Is M3 version that Bad? Technobuffalo says don't buy it.

tboy2000

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So I was hoping to buy the M3 fanless version as will only be using the tablet for basic stuff (web, video, word, apps etc). On Youtube, Technobuffalo's review of the Pro 4 says don't buy the M3 version but to buy the i5 and up. Why? Is it that bad? I heard the M3 is equivalent or better than the last generation i5 processor. I also hear that the i5 fan kicks in often.

So what I am asking is, is the M3 version fast enough and good enough for basic usage?

Any thoughts?
 
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theefman

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If they don't give a well explained reason I wouldn't listen to them. The M3 should give you better performance than the old i3 SP3 but less than the i5 SP4, cant say if its truly equal to the 4th gen i5. Think of it as a more powerful Surface 3 with a real SSD so for email, web, videos, Office, apps it should be more than fine.
 

zkyevolved

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So I was hoping to buy the M3 fabless version as will only be using the tablet for basic stuff (web, video, word, apps etc). On Youtube, Technobuffalo's review of the Pro 4 says don't buy the M3 version but to buy the i5 and up. Why? Is it that bad? I heard the M3 is equivalent or better than the last generation i5 processor. I also hear that the i5 fan kicks in often.

So what I am asking is, is the M3 version fast enough and good enough for basic usage?

Any thoughts?

Don't listen to them. I unsubscribed A LONG time ago from them... They've lost touch with reality a while ago... I checked out a video a while back, maybe the SP4, and Jon came in on that half segway thing... God... what?! Don't worry, the M3 is a GREAT device. I have the i5, but I'm still debating returning it for the M3. It's fanless and lighter. If you're not a hardcore user, it's the i3 equivalent. I have an i3 as a server at home with windows 10 and it's no slouch! It handles all my plex, ftp, bittorrent sync connections, and runs Plex Home Theater for me and my family! The difference is that the i3 is older, and the M3 is more powerful =D
 

CrownedMartyr

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If you really plan on only using it for basic tasks than the M3 will definitely fit the bill and you'll save yourself a couple hundred bucks too.

From a purely technical standpoint, the M3 is in every way inferior to the i5. It's the same architecture but limited due to the much lower TDP. Contrary to popular belief, this does not mean you'll get better battery life except for instances where you are really pushing the CPU for extended periods of time. I'm assuming this is what TechnoBuffalo was using as the basis for their recommendation.

I have the i5 model and I wouldn't worry too much about the fan. If you push it hard then yes, you will hear it, but I've been using it as my primary work machine and I almost never notice the fan. It's much quieter than most laptops I've used.
 

onlysublime

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The M3 is not the equivalent of the previous generation i5. That's M3 proponents trying to sell its benefits. The M3 has a better GPU but that's only one metric and many of the benchmarks showing good M3 performance are highly synthetic and unrealistic. You have to realize why the Core M series exists. It's for people that need good performance from a lightweight small form factor CPU/GPU. For people that want those features but need higher performance than what the Atom series can provide.

If you're talking basic needs, the M3 is enough. For basic, the Core M series is very good. If you're talking more than basic, you really should consider the Core series. It would've made more sense for Microsoft to offer the M5 or M7 rather than the M3.

The main reason for avoiding the M3 with the SP4 is you only have 4 GB of RAM. That is a killer. The only way for you to know if M3 will be good enough is for you to try it.
 

ioaniro

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For the usage you describe the M3 is the best thing you could buy. You will not notice the 4gb of RAM and the M3 is not slow at all. The only thing in your scenario that could max out the memory is if you use word to write text with collaborators and you want to keep the track changes as extensive as possible. But in the new office that slows down the i5/8gb ram too so is more of a Microsoft Office memory management problem.
 

tboy2000

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As a comparison I own a Dell Venue 8 Pro which has a quad core Atom processor and 2 gigs of ram. I find (believe it or not) I can run Photoshop on it adequately. I can also stream xbox one games fine. So is the M3 cpu better than my Dell CPU? 2 gigs has not been an issue on my Dell so surely 4 gigs is fine. I never run lots of applications at once. Maybe two at the time that's it. I would love to hear from M3 owners and their real world experiences. I like that M3 is lighter and fanless but maybe I should get i5. Oh the decisions the decisions ☺
 
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raoul3650

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M3 is an excellent machine with less heat and serve our daily general purposes usage.
If you want to get the i5, go for the 8GB RAM, otherwise it's fine to go with M3 and save the USD100 for the Type Cover.

