said, I do have Adobe software on the 4GB SP4, and I use it from time to time without issue. I say all that to say this: I'm a RAM-intensive person, and for my work, 16GB is the minimum. Because of the price tiers, however, and because I was going to use the Surface as a go-between device, the 4GB has never once been an issue or slowed me down (or caused my fan to ramp up, that I know of).

 

[Ozozuz]

I have zero problems with my 4GB for what I use it for. The fan kicked on often from the time I bought it until the last driver updates in mid-April. Since the last drivers were installed, I don't think my fan has turned on once, whether I'm surfing, working, or watching Netflix. (I also can't see why you'd have a difference in the fan between the 4GB and 8GB version. Running out of RAM simply slows things down as it shifts memory onto virtual memory on the SSD - I suppose that might be slightly more CPU-intensive, but I imagine that a general slowdown would be more likely than having the fan ramp up.)

I have a desktop at home and a 16GB laptop at work that I use to run my Adobe design software, and I generally keep my Surface running fairly lightly more due to battery concerns than RAM ones. That said, I do have Adobe software on the 4GB SP4, and I use it from time to time without issue. I say all that to say this: I'm a RAM-intensive person, and for my work, 16GB is the minimum. Because of the price tiers, however, and because I was going to use the Surface as a go-between device, the 4GB has never once been an issue or slowed me down (or caused my fan to ramp up, that I know of).

Yeah, me too but since my english is kinda awful, i was not sure I understand his answer. ^^
My main concern is to have to hear the fan even while i'm not doing any demanding stuff, for example, hearing the fan while watching a stream on twitch.tv is enought for me to do not buy the sp4 !
That's why i want to be sure

 

[onlysublime]

you can always throttle the SP4 so that the fan doesn't kick in as often. The cooling system is very aggressive. There is a thread on how to throttle the SP4.

 

[Ozozuz]

you can always throttle the SP4 so that the fan doesn't kick in as often. The cooling system is very aggressive. There is a thread on how to throttle the SP4.

Do you think that going for the m3 version instead of the i5 would be the same ? Or i'll may miss to much "horse-power" ?

 

[onlysublime]

if you're coding a lot and using virtual machines, I'd go for the i5 if you can afford it.

I'm a neophyte programmer as a hobby. When I would add code, I would immediately compile and test. Compiling always takes time and it adds up over time for bigger projects.

Everyone has different tolerances for how fast a machine is. A lot of people are happy with Core M and you might be one of them. But if you can squeeze the budget a little bit and want to keep the machine for a longer time, go for the regular Core processors.