SP3 or Laptop?

[sj_kris04]

Is it worth buying a laptop or the SURFACE?

 

[gpobernardo]

Well that depends on your goal or objective. If you want more computing power, then a laptop could be more suitable. If you want portability and convenience, the a surface could be more suitable.

 

[anon(7901790)]

I have the i5/128 SP3 and it serves as a perfectly good laptop. It is as powerful as most laptops out there. I have no problems doing photo editing and basic video editing on mine as well as using Office 365. The biggest downside is unlike a conventional laptop, you can't upgrade the SSD or RAM and it only has one USB 3 port; where as a laptop (even a netbook) has at least two or more USB ports.

Since I have Office 365 Personal, I have 1TB OneDrive storage that I upgraded to unlimited (currently at 10TB and I can ask for more if need be) and a 12TB NAS at home, so I don't have a local storage problem. I can work on photos on the SSD and upload them to the NAS. Office documents I just work straight off of OneDrive.

If I need more horse power, then I can work on my desktop which has an i7 with 32GB of RAM.

So unless you are doing a WHOLE lot of video editing or you are an avid gamer, then yes it is worth buying a Surface over a conventional laptop.

 

[rathamar]

I have the i5/128 SP3 and it serves as a perfectly good laptop. It is as powerful as most laptops out there. I have no problems doing photo editing and basic video editing on mine as well as using Office 365. The biggest downside is unlike a conventional laptop, you can't upgrade the SSD or RAM and it only has one USB 3 port; where as a laptop (even a netbook) has at least two or more USB ports.

Since I have Office 365 Personal, I have 1TB OneDrive storage that I upgraded to unlimited (currently at 10TB and I can ask for more if need be) and a 12TB NAS at home, so I don't have a local storage problem. I can work on photos on the SSD and upload them to the NAS. Office documents I just work straight off of OneDrive.

If I need more horse power, then I can work on my desktop which has an i7 with 32GB of RAM.

So unless you are doing a WHOLE lot of video editing or you are an avid gamer, then yes it is worth buying a Surface over a conventional laptop.

Excellent explanation and I will second it! I am an avid gamer and power user. I am in IT and have the opportunity to use a variety of devices. I used to have several different laptops for personal use but since purchasing the SP3, the only one I still use is my gaming laptop that is built to run high end games and I only have used that once or twice as the SP3 is handling most of what I play on a day to day basis. I now take this everywhere with no fear of not having what I need/want with me.

The SP3 can and does replace your your laptops for 90% of users

 

[wookiee2cu]

The Surface Pro 3 has replaced my laptop as well; I'll run Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator, dreamweaver and watch movies on it without any problems. I love the portability of the device and being able to detach the keyboard to have a simple tablet. The only caution I would throw out there is if you do a bunch of use with the unit in your lap, then a standard laptop would be a better choice. You can use the Surface on your lap but it's not nearly as stable as a standard laptop and if you are wearing shorts the kickstand will dig into your leg a little bit. Honestly, for me that's about the only con I can think of for the Surface Pro 3.

 

[Poirots Progeny]

Agree with everything said here. It really depends on your needs. I'm practically surrounded by tech - have a mental rig for 4k gaming, laptops, but for browsing, writing, surfing in the couch, well the sp3 is great - it may look like a tablet but it really is an ultrabook with the solid keyboard off. So, as long as your workload doesn't require a dedicated gpu; yup, it'll replace a laptop. Of course the downside is a lack of ports but again, depends on what you need. Storage is readily available so shouldn't present a problem!

 

[Don Geronimo]

I found that the dock takes care of my port needs at home and at work, but I understand not wanting to shell out 199 US$ for a dock.

That being said, it's really helped me move from one place to another during my work-and-play flow, and that convenience was worth it to me, even if I could get something more powerful for the price.

 

[Hans Swolfs]

Well,I have the i5 256gb 8gb ram and am utterly pleased with it.

My use : Web development, Lightroom, Photoshop mainly... No gaming at all.

I recently bought the dock and replaced my i5 2nd gen desktop with 16gb ram and plenty of ssd just for the sake of improving workflow and am also very happy with that so for such user I can only recommend it to everyone.

Awesome device for me.

 

[Mikado_Wu]

I sent My Daughter to college with a Surface Pro, 2 years ago. Several of her classmates have dropped their Apple and other Windows computers in favor of Surface Pros. For Note, my daughter is in a Forensic Science Program with an emphasis on Biology and Chemistry, so she can apply for Medical School. She uses Photoshop regularly for her Forensic classes and Live in OneNote for all classes. Says the Pen really makes College life easier. Imports PDF files from Bio/Cem and calculus classes, does the work right on them.

 

[PPCApache]

I have the Surface Pro 3 i3 64GB with a 32GB SDHC and just bought Office 365 Personal so have plenty of storage for what I need. My main use for the SP3 is

* Editing my website via online WUSISWUG app
* Using Adobe Fireworks for editing images and making logo's
* Foxtel Go TV streaming app
* Internet
* Email via Outlook

For me the SP3 has replaced my old Samsung Laptop which is an i3 also but less RAM - 2GB. I have had no issue with the SP3 and love the versatility it offers me as I can use it around that house, take with me while I wait to pick up my kids from school, and I am writing this post via my SP3 in bed. I have a Urban Armor Gear Scout case on it which gives me loads of protection.



I use OneNote and the Stylus a lot and in fact write my shopping lists on it and then place my SP3 in the Trolley to tick off all the items I was able to find, get a few looks like "What's that he's using...?"



Would I recommended to anyone that wants a Tablet or a Laptop, hell year it just ticks all the boxes for me and it goes well with my Lumia 930.

We have just just had the Surface 3's become available so will be looking at these in the coming months for my three kids aged 14, 12 and 7 they also have Windows phones Lumia 630's and my wife has a Lumia 735.