I'm an M3 user for 3 days old :)
 

Eric J F

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I just got one about 6 hours ago and am very happy with it. I'm using it for basic tasks as you describe and it seems plenty fast.

I haven't had any of the many problems discussed by others in this forum, but I did have a couple bad pool header bsods.

I really like the fanlessness, and I'm getting what seems to be pretty good battery life. I have Windows Hello and Cortana off since I don't use them.
 

slysy

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I would carefully consider how much RAM you want though. I thought 4Gb would be OK for my usage but found it to be quite limiting in reality. 11 tabs open in Edge was enough to grind the machine to a halt with nothing else open. Also the SSD is double the speed on the i5/256Gb model.

If you are happy to limit things like the number of tabs you have open etc I am sure it will be fine.
 

boltman2013

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I would carefully consider how much RAM you want though. I thought 4Gb would be OK for my usage but found it to be quite limiting in reality. 11 tabs open in Edge was enough to grind the machine to a halt with nothing else open. Also the SSD is double the speed on the i5/256Gb model.

If you are happy to limit things like the number of tabs you have open etc I am sure it will be fine.

Its GB and like I said I have NO problems with more than 11 tabs open might be user error
 

slysy

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Its GB and like I said I have NO problems with more than 11 tabs open might be user error

Have a look here Microsoft Edge vs Internet Explorer vs Chrome - Which is fastest? | Expert Reviews

Edge was tested as using 758Mb for 5 tabs which is about 150Mb a tab
So 11 tabs could be about 1650Mb
Win10 x64 uses about 2Gb
I was running an antivirus at about 250Mb

You can see with this sort of usage in the Edge browser, you are going to get uncomfortably close to 4Gb based on that figures in that test
 

boltman2013

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Have a look here Microsoft Edge vs Internet Explorer vs Chrome - Which is fastest? | Expert Reviews

Edge was tested as using 758Mb for 5 tabs which is about 150Mb a tab
So 11 tabs could be about 1650Mb
Win10 x64 uses about 2Gb
I was running an antivirus at about 250Mb

You can see with this sort of usage in the Edge browser, you are going to get uncomfortably close to 4Gb based on that figures in that test

GB not Gb

Byte for Storage Big B
Bit for bandwidth small b

4 GB = 4 Gigabytes (STORAGE)
1000 Mbps or one million Kbps (ps= per second) (BANDWIDTH)
 

rory753

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My wife had the same question and was using an sp3 I7. She wanted the new sp4 because of the improved pen and screen, so she preordered another sp4 i7. in the meantime, she traded her sp3 for an m3 sp4 to try out the fanless version and see what it's performance was like.The question she had was, mainly due to the fan, should she go i7 or m3? She uses lightroom and photoshop, along with the other task. once she finally got her spr i7, she found that there wasn't a significant enough improvement for what she does to justify the additional expense or noise of the fan.

While you're looking at these, I would highly recommend looking at HP's Spectre x2. it's available with a more m processor choices(m3, m5, and m7), less expensive, and with an LTE radio for Verizon. the problem is that it's got a smaller screen, and it simply isn't a surface. I've become slightly leary of this after owning devices where they cut support for updating drivers, although I have no reason to suspect HP doing this.
 

WildKarrde

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GB not Gb

Byte for Storage Big B
Bit for bandwidth small b

4 GB = 4 Gigabytes (STORAGE)
1000 Mbps or one million Kbps (ps= per second) (BANDWIDTH)

Dude, you're arguing semantics. It doesn't really matter, I'm sure everyone here understands what he means.

As for the OP, the M3 isn't a bad machine, so long as your usage will not max it out. I needed 8GB, which is why I upgraded from my SP2. I hit the memory limit often with that... but the device never became unuseable because of the 4GB limit.
 

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