Best value Pro 4 configuration

[ZombieXboxBlog]

It's a shame you can't configure the Pro 4 model a bit more, as I'm sure a bunch of us would probably pay a bit more for a smaller hard drive but more RAM, but nonetheless, which Pro 4 configuration offers the best value for money?

By which I mean, as far as I can see you get a lot more bang for your buck spending ?100 to upgrade from the M3 CPU to the i5, so as a minimum I'm thinking of the 4GB RAM i5 model at ?850.

From there though it's a ?200 jump to the 8GB RAM i5. How much performance gain with the extra 4GB RAM do you really get for that ?200?

I know this depends on what you plan on using the tablet for, but I'm just wondering if there are some stats on the sort of performance improvements where you may end up thinking it's just marginal gains. For instance I bumped my laptop up from 4GB RAM to 8GB RAM and although the benchmarks showed an improvement it felt pretty marginal. I'm presuming also you can't upgrade RAM separately on a tablet, once it's in there it's in!

Looking on some other threads it looks like the i7 CPU is a good jump up from the i5, but then you're adding another ?200 and suddenly you're ?450 over the standard 4GB i5 model and then you start thinking about 16GB RAM. How much would really utilise the difference between 8 and 16GB of RAM?

At this rate I'm thinking of just going all out and getting the i7 16GB RAM and never buying another tablet again. I'll just use it all the time so I don't cry when the price plummets a year from now.

So, what opinions are there on the sort of 'best value' model. I suspect for standard users its the basic i5, and for 'power' users you probably want to consider getting an i7?

As for what I use it for, a little bit of everything but I always worry about things becoming obsolete and needing to fork out again. I'd like to stream from an Xbox (and to one) and use Steam and so on, even if I'm not too fussed about the absolute latest games as I know the biggest AAA games would need something more dedicated. I'm going to check out the Youtube videos for examples of games running on a Pro 4, I suspect it'd be fine even with the basic i5 model...

 

[boltman2013]

Best model is M3 because of fan-less, you want more power get the surface book and the larger screen

 

[ZombieXboxBlog]

Cheers for the quick reply - from what I understood the jump in power from M3 to i5 was worth it for ?100. I know people are complaining about fan noise but I'm used to my old laptop so I suspect it will be better than that, albeit in a tablet. I'm holding out buying one for a couple of months to see how the firmware updates resolve some of the bugs coming out.

I suppose it depends on the pricing for the book when it comes to the UK - I'm more interested in a dedicated tablet than a hybrid but might check it out in-store to see how it feels...

 

[badMojo69]

I5 8gb 256gb with student discount best bang for the money
I have no fan issues when not gaming. Even then I've adjusted to it coming from a S3 which had no fan.

I'm happy I can run AmidOS when needed and have it be snappy.

 

[ZombieXboxBlog]

Sadly no longer a student, which would have helped! They're offering ?150 for an RT trade-in, and you can buy an RT second-hand for ?115. Probably too much hassle just for ?35 but would be quite funny to do...

 

[DCProjMgr]

The question is "What do you want to do?". For most people the Core M will be the best value. It does all the basic tasks (email, web, business apps, play music & videos) well. Even some occasional Photoshop - it can handle it. And as Boltman points out, you get better battery life as well.

The battery life is particularly tricky because Microsoft has used a smaller battery than the in SP3. You really take a hit the more power-hungry hardware you add. You are better off buying the lowest configuration that meets your needs.

 

[ZombieXboxBlog]

Battery life is a funny one, I genuinely don't think 5, 6 or 7 hours is really that bad. I remember when laptops lasted a couple of hours. You're right though - I'm aiming for the lowest config at the best price that will do what I want. In reality if I wanted to play a top game I'd get it on my Xbox, so I have to resist the urge to go for more and more power. That said, I do want an element of future proofing and I'd really like to get 8GB RAM as RAM nearly always provides the best value way of getting more out of your device.

I think given the jump from an M3 to an i5 I'm happy to go for that, given I'm happy with the battery life either way, so it's whether I can resist spending an extra ?200 on top of that and getting an 8GB RAM model.

But yeah, in terms of what I do - lots of office stuff, plenty of streaming and ideally a bit of gaming too, and I'm sure the M3 would probably cover that for the most part!

 

[Hardcore1973]

i5/128 model is the best bang for the buck. Unless you are a graphic designer, CAD engineer, or programmer compiling data you will never go over 4GB of RAM. You can also plug in a Micro SD card if you want more storage for way cheaper then paying $300 more for the 256GB model.

 

[GatsbyGlen]

I'm quite happy with the i5/8/256. You should get whatever you like - don't listen to any of us here! In fact, buy multiple configurations and try them out. I buy crap from Best Buy all the time and return it within the 15 day window. Tech is like drugs - you want it, you get it, then you feel guilty. So then I return it when I come to my senses that it probably doesn't makes sent to keep. However, in this case, I'll be keeping my SP4.

RAM is soldered, or so I heard. There are ways to expand SSD, but you'll need to rip apart the machine.

