Considering a surface pro 3 is it worth the money

[StaticPlaya]

I am currently considering buying a surface pro 3 and now with the recent discount for teachers and students I am considering it even more.

I currently have a Surface RT which I got from work for ?100 and will be keeping it as a second screen for my Xbox One and based on resell prices is worth keeping especially at the price I bought it at.

The only problem is I have loads of laptops at home and I am trying to justify if it is worth the purchase. I like my laptops especially my HP Probook 5330 which I use all the time but I need something that looks good and is portable. I use my Lumia 1520 a lot for one note and my music and in a way replaced my Surface RT due to the screen size.

If I do decide to buy I would buy the i5/256GB/8GB model. I am also still considering the the type cover as I have a wedge is it worth it?

If I go all out with the surface and the cover it will all come up to
?1,097.09.

I would use it for school work mainly as I have loads to plan and do for the new academic year being a Computer Science teacher with the national curriculum changing for the better.

I need some advice what should I do take the plunge or just stick with what I already have.

 

[jordanzhninja]

Yes yes yes!
Although for school as a student the i5/128GB/4GB model will be fine

 

[colinkiama]

Yes yes yes!
Although for school as a student the i5/128GB/4GB model will be fine

If you can afford it, go for it.

 

[kwright62]

It is the best computer I've ever had. Defiantly advise you get it.

 

[Ruined]

I would say the $799 i3/64gb/4gb and $999 i5/128gb/4gb are definitely worth the money. It has an amazing form factor that you will fall in love with. I would pick one of these two based on how much storage space you need internally, and remember it has a microSDXC slot for additional storage (such as media).

The higher end models, I would pass on as they are limited by the cooling of the device, I had the i5/256gb/8gb version and returned it as the applications that actually need 8gb of RAM are limited by CPU throttling. In other words, on higher end models you won't get the full use of the power you are paying for due to heat issues. But the 4gb Surface Pro 3s under $1000 are hard to beat for the price.

 

[Dan Strong1]

Go for the i3. The other models are throttling down to lower than i3 speed anyway.

 

[StaticPlaya]

Interesting comments thanks. I do use photoshop a lot and multi task too planning lessons. I have the money but the difference between the two i5 models is ?234. i3 is ok but need that extra processor power but the price difference of ?423 is tempting. Is there any evidence of the throttling?

 

[StaticPlaya]

Ok found it but it is still being debated so will wait a bit.

 

[rdubmu]

Go foe the upgrades i5 with 256 of memory and 8 gigs of ram

 

[Adam_ation]

Get the i5/256gb/8gb for sure! I couldnt quite justify buying one either as i have a crazy powerful desktop and laptop. But its justified itself, its so handy to have and im so glad i decided to buy it at the last minute of my holiday in the USA.

 

[stephen_az]

I would say the $799 i3/64gb/4gb and $999 i5/128gb/4gb are definitely worth the money. It has an amazing form factor that you will fall in love with. I would pick one of these two based on how much storage space you need internally, and remember it has a microSDXC slot for additional storage (such as media).

The higher end models, I would pass on as they are limited by the cooling of the device, I had the i5/256gb/8gb version and returned it as the applications that actually need 8gb of RAM are limited by CPU throttling. In other words, on higher end models you won't get the full use of the power you are paying for due to heat issues. But the 4gb Surface Pro 3s under $1000 are hard to beat for the price.

Please list the applications so people know if they apply to their own use. Linking to someone else's YouTube video also does not demonstrate your real world issue with real world applications. As I have stated elsewhere, I use numerous very CPU intensive applications and have experienced no throttling. A partial list of those which I use regularly are:

Adobe CC 2014 Suite
Acrobat XI Professional - technically part of CC 2014 but is also still semi stand alone and a typically bloated Adobe mess
Lightroom 5.6 managing databases with more than 50K of images, including at least 30K of Nikon DSLR nef/raw files - again technically part of CC 2014 but also stand alone and a famously resource heavy application which will suck anything dry particularly when used as a quasi front end for Photoshop CC 2014
ArcGIS 10.2.2, including the advanced analysis modules
Project 2013
Visio 2013
Garmin and Magellan's various GPS applications
All of the Office 365 applications
More I internet and server based streaming then I care to recall
RDP control of both my work server and headless homeserver

None have compromised performance and I own/have owned SP1/2/3 and am setting up a Dell Venue 11 Pro so I have an absolute basis for comparison. It also gets no warmer than SP2. The only real difference is the warm spot is more noticeable given it is in a place where I hold the device (the SP2 warm spot was in a different spot on the chassis).

It is also illogical to suggest the i5 or even i3 with less ram as they will be require harder work on the part of the CPU, RAM, and other system components.

 

[Ruined]

Please list the applications so people know if they apply to their own use. Linking to someone else's YouTube video also does not demonstrate your real world issue with real world applications. As I have stated elsewhere, I use numerous very CPU intensive applications and have experienced no throttling. A partial list of those which I use regularly are:

Adobe CC 2014 Suite
Acrobat XI Professional - technically part of CC 2014 but is also still semi stand alone and a typically bloated Adobe mess
Lightroom 5.6 managing databases with more than 50K of images, including at least 30K of Nikon DSLR nef/raw files - again technically part of CC 2014 but also stand alone and a famously resource heavy application which will suck anything dry particularly when used as a quasi front end for Photoshop CC 2014
ArcGIS 10.2.2, including the advanced analysis modules
Project 2013
Visio 2013
Garmin and Magellan's various GPS applications
All of the Office 365 applications
More I internet and server based streaming then I care to recall
RDP control of both my work server and headless homeserver

None have compromised performance and I own/have owned SP1/2/3 and am setting up a Dell Venue 11 Pro so I have an absolute basis for comparison. It also gets no warmer than SP2. The only real difference is the warm spot is more noticeable given it is in a place where I hold the device (the SP2 warm spot was in a different spot on the chassis).

It is also illogical to suggest the i5 or even i3 with less ram as they will be require harder work on the part of the CPU, RAM, and other system components.

Very simply, any sort of software that requires sustained CPU or GPU usage, of which there are many - but I will list some below.

One of these categories is DAW software (i.e. Sonar, other music programs, DJ software)... Microsoft appears to be positioning this towards creative professionals, but after an artist's song crashes and burns because the throttled CPU killed half of their virtual instruments and effects, said creative professionals are not going to be very happy with the results. Note that laptops are very popular for this type of software for portability and set up at events; Microsoft billed the SP3 as a laptop replacement, it will not do so in this case.

Another example of any type of software that does encoding, such as Premiere or other video packages. When that throttle hits, you are going to get glitches in your video if you are doing realtime encoding. This is important to both pro video producers and amateurs posting to youtube.

Lastly, a third example is basic (not advanced) gaming that anyone might like to do. Play a game for more than a few minutes and the framerate get cuts by over 50%. This even happens with SP3 on rudimentary Windows 8 Store games, so we are not talking Battlefield 4 here.

While you may be happy with great burst performance and crippled sustained performance, there are many categories of computing this type of profile simply is not compatible with. If Surface Pro 3 really wants to be a laptop replacement for everyone, it needs to get the aggressive throttling sorted out. I could see this being okay on regular Surface aimed at consumers, but Surface Pro implies it is for professionals and this simply is insufficient for many creative professionals. Yes, professionals that just need web/email/office will have no problem with throttling, but they won't have a problem with the $799 i3 version either, which is the whole point.