 

[etc6849]

Best value in the US is going to be a Surface Pro 3. Six months ago, I ended up paying $1299.99 (i7/8gb/256gb), $69.99 for the keyboard, $136 for the dock after coupon and multiple item/bundle discount, plus I got 10% back in Best Buy rewards on top of that which more than covered the sales tax. Who knows what the black Friday or cyber Monday deals will be like?!?

128gb would barely hold all the stuff on my laptop (VS 2015 and 2010, Office 2013, etc...). Plus, my battery lasts 1-2 hours longer than the BEST I've seen someone get out of the Surface Pro 4, and I run it at 75% brightness.

I really don't understand why some folks are "upgrading" from a SP3. I guess it's for the face unlock that drains your battery while in standby or the extra pixels that you probably can't see (the pro 4 display actually consumes 37% more power)?

Don't think I'm a hater, I actually went to Best Buy to buy a Surface Book, but left empty handed as they only had the 128GB model left and their display bluescreened 3 times while I was there (not exaggerating). I know the benchmarks are 10-15% better with the newer chips and updates are out to fix some issues, but my SP3 performs way better than the display unit I used at Best Buy in terms of lag when zoom using the touchscreen or touchpad.

I think these new units have a lot of potential once the bugs are worked out, but I fail to see why an i7 Pro 4 is worth $500 more than the Pro 3 equivalent. I just don't see the value there.

 

[ZombieXboxBlog]

Interesting views, thanks peeps!

i5/128 - that's my thinking. If I could get 8GB RAM without having to pay extra for the hard drive space I would. I think I'd like more info on when 8GB RAM would come in handy to be honest, that might help sway me one way or the other, it's probably the thing weighing on my mind the most, but I have to admit I don't consider myself an intense user and I nearly bought a Pro 3 last year and this is obviously a big step up either way.

SP3 - I know what you mean about this being best value actually, the price has dropped so dramatically and I'd have been happy with it last year, and especially now you can get the upgraded keyboard...I think from the reports I've read, the SP4 feels like a big step up so I'm probably happier spending a bit extra to get one though.

UPDATE: Interestingly I just checked my laptop to see how much RAM I'm using and it's 3.5GB, which was surprisingly high. I'm currently using Chrome with about ten tabs open, VLC media player, Microsoft Word and also BOINC - which is a sort of cloud computing thing where you donate processor power to help investigate cures for AIDS or more efficient solar panels.

I suspect it's BOINC using a good chunk of the RAM but I was still surprised it was so high. Makes me lean towards an i5/8GB a bit more...

UPDATE 2: Just closed BOINC and...it's not dropped the RAM, but whether it's just not cleared or something I don't know. Amount 'committed' according to Task Manager is 4.4GB...

 

[StevoPhilo]

I think the i5 8gb 256 is the best middle ground and bang for your buck. It's what I own and I'm happy with it.

 

[ZombieXboxBlog]

Cheers - I am certainly leaning toward that. I may have gone for 4GB but after yesterday seeing my laptop constantly use between 3-4GB I think I may be a bit of a RAM hog and I'd rather have extra RAM in reserve. I think it's because I often have at least eight tabs open on Chrome at any one time, and a number of programmes too, so add the odd game to that and it tops out the 4GB pretty quick it seems. Thanks!

 

[poddie]

Multiple tabs in chrome can use quite a bit of RAM. If you use a lot of tabs and leave them open, 8GB would probably be handy.

 

[ZombieXboxBlog]

I currently have 24 tabs open...mostly stuff to read that I'll then close, but usually around ten comparing documents etc.

 

[RicKaysen]

I originally pre ordered an i5/128 with 16 of RAM thinking the storage is upgradeable via micro SD and more RAM is always better. After numerous headaches with the pre order process, I cancelled and just went to the Flagship store here in Manhattan. Well, they didn't have the 128, so I paid a little more for the 256 and rethought the RAM. I don't do CAD or heavy graphics and I don't do gaming, just occasional light Photoshop and video watching. so I dialed the RAM back to 8. I'm very happy with the configuration I finally got, i5/256/8. Incidentally, I've never heard the fan turn on.

 

[WildKarrde]

I've hit the 4GB RAM wall with my SP2 with heavy web browsing (many, many tabs up at once) and during gaming... so it's not really fair to say only graphic designers, CAD engineers or programmers will ever need more than 4GB.

As a matter of fact, I've never hit the RAM wall while using AutoCAD or Catia, and only hit the RAM wall once in Solidworks, in an assembly that had tens, if not hundreds of thousands of parts.

 

[ZombieXboxBlog]

Thanks for that - yeah I think on balance I want that 4GB RAM grace, just to make sure I don't hit that wall at any point when I am doing a lot of multi-tasking. Thanks for the feedback everyone! Still wish I could get an i5/128/8GB model, would save me a couple hundred quid...

 

[ZombieXboxBlog]

Howdy folks, my Pro 4 i5/256/8 model turned up yesterday - less than 24 hours after shipping! - and FWIW when I was downloading a bunch of apps and setting things up how I like it, I thought I'd check RAM usage and it was around 4.2GB. Got a bit warm and the fan came on too but not a patch on the noise my five year old laptop makes, so it's all good.

Anyway, pretty happy I got the 8GB model now and while I was using quite a lot at that moment, I'm pretty confident it'll come in handy. Thanks everyone for the advice.